Raiding 101: Explosives, Timing, and Protection Costs
A raid that isn't planned is usually a raid that fails halfway through with your explosives spent and nothing to show for it. Here's how to plan one properly.
Raiding is where most of a base's resources — and a lot of the tension in Rust — actually gets spent. A good raid is planned in advance: you know what you're breaking through, roughly how much it costs, and what you'll do if it goes wrong. This post covers the basics for anyone about to run their first raid.
Know Your Explosives
- Satchel Charges — cheap, but weak per-charge and require multiple to break most tiers above wood. Good for soft targets or as a supplement to bigger explosives.
- Beancan Grenades — even weaker, mostly useful against twig/wood or as a finishing touch on already-damaged walls.
- C4 — the standard raiding explosive for stone and metal, reliable and predictable in how many charges a given wall tier needs.
- Rockets — higher raw damage than C4 per unit, often the go-to for armored tier or when you need to break through fast.
Different tiers need meaningfully different amounts of each explosive — always check current numbers before committing resources, since a miscalculated raid means wasted explosives and a wall still standing.
Scout Before You Commit
Watch the base for activity first — are the owners online, is there a turret visible, are there signs of an active team versus an obviously abandoned build? A raid on an occupied, defended base is a very different risk than one on a base nobody's touched in days. Check from a safe distance before walking up with a bag full of explosives.
Time Your Raid
Most raiding happens either late at night in real time (when defenders are less likely to be online) or during a deliberate window when you've confirmed the owners are elsewhere. Starting a raid you can't finish before the owners return is one of the most common ways to lose your explosives for nothing — have enough on hand to finish the job in one push, not "enough to start and hope."
Have an Exit Plan
Decide before you start what you'll do if the base owners show up mid-raid. Bring backup, a way to retreat, and don't dump every explosive you own into one attempt with nothing held in reserve for a fight. A raid that gets you killed with no loot to show for it is worse than not raiding at all.
Estimate Cost Versus Reward
Before committing explosives, make a rough judgment call: does what you can see (or reasonably expect) inside look like it's worth what you're about to spend? A base that took you a full sulfur farming session's worth of C4 to open should be worth more than a stack of low tier scrap. This isn't always knowable in advance, but it's worth a moment's thought before spending everything you have.
What's the cheapest way to raid a stone base?
C4 is generally the most resource-efficient option against stone once you factor in sulfur cost per point of damage, though a mix of C4 and well-placed satchels can sometimes stretch resources further depending on the exact wall layout.
How do I know how many explosives a wall needs?
Damage-per-explosive numbers for each building tier are well documented by the community and change occasionally with game updates — check current figures before a raid rather than relying on old numbers, since a miscalculation here is the most common way raids run out of explosives mid-attempt.
Is it worth raiding a base I'm not sure is occupied?
Scout longer if you're not sure. An unoccupied base is a safe raid; an occupied one can turn into a fight you didn't plan for. A few extra minutes watching from cover is cheap compared to losing your raid kit in an ambush.
What should I bring besides explosives?
A real combat loadout, not just raiding tools — medkits, a decent weapon, and armor. Plenty of raids turn into fights when the owners return, and showing up with nothing but C4 and a hammer is a bad position to be caught in.
The Core Idea
Raiding rewards preparation far more than aggression. Know what you're breaking, know roughly what it costs, scout before committing, and always have a plan for what happens if the fight comes to you instead of the wall.