Tools

From Vintage Story Wiki


Seraph using common tools.

To be able to progress in the game you will need to gather a lot of different materials. Some of these materials, however, might require some extra work before you’re able to collect them. This is what tools are for! Tools are basic items that allow you to harvest resources which would otherwise be either impractical or impossible to do with your bare hands. There’s a large variety of tools, usually classified by the material they’re made out of (tier).

Making tools can easily become a multi-step process that involves different kinds of mechanics, like knapping , casting , smithing , and grid crafting ; this makes getting better tools no easy feat, but the challenge makes it all the more rewarding in the end.

It’s important to note that some character classes have personal modifiers (traits) that can affect the effectiveness of certain tools:

  • The Hunter class gives a 10% increase in animal harvesting speed.
  • The Blackguard class gives a 10% increase in mining speed
  • The Tailor class gives a 10% decrease in mining speed and animal harvesting speed.

For a more in-depth explanation of positive and negative traits see Classes .

Obtaining

Loot Vessels

Some tools can be obtained by breaking Tool Cracked Vessels , which can be found in most ruins .

Scrap Weapon Kit

The scrap axe is one of the random scrap tools that can be obtained using a scrap weapon kit , with a 25% chance of being the axe over the other tools.

Crafting

All tools can be obtained by the different crafting mechanics in the game. For most tools, the process usually entails making a top piece of a tool by either knapping , casting or smithing and then combining it with a stick on the crafting grid.

Usage

Crafting

Materials can be crafted or processed by using tools in the crafting grid with the material to process.

Preferred tool

Some blocks have a "preferred tool", meaning they can only be broken with certain tools or tool tiers. The tool's material also affects how fast a block is broken. If used for its intended block, the ranking of tool materials, from worst to best in terms of breaking speed, are: Stone, Flint, Obsidian, Gold, Silver, Copper, Bismuth bronze, Tin Bronze, Black Bronze, Iron, Meteoric Iron, and Steel

Durability

Different tools have different amounts of durability, meaning some take more uses before they break than others. A tool's durability is also affected by its material. If used for its intended purpose, the ranking of tool materials, from worst to best in terms of durability, are: Stone, Flint, Obsidian, Gold, Silver, Copper, Tin Bronze, Bismuth Bronze, Black Bronze, Iron, Meteoric Iron, and Steel.

Some tools are not block-breaking tools, meaning they’re not better than your bare hands at breaking blocks. This includes the Firestarter, Hammer, Chisel, Cleaver, Helve Hammer, and Padlock.

Tool Types

According to their function, tools can either be for collecting blocks/items (Harvesting), for making new items (Crafting), or for a specific purpose unique to the tool (Special):

Image Tool Function Description
Grid CopperAxe.png Axe Harvesting, Crafting Used for cutting down trees and breaking leaf blocks, as well as wood derived blocks like logs, planks, fences, gates and other wooden building components. Used to create firewood in the crafting grid and for other crafting recipes.
Grid Copper knife.png Knife Harvesting, Crafting Used for harvesting plant blocks, including grass, mushrooms, and Cooper's Reed. Used for harvesting meat from animals, for leather working, and for crafting recipes.
Grid CopperShovel.png Shovel Harvesting Used for harvesting terrain blocks including soil, clay, peat, sand, and gravel.
Grid CopperHoe.png Hoe Special, Harvesting Used in farming to convert soil into farmland. Used for harvesting terrain blocks including soil.
Grid CopperPick.png Pickaxe Harvesting Used for breaking ceramic, stone, and stone derived blocks. Used to harvest rock and ores.
Grid Copper prospecting pick.png Prospecting Pick Special Breaks rock, but does not drop items from mined blocks; used to detect the presence of nearby ores when mining.
Grid CopperHammer.png Hammer Special, Crafting Used in smithing, and to crush stones/ores in the crafting grid.
Grid Copper Chisel.png Chisel Special, Crafting Used to stylize blocks. Paired with the hammer, it can be used to polish rock, create stone bricks, or carving wooden gears and axles in the crafting grid.
Grid CopperSaw.png Saw Harvesting, Crafting Used in grid crafting to create boards (the primary component required to create wooden items and blocks), cutting glass into slabs, and carving wooden gears. Used to harvest wood derived blocks.
Grid CopperShears.png Shears Harvesting Used to break leaf blocks and branchy leaf blocks, as well as harvesting seeds and sticks from trees. Used for trimming bushes and for crafting parchment.
Grid copper cleaver.png Cleaver Special Used to easily kill third generation domesticated animals bred using animal husbandry.
Grid Scythe.png Scythe Harvesting Used in farming to harvest crops or collect grass in a big radius.
Grid Tin bronze helve hammer.png Helve Hammer Crafting Used in smithing, along with a helve hammer base and a toggle, via mechanization using a windmill.
Grid Firestarter.png Firestarter Special Used for starting firepits, pit kilns, and other structures on fire, as well as placed items like torches. Sneak and hold the right click to start heating it up.
Pan-wooden.png Wooden pan Special Used to acquire minerals from sand and gravel terrain blocks. Right click a sand block while holding the wooden pan and hold right click to start panning for minerals. Don’t forget to stand in water!
Sieve-linen.png Sieve Special Used to turn linen fiber pulp into parchment .
Inkandquill.png Ink and quill Special Used to write in blank books and to transcribe the text of a book onto a parchment .
Grid Bugnet.png Bug net Special Used to catch butterflies .
Plumb and Square.png Plumb and Square Special Used to reinforce blocks, having to be broken multiple times to disappear.
Grid Padlock.png Padlock Special Used to protect container blocks, preventing other players from accessing them. Right click a container block with the padlock in your active hand to lock it.

Tool Tiers

The material used to create the tool determines their tier. In general, higher tier tools have more durability (lasts longer), provide faster mining/harvesting speeds (faster to use) and allow you to break certain blocks other tiers cannot. Higher tier tools will also require advanced material and crafting processes to create.

Tier Material Tools available Description
Tier 0 Metal-scraps.png Metal scraps Only axe Some tools can be made from metal scraps in an emergency or as first solutions in the early game. To get a scrap tool, the player needs to craft a scrap weapon kit, which can be right clicked to receive a random scrap weapon or tool.
Tier 1 Flint.png Stones Only knife, axe, shovel, and hoe Stone tools are made by knapping . Stone tools made of flint or other stones offer the player a limited selection of tools, but are the only early game option.
Tier 2 Ingot-copper.png Copper All except helve hammer Copper tools can be made by casting or smithing, although almost all metal tools can be made from copper, not all tools can be made using the casting mechanic. These tools can also be crafted from the rare base metals gold and silver.
Ingot-gold.png Gold
Ingot-silver.png Silver
Tier 3 Ingot-tin.png Tin Bronze All Bronze alloy tools can be made by casting or smithing , although all metal tools can be made from bronze alloys, not all tools can be made using the casting mechanic.
Ingot-bismuth.png Bismuth bronze
Ingot-blackbronze.png Black bronze
Tier 4 Ingot-iron.png Iron All Iron tools can only be made by smithing. All available metal tools can be smithed from iron. Iron ore must be refined in a bloomery , which after some time produces iron bloom. The iron bloom must then be smithed into an ingot, which can then be worked into tools.
Ingot-meteoriciron.png Meteoric Iron Meteoric iron tools can only be made by smithing . All available metal tools can be smithed from meteoric iron . Meteoric iron also must be bloomed, but comes out as a workable ingot as opposed to bloom.
Tier 5 Ingot-steel.png Steel All Steel tools can only be made by smithing . All available metal tools can be smithed from steel. For more information on the process, go to the steel making page.

Special Cases

Certain tools who don’t have a tier include the Firestarter, Plumb and Square, Padlock, Ink and Quill, Bug net, Sieve and Wooden Pan

Tool Stats

As explained before, some tools have certain attributes that make them ideal for breaking certain types of blocks, reducing the time it takes to break them. Some of these are:

Axes

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Wood Plants Leaves
Other stones 2.6x 2.2x 1.7x 50-60
Flint 2.8x 2.2x 1.6x 60-70
Obsidian 3.5x 2.7x 2.4x 90-100
Scrap 4.0x 2.6x 2.2x 125
Copper 5.0x 2.8x 2.4x 250
Gold 4.0x 3.3x 3.0x 500
Silver 4.0x 3.3x 3.0x 125
Bismuth bronze 5.4x 3.5x 2.6x 125
Tin bronze 5.8x 3.8x 3.0x 400
Black bronze 6.3x 4.0x 3.1x 600
Iron 8.0x 5.0x 3.2x 900
Meteoric iron 9.0x 5.5x 3.6x 1200
Steel 10x 6.0x 4.0x 1800

Knives

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Plants
Other stones 1.0x 90-110
Flint 1.2x 130-150
Obsidian 1.2x 160-180
Copper 1.5x 300
Gold 1.6x 500
Silver 1.6x 450
Bismuth bronze 1.7x 150
Tin bronze 1.8x 150
Black bronze 1.9x 550
Iron 2.0x 900
Meteoric iron 2.2x 1200
Steel 2.4x 2250

Shovels

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Soil Sand Gravel Snow
Other stones 2.2x 2.2x 1.9x 1.9x 60
Flint 2.5x 2.2x 1.9x 1.9x 90
Obsidian 3.0x 3.0x 2.2x 2.2x 100
Copper 4.0x 4.0x 2.6x 2.6x 400
Bismuth bronze 5.0x 5.0x 3.2x 3.2x 650
Tin bronze 5.4x 5.4x 3.6x 3.6x 600
Gold 5.4x 5.4x 3.6x 3.6x 200
Silver 5.4x 5.4x 3.6x 3.6x 200
Black bronze 5.5x 5.5x 3.7x 3.7x 700
Iron 6.0x 6.0x 4.0x 4.0x 1200
Meteoric iron 6.5x 6.5x 4.2x 4.2x 1400
Steel 7.0x 7.0x 4.4x 4.4x 3000

Hoes

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Soil
Other stones 2.2x 30
Basalt 2.2x 35
Flint 2.2x 40
Obsidian 2.2x 50
Copper 2.6x 200
Bismuth bronze 3.2x 300
Tin bronze 3.6x 280
Gold 3.6x 90
Silver 3.6x 90
Black bronze 3.6x 330
Iron 4.0x 500
Meteoric iron 4.15x 600
Steel 4.4x 1250

Pickaxes

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Ceramic Stone Ore Metal Ice
Copper 1.5x 4.0x 4.0x 4.0x 1.75x 300
Bismuth bronze 2.0x 5.5x 5.5x 5.5x 2.2x 500
Tin bronze 2.25x 6.0x 6.0x 6.0x 2.3x 450
Gold 1.75x 5.0x 5.0x 5.0x 2.0x 150
Silver 1.75x 5.0x 5.0x 5.0x 2.0x 175
Black bronze 2.5x 6.5x 6.5x 6.5x 2.8x 550
Iron 2.75x 7.5x 7.5x 7.5x 3.5x 1000
Meteoric iron 3.0x 8.0x 8.0x 8.0x 3.75x 1300
Steel 3.25x 9.0x 9.0x 9.0x 4.25x 2500

Saws

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Wood Leaves
Copper 4.0x 2.4x 250
Bismuth bronze 4.4x 2.6x 450
Tin bronze 4.6x 3.0x 400
Gold 4.6x 3.0x 70
Silver 4.6x 3.0x 90
Black bronze 4.7x 3.1x 500
Iron 5.0x 3.2x 900
Meteoric iron 5.5x 3.6x 1200
Steel 6.0x 4.0x 2250

Shears

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Leaves
Copper 1.0x 1000
Bismuth bronze 1.0x 2000
Tin bronze 1.0x 1750
Gold 1.0x 750
Silver 1.0x 750
Black bronze 1.0x 2250
Iron 1.0x 3800
Meteoric iron 1.0x 7500
Steel 1.0x 9500

Scythes

Material Mining/Harvesting Speed Durability
Plants
Copper 1.0x 450
Bismuth bronze 1.0x 750
Tin bronze 1.0x 600
Gold 1.0x 15
Silver 1.0x 187
Black bronze 1.0x 900
Iron 1.0x 1350
Meteoric iron 1.0x 1800
Steel 1.0x 3400


Items
Resources Beeswax.pngBeeswaxBlastingpowder.pngBlasting powderBone.pngBoneBonemeal.pngBonemealCandle.pngCandleCattailtops.pngCattailsCharcoal.pngCharcoalClay-blue.pngClayRawbrick-fire.pngClay bricksClearquartz.pngClear quartzCloth-plain.pngClothCoke.pngCokeCompost.pngCompostCrushed-quartz.pngCrushed resourcesDrygrass.pngDry grassEgg-chicken.pngEggFat.pngFatFeather.pngFeatherFirewood.pngFirewoodFlaxfibers.pngFlax fibersFlaxtwine.pngFlax twineFlint.pngFlintGem-emerald-rough.pngGemsHerbbundle-basil.pngHerb bundlesHide-raw-large.pngHidesHoneycomb.pngHoneycombLargegearsection.pngLarge gear sectionLeather-plain.pngLeatherLime.pngLimeMortar.pngMortarPaper-parchment.pngParchmentPapyrustops.pngPapyrusPlank-oak.pngPlanksPotash.pngPotashQuicklime.pngQuicklimeRefractorybrick-fired-tier1.pngRefractory brickResin.pngResinSail.pngSailSewingkit.pngSewing kitShingle-burned-blue.pngShinglesStick.pngStickStone-granite.pngStonesStonebrick-granite.pngStone bricksInsect-termite.pngTermites
Metal Metalbit-iron.pngMetal BitsMetalchain-iron.pngChainsIngot-iron.pngIngotsNightvisionupgrades-nightvisionlens1.pngJonas partsMetallamellae-iron.pngLamellaeMetal-scraps.pngMetal scrapsMetal-parts.pngMetal partsMetalbit-iron.pngNuggetsOre-bountiful-nativecopper-basalt.pngOrePadlock-iron.pngPadlocksMetalplate-iron.pngPlatesPoundercap-iron.pngPounder capsGear-rusty.pngRusty gearMetalscale-iron.pngScalesScrapweaponkit.pngScrap weapon kitSolderbar.pngSolder barGear-temporal.pngTemporal gearPickaxehead-iron.pngTool heads
Seeds Cattailroot.pngCattail rootSeeds-flax.pngCrop seedsPapyrusroot.pngPapyrus rootTreeseed-oak.pngTree seeds
Tools Axe-copper.pngAxeChisel-copper.pngChiselCleaver-copper.pngCleaverFirestarter.pngFirestarterHammer-copper.pngHammerHelvehammer-bismuthbronze.pngHelve hammerHoe-copper.pngHoeInkandquill.pngInk and quillKnife-copper.pngKnifeOreblastingbomb.pngOre blasting bombPickaxe-copper.pngPickaxePlumbandsquare.pngPlumb and SquareProspectingpick-copper.pngProspecting pickSaw-iron.pngSawScythe-copper.pngScytheShears-copper.pngShearsShovel-copper.pngShovelSieve-linen.pngSieveSolderingiron.pngSoldering ironTongs.pngTongsPan-wooden.pngWooden panWrench-copper.pngWrench
Weapons Arrow-flint.pngArrowBeenade-opened.pngBeenadeBow-simple.pngBowBlade-falx-copper.pngFalxSword-copper.pngSwordSpear-copper.pngSpearSling.pngSlingSpear-hacking.pngTuning spear
Consumables
Equipment
Transport Glider.pngGliderBoat-raft-pine.pngRaftOar-crude-pine.pngCrude oar
Miscellaneous Book-normal-brickred.pngBookOmoktabletop.pngGame of OmokTuningcylinder-1.pngTuning cylinder
Creative only Stackrandomizer-ingot.pngStack randomizers


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