Pickaxe Guide
Your soulbound prison pickaxe: how to get one, level it, read every stat, and the /pickaxe menu.
Your pickaxe is your single most important tool in Imperium. It is a special prison pickaxe — soulbound, upgradeable, and the engine that turns swinging into Denarius. This page covers everything about it: how to get one back, what every stat on the /pickaxe panel means, how leveling works, and how enchants plug in.
What Makes a Prison Pickaxe Special
Unlike vanilla Minecraft, your Imperium pickaxe is not disposable. It is tied to your account:
- Soulbound: it cannot be dropped, traded, or permanently lost. If you die, it stays with you.
- Upgradeable: you add enchants to it that multiply your income.
- Levelled: it earns XP and levels up as you mine.
- Reclaimable: if you somehow lose it,
/pickaxegives it back with all enchants and levels intact.
Only DIAMOND and NETHERITE pickaxes count as prison pickaxes and can hold Imperium enchants. A wood or iron pickaxe from /kit works for basic mining but cannot be enchanted.
How to Get (or Reclaim) a Pickaxe
You spawn with one, but if you ever find yourself without it:
| Method | How it works |
|---|---|
/kit | Opens the kits menu. The Tiro's Kit (starter kit) gives you a free prison pickaxe. Kits have cooldowns, so use them wisely. |
/pickaxe | Opens the pickaxe menu. If you have lost your pickaxe, the menu lets you reclaim a soulbound one instantly — your enchants and level are remembered. |
/menu | The main menu has a Pickaxe button that takes you to the same reclaim/upgrade screen. |
The simplest path is just /pickaxe. It opens the menu and lets you reclaim your pickaxe instantly — no cooldown, no cost. Your enchants, level, and XP are all stored server-side against your account.
The /pickaxe Menu
Type /pickaxe while holding your pickaxe (or with nothing in hand) to open the pickaxe panel. From here you can:
- View stats — every number on the pickaxe (see the table below).
- Reclaim — get your pickaxe back if it is missing.
- Open enchants — jump straight to the
/enchantmenu. - Manage abilities — see and cast Super Breaker, Mass Detonate, Token Storm.
- Extract enchants — pull an enchant off the pickaxe and turn it into a tradeable book.
Every Stat Explained
The /pickaxe menu and the lore on the item itself show a stack of numbers. Here is what each one means:
| Stat | What it means |
|---|---|
| Level | Your pickaxe's overall level. Goes up as it earns XP from mining. Higher levels unlock stronger enchants. |
| XP / Next Level | Progress toward the next pickaxe level. Earned automatically by breaking blocks. |
| Mining Speed | How fast you break blocks. Higher = faster swings. Boosted by enchants and skills. |
| Fortune | Chance to drop extra blocks per break. Scales your Sarcina fill rate. |
| Durability | Prison pickaxes never truly break — durability is shown but a soulbound pickaxe auto-repairs. Don't panic if the bar drops. |
| Enchant Slots | How many different enchants the pickaxe can hold. Base 10, +1 per prestige level. |
| Multiplier | Combined sell multiplier from enchants, rank, prestige, and boosters. The number that decides your income per block. |
Pickaxe Levels and XP
Your pickaxe earns XP every time you break a block. As XP accumulates, the pickaxe levels up. Levels do two things:
- Improve base stats — mining speed, fortune, and durability all tick up each level.
- Gate enchants and abilities — the most powerful enchants and all active abilities require a minimum pickaxe level.
| Milestone | What it unlocks |
|---|---|
| Each level | Small bumps to mining speed, fortune, and durability. |
| Level 10 | Unlocks the first active ability: Super Breaker. |
| Level 25 | Unlocks Mass Detonate. |
| Level 50 | Unlocks Token Storm. Mid-game enchants become equippable. |
| Level 100+ | Top-tier enchants become equippable. XP curve gets very steep. |
XP comes automatically — there is nothing to click. Just keep mining. The higher your level, the slower the next level comes, which is why enchants (not raw levels) become the main way to grow your income over time.
Enchants: Where the Real Power Lives
Stats from leveling are nice, but the real money comes from enchants. You add up to 10 enchants (more with prestige) to your pickaxe, and each one multiplies some part of your output.
- Open the enchant menu with
/enchantor from the/pickaxepanel. - Buy enchants with Auctoritas (tokens), Denarius, Civitas, or Aureus depending on the enchant.
- Each enchant has a max level — some cap at 10, some at 10,000.
- Extract enchants back into books any time to re-spec your build.
For the full enchant system, all 22 categories, and recommended early buys, see the Enchants article.
First two buys: Denarius Boost and Auctoritas Boost. They are cheap, unlock at Rank 1, and pay for themselves within minutes.
Active Abilities
Three enchants are actually active abilities you trigger on purpose. Trigger by sneaking and right-clicking with the pickaxe in hand, or cast by name with /ability cast <name>.
| Ability | What it does | Cooldown |
|---|---|---|
| Super Breaker | 30 seconds of instant-break mining plus 2x Auctoritas tokens. | 5 min |
| Mass Detonate | Instantly destroys every block within 10 blocks of you. | 10 min |
| Token Storm | 60 seconds of 2x Auctoritas token drops. | 10 min |
Save Mass Detonate for when you are surrounded by valuable ores — it can clear a fortune in a single click. Unlock all three from the /ability menu.
Durability and Repair
Prison pickaxes show a durability bar like any vanilla tool, but they are soulbound and auto-repairing. You will never permanently lose a pickaxe to durability. If the bar looks low, just keep mining — it refills, or open /pickaxe to repair instantly for free.
Don't waste inventory space carrying backup pickaxes. One prison pickaxe is all you ever need.
Pickaxe and Prestige
Each prestige level adds +1 enchant slot to your pickaxe. At base you have 10 slots; at Prestige 5 you have 15; at the max Prestige 25 you have 35. This is the single biggest reason to prestige — more enchants means more multiplicative bonuses stacking on the same pickaxe.
Prestige also grants permanent sell, token, mining, and XP multipliers that apply to the pickaxe's output. See the Prestige article for the full breakdown.
Tips for Pickaxe Progress
- Always reclaim with /pickaxe if you log in and your pickaxe is gone. Your enchants are safe.
- Buy income enchants first. Denarius Boost, Auctoritas Boost, and the multipliers are the foundation.
- Unlock all three abilities. Super Breaker alone roughly doubles your income when active.
- Re-spec freely. Extract enchants into books and swap your build as you unlock better enchants.
- Keep your mining streak up. Streaks add up to +20% on top of everything the pickaxe already does.
- Prestige for slots. More enchant slots = more multiplicative bonuses = exponential income growth.
Quick Command Reference
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/pickaxe | Open the pickaxe menu — view stats, reclaim, upgrade, and manage enchants. |
/enchant | Open the enchant menu directly on the pickaxe you are holding. |
/kit | Claim the Tiro's Kit for a free pickaxe if you have none. |
/ability | View and cast active pickaxe abilities. |
/ability cast <name> | Cast an ability by name: Super Breaker, Mass Detonate, Token Storm. |