Raiding in Rust: How to Raid Properly — 2026 Guide with Costs
Full Rust raiding guide 2026: C4, rockets, satchels, Explosive 5.56. Raid cost tables for every wall and door, plus strategies, loadouts and mistakes.
7 min read · 1,241 words
Introduction
Raiding is the main currency of progress in Rust: you don't get stronger until you take someone else's stuff. But a raid is an economic decision. Burn 50 rockets on a base holding 20 rockets' worth of loot and you're down on the trade. Professional raiders count every C4 and every rocket before the first explosion: they read the base, pick the cheapest path in, and take the loot for the smallest possible spend.
This guide covers raid theory and practice in full: how to read a base, cost tables for breaking every wall and door (current for 2026), strategies and loadouts. Data from the rustly.com raid calculator, guidedragon.de and a 2025 Steam guide.
How to read a base before you raid it
Before the first shot comes recon. Three questions:
- Where are the doors, where are the walls? Lots of garage doors = loot room. Double doors = transit areas.
- What's weaker, the frames or the doors? If the frames are weaker than the doors, hit the frame.
- Where are the splash corners? Rockets hit up to 4 surfaces at a wall intersection.
The main rule: a path through DOORS is almost always cheaper than a path through walls. Doors have less HP: an Armored Door (1,000 HP) is cheaper to open than an Armored Wall (2,000 HP). Don't blindly hammer walls — find the door path.
Read the electricity: cables and switches, door controllers and hatches all give away the route to the loot room. Watch out for turrets covering the passages.
Explosives: what to use and when
| Tool | Damage | Splash | When to use |
|---|---|---|---|
| C4 (Timed Explosive) | 550 | Almost none | Surgical work: doors, TC. Quiet and reliable |
| Rocket | 275 | Yes, up to 4 surfaces | Punching through honeycomb, wall intersections |
| HV Rocket | 30 | Weak | Cheap, but you need a lot of them |
| Satchel | 75 | No | Budget option, but UNRELIABLE (sometimes duds) |
| Explosive 5.56 | — | Weak | Finishing off, sheet metal doors, lower-tier walls |
| Beancan / F1 | 15 | No | Extreme budget |
The "Rocket → Explosive 5.56" combo saves sulfur: 1-2 rockets into a wall intersection, then finish with Explosive 5.56. C4 + Explosive 5.56 as a finisher is also more efficient than "just keep throwing C4".
Full cost tables (2026)
Walls (hard side)
| Wall (HP) | C4 | Explosive 5.56 | Satchel | Rocket | HV | Propane |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone (500) | 2 (4,400 sulfur) | 185 (4,625) | 10 (4,800) | 4 (5,600) | 32 (6,400) | 7 (6,300) |
| Sheet Metal (1,000) | 4 (8,800) | 400 (10,000) | 23 (11,040) | 8 (11,200) | 67 (13,400) | 13 (11,700) |
| Armored (2,000) | 8 (17,600) | 799 (19,975) | 46 (22,080) | 15 (21,000) | 134 (26,800) | 25 (22,500) |
| Wooden (250) | 1 (2,200) | 49 (1,225) | 3 (1,440) | 2 (2,800) | 9 (1,800) | 2 (1,800) |
Cheapest options on walls: Stone Wall — 2 C4 (4,400 sulfur); Wooden Wall — 1 Incendiary Rocket (300 sulfur!) or the sulfur-free Molotov ×4 / Fire Arrow ×125.
Doors
| Door (HP) | C4 | Explosive 5.56 | Satchel | Rocket | HV | Propane |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wooden (200) | 1 (2,200) | 19 (475) | 2 (960) | 1 (1,400) | 4 (800) | 1 (900) |
| Sheet Metal (250) | 1 (2,200) | 63 (1,575) | 4 (1,920) | 2 (2,800) | 11 (2,200) | 2 (1,800) |
| Garage (600) | 2 (4,400) | 150 (3,750) | 9 (4,320) | 3 (4,200) | 25 (5,000) | 5 (4,500) |
| Armored (1,000) | 3 (6,600) | 250 (6,250) | 15 (7,200) | 5 (7,000) | 42 (8,400) | 8 (7,200) |
Takeaway on doors: for a Sheet Metal Door, Explosive 5.56 ×63 (1,575 sulfur) is the cheapest; for a Wooden Door, 1 Incendiary Rocket (300 sulfur).
Raid strategies
Quiet raid (solo/duo, at night)
- C4 on the key door, then finish the remaining HP with Explosive 5.56. Less splash means less noise.
- Soft side with a pickaxe: the inside face of a wall or door takes about 34% more damage from tools. Cheap, but slow and loud.
- Satchels to start — always bring spares (they're unreliable and can delay or misfire).
Online raid
- Move fast: smoke and meds, rockets to open the shell, C4/Explo to push through.
- Switch sides, never stand in the line of fire.
- Don't spend EVERYTHING on the first breach — a second entry point forces defenders into mistakes.
Flame raid (eco, wipe day)
- A flamethrower burns wooden doors very quickly (from a solo raid example: half a tank = 130 HP of a wooden door).
- Molotovs and fire arrows cost zero sulfur. Wooden Door — 1 Incendiary Rocket (300 sulfur).
Loadouts
Standard entry (duo): 2× C4, 6-8 rockets, 200-300 Explosive 5.56, 2 stacks of meds, 2 stacks of building mats (GP/sulfur), ladders and frames, 2× smoke.
Budget (solo): 1× C4 on the first door plus Explosive 5.56; 3-4 satchels on a sheet metal door.
Worked example: a 2×2 stone base through a wall plus a sheet metal door = 2 C4 (4,400) + 1 C4 on the door (2,200) = 6,600 sulfur. An armored loot room adds 8 C4 = 17,600 (24,200 sulfur in total). Work out the exact cost in the raid calculator — it uses the same HP and damage values as the tables above.
Crafting cost of boom (per unit)
| Explosive | Sulfur | Charcoal | Metal Frags |
|---|---|---|---|
| C4 | 2,200 | 3,000 | 200 |
| Rocket | 1,400 | 1,900 | 146 |
| Satchel | 480 | 660 | 80 |
| Explosive 5.56 | 25 | 38 | 5 |
Common raider mistakes
- Hitting walls instead of doors — doors are cheaper, always look for the door path.
- Not using splash corners — rockets into wall intersections hit up to 4 surfaces at once.
- Finishing with expensive C4 what Explosive 5.56 would close out — save C4 for doors and the TC.
- Ignoring noise — explosions carry a long way and counter-raiders will come running.
- Underestimating satchel misfires — bring spares.
- Spending all your boom on the first breach — keep a reserve for the entry re-take.
- Standing in the line of fire during an online raid — defenders shoot from windows and the roof.
FAQ
What's cheaper, C4 or rockets?
It depends on the target. On a stone wall: 2 C4 (4,400 sulfur) beats 4 rockets (5,600). On a sheet metal wall: 4 C4 (8,800) beats 8 rockets (11,200). But rockets give you splash on intersections, which is more efficient against honeycomb.
How many satchels for a sheet metal door?
4 satchels (~1,920 sulfur) plus a finisher. Satchels are unreliable — bring 5-6.
How do I raid with no explosives?
Flame raid: flamethrower, Molotovs and fire arrows against wooden doors (zero sulfur). Soft side with a pickaxe is cheap but slow. Otherwise, farm sulfur and craft satchels.
What is a splash corner?
A wall intersection where one rocket hits up to 4 surfaces at once. Fire rockets into corners and intersections — it can save up to 50% of the rockets you'd spend on honeycomb.
When is the best time to raid?
Offline (night or early morning) is safe but dull and "unsporting"; online is exciting and profitable (defenders often carry the loot on them). Experienced solo raiders sum it up: offline for profit, online for fun.
Conclusion
Raiding isn't about blowing up more, it's about blowing up smart. Read the base, look for the door path, use splash corners, and lean on the Rocket + Explosive 5.56 combo. Count every charge ahead of time with a raid calculator and never spend all your boom on the first breach. Once you understand raid economics you stop being a target and become a hunter: every raid brings in more than it cost. And that's the only way to get rich in Rust faster than farming.
Sources: rustly.com/raid (2026 tables), guidedragon.de (strategies), rustbasedesigns.com and xgamingserver.com (calculators), wipetimer.com, Steam Community Guide "Raid Calculator | RUST 2025", YouTube "Rust: SOLO ECO RAIDS".