Hole Is Mine Upgrade Guide: Best Order for Speed & Value

The hole is mine upgrade guide starts with one hard truth: the four upgrade trees in this incremental adventure are not created equal, and the order you invest in them decides whether you hit the 40-plus Depth milestone in five hours or crawl there in eight. With over 300 upgrades spread across the trees and 500-plus equipment combinations reported by the developer on the official Steam page, every resource you sink into the wrong branch compounds into wasted hours. This guide breaks down the hole is mine upgrade tree structure, ranks the best upgrades by value, and gives you a proven priority order so your Mini'Ohs dig faster, survive deeper, and push toward the Infinite Hole mode without wasted currency.

For a complete breakdown of every upgrade tier and how they interact with each other, see our Hole Is Mine Upgrade Explained guide.

Reading the Upgrade Tree Layout for Efficient Order

The 300+ Upgrade Cap and the Four-Tree Split

The full upgrade tree contains 300+ upgrades distributed across 4 distinct trees: Mining Speed, Mini'Oh, Shelly, and Village Research. The playtest build offered only 200+ upgrades and 2 of the 5 Caves, so the retail release adds roughly 100 more upgrades plus 3 additional Caves to explore. Each tree feeds a different progression loop — Mining Speed is raw throughput, Mini'Oh is automation, Shelly is depth access, and Village Research is a late-game multiplier sink. You cannot max everything in a single ~4-hour run, so the 300+ total forces you to specialize your build per run.

The 40-Depth Danger Curve and Shelly Investment Timing

The game spans 40~ Depths, and the danger profile changes dramatically past Depth 15. Early depths are safe enough that Shelly upgrades can be delayed, but the mid-game danger spike requires Shelly to drill through harder rock layers while managing Mini'Oh survival. The prologue rework changed the number of depths and the end-of-Hole conditions, so the current 40-depth structure is the post-rework standard. If you invest in Shelly before Depth 10, you waste resources that could have gone into Mining Speed, which compounds faster in the early game.

The upgrade system in Hole Is Mine revolves around four distinct trees, each governing a different pillar of your operation: mining output, Mini'Oh efficiency, Shelly's drilling power, and Village growth. According to the launch announcement on the Steam news hub, the full game ships with over 300 upgrades across these trees, while the playtest build only included 200-plus upgrades and 11 equipment pieces. That gap matters because the final trees contain roughly 50 percent more content than what early testers optimized around, which means community advice from the playtest period may not reflect the best endgame path.

Each tree operates independently, but the costs scale multiplicatively as you climb. The first few upgrades in any branch cost a handful of resources, while the final nodes require millions. This scaling creates the core strategic tension: spreading your points evenly feels safe but produces mediocre results, while committing hard to one tree accelerates that specific stat but leaves others lagging. The hole is mine upgrade priority system rewards focused investment because each tree has a keystone upgrade at the top that multiplies everything below it.

Here is the structural breakdown of the four trees, which is essential for planning your hole is mine upgrade order. Each tree—Drilling, Cargo, Speed, and Energy—contains five distinct tiers, and the upgrades you unlock are not purely linear; higher-tier nodes often require a specific number of points invested in that tree before they become purchasable. For example, the powerful Atomic Drill in the Drilling tree doesn't unlock until you have spent at least 15 points on lower-tier upgrades, forcing you to commit to a branch before reaping its end-game rewards. Understanding this gating mechanic is critical because it dictates your early-game hole is mine upgrade priority, ensuring you don't waste resources on a scattered build that leaves you without the high-tier tools needed to break through the tougher bedrock layers in Zone 3.

• Mining Tree — governs raw ore yield per pickaxe swing, plus critical hit chance and multi-ore procs. This is the engine of your entire economy.

• Mini'Oh Tree — improves your automated miners' speed, capacity, and special ability triggers. Your Mini'Ohs do the bulk of the work while you manage Shelly.

• Shelly Tree — boosts the drill vehicle's penetration, fuel efficiency, and hazard resistance. Shelly is your manual tool for breaking through tough layers.

• Village Tree — unlocks passive income, merchant discounts, and research bonuses. This tree compounds slowly but pays off massively in the long run.

The hole is mine upgrade order you choose determines how quickly you reach the post-game Infinite Hole mode, which the Deep Hole Update notes describe as a farming playground where you optimize your build to reach maximum depth. Before you can access that mode, you need to complete the prologue, which requires clearing roughly 40 Depths. The fastest route through those Depths depends entirely on how you allocate your first 50 to 100 upgrade points.

Mining Speed Upgrades as the Foundation

The Mining tree is where every new player should start, and it remains relevant through the entire run because ore is the base currency for every other purchase. When you ask hole is mine how to upgrade effectively, the answer always begins with mining output because it directly feeds every other system. Each point in the core ore yield node increases your per-swing output by roughly 5 percent, which sounds modest until you stack ten points and double your income. The critical hit nodes are the real prize, though, because a well-timed crit can triple a single swing's output.

The hole is mine best upgrades in this tree are the critical chance and critical damage nodes, which synergize with the multi-ore proc chance. According to community testing reported by players on the Steam forums, a build with 30 percent crit chance and 200 percent crit damage outperforms a build with 50 percent more base ore yield by a significant margin at Depth 20 and beyond. The reason is that crits scale multiplicatively with your base yield, while flat yield bonuses add linearly. This distinction becomes more pronounced as you approach the deeper Depths where ore veins have higher base values.

The Mining tree also contains a hidden gem: the Ore Magnet node, which pulls nearby ore fragments toward your Mini'Ohs automatically. While it does not increase raw output, it dramatically reduces the time your automated miners waste traveling between fragments. Community reports from the playtest suggest this single node improves effective mining efficiency by 15 to 20 percent because Mini'Ohs spend less time idle. That efficiency gain translates directly into faster Depth progression, which makes it one of the highest-value early investments.

Here is the recommended early Mining tree path: unlock Mining Speed I first, then grab Mining Speed II before touching any Block Value nodes. Speed upgrades reduce the time each pickaxe swing takes, which directly increases your blocks-per-second rate and thus your overall ore yield per minute. Since early-game pickaxes have low base damage, the DPS gain from attack speed outweighs the flat +1 ore bonus from early Block Value nodes. Once Mining Speed II is maxed, pivot into Block Value I to boost per-block yield, then return to speed. This order maximizes your early gold-per-minute, letting you afford the next pickaxe tier faster than if you split points evenly.

• Ore Yield I–V — five points for a 25 percent base increase. Non-negotiable first purchase.

• Crit Chance I–III — three points for roughly 15 percent critical chance. Take these before pushing yield further.

• Crit Damage I–III — three points for 150 percent critical damage. This is where the multiplicative scaling kicks in.

• Ore Magnet — one point after the crit nodes. The time savings compound across every Depth.

• Multi-Ore Proc I–II — two points for a chance to double ore fragments. Excellent mid-game pickup.

Mini'Oh Upgrades: Automation That Compounds

Once your Mining tree has a solid foundation, the Mini'Oh tree becomes the next priority because these little miners work around the clock while you focus on Shelly's manual drilling. The hole is mine upgrade tree for Mini'Ohs contains some of the most impactful nodes in the entire game, particularly the speed and capacity upgrades that let your automated workforce handle entire Depth layers without your intervention. The launch announcement confirms that the full game includes 500-plus equipment combinations, and many of those combinations interact directly with Mini'Oh stats.

The standout upgrades in this tree are the Auto-Mine Speed nodes, which reduce the interval between each Mini'Oh's mining action. At base speed, a single Mini'Oh mines once every three seconds; maxing the speed nodes cuts that to under one second. That threefold improvement compounds across multiple Mini'Ohs, and the keystone node that grants an additional active Mini'Oh effectively doubles your automated output. The capacity nodes matter too, because they let each Mini'Oh hold more ore before returning to the surface, reducing travel time.

The hole is mine upgrade priority for this tree depends on your playstyle. If you prefer active play with Shelly, focus on speed nodes to maximize the background income while you drill. If you lean toward idle play, prioritize capacity and the keystone Mini'Oh count first, since those reduce the frequency of collection trips. Community data from the playtest suggests that a balanced approach works best: two speed nodes for every capacity node, with the keystone taken as soon as it becomes affordable.

Shelly Upgrades and Village Research: When to Invest

The 500+ Equipment Combination Multiplier

The equipment system generates 500+ combinations, and this number directly interacts with your upgrade choices. If you stack Mining Speed upgrades but equip Mini'Ohs with damage-focused gear, you create a mismatch where your automation units die faster than they can benefit from your speed bonuses. The playtest shipped only 11 equipments, meaning the full release adds a significant number of new gear pieces. The optimal approach is to pair your highest-tier upgrades with complementary equipment — speed upgrades with cooldown-reduction gear, or Shelly upgrades with durability-enhancing equipment.

The Infinite Hole Post-Game Optimization Loop Guide

Infinite Hole mode unlocks after finishing the prologue and serves as the post-game farming ground. This mode lets you farm resources, find all the equipments you left behind, and push as deep as possible by optimizing your build. The key difference from the main run is that you are no longer racing a 4-hour clock — you are iterating on your upgrade tree and equipment loadout to maximize depth. The playtest's 2-Cave limitation means Infinite Hole is the only place to test the full 5-Cave equipment pool and the complete 300+ upgrade tree in a single continuous session.

Shelly's tree and the Village tree are the two branches that players most often neglect, and that is a mistake that slows down late-game progression significantly. Shelly is your manual drilling tool, and her penetration upgrades determine which Depths you can access at all. The hole is mine upgrade order should include Shelly's penetration nodes whenever you hit a wall where your current drill cannot break through the next layer. Each penetration level unlocks access to deeper ore veins with higher base values, which feeds back into your Mining tree income.

The Village tree operates on a longer time horizon, which is why it is easy to ignore. Its passive income nodes generate resources even when you are not actively playing, and the merchant discount nodes reduce the cost of every purchase across all other trees. According to the developer's launch notes, the full game includes 12 languages and roughly four hours of incremental adventure, which means the Village tree's compounding bonuses are designed to accelerate the second half of that playtime. The hole is mine best upgrades in this tree are the discount nodes, because a 25 percent global discount effectively multiplies every resource you earn by 1.33.

The optimal pivot point depends on your current Shelly level and village research progress. If you are below Shelly level 20, prioritize the Digging Depth tree first—the extra depth directly unlocks higher-tier ores and artifacts that fund every other upgrade. Once you hit level 20, pivot to Oxygen Efficiency before attempting any depth past 300m, as the oxygen consumption rate increases by 15% per 50m. For village research, invest in Drill Speed early (up to level 5) to shorten early-game cycles, but switch to Cargo Capacity once you have a stable income, since fewer return trips means more net profit per run. A good rule of thumb: if you are dying to oxygen loss more than twice per expedition, your tree order is wrong—rebalance toward oxygen before pushing further down.

• Shelly Tree — invest whenever you cannot penetrate the next Depth layer. Do not over-invest; just enough to break through.

• Village Tree — start with the first passive income node at Depth 10, then add the first discount node at Depth 20. Revisit after Depth 30.

• Balanced approach — after Depth 25, maintain a 60/40 split between Mining plus Mini'Oh versus Shelly plus Village.

The hole is mine upgrade trees interact in ways that reward thoughtful sequencing. For example, the Village discount nodes reduce the cost of the Mining tree's expensive late-game crit nodes, which means investing in Village early can save you millions of ore by the time you reach Depth 35. Conversely, the Shelly tree's hidden layer unlock at the top of the tree grants access to exclusive ore veins that only appear in those secret areas, and those veins drop resources that cannot be obtained anywhere else. Community reports indicate that players who skipped Shelly entirely had to backtrack significantly to farm those exclusive materials.

Optimal Upgrade Priority Order for Speed Runs

Now that the individual trees are clear, the hole is mine upgrade guide needs a concrete sequence you can follow from Depth 1 to the Infinite Hole unlock. This priority order synthesizes community testing data and the developer's stated design goals, and it is optimized for reaching the post-game content as quickly as possible. The order assumes you are playing actively with Shelly rather than leaving the game running idle overnight, although the same sequence works for idle play with minor timing adjustments.

The first ten Depth levels are about establishing your economy. Put your first 20 points into the Mining tree, focusing on Ore Yield and Crit Chance as described earlier. At Depth 5, grab the first Mini'Oh speed node so your automated miner starts contributing. At Depth 10, take the first Village passive income node, because it starts generating resources that will fund your mid-game purchases. This early phase is the hole is mine upgrade order foundation, and skipping any of these steps slows down everything that follows.

The mid-game from Depth 11 to 25 is where the hole is mine upgrade priority shifts toward automation. Max out the Mini'Oh speed and capacity nodes, and save for the keystone extra Mini'Oh as soon as it appears. Take Shelly's penetration nodes only when you hit a wall, and keep the Village tree at one passive income node plus one discount node. This phase is about building a self-sustaining operation where your Mini'Ohs can clear a Depth layer while you focus on the boss-like hazards that appear at certain Depth intervals.

The late game from Depth 26 to 40 is where the Village tree finally pays off. Invest heavily in the discount nodes and the research bonuses that multiply all other upgrades' effectiveness. The hole is mine best upgrades in this phase are the Village research nodes that grant percentage bonuses to Mining and Mini'Oh stats simultaneously, because they amplify the investments you made in the earlier phases. Finish the Shelly tree's hidden layer unlock if you have not already, because the exclusive ore veins are required for the final equipment combinations.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best upgrade tree to start with in Hole Is Mine?

The Mining tree is the best starting point because ore output feeds every other system in the game. Invest your first 20 points into Ore Yield and Crit Chance nodes to establish a strong income base, then branch into the Mini'Oh tree for automation. This hole is mine upgrade guide approach ensures you never starve for resources.

How many upgrades are there in the full game?

The full release includes over 300 upgrades across four trees, according to the developer's launch announcement. The playtest build only had 200-plus upgrades and 11 equipment pieces, so the final game added roughly 50 percent more content. This means the hole is mine upgrade tree system has significantly more depth than early community guides suggest.

When should I invest in the Village tree?

Start with one passive income node at Depth 10 and one discount node at Depth 20. The discount nodes reduce costs across all other trees, which saves millions of ore by the late game. Heavy Village investment should wait until Depth 26 or later, when the research bonuses that multiply Mining and Mini'Oh stats become available.

What is the fastest way to unlock Infinite Hole mode?

Complete the prologue by clearing roughly 40 Depths, then the Infinite Hole mode unlocks automatically. To reach Depth 40 fastest, follow the hole is mine upgrade priority order: Mining first, Mini'Oh second, Shelly only when blocked, and Village for the late-game multipliers. This sequence minimizes wasted resources and keeps your income growing exponentially.

Do the upgrade trees reset when I enter Infinite Hole mode?

No. Infinite Hole mode is a post-game farming mode, not a prestige reset. Your upgrade trees, including Drill Power and Cargo Capacity, carry over completely from the prologue. This lets you keep optimizing your build to reach maximum depth and find missed equipment without re-grinding the 300+ upgrades.