The Forge: Pickaxe guide

Wondering what’s the best Pickaxe in The Forge? Here’s our guide to the best Picks money can buy.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / The Forge Community

What’s the best Pickaxe in The Forge? It’s a question you’ll no doubt be asking as you drum up funds and consider snagging yourself one of the very expensive endgame Pickaxes hidden deep within this Roblox RPG’s labyrinthian mines. While some Pickaxes you’ll find are objectively better than others, having higher stats across the board, the rarest ones are less cut and dry.

You’ll need to really think about what matters to you in a Pickaxe as the price tags grow higher. Want to boost Luck for rarer Ores? Harness sheer power to eviscerate rocks? Or perhaps the speed you chip away at rocks is key. Whatever it is, we’ve cooked up the ultimate Pickaxe guide, featuring a tier list of all the Pickaxes, their locations, stats, the rocks they can break, and our take on the current best Pickaxe in the game.

In this guide:

• The Forge Pickaxe Tier List
• What’s the best Pickaxe in The Forge?
• All Pickaxe Stats
• Every Pickaxe in The Forge

The Forge Pickaxe Tier List

What’s the best Pickaxe in The Forge?

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun / The Forge Community

The best Pickaxes in the The Forge are The Demonic Pickaxe and the Arcane Pickaxe .

As for which Pickaxe reigns supreme out of the two, that will mostly come down to which stats you value and how full your wallet is. The Demonic Pickaxe is inarguably the pound-for-pound best, but in my opinion, the wisest option so far is the Arcane Pickaxe. It’s cheaper than the Demonic Pickaxe, with the Arcane Pickaxe coming in at $125,000 rather than the Demonic Pickaxe’s whopping $500,000, but regardless of the lower price tag, it has an almost identical Luck Boost stat.

While you could be very particular about stats, Luck Boost and Rune Slots are the main two you’ll want to inspect when buying a Pickaxe. Luck improves the odds of mining rare Ores, which is why you’re mining rocks in the first place. The higher your Luck Boost stat, the more likely you’ll get Demonite, Darkryte, Arcane Crystals, or any of the other rare Ores found inside The Forge’s various rocks. And you can bump that stat even higher by finding Miner Shard Runes and inserting them into Rune slots. The Arcane Pickaxe has a default Luck Boost of +50%. Meanwhile, the Demonic Pickaxe has a Luck Boost stat of +51%. It’s up to you, but considering both Pickaxes have three Rune Slots, an extra 1% luck bump and more rock damage doesn’t seem worth the significantly higher price tag.

All Pickaxe Stats

If you want to see exactly what you’re getting with each Pickaxe, we’ve put together a comparison table to show you the raw stats:

Every Pickaxe in The Forge

Now we’ve covered stats, let’s look closer at each Pickaxe, what it’s good for and where to find it.

S-Tier Pickaxes

Arcane Pickaxe

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The Arcane Pickaxe is one of the two best Pickaxes in The Forge. It has a Luck Boost stat of +50% and three Rune Slots, which you can fill with Miner Shards sporting the Luck trait to raise its Luck Boost stat even higher. It’s pretty much the ideal Pickaxe for anyone that’s understandably not bothered about farming the $500,000 required to purchase its rival, the Demonic Pickaxe, which only offers a marginal stat increase in everything but Mine Power. In my opinion, it’s the most solid option you can pick up in the game’s current build.

Demonic Pickaxe

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On paper, The Demonic Pickaxe is the best Pickaxe in the game. Its Mine Power stat is hefty, offering a mining damage output of 180, and its Luck stat trumps all others, offering a +51% Luck Boost. You’ll take a slight decrease in Mining Speed, however, the positives vastly outweigh the drawbacks. But there’s an elephant in the room here, and he’s really trying to rinse you of all the loose change in your pocket. The Demonic Pickaxe is incredibly expensive, and you’ll have to fiercely grind to purchase it. Regardless, it belongs in the S-tier.

A-Tier Pickaxes

Magma Pickaxe

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The Magma Pickaxe is the third and final endgame Pickaxe that rounds out the trifecta. It does more Mine Damage than the Arcane Pickaxe, and is a more affordable get than the Demonic Pickaxe if you want to tear through rocks quickly. The drawback is that it offers a smaller Luck Boost (although hardly anything to scoff at) and one less Rune Slot. Less luck and only 2 Rune Slots means it’s not as reliable as the Arcane Pickaxe (and more expensive too!), but if you want to speed up your mining expeditions, it’s a good get.

Lightite Pickaxe

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The Lightite Pickaxe is a pretty good deal for a late-game Pickaxe. It costs under $100,000, but has just enough power to mine every single rock currently in the game. Plus, it’s got the added benefit of +30% Mine Speed, which no other late-game Pickaxe possesses. It’s a great get for anyone trying to make the jump from mid-game to late-game, starting their transition to mining Volcanic Rock from the Volcanic Depths and Crystals from the Goblin Cave.

B-Tier Pickaxes

Mythril Pickaxe

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The Mythril Pickaxe is the best mid-game Pickaxe money can buy. It’s got 80 Mine Damage, so you can finally start cracking into the Basalt Veins you find in the Ashen Passage and Volcanic Depths. Plus, it has a decent +43% Luck Boost. You’ll eventually transition away from it, but it’s definitely a good option if you don’t quite have the muscle to explore the Volcanic Depths and brave its monstrous locals, but want to start getting resources like Rubies that can only be found in Basalt Veins.

Uranium Pickaxe

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The Uranium Pickaxe is a solid baseline mid-game pick. It’s strong enough to crunch through Basalt Cores quickly, and has a +41% Luck Boost, so you’re in the upper echelons of the Luck Boost stat. It can’t break Basalt Veins, Crystals or Volcanic Rocks, but it smashes everything else particularly well.

Stonewake’s Pickaxe

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If you’re wondering why such an early game Pickaxe is this high on the list, it’s purely for one reason. While every other early game Pickaxe in Stonewake’s Cross has 1 or 2 Rune Slots, Stonewake’s Pickaxe has 3, and considering the starter area’s Delver Zombie enemies drop Miner Shards, you can spec this bad boy into a luck generator. By loading 3 Miner Shards with the Luck Trait into it, you can boost your Luck by as much as 40%, putting it on the same level as the natural Luck stat of the Arcane Pickaxe. That’s very useful, even if it can only break smaller rocks. It’ll allow you to generate cash from rarer Ores as you explore the first area, meaning you can speed through to the Forgotten Kingdom in no time.

C-tier

Titanium Pickaxe

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The Titanium Pickaxe is really just a slightly better version of the Cobalt Pickaxe . You’ll probably consider it early into your time in the Forgotten Kingdom’s mines, as it offers a +3% Luck Boost and 15 more Mine Power than its Cobalt variant. Not much else to say, really. It’s an incremental stat increase, and you may be better served just saving your cash to jump straight to the Uranium Pickaxe .

Cobalt Pickaxe

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The Cobalt Pickaxe is really just your key to unlocking the treasures of the Forgotten Kingdom mines. It’s solidly reliable as a starter Pickaxe for The Forge’s mid-game that can break Basalt Cores, so you can start earning rarer Ores like Sapphires, Diamonds and Emeralds.

D-Tier

Platinum Pickaxe

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The most expensive early-game Pickaxe, I’d probably suggest you just forego the Platinum Pickaxe in favour of the Stonewake’s Pickaxe instead. It’s cheaper and has more Rune Slots to fill with Luck Miner Shards, after all. But the Platinum Pickaxe has a naturally higher Luck Boost if you don’t want to go around farming zombies for Miner Shards. Other than that and a Mine Power boost, there’s not much to write home about. You probably won’t have 5k to waste while exploring Stonewake’s Cross, so don’t bother.

Gold Pickaxe

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The Gold Pickaxe will be the first proper investment you make in your mining gear, and it’s a necessary one, because it provides the Mine Power required to crack open Boulders in Stonewake’s Cross mine. Aside from that, it offers a +15% Luck Boost, so you’ll get more rare Ores while you explore. It’s a required purchase, as Boulders contain the best Ore in Stonewake’s Cross mine, but not one you’ll be using for very long.

Iron Pickaxe

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The Iron Pickaxe is one of the earliest Pickaxes in the game, and it exists solely for those tired of the minimal stats of the default Pickaxe. You can skip it altogether for the Gold Pickaxe and you won’t be missing anything. It just has a minor Mine Power and Luck Boost increase over the Bronze Pickaxe. Not much else to it. If you’re doing Sensei Moro’s quest, you’ll probably be making enough money that it’s entirely skippable.

Bronze Pickaxe

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The Bronze Pickaxe is the only Pickaxe you’ll be forced to buy, with Sensei Moro’s quest tasking you with purchasing it. It’s the starter Pickaxe, which means all it has is a basic Mine Power of 7. It’s purposefully terrible, and you should use it for as short a time as possible.

Need more Forge guides? We’ve compiled a full list of The Forge codes , put together walkthroughs for The Goblin King quest , finding Bard’s missing guitar , and finding Tomo’s missing cat , as well as guides on farming Miner Shards , farming cash , and a list of all The Forge’s Ores and where to find them . But if none of that appeals, you can find our full list of The Forge guides here .

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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