Prison Pickaxe Levels and Skins Guide (2026)

Short answer: On Complex Prison (hub.mc-complex.com), your pickaxe levels up from 1 to 100 as you mine. Every block it breaks gives 2 pickaxe XP, and every 5 levels pays out money, tokens or crate keys, with an Escapist key at level 100. Pickaxe skins change how your pickaxe looks: each season brings a new set of 12 Gold Shard skins, one per prestige from I to XII, for 2,048 Gold Shards each in /skins. Skins carry over through resets and show for Bedrock players too.

How pickaxe levels work​

• XP: every block your pickaxe breaks gives it 2 XP, including the blocks your enchants break.
• Which pickaxes: iron, diamond and netherite pickaxes earn XP.
• Max level: 100.
• Saved on the pickaxe: your level and XP are stored on the pickaxe itself, not on your account.
• Lore: your pickaxe shows its level, Blocks Broken, Tokens Spent and Experience Spent. Sneak and right-click to open the upgrade menu.
• Big mining batches: if one batch of broken blocks pushes you past several levels at once, you get the rewards for every level you passed.

Each level needs more XP than the last. Roughly how many blocks it takes from a brand-new pickaxe:

Every pickaxe level reward​

You get a reward every 5 levels, paid straight to you:
Saving a pickaxe in the Reset Vault resets its level, so the next season starts it from level 1 again. See Prison Resets and the Reset Vault.

Owning your pickaxe​

• Claim it: when you mine with a pickaxe nobody owns, you're asked to claim it. Claiming makes you its owner for good.
• Someone else's pickaxe: if you mine with a pickaxe another player owns, all its upgrades work at half their level. Excavator 20 acts like Excavator 10.
• Your style follows it: your lore color and Roman numeral setting show on the pickaxes you own.

Pickaxe skins​

A skin changes your pickaxe's model. It doesn't change its enchants or stats. Open /skins (or /skin) to see every skin, or find Pickaxe Skins in /prefs.

• Prestige skins: each season brings a new set of 12 skins you buy with Gold Shards, one for each prestige from I to XII.
• Crate skins: other skins come from crates. Their menu entry shows which crate they're from.
• Past seasons' skins: older seasonal skins are still in the menu. You can't buy them anymore, but if you own one you can still equip it.
• They carry over: skins you own transfer through all future resets.
• Netherite only: skins show on netherite pickaxes.
• Bedrock: Bedrock players see pickaxe skins too.

This season's prestige skins​

Each skin unlocks at its prestige and costs 2,048 Gold Shards. Reach the prestige, open /skins, click the skin and confirm.
All 12 cost 24,576 Gold Shards together. Get shards from Skull Island, the Scavenged Shards enchant and milestones; see the Prison Gold Shards Guide. For prestige costs, see the Prison Ranks and Prestige Guide.

How to equip and switch skins​

1. Open /skins.
2. Click a skin you own. It's marked Unlocked and says Click to Equip.
3. Your skin goes on every netherite pickaxe in your inventory right away.

• Switch anytime: click a different owned skin. To go back to the normal look, pick No Skin.
• Dropping a pickaxe: a skinned pickaxe loses its skin when it leaves your inventory. Whoever picks it up sees their own selected skin on it.
• Pickaxe Unredeemer: this voucher turns a crate skin you own back into a Pickaxe Skin Voucher. The skin is removed from your account.

Pickaxe lore colors and Roman numerals​

/pickaxecolors (/pickaxecolor, /pickaxelore) changes the color of the enchant lines on the pickaxes you own. Colors are bought once with tokens:
Each color also has its own shades for enchants pushed past max level with Hidden Treasure. Prefer numerals? /pickaxenumerals (or Roman Numeral Levels in /prefs) shows your pickaxe level and upgrade levels as Roman numerals (V) instead of numbers (5).

Play Prison on Java or Bedrock​

Java and Bedrock players share the same Prison with full crossplay, and Bedrock players see pickaxe skins too.
Everything you need to know about our server is in the Complex Gaming Prison Server Guide.

Pickaxe Levels and Skins FAQ​

How do I level up my pickaxe on Complex Prison?​

What is the max pickaxe level?​

What do you get for leveling your pickaxe?​

How do I get pickaxe skins?​

Do pickaxe skins carry over after a reset?​

Can Bedrock players see pickaxe skins?​

Why doesn't my skin show on my pickaxe?​