TL;DR: Ten new rare ores — like frost quartz, shadowmetal, and starmetal — now spawn across specific biomes and dungeon depths, each with unique ambient particle effects that make them visible from several tiles away.
The world just got a lot more rewarding to explore. 10 new rare ores have been scattered across the overworld and hidden within dungeon depths, each with a distinctive visual signature that makes them impossible to miss.
In the overworld, you’ll find amber deposits glowing with warm golden motes in dense forests, jade veins shimmering green in swamplands, and lapis lazuli twinkling like a constellation in desert ruins. Venture into the tundra and you’ll spot frost quartz drifting icy snowflake particles, while moonstone pulses with pale silver light in enchanted groves and dark hollows.
Dungeons now harbor their own exclusive treasures. Bloodstone weeps crimson droplets in swamp caverns, starmetal shoots celestial trails through crystal caves, and embite sends rising embers into volcanic corridors. The dark hollow conceals shadowmetal wreathed in void wisps, while coastal dungeons hide coralmetal bubbling with aqua particles.
How It Works
Each ore type is defined with a biome affinity, spawn rarity, particle configuration, and mining yield. Overworld ores spawn during chunk generation — when the chunk generator places ore deposits, it rolls against the rare ore table for that biome. Rare ores have a 5-15% chance to replace a common ore deposit, with the exact rate depending on biome difficulty. Dungeon-exclusive ores spawn only in resource rooms within their matching biome dungeon.
The particle system uses a lightweight emitter attached to each ore sprite. Particles are configured per ore type with properties including color, size, speed, direction, lifetime, and emission rate. Amber emits slow-rising golden motes with a 2-second lifetime. Frost quartz emits tiny white hexagons that drift downward and fade. Shadowmetal emits dark purple wisps that orbit the ore in a slow spiral. Each ore’s particles are visible from 4-6 tiles away, giving players a visual cue even before the ore sprite itself is fully visible.
When you mine a rare ore, the standard mining particle effect is replaced with ore-colored fragments — amber shards for amber, green chips for jade, purple shards for shadowmetal. An extra sparkle burst fires at the moment the ore breaks, with 20-30 particles in the ore’s signature color.
What This Means
Every rare ore lights up the surrounding area with ambient particles — floating motes, orbiting sparks, dripping embers — making resource scouting a visual experience. Players who explore thoroughly are rewarded with materials that can’t be found in common deposits. The overworld ores feed into crafting recipes for mid-tier equipment, while dungeon ores are required for the highest-tier mithril and enchanted items.
The particle effects also serve a gameplay purpose beyond aesthetics. In dungeons with fog-of-war lighting, the faint glow of a rare ore can be spotted through the darkness before the room itself is revealed. This gives observant players an edge — you might spot the shimmer of starmetal down a dark corridor and know there’s a resource room worth exploring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What rare ores can you find in Wanderfolk?
There are 10 rare ores split between overworld and dungeon locations. Overworld ores include amber (dense forests), jade (swamplands), lapis lazuli (desert ruins), frost quartz (tundra), and moonstone (enchanted groves and dark hollows). Dungeon-exclusive ores include bloodstone (swamp caverns), starmetal (crystal caves), embite (volcanic corridors), shadowmetal (dark hollows), and coralmetal (coastal dungeons). Each has a unique particle effect that makes it visible from 4-6 tiles away.
Where do you mine shadowmetal in Wanderfolk?
Shadowmetal is a dungeon-exclusive ore that only spawns in dark hollow dungeons. It appears in resource rooms within the dungeon and is visually distinctive — wreathed in dark purple void wisps that orbit the ore. In the fog-of-war darkness, you can sometimes spot its faint glow through corridors before entering the room. Shadowmetal is required for crafting the highest-tier enchanted equipment.
How does ore mining work in Wanderfolk?
You mine ores using the harvest action (Q key) when standing next to an ore deposit. Rare ores have a 5-15% chance to replace common deposits during world generation, with rates varying by biome difficulty. When you break a rare ore, the standard mining particles are replaced with ore-colored fragments and a signature sparkle burst. Overworld ores feed into mid-tier crafting recipes, while dungeon-exclusive ores are needed for the most powerful equipment in the game.