Materials are Brotato’s currency. Understanding how to farm and spend them is the core skill that separates wins from losses.
Why this matters
A strong economy funds every upgrade; a weak one leaves you under-built at wave 20.
Step-by-step
- On economy characters, take Harvesting and economy items early.
- Break every crate, tree and node you pass for material drops.
- Sell items you are not using rather than hoarding them.
- On Entrepreneur, sell unused items — recycling returns 25% more materials.
- Spend on a defensive base first, then your damage tag, then upgrades.
Common mistakes
- Hoarding useless items
- Skipping Harvesting
- Spending on off-tag trash
Economy characters should treat the first ten waves as an investment phase. Harvesting plus economy items compounds into a material stack that funds the entire late game.
Spend on defense first so the investment survives long enough to pay off. A dead economy character collects nothing, and the stack stops growing the moment the run ends.
A build that out-shops the lobby usually wins before wave 20, because tier-three weapons arrive while other builds are still saving. Keep a small reroll buffer so a bad board never forces an off-tag purchase.