When I use a pickaxe under water it takes longer. If I continue to work under water will my pick break faster than if I used it above water? I would like to know if it is worth all the time, and I think it would be if it broke at the same speed.


It will last just as long.

Tools will not break faster if used underwater. There is no difference in the durability expended between being submerged or dry.

Tools will, however, take longer to break blocks than they would if you were on land. This has nothing to do with durability - durability is calculated per block broken rather than time spent mining.

See Item Durability on the Minecraft Wiki.

  • 1
    To add to this: Your tool-item will only lose a portion of its "life" when you finish mining a block, rather than over time while mining. – DBS Mar 25 '16 at 10:17
  • @DBS Updated - calculated per block broken rather than time spent mining. – angussidney Mar 25 '16 at 10:48
  • 1
    @Jason_ It would be easy to see where you would think that, though: if the game is counting the number of times your avatar swings his pickaxe at the block (which is the same speed underwater as it is above water), then, yes, the pickaxe would break in the same amount of time and thus be able to mine fewer blocks. The only reason we know it's not like that is because (1) we can disassemble the code and (2) tools never, ever break in the middle of mining a block - only when the block finishes mining. – TheHans255 Mar 25 '16 at 19:10
  • @Compynerd255 Also because you can turn on debug tools which show you the durability of an item. F3+D I think – angussidney Mar 25 '16 at 20:12
  • @Compynerd255 Factorio, which has a similar mining mechanic, does use durability based on the amount of time spent mining. (In Factorio, your tool can break part-way through mining, and things that are harder to mine use more durability) – user253751 Mar 26 '16 at 5:06

Your pickaxe will have exactly the same durability. The durability is calculated by the number of blocks mined, not by the time spent mining.
Your durability decreases by 1 per block mined. (Unless you use the Unbreaking enchantment).
So it doesn't matter if you mine at surface or underwater, or if you mine dirt or obsidian, the durability will always decrease by 1 point. (Unless, see above.)

Your Answer

