Miner: Tower Stats, Upgrades, Tips: The Miner in Blockade Brigade: 150 gold, gold every wave from a hilltop. Hill height, upgrades, the gold in the mine, research and FAQ.

Plain-text version for AI assistants: https://blockadebrigade.com/llms-page-towers-miner.txt. Site guide: https://blockadebrigade.com/llms.txt

Utility Tower

Miner

Generates gold per wave. Must be placed on hill tops only.

150 goldSupportResearch 10000

The Miner does not fight: it drills for gold. It must stand on a level hilltop, and at the end of every wave it pays you gold, more the higher its hill: on a hill of height 5 a new Miner makes about 42 gold a wave, and a fully upgraded one about 274. A hill counts only up to height 5, so a taller one earns the same. It costs 150 gold, each one after the first costs 40% more, and it needs no power. Build it early: every wave it stands is a wave it pays.

Miner
Build your own Miner

Attributes Level 1, on the ground

Cost
150 gold to build
Unlock
10,000 XPXP to research it (main menu, Upgrades & Research)
Sell value
112 gold 75% of the gold spent on it; all of it back within 15 seconds of placing
Collection
5
Speed
1/s
Depth
1 0.5 tiles
Targets at once
none: it mines gold
Power
needs noneit runs without a Power Plant
Neighbours
+15% damage, +10% fire rate eachSame-type towers on its four sides, up to four (+60% / +40%). Connected Miners need 25% less power.
Platforms
+8% damage, +0.5 range a level of heightSmall +1, Medium +2, Large +3, up to 3 stacked. Hills up to 15 (above 5 is rare).
Level parts
Base: 1 green level light, plate 01
Research
3 items, 5 levels each250 / 750 / 2,000 / 6,000 / 15,000 XP a level, 72,000 XP for all. Mining Capacity, Mining Speed, Excavation Depth
Cards
Damage, Fire Rate, RangeEnd-of-wave cards: up to 5 of each a game, then Endless cards

Base numbers: no research, cards or neighbours. (+n) is the change from the level before.

How to use it

Go high, up to 5

Each level of hill gives +15% gold of its own, on top of +8% collection and +0.5 depth. A hill counts only up to height 5, so pick the tallest hill up to that height; anything taller earns the same.

Build it early

It pays the same gold every wave, however long the wave is, so the waves it stands through are what it earns. A Miner built in the first waves pays for itself many times over.

Upgrade before you build more

Each new Miner costs 40% more than the last (150, 210, 293, 411...), while its upgrades cost 150, 300, 600 gold and each one raises collection, speed and depth together.

Side by side

Two Miners on hilltops next to each other give each other +15% collection and +10% speed, like any tower beside one of its own kind.

A platform on top

A platform on a hilltop lifts the Miner further: each platform level adds +8% collection and +0.5 depth, and platforms count in full, past height 5.

No defence

It cannot shoot, so it adds no defence. Spend its gold on guns that do.

Build it

Pick a level, the hill's height, platforms under it, research, end-of-wave cards and neighbours, and see what your Miner pays each wave, worked out the way the game does it, with how deep its mine goes and how much gold the mine holds. Share the build with a link.

How the configurer works it out (formula, card values, share-link format)

How the game adds it up

  • Damage: level base x (1 + neighbours x 0.15) x (1 + height x 0.08) x ground (0.95 on bare grass, else 1) x (1 + research %) x (1 + cards % + Endless %)
  • Fire rate: level base x (1 + neighbours x 0.1) x (1 + research %) x (1 + cards % + Endless %)
  • Range: level base + height x 0.5 + level base x (research % + cards % + Endless %)
  • Dps: damage x fire rate, one hit on one target, before splash, afflictions and armour
  • Rule: Every source multiplies damage and fire rate; cards and Endless cards of one stat add into one percent. Range percents are all of the levelled base, added.

End-of-wave cards

Each wave offers 3 cards. Up to 5 cards of each stat a game, then that stat comes only as grey Endless cards (a random amount in the range shown). Percent per card:

CardNormalCommonRareEpicLegendaryMythicalEndless
Damage2%5%10%15%25%35%1-5%
Fire Rate2%5%10%15%25%35%1-5%
Range2%5%10%15%25%35%1-5%

Research

Unlock: 10,000 XP; its upgrades: 72,000 XP for all.

  • Mining Capacity: +10% a level, 5 levels (+50%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP
  • Mining Speed: +6% a level, 5 levels (+30%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP
  • Excavation Depth: +6% a level, 5 levels (+30%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP

Where it stands

  • Each same-type neighbour on its four sides: +15% damage, +10% fire rate (up to 4).
  • Each level of height (hill + platforms): +8% damage, +0.5 range.
  • Bare grass: damage x0.95 (no penalty on rock, or on a platform: it stands on steel, even over grass). One tile is 2 range units.

This tower's own rule

  • Gold a wave = collection x speed x depth x (1 + counted hill x 15%); a hill counts up to height 5, platforms in full. Level 1 to 4 on a hill of 5: 42, 94, 169, 274 gold a wave.

Worked examples

Share-link format

A build is the page address + #build: + parts joined by ~, in any order; parts left out are 0 / none. Opening the link loads the build and scrolls here. Links shared from the page also carry ?utm_source=...&utm_medium=...&utm_campaign=tower_build&utm_content=... before the hash; they are optional.

  • l<N>: tower level 1..4
  • r.<stat>.<N>: research level 0..5 of a research item (damage, fire_rate, range)
  • c.<stat>.<digits>: end-of-wave cards of one stat, one digit per card = its rarity (0 Normal, 1 Common, 2 Rare, 3 Epic, 4 Legendary, 5 Mythical); at most 5 a stat
  • e.<stat>.<amount>x<count>: Endless cards of one stat: count cards of +amount% (only once that stat has 5 cards)
  • n<N>: same-type neighbours touching it, 0..4
  • h<N>: height: hill + platform levels, 0..15
  • g: standing on bare grass (no platform)
  • s<N>: level of the Cold Snap over it, 0 = none (1..10)
  • sp0: that Cold Snap has no power (it cools nothing)
  • w<N>: water tiles beside it, 0..4 (sides not taken by neighbours)
  • k<N>: towers in its connected chain, itself included (at least neighbours + 1)
  • kw<N>: water tiles beside the whole chain

Every level

Base numbers: no hill, research, cards or neighbours. A real Miner always stands on a hill and earns more (use the calculator above for your hill). Gold a wave = collection x speed x depth, then +15% for each level of hill.

LevelUpgradeTotal spentGold a wave, hill 1Gold a wave, hill 5Power
1build 150150942-
21503002394-
330060047169-
46001,20083274-

Levels 1-4Each upgrade adds a conveyor belt down one side of its hill and raises collection, speed and depth together, so the gold grows fast: upgrades cost 150, 300, 600 gold. Level 4 is the top, whatever is around the hill.

The mineIt holds 200 gold at depth 1 and 3 times more at each depth below; every +0.5 depth digs one depth deeper. A Miner on a hill reaches deep enough that it rarely runs dry.

Research

Research (main menu, Upgrades & Research) makes every Miner you build stronger. Each item has 5 levels for 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000 and 15,000 XP (24,000 XP for all 5).

Mining Capacity

Mining Capacity: +10% collection (gold per pull) a level, +50% at level 5. Gold a wave grows by the same share.

Mining Speed

Mining Speed: +6% speed a level, +30% at level 5. Gold a wave grows by the same share.

Excavation Depth

Excavation Depth: +6% depth a level, +30% at level 5. A deeper mine digs more gold a wave and holds more.

Height and ground

  • It must be built on a hill.
  • A hill counts up to height 5 for its bonuses: a taller hill earns the same.
  • Hills: up to 15 levels on every map; above 5 is rare.
  • Platforms (small +1, medium +2, large +3) stack up to 3 high: up to 9 more levels, on flat ground or on a hill. Research unlocks the sizes and stacking.

Miner FAQ

Why doesn't my Miner earn more on a higher hill?

For a Miner's gold, a hill counts only up to height 5. On a taller hill its hill bonus, collection and depth all stop at height 5, so it earns the same as on a hill of height 5. The placement preview and the tower panel both say when a hill counts as 5. Before this limit came in, Miners on the tallest hills earned most of a late game's gold.

Can I see how much gold my Miner earns each wave?

Yes. Before you build, the preview over the Miner shows the gold a wave it would earn on that hilltop. Once it stands, click it: the panel shows its income for the next wave and the total earned, and its Accounting section lists the gold earned each wave, the total, the profit after what you paid (and the wave it paid for itself) and next wave's gold.

Where can I build a Miner?

Only on a level hilltop: not on a hillside ramp, flat ground, water or the path. Some scenario maps keep their hills free of Miners. You can put a platform on a hilltop and build the Miner on the platform.

How is a Miner's gold worked out?

Collection x speed x depth, then +15% for each level of hill (up to 5). Each level of hill or platform also adds +8% collection and +0.5 depth. Upgrades, research, end-of-wave cards and a Miner on the hilltop beside it raise collection and speed. It is paid at the end of every wave.

Does a Miner earn more on a long wave, or if I slow the enemies down?

No. It pays a set amount at the end of each wave, however long the wave takes. Its speed is part of the sum, not a clock.

Can a Miner run out of gold?

Yes, in principle: its mine holds 200 gold at depth 1 and 3 times more at each depth below, and it stops paying when the mine is empty. Whenever it gets deeper (an upgrade, a hill, a platform, a Depth card or an XP point) the new depth's gold is added, even to a Miner that had run dry. The tower panel shows the gold left in the mine.

How much does a Miner cost?

150 gold, and each Miner after the first costs 40% more (150, 210, 293, 411...). Its upgrades cost 150, 300, 600 gold, up to level 4. Sold within 15 seconds of placing it you get everything back, after that 75%, and the next Miner is a step cheaper again.

Does a Miner gain XP?

Yes, from its gold, not from kills: 5 XP for every gold it pulls. Its XP levels go in turn to more XP per gold, more gold a wave and a deeper mine.