Stonewards Ores and Materials

Every forge decision in Stonewards starts underground. Procedural caves spawn ore nodes, stone deposits, and occasional chests that feed the bastion economy. Haul the wrong mix and you will craft luxury upgrades while primary wall lanes crumble. Haul too little and horns begin with empty quivers. This page categorizes materials, explains how each feeds stations, and ties mining priorities to wave timing from How to Mine Fast.

Banana Tiger Studio emphasizes racing the horn—mining is not a completionist scavenger hunt. Materials exist to fuel dig–forge–defend, not to fill a museum.

Material Categories

Structural Stone and Wall Materials

Stone and related structural materials feed wall repair stations around the bastion. Monsters path through the weakest segments toward the King; unrepaired primary gates end runs faster than missing a rare metal node.

Early-run rule: never return without stone for the primary lane unless that lane is above your team’s agreed HP threshold and lobby buffs cover walls this cycle.

Cross-read How to Defend the King for lane identification and Bastion Fallback when stone arrives too late.

Craft Metals and Ammunition Feedstock

Common metals from cave walls fund crafting camp output—arrows and related consumables covered in Ammo and Crafting. These nodes often appear in shallow branches near mine entrances, making them ideal for wave-one and wave-two returns.

Co-op callout: “need craft metal” should be as common as “need stone.” Defenders cannot shoot ore sitting in a miner’s bag.

Upgrade Metals and Forge Deposits

Rarer metals and mixed ore bundles feed forge deposits that roll randomized character upgrades at the blacksmith. Deposit amounts trigger upgrade offers—exact thresholds vary by patch, but the pattern holds: deposit after baseline repair and craft are funded, not before.

See Forge Upgrades for super jump, knockback, armor, and craft speed stacking.

Chests and Bundled Loot

Chests found in side branches contain bundled items or buffs opened at the chest opener station. They are materials in the broad sense—loot that must reach the bastion to matter.

Assign chest carriers in co-op so defenders do not abandon walls to chase shiny side tunnels alone.

Node Priority by Run Phase

Phase	Priority haul	Deprioritize
Waves 1–3	Stone + craft metal	Deep rare ore branches
Waves 4–7	Balanced stone, craft, upgrade metal	Empty cosmetic tunnels
Late / endless	Upgrade metal + ammo feedstock	Greedy depth without exit plan

Adjust using Resource Priority Checklist and Wave Prep Planner.

Procedural Cave Layout Notes

Caves regenerate each run. You cannot memorize fixed routes, but you can memorize behaviors:

• Entrance branches — Safe ore for quick returns; ideal when horn timers feel tight.
• Deep forks — Higher rarity potential with higher absentee risk in co-op.
• Hidden cavities — Often chest spawns; send one flex player while others prep surface.

Map pages expand geography; this page focuses on material outcomes.

Solo Mining Material Targets

Solo players need one bag plan:

1. Break visible stone near entrance if primary lane took damage last wave.
2. Collect craft metal until Best Early Builds ammo threshold met.
3. Add upgrade metal only if timer allows.
4. Return at seventy percent of comfort timer, not one hundred percent.

Solo wipes from depth are timing failures, not RNG.

Co-op Mining Material Targets

Split haul roles:

• Miner — Weight toward upgrade metal and chests with clear callouts.
• Flex runner — Stone + craft metal ferry when defenders cannot leave walls.
• Defenders — Minimal mining except emergency stone if miners are dead or late.

How to Co-op in Stonewards aligns roles with these targets.

Depositing vs Hoarding

Ore in inventory does not repair walls or craft ammo until deposited at the correct station. New players hoard while horn telegraphs begin, then panic interact at every station sequentially.

Better habit: deposit stone at repair, metal at crafting camp, upgrade bundles at forge in that priority order when ore is limited.

Rare Materials and Future Content

Steam store copy promises expanded resources, treasures, and secrets through Early Access. Rare materials may unlock advanced recipes or relic interactions documented in Rings and Relics.

Treat unreleased material names cautiously—this wiki updates when patches confirm them.

Recycling and Material Recovery

Recycling camps return partial resources from obsolete gear—indirect material income when chests flood duplicate weapons. See Weapons and Gear for when to recycle versus equip.

Related Pages

• Items hub — Full item index.
• Builds — How materials become power.
• Guides — Mining procedure and loop timing.

Staying Current

Node distribution and rarity tables will shift in Early Access starting August 11, 2026. Material roles—stone for walls, metal for ammo, deposits for upgrades—match Banana Tiger Studio’s advertised design even when names change.