Wall World Mining Guide: Upgrade Order, Resources, and Cave Routes

This Wall World mining guide focuses on three priorities: upgrade your plasma cutter early, clear caves from the back toward your spider, and spend less time hauling resources through already-cleared tunnels. The community-recommended opening is to start with a diamond cave, collect six cobalt for the first plasma cutter upgrade, then seek a mossy cave for the materials needed to reach cutter level 3. After that, the sponge biome below the starting zone supplies pearls for level 4—provided your spider can survive the journey.

The route and mechanics below draw on HumanFtw’s community guide, Wall World: All You Need to Know, last updated in June 2023. Current-version applicability is not independently confirmed, and later player comments dispute an older wave-timer tactic.

Early Mining Route and Upgrade Order

Mining upgrades help you break through more rock between attacks, but putting everything into your exosuit can leave your spider unable to defend itself. HumanFtw recommends investing heavily in mining while spending enough on combat to avoid excessive damage.

1. Start with a diamond cave

The guide recommends leaving an opening mossy cave and looking for a diamond cave instead. Its first target is six cobalt, followed by an immediate return to purchase the first plasma cutter upgrade.

This opening prioritizes faster excavation before a longer clearing trip. Do not confuse the cave’s diamond resource with cobalt: the guide specifically names cobalt as the material for this first purchase.

2. Work toward the second cutter upgrade

Return to mining after buying the first upgrade. HumanFtw recommends returning once you have the next upgrade’s materials or when the wave starts, whichever happens first.

Treat the attack cycle as a limit on your mining trip rather than staying underground solely to complete a purchase. An upgrade is less useful if collecting its final materials costs too much spider health.

3. Find a mossy cave for cutter level 3

After clearing the first diamond cave, the suggested route moves to a mossy cave for the third plasma cutter upgrade.

At this stage, choose between:

• Continuing in the starting zone: Build resources and improve your spider before crossing into harder areas.
• Moving into another zone: Pursue the next mining materials sooner, accepting tougher rocks and enemies.

The guide makes this choice dependent on permanent upgrades. A developed save can support a more aggressive route than a fresh one.

4. Head down for pearls

According to the community guide, plasma cutter level 4 requires pearls, found in the sponge biome in Lower 1.

Before descending, make sure your combat upgrades can handle the transition. Crossing the clouds between zones summons additional enemies, so reaching the next resource tier is not simply a mining-speed check.

How to Clear Caves Efficiently

HumanFtw recommends excavating toward the back of a cave first, then clearing the remaining rock while working back toward the spider.

This route reduces the distance over which you must move loose resources. It also gives limited-range mining support, such as the seismic generator, more opportunity to help as you work back through the cave.

A practical cave-clearing loop is:

1. Open a route deeper into the cave. Avoid completing every side pocket near the entrance before exploring farther.
2. Begin the return clear from the far end. Break remaining deposits while moving toward the exit.
3. Use the return journey productively. Collect resources, clear missed side sections, or bring back an equipment module.
4. Unload close to the spider. If you have moved a pile of loose resources toward the entrance, finish with short collection trips.

What to do when your vacuum is full

A full vacuum does not necessarily mean excavation must stop. The guide recommends continuing to break rock when time allows, leaving loose resources to collect on the return journey.

The important distinction is between mining capacity and carrying capacity. You may still make progress opening the cave after filling your storage, but you still need enough time to return before the spider takes avoidable damage.

Resource juggling

The community guide describes “resource juggling” as a way to move more loose material toward the spider without making a separate full-distance trip for every load.

It also warns that the technique has limits: small batches can scatter, while oversized batches can slow movement. Use it when it actually shortens hauling time rather than assuming that moving the largest possible pile is always faster.

Mining Resources by Biome

The following resource map comes from HumanFtw’s zone table. These are biome-associated resources, not a complete list of everything that can appear in a cave.

Zone position does not guarantee a cave’s biome. The guide reports that mossy caves can replace diamond caves in the starting zone and Upper 1/Lower 1. It also describes lower-tier caves appearing outside the starting zone, including diamond caves in Lower 1.

As you move farther from the center, the guide reports tougher enemies and harder rock. If your immediate goal is pearls, check that you have entered a sponge cave rather than assuming every Lower 1 entrance contains them.

Equipment That Supports Mining

Several equipment discoveries can improve your mining economy, directly or by reducing the time you spend defending the spider. These are community recommendations, not an exhaustive equipment ranking.

HumanFtw particularly favors the Resource Harvester when found early. The Drone System is another strong recommendation because better automated defense can make entering caves earlier and returning later less risky.

Equipment modules must be freed from the rock and carried back to the spider to unlock their equipment for that run.

Balance Mining Time Against Defense

Longer underground trips only help if the spider survives them. HumanFtw recommends moving the spider during combat and prioritizing explosive suicide enemies, especially when they approach closely.

The guide also discusses leaving a weak enemy alive to delay the next wave countdown. It considers this more useful with a shield and generally not worth taking health damage for.

Do not build your route around the older cloud-wave timer trick. The original guide recommends manipulating a surviving wave enemy before crossing a zone boundary. However, an April 2025 comment on the same source page reports that the wave bar reset after clearing cloud-spawned enemies even without that setup. The exact current behavior remains uncertain; prepare for the additional enemies rather than depending on a timer exploit.

Search Beyond Ore Deposits

Mining also creates opportunities to find progression rewards:

• Weapon caverns: Some caves have a narrow passage deep to the right leading to a destroyed spider. Interacting with it unlocks a weapon for the run.
• Equipment modules: Free these from rock and carry them back.
• Special treasure rooms: These can contain a hidden weapon or equipment upgrade, a permanent-upgrade blueprint, or a crypto key.

Blueprints matter beyond the current run. The guide states that blueprint-based permanent upgrades require a separate blueprint for each tier, while mining earns the points spent on permanent upgrades.

For base-game completion, the same guide identifies five crypto keys and the gate above the high-tech zone as necessary progression objectives. Clearing ore is therefore only part of a productive mining run: investigate special passages and rooms rather than overlooking rewards that another load of resources cannot replace.