Tools

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.

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

Many blocks have a preferred tool and tier to break them, meaning some blocks can only be broken with certain tools or certain tool tiers. The tool's material also affects how fast a block is broken. If used for its intended block, 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, 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 bare hands at breaking blocks. This includes the firestarter, hammer, chisel, cleaver, and padlock.

Tool Types

There are different types of tools:

Tool	Function	Description
Axe	Harvesting, crafting	Used for breaking wood, leafs and plant blocks including trees, logs, planks, fences, gates and wooden building components. Used to create firewood in the crafting grid
Knife	Harvesting, crafting	Used for breaking plant blocks; including grass, wild crops and Cooper's Reed. Used for harvesting meat from animals, in leather working, and crafting wood items.
Shovel	Harvesting	Used to harvest terrain blocks including soil, clay, peat, sand, and gravel.
Hoe	Special, harvesting	Used in farming to convert soil into farmland. Used for harvesting terrain blocks including soil.
Pickaxe	Harvesting	Used for breaking ceramic blocks; stone and stone derived blocks. Used to harvest rock and ores.
Pospecting Pick	Special	Breaks rock, but does not drop items from mined blocks; used to detect the presence of ores when mining
Hammer	Special, crafting	Used in smithing, and to crush stones/ores in the crafting grid.
Chisel	Crafting, special	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
Saw	Crafting, harvesting	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
Shears	Harvesting	Used to break leaf blocks and branchy leaf blocks, as well as harvesting saplings and sticks from trees.
Cleaver	Special	Used to easily kill third generation domesticated animals bred using animal husbandry.
Scythe	Harvesting	Damages Plant blocks; used in farming to harvest crops or collect grass
Helve Hammer	Special, crafting	Used in smithing, via mechanization using a windmill.
Firestarter	Special	Used for starting firepits, pit kilns, and other structures on fire. Sneak and hold the right click to start heating it up.
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 on water!
Plumb and Square	Special	Used to reinforce blocks, having to be broken multiple times to disappear.
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 weapon determines their tier. In general, higher tier tools have more durability (lasts longer), provide faster mining speeds (faster to use) and allow you to break certain blocks other tiers can’t. Higher tier tools will also require advanced material and crafting processes to create.

Tier	Material	Tools available	Description
Tier 0	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	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	Copper	All except helve hammer	Copper tools can be made by casting or smithing, although 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
	Gold
	Silver
Tier 3	Tin Bronze	All except helve hammer	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.
	Bismuth bronze	All
	Black bronze	All
Tier 4	Iron	All	Iron tools can only be made by smithing. All available metal tools can be smithed from iron.
Tier 4	Meteoric Iron	All	Meteoric iron tools can only be made by smithing. All available metal tools can be smithed from meteoric iron.
Tier 5	Steel	All	Steel tools can only be made by smithing. All available metal tools can be smithed from steel.