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Pixel Miner Beginner's Guide

Just started Pixel Miner? This is all you need to know — from controls to pickaxe upgrades, opening the next mine, gear upgrade odds, spirits, crafting and Rebirth, in order.

1. Getting started

Tap the ground to walk there, tap an ore to mine it. Even if you tap slightly off, your miner mines the nearest ore.
When you let go, your miner mines the nearest ores on its own (auto-mining is always on). Treasure chests and spirit ores come first.
Breaking an ore drops a gold bag, gear, gems or an upgrade Protection ticket, which flies to your miner like a magnet.

2. Spend gold on the pickaxe first

The key to mining power is the Pickaxe Upgrade under "Upgrade" in the bottom menu. A red dot appears on the menu when you can afford one.
The "Max upgrade" button spends all your remaining gold at once. If you're stuck, don't hoard gold — upgrade your pickaxe first.
Tapping the mining power quest opens the upgrade window right away.

3. Moving on to the next mine

Every mine has 4 quests: mine N ores, mine M of a specific mineral, reach a mining power, and defeat the boss ore.
When they're all done, a "Next mine ▶" button appears under the quest panel. You can also see an unlock guide on the map.
The first time you defeat a mine's boss ore, you always get 10 gems and 1 upgrade Protection ticket.

4. Gear and upgrades

Gear has 4 slots — weapon, hat, armor and boots — in 5 grades (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary), plus miner-exclusive gear. Deeper mines drop better grades.
Upgrades from +1 to +9 always succeed, from +10 they can fail, from +20 a failure drops the level, and from +30 the gear can break. An upgrade Protection ticket prevents drops and breaking.
"Synthesize" 3 pieces of +0 gear of the same grade in your bag to get 1 piece of the next grade. Gear stronger than what you're wearing gets a green ▲ mark.

5. Collecting miners

There are 16 miners. Recruit them by earning achievements (mine N minerals, reach mine N, defeat bosses N times, and so on) or with gems.
Every miner you recruit always helps through their owned bonus. See the conditions in the miner codex.

6. Daily to-dos

5 daily mines (gems, gold, items, levels, special items) each open once a day for 60 seconds. They reset at midnight on your device's clock.
Collect the daily free gems in the shop, Miner Pass rewards and achievement rewards. Buttons with a red dot have something to claim.
Idle rewards keep piling up based on your current mine while the app is closed. You get them when you reopen the app or come back to it.

7. Mid-game and beyond: spirits · crafting · Dimensional Rifts · Rebirth

From the 5th mine, spirits fly in and land on ores, turning them into giant ores. Smash one for 8x gold and XP.
From the 10th mine, defeating bosses can get you a spirit companion (wind, gold, flame, starlight, forest). Take one along for buffs, and it shoots light to mine with you.
Craft 5 Legendary Minerals from the minerals you've mined. After opening the 15th mine, combine Legendary Minerals with +45 Legendary or Exclusive gear of the same slot to make Mythic gear, which comes with automatic skills.
From the 15th mine, Dimensional Rifts open now and then. Step in to loot a treasure crystal room for 30 seconds and collect Rift Shards, the material for Unique gear.
Finish the quests of the last mine to Rebirth. You start again from the first mine, but you get Rebirth Stones (mining power and gold bonus), and your achievements, miners and gear stay.