Rust Loot Tables
What's actually inside every crate, drop and kill worth farming — guaranteed items first, then everything down to a few-percent chance. No made-up numbers; every table here is sourced from current-build data.
Military Crate
Spawns near points of interest, most often in radiation zones — the small green ammo-style crates you find scattered around monuments.
Elite Crate
Found at the Launch Site, Military Tunnel and Oil Rig monuments. Loot quantity is similar to a Military Crate, but the pool skews toward rarer items.
Locked Crate
Dropped in groups of three by the scientist-protected cargo ship, or by the Chinook after a full hack — the highest-value crate in the game, and it needs a 15-minute hack to open.
Supply Drop (Airdrop)
Dropped from a flying cargo plane on a parachute, either randomly or from a thrown Supply Signal. Visible to the whole server the moment it's called in, so expect a fight over it.
Helicopter Crate
The Patrol Helicopter drops 4 Helicopter Crates when destroyed. They land on fire and can't be looted until they burn out — and the crash site shows as a debris field on everyone's map, so the fire is really a timer on how long you have to hold the site.
Bradley APC
Bradley itself drops 3 APC Crates when destroyed — these are the crates that spawn, on fire, once it explodes at Launch Site. Respawns 1 hour after death.
Metal Detector Finds
Not a crate — this is what the Metal Detector tool actually digs up. Different biomes and terrain types (roads, beaches, forests, fields, waterways) surface different items when you dig at a flagged spot.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the best loot table in Rust?expand_more
Locked Crate, by a wide margin — it's the only container with a guaranteed Advanced Blueprint Fragment and Metal Armor Insert, on top of a decent shot at an Assault Rifle or LR-300. Elite Crate is the next best you can get without a hacked crate.
Where do Locked Crates come from?expand_more
Three at a time from the scientist-protected cargo ship, or one from a Chinook helicopter drop — either way it needs a 15-minute hack before you can loot it, and it's shown on the whole server's map the moment it's placed.
What does Bradley drop?expand_more
Bradley itself doesn't drop loot directly — destroying it spawns 3 APC Crates, which is the loot table on this page. It's one of the few reliable sources of MLRS Rockets and a Timed Explosive Charge.
Related guides
New to Rust? Here's exactly what to do on your first wipe — gathering, your first base, tools, scrap and staying alive. Real numbers, no fluff.
A wipe-day-to-endgame Rust progression roadmap: scrap first, WB1 to WB3, first gun to AK, then C4 raids. Do it in this order.
A real player's Rust raid guide: exact sulfur costs per structure, C4 vs rockets vs satchels vs eco raiding, online/offline tactics and defence.