Caves of Lore: How to Get and Upgrade the Pickaxe

To get the pickaxe in Caves of Lore, you must explore the upper Mines rather than check shops. Merchants in Emerisk Town do not sell the tool, and it does not unlock automatically through early quest progression. You must locate it manually near an abandoned excavation camp in the mine shafts, then take it to the town blacksmith alongside harvested ore and gold to upgrade its tier.

Where to Find the Pickaxe in the Mines

Prepare your party for combat against cave vermin and lurkers before heading underground. Descend from the outskirts of Emerisk into the upper mine shafts and follow this path:

Enter the Upper Mine Tunnels: Take the southern entrance leading downward from Emerisk into the mine complex.
Follow the Main Shaft West: Travel down the timber-reinforced passage until you reach a split by an abandoned cart track. Stay on the main route rather than heading into unlit side tunnels.
Defeat the Ambush Pack: Clear the cluster of subterranean enemies at the end of the western spur. Position your frontline party members in the corridor chokepoints to shield vulnerable backline companions from flanking attacks.
Retrieve the Tool: Search the abandoned camp area by the rockface. The pickaxe rests on the ground beside a tool cache and an exhausted mineral vein.

Once picked up, the tool enters your party's inventory permanently. It does not break, and you can immediately use it to crack fragile rubble and harvest low-grade ore.

How to Upgrade the Pickaxe

A basic pickaxe can only split brittle rock and low-grade surface deposits like copper. When you strike a barrier or deposit that exceeds your current tool tier, the game notifies you that the pickaxe lacks the required hardness.

To upgrade the pickaxe, return to the blacksmith in town with refined ingots, mineral components, and gold for the service fee. Upgrading improves its hardness rating, unlocking denser ore veins and clearing structural dungeon obstacles.

Pickaxe Tier	Upgrade Requirements	Unlocked Ore Nodes	Structural Barriers Cleared
Crude / Basic Pickaxe	Found in Upper Mines	Surface stone, copper veins	Fragile rubble, cracked rockfalls
Hardened Iron Pickaxe	Iron ingots, raw coal, gold fee	Dense iron deposits, silver ore	Solid stone blockades, cave-in debris
Refined Steel Pickaxe	Steel bars, rare flux, gold fee	Gold veins, gem clusters	Reinforced dungeon masonry, heavy barriers
Masterwork / Deep Pickaxe	Mithril ingots, arcane catalysts	Mithril nodes, enchanted crystals	Ancient subterranean seals, deep bedrock

Mining Practices and Exploration Tips

Do Not Sell Raw Ore for Gold: Early merchant payouts for raw copper and iron are modest. Keep raw ore to smelt ingots for equipment forging and tool upgrades, which deliver permanent party improvements.
Inspect Fractured Walls: Cracks in cavern walls do not require explosives or utility spells. If an irregular rockface or damaged masonry wall blocks a passage, your pickaxe is the intended tool to open it.
Clear Rooms Before Mining: Hostile patrols can disrupt your formation if they engage your party while you are interacting with environmental objects. Eliminate all enemies in a chamber before mining.
Watch Party Carry Weight: Raw ore adds substantial weight to your inventory. Overburdened parties suffer movement and agility penalties, so transfer heavy stacks to high-strength companions and return to town to forge ingots once your inventory fills.
Upgrade Before Venturing Deeper: Avoid pushing into lower regions such as the Fungal Shelf or the Depths with a basic tool. Exploring high-tier zones without matching iron- or steel-grade tools forces you to leave behind valuable mineral veins and barricaded secret rooms.