Pickaxes

Pickaxes are the tools you mine rocks with in Mining. You need one in your inventory or weapon slot, and a better pickaxe mines faster. The standard pickaxes, from bronze to crystal, are sold for skilling points in the Mining shop in the Skilling Zone. The crystal pickaxe is the fastest, and the infernal pickaxe mines as fast as a dragon pickaxe and smelts some of your ores into bars. Every pickaxe on this page can be traded.

Comparison

Pickaxe	level	Speed tier (higher is faster)	Effect	Stab / Crush / Str	Get it from	Value
Bronze pickaxe	1	1	–	+4 / +2 / +5	Mining and Skilling shops (free)	Free
Iron pickaxe	1	2	–	+5 / +3 / +7	Mining shop (100 SKP), Skiller kit	50 PKP
Steel pickaxe	6	3	–	+8 / +6 / +9	Mining shop (250 SKP), Skiller kit	125 PKP
Black pickaxe	11	4	–	+10 / +8 / +11	Mining shop (500 SKP), Skiller kit	250 PKP
Mithril pickaxe	21	5	–	+12 / +10 / +13	Mining shop (1,000 SKP), Skiller kit, level 25 Mining reward	500 PKP
Adamant pickaxe	31	6	–	+17 / +15 / +19	Mining shop (10,000 SKP)	5,000 PKP
Rune pickaxe	41	9	–	+26 / +24 / +29	Mining shop (25,000 SKP)	12,500 PKP
Gilded pickaxe	41	9	–	+26 / +24 / +29	Hard clue caskets	7,500 PKP
Dragon pickaxe	61	10	Special attack	+38 / +32 / +42	Mining shop (50,000 SKP)	25,000 PKP
3rd age pickaxe	61	10	–	+38 / +32 / +42	Voting shop (750 VP), elite clue caskets, the Mimic	1,312,500 PKP
Infernal pickaxe	61	10	Special attack; smelts some ores into bars	+38 / +32 / +42	Mining shop (250,000 SKP), Skilling Crates	125,000 PKP
Crystal pickaxe	71	11	Special attack; fastest pickaxe	+38 / +32 / +42	Mining shop (300,000 SKP), Skilling Crates, Divine Skilling impling jars	150,000 PKP
Aquatic adze	1	11	Also an axe; 90% of ores come noted	+38 slash, +32 crush, +42 str	2026 Summer event (limited time)	25,000,000 PKP

• 
  Bronze pickaxe
• 
  Iron pickaxe
• 
  Steel pickaxe
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  Black pickaxe
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  Mithril pickaxe
• 
  Adamant pickaxe
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  Rune pickaxe
• 
  Gilded pickaxe
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  Dragon pickaxe
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  3rd age pickaxe
• 
  Infernal pickaxe
• 
  Crystal pickaxe

SKP = skilling points, VP = vote points. Pickaxes are weak weapons: besides the bonuses above, every pickaxe has −2 slash attack and +1 slash defence. The Aquatic adze has the bonuses of a dragon axe instead. The pickaxes attack every 5 ticks and the Aquatic adze every 6.

How pickaxes work

• The best pickaxe is used: the pickaxe can be in your inventory or in your weapon slot. If you carry several, the game uses the best one you have the Mining level for.
• Attack level: you only need an Attack level to wield a pickaxe, not to mine with it. Wielding one usually needs an Attack level one lower than its Mining level (60 for the dragon and infernal pickaxes, 70 for the crystal pickaxe); the 3rd age pickaxe needs 65.
• Speed: how long each ore takes depends on the rock, your Mining level and your pickaxe's tier. Your Mining level has the bigger effect and the pickaxe a smaller one. Levels above 99 do not make you any faster, and each ore takes a random time around the average.
• Equal pickaxes: pickaxes with the same tier mine at exactly the same speed: rune and gilded, and dragon, 3rd age and infernal. The crystal pickaxe takes up to 10% less time per ore than a tier 10 pickaxe.
• Shooting stars: a Shooting Star does not use your own pickaxe, so you can mine it without one. The pickaxe you mine it with depends on how much stardust you carry.

Special attack

The dragon, infernal and crystal pickaxes share a special attack. Clicking the special attack bar needs a full bar and uses all of it: your character shouts "Ready for the rocks!" and your Mining level is boosted to 3 above your normal level. Since levels above 99 do not mine faster, the boost helps most below level 99, where it speeds you up a little and lets you mine a rock or use a pickaxe 3 levels early. The 3rd age and gilded pickaxes have no special attack.

Infernal pickaxe

Each ore you mine from a copper, tin, iron, mithril, adamantite or runite rock has a 1 in 6 chance to come out as a bar instead of an ore: a bronze bar from copper or tin, and an iron, mithril, adamantite or runite bar from the others, with no coal needed. You also get the Smithing experience for smelting that bar (1,600 for a runite bar, before XP bonuses), on top of the normal Mining experience. You do not need a Smithing level. Coal and amethyst are never smelted. The effect only works while the infernal pickaxe is the pickaxe being used: if you also carry a crystal pickaxe or the Aquatic adze, that one is used instead. The infernal pickaxe has no charges, so it never needs recharging.

Aquatic adze

The Aquatic adze (2026) was a limited-time reward from the 2026 Summer event, where it came from Bronze coolers. It can be traded.

It works as both a pickaxe and an axe at the same speed as the crystal tools and can be used at any Mining and Woodcutting level. 90% of the ores and logs it gathers go into your inventory noted. It has no special attack and does not smelt ores.

How to get them

Shops

• Mining shop (trade the Mining Tutor in the Skilling Zone, ::mining): bronze pickaxe free, iron 100, steel 250, black 500, mithril 1,000, adamant 10,000, rune 25,000, dragon 50,000, infernal 250,000 and crystal 300,000 skilling points.
• Skilling shop (trade the Skilling Tutor in Edgeville): a free bronze pickaxe.
• Voting shop: the 3rd age pickaxe for 750 vote points.

Other sources

• Starter kit: the Skiller starter kit, which new players can pick when they create their account, includes an iron, steel, black and mithril pickaxe.
• Achievement: reaching level 25 Mining rewards a mithril pickaxe.
• Clue scrolls: the gilded pickaxe comes from hard reward caskets and the 3rd age pickaxe from elite reward caskets.
• The Mimic can drop the 3rd age pickaxe.
• Skilling Crates, which you can receive while training skills, can contain an infernal or crystal pickaxe.
• Divine Skilling impling jars can contain a crystal pickaxe.
• Trading post: every pickaxe can be bought and sold there.

Other uses

• One master clue scroll step asks you to wield a 3rd age pickaxe.