Quick answer
Raise Speed with two things: treadmill levels, which increase the Speed you gain per step, and trails, which multiply that gain. Buy treadmill levels continuously because they unlock zones, and buy your first trail as soon as you can afford one, because a multiplier compounds every step you ever take. Pickaxes do not add Speed.
Steps
1. Stand on the treadmill attached to your base
Every player has a personal treadmill in front of their base, and Speed accrues passively as you walk on it. You do not press anything to train; you just need to be on it.
Confirmed as a core loop element by the game's own listing, which lists upgrading speed alongside upgrading the pickaxe.
2. Check your treadmill level before you check anything else
At level 1 the treadmill gives +1 Speed per step. Higher levels give more per step, which means the same amount of walking produces more Speed.
3. Compare the next treadmill level against the next zone gate
Look at the Speed requirement of the nearest zone you cannot enter yet, and decide whether treadmill levels alone will realistically get you there or whether you need a multiplier first.
4. Buy a trail before you buy a second pickaxe
A trail multiplies the Speed you gain while training. Because it multiplies instead of adding, its value grows with every treadmill level you buy afterwards.
5. Re-run the loop after any big purchase
After a trail or a treadmill level, retrain for a few minutes and re-check which zones your Speed now opens. The gap you are chasing changes faster than you expect.
The two Speed levers, and why order matters
Break and Steal an Egg does not have one Speed upgrade. It has two, and they stack in different ways, which is the whole reason a player can be stuck while a friend who spent the same Cash is three zones ahead.
The treadmill is additive. Level 1 gives +1 Speed per step, and each further level raises the Speed you collect per step. Walking more is not the point; raising what each step is worth is. A treadmill level is a permanent improvement to a rate you use for the rest of the game.
A trail is multiplicative. It multiplies the Speed you gain while training, so it does not just add progress, it scales everything the treadmill already gives you. That is why the standard advice is to buy a trail before a second pickaxe: the trail makes every treadmill level you buy later worth more.
Put together, the sequence that avoids wasted spending is: keep levelling the treadmill, buy your first trail as soon as it is affordable, then alternate between the two based on price.
Reported zone gates, and what they imply about the curve
The published Speed requirements give you a way to sanity check your spending. The reported gates are Forest 5, Desert 1,000, Snowy 50,000, Candy 750,000, Swamp 12,000,000, Ocean 150,000,000, Hell 1,000,000,000, Blossom 5,000,000,000 and Galaxy 25,000,000,000.
Read that list as a shape rather than a spreadsheet. The jump from Forest to Desert is trivial. The jump from Snowy to Candy is a short session. Then the gaps stop being arithmetic and start being exponential: Candy to Swamp is roughly sixteen times, Swamp to Ocean is over twelve times, and everything after Hell multiplies again.
That shape is the argument for the trail. An additive treadmill upgrade cannot keep pace with gates that multiply by ten, while a multiplier applies to your whole rate. Below Candy you can brute force progression with treadmill levels alone. Above Ocean, the multiplier is no longer optional.
What trails cost and what the top end looks like
Trails are bought from the Trails Shop, reported to sit next to the Leaderboards inside the Safe Zone, and they are purchased with Cash or Robux. The strongest listed trail is Moonlight at a 10,000x Speed multiplier, priced at a reported 100 Trillion Cash or 359 Robux.
That price tells you how to think about the shop: the top trail is a very long term purchase, not a first-hour one. A realistic path is to buy the cheapest trail you can afford early so the multiplier starts working, then treat the expensive tier as a milestone you reach once your Cash income is stable.
Because trail prices and multipliers change with updates, and because these figures come from a third-party guide rather than a developer table, open the Trails Shop in your own client and read the current multiplier and price before committing. The decision logic here survives a price change; the specific numbers might not.
Why pickaxes do not help your Speed
The Pickaxe Shop inside the Safe Zone sells higher Power pickaxes, and you start with a Wooden Pickaxe at 1 Power. Power changes how fast an egg breaks. It does not change your Speed, and it does not change which zones you are allowed to steal from.
This matters because it is the most common early mis-spend. A faster pickaxe makes your runs inside zones you have already unlocked shorter, which is genuinely valuable, but it does nothing to open the next zone. If you are trying to get further out on the map, a pickaxe is not the answer.
Buy pickaxes when your problem is that breaking an egg takes so long that the guardian reaches you. Buy Speed when your problem is that there is no egg you can reach.
How to tell whether Speed is your real bottleneck
Before you spend on Speed, check that Speed is what is stopping you. Three symptoms point elsewhere.
If you can reach the egg and break it but keep getting caught on the way home, your problem is the escape, not the gate, and the fix is route and timing rather than more Speed. If breaking the egg itself takes several seconds while a guardian closes in, your problem is pickaxe power. If your Speed is comfortably above the gate and you still cannot keep an animal, look at whether you are trying to carry a heavier animal than your run can support.
Only when your Speed sits below a zone's published requirement is the answer unambiguously more Speed, and in that case the treadmill and a trail are the only two things that move the number.
A realistic first-session Speed plan
For a new account, the useful plan is short. Train on the treadmill until you clear the Forest gate of 5, which takes almost no time. Run Forest until the loop feels automatic. Then push treadmill levels toward the Desert gate of 1,000 while watching the Trails Shop for the cheapest entry-level multiplier.
Once you own any trail, your treadmill time starts compounding, and the Snowy gate of 50,000 stops looking distant. That is the point where the game changes from walking to investing.
Tips
- Train on the treadmill while you are deciding what to buy, since Speed accrues passively and costs you nothing.
- Re-read the Trails Shop after every treadmill level, because a trail's value rises as your treadmill output rises.
- Use the zone gate you are chasing as a spending target rather than levelling the treadmill blindly.
- A cheap early trail beats waiting for the best trail, because the multiplier starts working immediately.
- You can explore zones above your Speed gate, but you cannot reliably steal from them, so scout without committing.
- Re-confirm the current multiplier and price in game before spending Robux on any trail.
Common mistakes
- Buying a second pickaxe before any trail, which shortens runs without unlocking anything.
- Levelling the treadmill with no target, so you overshoot a cheap gate you could already have passed.
- Treating the published Speed gates as final when they come from a third-party guide and can change after updates.
- Trying to reach an endgame zone in one sitting instead of treating the exponential jumps as multi-session goals.
- Assuming a trail replaces the treadmill, when it multiplies whatever the treadmill produces.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get Speed in Break and Steal an Egg?
Walk on the treadmill attached to your base. Speed is gained passively per step, and treadmill upgrades raise how much each step is worth. Trails multiply that gain rather than replacing it.
Should I buy a trail or a pickaxe first?
A trail. Pickaxes make eggs break faster inside zones you have already unlocked, while a trail multiplier accelerates every zone unlock from that point on.
What is the best trail in the game?
Moonlight is reported as the strongest, with a 10,000x Speed multiplier for a reported 100 Trillion Cash or 359 Robux. Confirm the live price and multiplier in the Trails Shop before buying.
What Speed do I need for Galaxy?
A reported 25,000,000,000 Speed. It is the final zone and the reported home of Secret-rarity eggs, so treat it as a long-term target rather than a next-session plan.
Related resources
Speed Calculator
Plan which zone your Speed unlocks, how many treadmill steps the next gate needs, and how deep a merge chain goes.
Zone Order and Speed Requirements
Every zone in Break and Steal an Egg is gated behind a Speed number. The list is short, the later jumps are enormous, and knowing the shape of the curve is what stops you grinding in the wrong direction.