Reforging is the most powerful progression system in Mine a Planet that almost no tutorial explains well, and yet it is responsible for the single biggest damage jumps in the entire game. A well-reforged Mythril Destroyer can out-damage a freshly crafted Cosmic Reaper that has never been rolled, and a single perfect reforge on a drill you intend to keep across multiple rebirths can save you dozens of hours of grinding. This guide walks through the stat pool, the cost curve, the tier breakpoints, and the optimal reforge timing for every drill head in the game.
The reason reforging matters so much is that the secondary stats on a drill persist across rebirths if the drill is bound to your account, while the base damage of the drill tier itself can be out-scaled by newer drills after a few patches. A smart reforge strategy targets the stats that compound with the prestige multipliers, not the stats that simply inflate the visible damage number. Knowing the difference between those two categories is what separates a reforge novice from a reforge master.
Know the Stat Pool
Every drill in Mine a Planet can roll five secondary stats, and the pool is fixed across all drill tiers. The five stats are Ore Multiplier, Drill Speed, Rare Drop Chance, Smelt Speed, and XP Bonus. Each reforge rerolls all five stats from scratch, and the values are pulled from a tier-weighted random pool. Common-tier drills pull from the low end of the pool, while legendary drills pull from the high end.
| Stat | Effect | Tier-Scaled? | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ore Multiplier | Multiplies raw ore yield per drill swing | Yes | All planets, all stages |
| Drill Speed | Reduces time between drill swings | Yes | High-HP nodes on Mars+ |
| Rare Drop Chance | Increases chance of bonus rare drops | Yes | Late-game grind |
| Smelt Speed | Reduces smelter batch time | No | Bulk overnight smelt |
| XP Bonus | Boosts XP gain from breaking nodes | Yes | Leveling and Rebirth prep |
The "Tier-Scaled" column is important because Ore Multiplier and Drill Speed both scale their maximum roll based on the drill tier. A Mythril Destroyer can roll a much higher Ore Multiplier than a Wooden Pickaxe, which is why reforging low-tier drills is rarely worth the Drill Piece cost.
Prioritize Ore Multiplier Above Everything Else
If you only have the patience to learn one reforge rule, make it this: Ore Multiplier is the single most important stat in the game, and you should reroll until you hit a high Ore Multiplier roll on every drill you intend to keep. The reason is that Ore Multiplier compounds with the prestige Ore Multiplier upgrade and with the smelter bulk bonus, which means a high roll multiplies your effective Drill Piece income by a factor that grows every time you level up.
The second priority is Drill Speed, because faster swings mean more nodes broken per minute, which means more raw ore flowing into the smelter, which means more ingots per hour. Rare Drop Chance is a strong third because late-game materials like Mythril and Stardust depend on rare drops to keep the crafting bench supplied. Smelt Speed and XP Bonus are useful but situational, and you should only chase them if your other three stats are already at high rolls.
Match Reforge Cost to Drill Value
The strategic decision behind reforge budgeting is fundamentally about aligning your investment with the lifetime of the drill you are reforging. A drill intended for one short grinding session should not receive the same reforge investment as a drill you plan to bind across multiple rebirths, because the lifetime value differs by an order of magnitude. This lifetime-value framing is what drives the entire reforge cost strategy covered in the companion guide.
The cost of each reforge attempt scales with the drill tier, and the scaling is steep. A Wooden Pickaxe reforge costs essentially nothing, while a Mythril Destroyer reforge can cost hundreds of thousands of Drill Pieces per roll. The optimal strategy is to reforge aggressively on your low-tier drills while you are learning the system, then save your expensive reforges for drills you plan to keep across rebirths.
| Drill Tier | Reforge Cost (per roll) | Recommended Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Common (Wooden Pickaxe, Copper Drill) | ~100 Drill Pieces | Roll freely for practice |
| Rare (Iron Hammer, Titanium Spire) | ~5,000 Drill Pieces | Roll until high Ore Multiplier |
| Epic (Plasma Drill, Quantum Borer, Solar Flare) | ~50,000 Drill Pieces | Save for one or two perfect rolls |
| Legendary (Mythril Destroyer, Cosmic Reaper, Astral Annihilator) | ~500,000+ Drill Pieces | Reforge only the one you will bind across rebirths |
The exact cost numbers are community-tested averages and may shift with future patches. The principle, however, is stable: reforge cost grows with drill value, so save your high-cost reforges for the drill you intend to use the longest. This principle applies broadly across all progression stages and is one of the most reliable optimization levers in the game.
Decide When to Bind a Drill Across Rebirths
The Rebirth screen lets you bind one drill head to your account so that it survives the reset. Binding a drill is the central decision of mid-game Mine a Planet, and the timing matters because the Prestige Points you earn are calculated based on the drills you have bound at the moment of reset. Binding a Legendary drill with a perfect reforge will grant significantly more Prestige Points than binding a Rare drill with no reforge, so the smart play is to grind for a Legendary before your first rebirth if you want the maximum Prestige Point payout.
For most players, the optimal first binding is a Mythril Destroyer with a high Ore Multiplier roll. This combination carries you through the Nebula grind and provides a strong base for the second rebirth, which unlocks the Prestige Shop exclusive drills. For a deeper breakdown of the rebirth math, see our Mine a Planet rebirth guide and our Mine a Planet second rebirth unlock guide.
Avoid Common Reforge Mistakes
The most common mistake is to reforge a drill you plan to replace within the next few hours. Because the reforge cost scales with the drill tier, throwing thousands of Drill Pieces at a Titanium Spire that you will replace with a Mythril Destroyer tomorrow is pure waste. The second most common mistake is to settle for a low Ore Multiplier roll because the other stats look shiny — a drill with a perfect Rare Drop Chance but a poor Ore Multiplier will earn less Drill Piece income overall than a drill with a great Ore Multiplier and mediocre other stats.
The third mistake is to reforge during a smelter bottleneck. If your smelter is already overflowing with queued batches, taking time to reforge means the ore you are currently mining will sit in your inventory unused. Coordinate your reforge sessions with empty smelter queues so that your freshly reforged drill can immediately feed ore into a fresh batch.
Build a Reforge Budget Before You Start Rolling
The single biggest financial mistake in Mine a Planet is to reforge without a budget, because the Drill Piece cost of a high-tier reforge campaign can easily exceed your entire ore income for a single play session. Before you commit to chasing a perfect roll on a Legendary drill, set a hard ceiling — for example, 5 million Drill Pieces — and stop rolling the moment you hit that ceiling. Drill Pieces earned beyond the ceiling should be saved for the next crafting milestone or held in reserve for a future patch's premium drills.
A practical reforge budget for most players is roughly 10% of your total Drill Piece holdings. If you are sitting on 50 million Drill Pieces, allocating 5 million to your Mythril Destroyer reforge campaign is reasonable. If you are sitting on 5 million, you should reforge down to Rare-tier drills only and defer the Legendary reforge until after a profitable smelt cycle.
Coordinate Reforge With Your Smelter and Crafting Pipeline
A reforge campaign only pays off when you can immediately use the reforged drill to feed ore into a smelter that is not already backed up, which is why coordination matters. The optimal cadence is to complete a major reforge immediately before a long grinding session, when the smelter is empty and the inventory is light. This way, every swing of the freshly reforged drill pushes ore directly into a fresh smelter batch, and the resulting ingots flow straight into the crafting bench.
If you reforge in the middle of a heavy crafting push, the new drill sits in your inventory while you finish the queue, and you lose the early-session damage boost that would have been most valuable. Conversely, if you reforge right before logging off, you start your next session with an upgraded drill ready to clear high-HP nodes efficiently. For a complete end-to-end crafting loop walkthrough, our Mine a Planet crafting guide shows how reforge, smelt, and craft fit together.
Reforge Persistence Across Rebirths
One of the most powerful and least-understood reforge mechanics is that reforges persist across rebirths if the drill is bound to your account and not traded away. This means a perfectly rolled Mythril Destroyer with high Ore Multiplier will continue to give you those bonuses on every subsequent rebirth, which compounds massively over a multi-rebirth play session. Players who learn to reforge a single drill to perfection and then keep it bound across multiple rebirths see roughly 30-50% better progression rates than players who re-roll their reforges every rebirth.
The key is to choose the right drill to bind before you start your reforge campaign. The optimal choice is the highest-tier drill you can afford to keep bound across at least 5-10 rebirths, which for most players means the Mythril Destroyer or the Cosmic Reaper. The Astral Annihilator is the best long-term choice, but it requires a Second Rebirth to unlock, so most players start with the Mythril Destroyer and upgrade to the Astral Annihilator later.
When Not to Reforge
There are three specific situations where you should not reforge your drill, even if the stat pool looks tempting. First, do not reforge a drill you intend to replace within the next 5-10 hours — the reforge cost is sunk, and you will lose the bonus the moment you switch drills. Second, do not reforge during a smelter bottleneck — the time spent reforging is time your drill is not feeding ore into the smelter. Third, do not reforge a low-tier drill unless you are practicing the system on a free roll, because the stat ceiling on common-tier drills is too low to make any single roll worth chasing.
For the cost-benefit math on each reforge scenario, see our reforge cost strategy guide which breaks down the expected roll counts and the optimal budget for every drill tier. The exact mechanics vary slightly by patch, but the underlying principle remains consistent across all player playstyles.
Reforge Stat Priority
Different reforge stats have different priorities.
| Priority | Stat | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ore Multiplier | Highest |
| 2 | Drill Speed | High |
| 3 | Rare Drop | Medium |
| 4 | Smelt Speed | Medium |
| 5 | XP Bonus | Low |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I lock one stat and reroll only the others?
No, the Mine a Planet reforge system rerolls all five stats simultaneously. There is no lock-and-reroll option, which is why reroll cost is so high on legendary drills. Your only mitigation is to keep reforging until the overall stat spread is favorable.
Does reforge affect the cosmetic appearance of the drill?
No, reforge only changes the secondary stat block. The mesh, particle effects, and damage type are tied to the drill tier and do not change with reforge. If you want a cosmetic change, you need to craft a higher-tier drill.
How many reforges does it usually take to get a high Ore Multiplier roll?
Community testing suggests the average is roughly 8-12 rolls for a Rare drill and 20-30 rolls for a Legendary drill, but the variance is enormous. Some players hit a near-perfect roll on their first try, while others burn through 100 rolls without seeing a high Ore Multiplier.
Should I reforge my starter Wooden Pickaxe for practice?
Yes, the Wooden Pickaxe reforge is essentially free and is the best way to learn the stat pool without risking valuable Drill Pieces. Spend an hour reforging your starter drill until you understand how the stats roll, then move on to higher tiers.
Does the Reforge station have a daily limit?
No, there is no daily cap on reforge attempts. You can reroll as many times as you can afford. The only practical limit is your Drill Piece balance, which is why budgeting your reforge spend is critical for end-game players.