How Loot Works
Crate contents are randomised from loot tables, but you can predict the CATEGORY even if not the exact item. All military crates hold guns or components; all elite crates hold high-tier weapons. The distribution isn't uniform -- some items are common, some rare -- so the skill is knowing which container is worth your time and PvP risk.
The golden routing rule: run EVERY crate at a monument before you leave. Many monuments have several military crates tucked in different rooms, and a half-cleared monument is wasted risk. For exact drop percentages, the community standard is RustLabs -- this guide covers what each container is and where to find it.
Basic, Military & Elite Crates
The three core tiers, low to high:
- Basic (Brown) Crates: the most common, at almost every monument. Low-to-mid items -- basic components, low-tier weapons, food, consumables. Useful early, not worth fighting for.
- Military Crates (Gun Crates): mid-tier, monument-only, holding weapons and armor. These spawn in contested, often-radiated rooms, so go armed -- they're a prime PvP flashpoint.
- Elite Crates: the top standard tier, found at Tier 3 monuments (Launch Site, Military Tunnels, Airfield) and Oil Rig. They drop assault/sniper rifles, the M249 and L96, heavy armor, C4, rockets, and rare items like silencers and the targeting computer -- plus game-changing blueprints. The value is why they're guarded by radiation and scientists.
Supply Drops & Specialty Crates
Beyond the standard tiers:
- Supply Drops: air-dropped from passing cargo planes -- randomly, or summoned with a Supply Signal. Roughly eight items of high-tier weapons and armor, and HEAVILY contested when they land in the open. Bring guns and friends.
- Food Crates: around monument exteriors and along roads, up to ~3 items -- raw/cooked food, leather, cloth, and the odd low-tier weapon.
- Medical Crates: inside monuments (not on roads), usually a single item -- syringes, medkits, antidotes, sometimes a nailgun or waterpipe shotgun.
- Mine Crates: in and around caves, good for early metal tools and resources.
Learn the food/medical spots near your base for a reliable early-game topup with low risk.
Keycards & Locked Crates
The keycard system is a built-in progression ladder. Locked crates and monument puzzles need green, blue, or red keycards -- and they chain: green-locked rooms tend to yield the BLUE keycard, blue-locked rooms yield the RED. So you climb monument tiers in order rather than jumping straight to the top.
The standard wipe pattern: start green-tier monuments immediately for cheap early loot, then move up to blue and red as you stockpile keycards and -- critically -- radiation protection, since the higher tiers bathe you in rads. Carry a fuse and a keycard on monument runs so a powered puzzle door never stops you. See the Monument Puzzle guides for the per-monument routes.
The Hackable (CH47) Crate
The Hackable Locked Crate (CH47 Crate) is the rarest, highest-reward container -- high-tier armor, automatic weapons, explosives, and rare materials. Three ways to reach one: a Chinook helicopter dropping it after patrolling a monument, the Cargo Ship (delivered in groups of three), and Oil Rig.
You don't need an item to open it -- just press the action button to start a 15-minute hack, then survive the wait. The catches: - The crate's position shows GLOBALLY on everyone's map, so expect company. - Don't shoot the laptop on top -- damaging it adds time to the hack. - Starting the hack on Oil Rig summons 6 Heavy Scientists by Chinook.
It's a commitment fight: claim it only if you can hold the spot for the full timer.