Raiding
Guide to Efficient Raiding in Rust
How to read a base before spending explosives, eco raiding, soft sides, explosive costs, raid bases, and online vs offline raids.
How to read a base before spending explosives, eco raiding, soft sides, explosive costs, raid bases, and online vs offline raids.
Raiding is expensive. Every C4 and rocket costs sulfur, which takes significant time to farm. The difference between a profitable raider and one who runs out of resources constantly is not firepower, it is efficiency. Knowing the cheapest path through a base, understanding soft sides, and reading a base before you breach saves thousands of sulfur per raid and determines whether raiding is profitable or bankrupting.
Before spending a single explosive, walk around the target base and answer these questions:
This reconnaissance takes 5 minutes but saves thousands of sulfur in wasted explosives. If you see multiple armored doors or four-deep wall layers, the raid may not be profitable. Move to a better target.
Every building component has a hard side and a soft side (explained in building principles). Soft sides take significantly more melee damage, allowing destruction without explosives. Wall soft sides typically face inward. Ceiling soft sides face downward. Foundation soft sides face upward. This matters for raid routes.
A spear has extended reach and can hit soft sides through window bars without entering the room. Using a spear to break through stone wall soft sides costs zero explosives. Use this on external walls to save C4 entirely. Soft side eco raiding requires more time but minimal explosives, making it efficient for outer walls.
| Structure | C4 | Rockets |
|---|---|---|
| Wood Wall | 1 | 2 |
| Stone Wall | 2 | 4 |
| Sheet Metal Wall | 4 | 8 |
| Armored Wall | 8 | 15 |
| Sheet Metal Door | 1 | 2 |
| Garage Door | 2 | 3 |
| Armored Door | 2 | 4 |
C4 is more efficient than rockets for precise wall breaching. Rockets excel when you can hit multiple walls with splash damage in tight corners. Always calculate explosive costs before committing. Use the raid calculator tool to verify expected costs.
Understanding crafting costs determines raid profitability:
A stone wall costs 2 C4, which requires 40 explosives and 10 cloth. Rockets cost significantly more gunpowder. These crafting requirements mean early-wipe raiding focuses on stone bases and soft sides. As wipe progresses and explosives become abundant, raids scale up to armored bases and rocket strikes.
A raid base is a temporary structure built near your target. It serves as a staging area where you store explosives, gear, and medical supplies. It needs to be close enough to carry explosives to the target without dying. Twig is the cheapest material for raid bases. Build the minimum necessary: a 1x1 or 1x2 with a sleeping bag and small stash.
Place the raid base inside a rock formation or at an angle where defenders cannot easily shoot it from their base. If defenders destroy your raid base mid-raid, you lose all staged explosives. Protect it by choosing terrain carefully.
Offline raids occur when base owners are not online. You work methodically without defenders shooting back. The downside is defenders can log on mid-raid and fight back while you are still inside. Offline raids reward speed. Complete your raid in 15-30 minutes maximum before defenders have time to organize.
Online raids involve active defenders. They will fight back, reseal walls, and push you out of the base. Online raids are riskier but prevent defenders from patching the breach while you are working. If you are strong enough to handle defenders, online raids are profitable because you can take loot from multiple rooms, not just the main loot room.
Prioritize soft sides whenever possible. A stone wall costs 2 C4 on the hard side but might cost zero explosives if you can break the soft side with a spear. Always scout the base layout to see if you can access walls from behind. This saves explosives and makes raids more profitable.
For details on specific explosives and when to use each, see the raiding tools guide. For defensive perspective, read raid defense fundamentals and advanced raid defense to understand how defenders think. For waterside bases, check the torpedo raiding guide. Use raid calculator to verify explosive costs before committing.
If a base has a compound, breach it and seal your entry point before hitting the main base. This gives you a safe staging area inside the compound and prevents defenders from flanking you from outside when they log on during the raid.