Like many survival games before it, Core Keeper’s progression relies upon the player discovering and gathering resources of increased strength and durability with which to craft new gear. Where other mining games differ from Core Keeper’s execution of this progression, however, is that while its contemporaries hide the more valuable ores deeper below the game’s surface, Core Keeper has no deeper level to venture to, instead laying its map out in a flat sphere.
As players can approach map progression in any direction, they’re apt to take many different routes from one another, venturing to different biomes without regard to how progressed these biomes expect the player to be. This means that players could potentially be gathering scaled resources out of order or come to particular areas of the map just to encounter a brick wall.
To eliminate any confusion, we have outlined where to find the Core Keeper’s five primary ores and when players should ideally try to find them.
Copper
Copper serves as the weakest and likely first ore that players will encounter in Core Keeper. It is mostly concentrated to The Underground, the earthen biome that surrounds the map’s core.
A particularly soft metal, copper can be mined by hand, making it an ideal starting goal for brand new players who don’t even have a pickaxe to their name. As players carve their way out of the core, their sparkles in the darkness will likely draw the player’s eye.
Related: How to get a Workbench in Core Keeper
Tin
Large amounts of tin can be found when players reach the Clay Caves biome, where the earth runs orange. Out of convenience, the game’s second-strongest metal coincidentally points to the biome of the game’s second boss, Ghorm the Devourer.
Tin can also be used with leftover copper to produce bronze gear, providing another easily-obtainable upgrade tier for early-game players.
Related: How does crafting work in Core Keeper? Core Keeper Crafting Guide
Iron
Confined to the Forgotten Ruins, iron ore can be found in stone walls, where a better pickaxe is absolutely necessary to make considerable mining progress.
Related: How to get a Pickaxe in Core Keeper
Gold
Gold can be found sparingly in all biomes, but in small veins of as few as one or two blocks. Medium-to-late-game gear upgrades will require some amount of gold to produce, on top of their primary metals, so sprinkling gold ore among other ore veins gradually benefits players as they take major upward steps.
Related: How to make money fast in Core Keeper
Scarlet
Scarlet is the rarest and strongest metal in Core Keeper. While it is incredibly valuable, and its products are all best-in-slot items, scarlet can also be incredibly difficult to obtain.
After having defeated the core’s three bosses, the player will be introduced to the Azeos’ Wilderness biome, where they can hunt for very late-game gear in a very late-game location.
Related: How to get a Drill in Core Keeper
