Anyone who’s just unlocked hardmode in Terraria knows that sudden rush of excitement mixed with panic. You beat the Wall of Flesh, grabbed your first hardmode drops, and then realize almost every mid-tier gear set you want requires a rare ore you’ve never seen before. If you’re stuck wondering where to find mythril in Terraria, you’re not alone. Thousands of new hardmode players waste hours digging in the wrong spots before they learn the specific spawn rules and locations for this valuable ore. This guide breaks down everything you need to know to get all the mythril you need in under an hour, no random grinding required.
Pre-Requisites You Need to Unlock Mythril Spawns
Mythril doesn’t exist in pre-hardmode worlds, no matter how far you dig, so you have to check a few boxes first before you’ll see any spawns. First, you need to defeat the Wall of Flesh to trigger the hardmode conversion of your world. That’s the base requirement for all hardmode exclusive ores, including mythril. You cannot find mythril in pre-hardmode worlds at all, so don’t waste your time digging around before you beat that boss.
Once hardmode is active, you need to smash at least two Demon Altars (if you have a Corruption world) or Crimson Altars (if you have a Crimson world) using the Pwnhammer you get from defeating the Wall of Flesh. The first altar you smash spawns cobalt or palladium, the first tier of hardmode ore. The second altar you smash spawns mythril or its alternate ore, orichalcum. Each additional altar you smash will spawn more of these ores across your world, so it’s worth smashing 3 to 5 total if you want denser mythril spawns.
You’ll also need a pickaxe with at least 110 pickaxe power to mine mythril once you find it. The easiest pickaxe to get for this is the Molten Pickaxe, crafted from hellstone bars you can farm in the Underworld in pre-hardmode. If you already have cobalt or palladium gear, those pickaxes work too, and mine mythril slightly faster. Mythril is one of two interchangeable mid-hardmode ores, so if your world spawns orichalcum instead, it works for the same recipes, but you can farm mythril in a separate world if you prefer its stat bonuses for magic builds.
Where to Find Mythril in Terraria: Exact Biome and Depth Ranges
Once you’ve met all the pre-requisites, mythril spawns in very specific parts of your world, so you don’t have to dig randomly anywhere. It spawns most commonly between 0 and -2000 feet (or 0 and -610 meters) on the depth meter, in the lower half of the Cavern layer, right above the border of the Underworld. You won’t find it in the upper Underground layer, or on the surface, even after hardmode activates.
Mythril can spawn in any biome within that depth range, but it’s easier to find in areas that don’t have high concentrations of Corruption, Crimson, or Hallow blocks, since those biomes have their own exclusive blocks that take up spawn slots. Mythril ore glows faintly blue, so it’s easy to spot if you’re exploring dark caverns without too much background clutter, even before you use a Spelunker Potion.
If you’re not sure where to start your search, stick to these high-yield spots first:
- Lower cavern areas directly above large Underworld lava lakes, as ore generation is denser in these zones with fewer competing block spawns
- Pre-existing tunnel networks near abandoned mine shafts, since you won't have to dig as much new terrain to spot exposed ore veins
- Border regions between the Cavern layer and the Underground Jungle, as these areas usually have less competing ore spawns from biomes like the Corruption or Crimson
Most mythril veins are 3 to 8 blocks large, so you’ll usually get 15 to 40 ore per vein if you mine the whole thing. You’ll need around 120 mythril ore to make a full set of mythril armor, plus a mythril anvil, so you only need to find 4 to 6 full veins to get everything you need.
Pro Tips to Farm Mythril Faster With Less Effort
You don’t have to spend hours digging around to get enough mythril, if you use these simple tricks to speed up the process. Spelunker Potions cut your farming time by at least 70% by highlighting all nearby ore through walls, so always drink one before you start a mining run. They’re easy to craft with bottled water, blinkroot, moonglow, and gold ore, ingredients you can get easily in pre-hardmode. I usually keep a stack of 10 Spelunker Potions on hand before I start any hardmode ore farming run, and I’ve never had to spend more than 30 minutes getting enough mythril for a full armor set and anvil.
Pair your Spelunker Potion with a Mining Potion, which increases your pickaxe speed by 25%, and a Shine Potion so you don’t have to place as many torches as you explore. If you have the Metal Detector accessory, it will alert you as soon as mythril is nearby, so you don’t have to guess if you’re searching in a good spot. The Metal Detector drops from cave slimes, which are common in pre-hardmode caverns, so it’s worth farming one early if you don’t have it already.
If you’re having terrible luck finding mythril in your main world, make a new small hardmode world to farm it instead. Small worlds are much faster to dig through, and you can hit the ideal mythril depth range in just a minute or two of digging straight down from spawn. You can grab all the ore you need in 20 minutes, then bring it back to your main world to craft, no need to mess up your main world’s terrain if you don’t want to. You can also use a mole mount if you have one, to dig horizontal tunnels through the ideal depth range much faster than you can with a pickaxe alone.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting for Mythril
There are a few really common mistakes that make mythril farming way more frustrating than it needs to be, and I’ve made all of them myself. I’ve spent way too many hours digging through upper caverns early in hardmode looking for mythril, only to realize I was 1000 feet too high to find any spawns. Don’t make that same mistake. Always check your depth meter first, and make sure you’re below 0 feet before you start searching seriously.
Using a pickaxe with less than 110 pickaxe power will not mine mythril at all, even if you hit it for minutes. Gold and Platinum pickaxes only have 100 pickaxe power, so they won’t work, no matter how much you upgrade them. Always double check you have a Molten Pickaxe or better before you head out to mine, or you’ll waste your trip when you find a vein and can’t collect it.
Another common mistake is smashing too few altars. If you only smash one altar when you first start hardmode, you’ll only get cobalt or palladium spawns, no mythril. You need to smash at least two altars to trigger mythril or orichalcum spawns, so don’t skip that step. Also, don’t ignore orichalcum if that’s the alternate ore that spawns in your world. It’s the exact same tier as mythril, and works for all the same recipes, so you don’t need to go out of your way to find mythril unless you specifically want the higher magic damage bonus from mythril armor. Orichalcum’s regen buff is actually better for melee and ranger builds for most players anyway.
Finally, don’t forget to clear out nearby enemies before you stop to mine a vein. Hardmode caverns have much stronger enemies than pre-hardmode, including Giant Bats, Skeleton Archers, and Corruptors that can shoot projectiles through walls. If you don’t clear them first, you’ll keep getting interrupted mid-mine, and might even die and lose all the ore you’ve collected so far. I always carry a strong weapon with me when I’m mining, so I can take out any spawns quickly before I get back to digging.
At the end of the day, once you know where to find mythril in Terraria, the farming process is way less frustrating than it seems when you first start hardmode. Stick to the lower cavern layers, bring the right potions and pickaxe, and you’ll have enough ore to craft a full mythril armor set, anvil, and all the tools you need to progress to adamantite or titanium in no time. Don’t be afraid to make a separate farming world if your main world has mostly orichalcum, it’s a quick trick that saves hours of searching. Once you have your mythril gear, you’ll be able to take on the next set of hardmode bosses easily, and move on to even better gear later.