Every Pickaxe in Valheim: Four Tools, and the Ore Column Is the Whole Ladder
Pickaxes are the only player weapon that can mine ore, which makes their damage figures almost beside the point. What matters is the Mineable Ore Deposit column, and it gates biome progression harder than any armour tier does: without a Black metal pickaxe you cannot mine Black marble or Soft tissue at all, and the Mistlands is closed to you as a source of materials.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
All Four
| Pickaxe | Damage | Stamina | Can mine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antler pickaxe | Pickaxe/Pierce 18 | 6 | Stone, Copper, Tin, Muddy scrap pile, Abyssal barnacle |
| Bronze pickaxe | Pierce 25/40, Pickaxe 25/37 | 8 | Same as Antler |
| Iron pickaxe | Pickaxe/Pierce 33 / 48 | 10 | The above, plus Obsidian and Silver |
| Black metal pickaxe | Pickaxe/Pierce 49 / 64 | 14 | The above, plus Black marble and Soft tissue |
The Antler and Bronze pickaxes mine exactly the same deposits. The Bronze is faster and stronger in combat, but it opens nothing new — which makes it a pure quality-of-life upgrade rather than a progression step, and skippable if you are short on tin.
The real gates are Iron and Black metal. Iron unlocks Silver — and therefore the Mountain's whole gear tier — and Obsidian, which makes the game's better arrows. Black metal unlocks Black marble and Soft tissue, which are the Mistlands' building and crafting materials.
The Antler pickaxe is a boss drop, and it is the first thing in Valheim that turns exploration into industry.
No Secondary Attack
The class carries two mechanical notes worth knowing:
Their primary attack is a downward swing. They do not have a secondary attack.
Pickaxes are the only weapon class in Valheim with no secondary at all — every other class publishes two stamina figures and this one publishes one. There is nothing to hold back for.
Pickaxes formerly only hit a single target, but as of the Hearth and Home update, gained a cleaving attribute.
That change matters more than it reads. A cleaving pickaxe hits multiple targets on one swing, which turns a mining tool into a passable emergency weapon against a group — and at 49/64 on the Black metal, it out-damages a Bronze mace, an Iron mace and every knife in the game.
Pickaxe Is Its Own Damage Type
Every pickaxe deals Pickaxe damage and Pierce simultaneously — the Antler at a flat 18 of each, the Black metal at 49/64 of each. Pickaxe is a real damage type in Valheim's resistance tables, not a label.
The consequence is the Stone Golem. At 800 health, immune to Fire, Frost, Poison and Spirit, and resistant to Pierce and Slash, it has exactly one published weakness: very weak to Pickaxe. So the correct weapon against one of the Mountain's two main enemies is a mining tool, and the Black metal pickaxe's 49/64 is doing multiplied damage where a sword is being reduced.
Pickaxe damage also drives structural damage. Creature attacks that carry a Pickaxe component — a Troll's 40, a Seeker Soldier's 100, a Stone Golem's own 100 — are what tears stone buildings apart. It is the anti-stone type in the same way Chop is the anti-wood one.
Building the Ladder
- Get the Antler pickaxe immediately. It is the gate on Copper and Tin, and therefore on Bronze, and therefore on everything.
- Skip the Bronze pickaxe if tin is tight. It mines nothing the Antler cannot; it is faster and stronger, and that is all.
- The Iron pickaxe is the important one. Silver and Obsidian both open here, which is the Mountain tier and the good arrows.
- The Black metal pickaxe gates the Mistlands materially. No Black marble, no Soft tissue, and both are needed for Mistlands building and crafting.
- Carry it into Frost Caves and up mountains. The Stone Golem is very weak to Pickaxe, and you are already holding the answer.
- Do not look for a secondary attack. There isn't one.
Running your own Valheim server
Mining is the activity that most obviously spans sessions — deposits do not move and ore does not teleport — which makes it the clearest case for a world that stays up. A gamever Valheim server keeps it persistent for up to 10 players, with one-click backups.
Conclusion
Valheim's four pickaxes are the only player weapon that can mine ore, and their deposit column is a harder progression gate than any armour tier. The Antler and Bronze pickaxes mine exactly the same list — Stone, Copper, Tin, Muddy scrap piles and Abyssal barnacles — which makes the Bronze a pure convenience upgrade you can skip. The Iron pickaxe opens Obsidian and Silver, and the Black metal pickaxe opens Black marble and Soft tissue, without which the Mistlands supplies you with nothing. The class is unique in having no secondary attack at all, and since the Hearth and Home update it cleaves, which at the Black metal's 49/64 makes it a better emergency weapon than a Bronze mace, an Iron mace or any knife. Most usefully, Pickaxe is a real damage type: the Stone Golem — 800 health, immune to Fire, Frost, Poison and Spirit, resistant to Pierce and Slash — is very weak to it, so the correct weapon against one of the Mountain's two main enemies is the tool already in your bag.
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