Drill to Earth's Core Miner: The First 100 Cores

Miner is the 100-Core Academy kit and the only class this wiki will tell a brand-new account to buy on day one. You walk into the Academy, spend a pile of Cores you can actually farm in a session, and walk out with a rusty pickaxe, miner armor, and +50% pickaxe damage. That bonus is the entire early game: coal, iron, gold, diamonds, and the ores that feed both the sack and the Core grind. Drill to Earth’s Core is a 30-player online co-op descent, not a solo clicker, but Miner still plays well when the lobby is random and nobody has a 10,000-Core main yet.

This is not an S-tier late kit. The class tier list parks Miner in B as a starter, which is the honest rank. You buy it because the next verified prices are 3,000 (Scout, Healer) and 5,000 (Driller), and because Lucky Looter is 10,000. Skipping Miner to “save for S-tier” usually means you spend three hours on a weaker default kit and unlock Looter later anyway. Pay 100, play, then save. The class cost tool lists the verified ladder; this page is the playbook for the first rung.

What the kit actually does

Level 1 is +50% pickaxe damage. It is on immediately. You mine faster, you crack ore nodes that punish a naked tutorial swing, and you contribute to wall chips when the drill is between upgrades. Later personal nodes on Miner push pickaxe crit chance and a +100% sell bonus on ores and bars once you have smelted enough iron and gold. The team bonus is level 4, like every class, and Miner’s gate is 500,000 total depth — the lowest team gate in the verified list. A dedicated Miner who lives in the Academy kit will share pickaxe damage with the lobby sooner than a Pirate will share gold toys.

Starter gear is humble on purpose. Rusty pickaxe, miner armor, no cannon, no lantern, no flintlock. You are not here to solo a goblin lord. You are here to fill sacks, sell at the trading post, and feed Coins into Drill Power. If you want a fighter, that is Reaper at 10,000 or Bruiser at 5,000. If you want a gold printer, that is Pirate at 30,000. Miner’s job is the first hour and the Core income that buys those kits.

First-hour plan

1. Buy Miner for 100 Cores at the Academy and equip it before you launch.
2. Follow the getting started loop so you are not learning fuel, sacks, and the upgrade menu at the same time as a 5,000-Core identity.
3. Mine everything that fits. Coal pays. Iron and gold pay more after a furnace. Diamonds pay for Core progress and for later Princess jokes you should not buy yet.
4. Sell, then click Drill Power. Do not open the shop for Dynamite. Boots at 150 Coins are allowed. Bandages at 10 Coins are allowed.
5. Enter the tutorial dungeon and any early dungeon you can finish without wasting the lobby’s time. Chests are Cores and Coins even on Miner.
6. Watch fuel. A dead drill ends the pickaxe fantasy. Mechanic is the fuel class later; for now, dump corpses and cans like everyone else.
7. When the session ends, count Cores. If you are close to 5,000, stop buying vanity and look at Driller. If you somehow slammed 10,000, Lucky Looter is the loot upgrade, not a second Miner skin.

Play the pickaxe in mineshafts. Play the drill in the tunnel. Too many new Miners treat the vehicle as a taxi and then complain that rock HP spiked. You are a mining class on a drilling team. Both verbs matter.

When to swap

Swap when the Core pile buys a kit that changes the run, not when you are bored of the helmet. Driller at 5,000 is the swap for depth: +50% Drill Power and discounts on Drill Power, Mega Drill, and Power Slam. Lucky Looter at 10,000 is the swap for income: multi-drops, chest coins, Money Fog. Reaper at 10,000 is the swap if you are the person who keeps dying in rooms and wants soul orbs. Pirate at 30,000 is not a Miner upgrade path you should stare at during week one.

You can keep Miner equipped after you own Driller. The pickaxe bonus is still real for ore-only sessions and for daily quests that say “mine.” You can also park Miner and only wear it to finish the 500,000-depth team node. Do not reroll 2,500-Core passives on Miner until you own a second class you actually want to main. Rolling a Scout speed node onto Miner is how people waste the pile that should have been Driller.

Miner is B-tier on a finished account and A-tier advice for a new one. That sentence is the whole guide. Buy it, mine, sell, upgrade the drill, and spend the next verified price on a kit that still has a page on this hub. The players hub lists the five featured kits in order. When you outgrow the rusty pick, you are doing it right.