You need ores in Terraria for just about anything. Although the game also utilizes various critters as alchemy ingredients, these materials are the basic necessity that allows you to build homes, armor, weapons, and various utility items.
There’s a total of 21 ores in the game. As you progress and improve your tools, you gain access to high-tier pieces. This is what makes the game balanced. As you venture into the deeper layers of the ground and encounter new enemies, you can take the nearby resources to craft new armor and weapons.
The list of ores in Terraria
The following are all the ores in the game, focusing on their quality, tier and price, tools required for extraction, and biome where they’re available:
| Ores | Crafting Ingredients | Source | Extraction Tools (Pickaxe) | Tier and Rarity | Sell Price |
| Copper | Copper Ore (3) | Surface Cavern Underground | Copper Tin Cactus | 1, White | Copper Coins (50) |
| Tin | Tin Ore (3) | Surface Cavern Underground | Copper Tin Cactus | 1, White | Copper Coins (75) |
| Iron | Iron Ore (3) | Surface Cavern Underground | Copper Tin Cactus | 2, White | Silver Coin (1) |
| Lead | Lead Ore (3) | Surface Cavern Underground | Copper Tin Cactus | 2, White | S.C. (1), Copper Coins (50) |
| Silver | Silver Ore (4) | Surface Cavern Underground Floating Islands | Copper Tin Cactus | 3, White | S.C. (1), Copper Coins (50) |
| Tungsten | Tungsten Ore (4) | Surface Cavern Underground Floating Islands | Copper Tin Cactus | 3, White | S.C. (2), Copper Coins (25) |
| Gold | Gold Ore (4) | Surface Cavern Underground Floating Islands | Copper Tin Cactus | 4, White | S.C. (3) |
| Platinum | Platinum Ore (4) | Surface Cavern Underground Floating Islands | Copper Tin Cactus | 4, White | S.C. (4), Copper Coins (50) |
| Meteorite | Meteorite Ore (3) | Meteorite Biome | Gold Tungsten Platinum | 5, White | S.C. (2) |
| Demonite | Demonite Ore (3) | Cavern Underground Eater of Worlds Eye of Cthulhu Brain of Cthulhu | Gold Platinum Reaver Shark | 6, Blue | Silver Coins (10) |
| Crimtane | Crimtane Ore (3) | Cavern Underground Eater of Worlds Eye of Cthulhu Brain of Cthulhu | Gold Platinum Reaver Shark | 6, Blue | Silver Coins (13) |
| Obsidian | Created when lava and water meets | Gold Platinum Reaver Shark | 7, White | ||
| Hellstone | Hellstone (3) Obsidian (1) | Underworld | Deathbringer Nightmare Reaver Shark | 8, Green | Silver Coins (2), Copper Coins (50) |
| Cobalt | Cobalt Ore (3) | Cavern Underword | Molten Reaver Shark | 9, Orange | Silver Coins (7) |
| Palladium | Palladium Ore (3) | Cavern Underworld | Molten Reaver Shark | 9, Orange | Silver Coins (9) |
| Mythril | Mythril Ore (4) | Cavern | Cobalt Palladium | 10, Orange | Silver Coins (11) |
| Orichalcum | Orichalcum Ore (4) | Cavern | Cobalt Palladium | 10, Orange | Silver Coins (13) |
| Adamantite | Adamantite Ore (4) | Cavern | Mythril Orichalcum | 11, Orange | Silver Coins (15) |
| Titanium | Titanium Ore (4) | Cavern | Mythril Orichalcum | 11, Orange | Silver Coins (17) |
| Chlorophyte | Chlorophyte Ore (4) | Underground Jungle | Pickaxe Axe Drax | 12, Lime | Silver Coins (15) |
| Luminite | Luminite Ore (4) | Moon Lord | Copper Tin | 13, Red | Silver Coins (30) |
Best strategies for acquiring ores
If this is your first time playing Terraria, it’s really easy to get stuck hoarding these resources. You might think that every resource in the game is valuable, so you’ll frantically dig tin, even if you’re technologically way past it. If you wish to quickly progress through the game, you should focus on vertical digging instead of horizontal.
Our suggestion is to dig down until you stumble upon open areas. These sections have things such as numerous pots, chests, and Life Crystals that will quicken your progression.
Using special mining equipment
Aside from collecting high-quality minerals in Terraria, you should also constantly upgrade your equipment. Getting better versions of Pickaxes and Drills will reduce your mining time but will also open access to new resources and, thus, armor and weapons.
Another efficient way to mine these minerals is by creating specialized mining gear that will increase your speed. Even though your natural inclination is to go with fighting equipment, in this game, it makes more sense to create stuff that will quicken your mining.
Our suggestion is to get a mining helmet as soon as possible. This will prevent you from creating low-tier sets, but it’s more than worth it. In fact, you should even consider assembling a shirt and pants to get a massive mining speed bonus. If you ever get stuck fighting a tough enemy, you can simply switch the mining gear for combat gear and pummel the opponent.
Use ropes, torches, and bombs
If you’re constantly returning to the same area, we suggest that you light it up with torches. They make your life that much easier and are a real necessity if you don’t have a mining helmet. Among others, they allow you to see surrounding mineral deposits. Lastly, if you create torches according to a specific biome, you can also increase your Luck, thus improving the drop rates.
You should also use various materials to reach unapproachable crevasses. Don’t be shy about using wood and other stuff to create walking platforms. We often use mud and other low-tier blocks to make structures within the cave. If you’re constantly digging downward, a rope will be your best friend.
Get used to bombs and dynamite early on. You can use them to blow up larger sections of the underground without destroying the surrounding material. They’re not that expensive, so there’s no point in hoarding them in your stash. It’2s much better to simply use them to clear the way.
Use mining potions
Mining potions are overpowered in Terraria. Here are a few of them that can help you out when mining:
- Night Owl Potion (improves night vision and increases the radius of surrounding light sources)
- Mining Potion (increases mining speed by 25%)
- Shine Potion (the player emits light)
- Spelunker Potion (reveals surrounding mineral veins, but also nearby treasures)
For our last mining tip, we’d also want to suggest reforging your Pickaxes to get better versions of the tool.
