The cheapest lottery ticket in Rust
The Metal Detector is the one item that turns a walk across empty ground into income.
No monument, no card, no fight with anyone. You wander around a field holding a stick that beeps until it tells you to stop, then you hit the ground three times and take what is in it.
Most of what comes out is metal: 20-25 fragments, 3-5 HQM or 7-13 scrap, roughly. It is a modest, steady farm.
The reason people carry one anyway is the rare roll — a Revolver, a Semi-Automatic Pistol, a salvaged tool, a chainsaw or jackhammer, road sign armour. And since 2025, the gun some other player died with and never came back for.
Craft cost
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Metal Fragments | 200 |
| High Quality Metal | 5 |
| Rope | 2 |
| Workbench | Level 1 |
| Craft time | 30s at WB1 · 15s at WB2 · 7s at WB3 |
| Research (Research Table) | 30 scrap |
| Tech tree | Node listed at 30 scrap by one source, 125 scrap for the branch by another — see note |
| Repair (Repair Bench) | 40 frags + 1 HQM + 12 cloth, for 20% condition |
| Recycler | 120 frags, 3 HQM, 2 rope (80 / 2 / 1 at a safe-zone recycler) |
| Stack size / despawn | 1 / 20 minutes on the ground |
The rope is the piece people are missing. Two rope is trivial, but it is not something you casually have on you.
On the research cost: guides disagree. One current 2026 guide says the Research Table costs 30 scrap and the Workbench 1 tech-tree node also costs 30 scrap, but you have to unlock everything in front of it first, so the real path is more expensive. Another lists the Engineering Workbench branch at 125 scrap. Older guides quoting 75 or 125 scrap for the Research Table itself are out of date — since the November 2025 update it is 30.
If you find a detector in a crate, research it immediately. 30 scrap beats walking a tech tree.
How to use it: the two stages
Facepunch’s own description of the tool is the clearest instruction there is, because it is exactly how it behaves in game.
Stage 1 — the green lights
Equip the detector and start walking. When there is buried metal within a few metres it starts beeping and flashing, and green lights come on.
The more green lights, the closer you are. Move in different directions and follow the stronger signal until all the green lights are lit.
At that point stop covering ground. You are on top of it and it is time to slow down.
Stage 2 — the yellow lights
Hold right mouse button (Secondary Attack). This drops the detector to the ground and switches it into the close sweep. You now get yellow lights instead of green.
Move a few steps at a time while holding RMB. You are no longer looking for a direction — you are lining up an exact spot. Move until all the yellow lights are lit, and a flag appears at your feet.
Stage 3 — three hits
Switch to any melee item and hit the flag three times. A rock works. A hatchet or pickaxe is faster to swap to. You do not need a shovel.
The flag vanishes and the loot pops out of the ground.
The part that will get you killed
Holding RMB means you move slowly and your eyes are on the floor.
And the flag is visible to other players too — it is not your private marker.
So: check the treeline before you start sweeping, especially near roads and monuments. A player crouched over a flag in the open is the easiest kill on the map, and the reason is printed on the ground next to them.
Where it works — and where it does not
| Area | Works? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Fields | Yes | Open ground, easy to see players coming |
| Forests | Yes | Best terrain for the rarer tool rolls |
| Roads and rails | Yes | Most traffic, so most lost gear — and most danger |
| Beaches (non-snow) | Yes | |
| Rivers, lakes, swamps | Yes | Sweep the banks |
| Desert | Yes | Behaves like temperate ground |
| Arctic snow biome | No | Finds nothing in the snow |
| Outpost / Bandit Camp | No | No detecting inside safe zones |
If you are heading north for the Arctic Research Base, leave the detector at home.
What you find
Every flag rolls from a table that shifts a little with the terrain, but the common results are the same everywhere.
The common rolls
| Find | Amount | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Metal Fragments | 20-25 | about half of all digs |
| High Quality Metal | 3-5 | second most common |
| Scrap | 7-13 | steady trickle for research |
The rare rolls
- Revolver or Semi-Automatic Pistol
- Pistol and rifle ammo
- Salvaged tools
- Jackhammer — about 2% in forests
- Chainsaw
- Road sign armour, coffee can helmet
- Some food
None of it is guaranteed. Treat the detector as a metal-and-scrap farm with a lottery ticket stapled to it.
Buried gear: other people’s guns
This is the 2025 rework, and it is the best reason to carry a detector mid-wipe.
When a dropped weapon despawns on the ground, there is a chance it gets buried instead of disappearing. Anyone with a metal detector can then find it.
| Rule | How it works |
|---|---|
| Backpacks count | Weapons inside a despawning backpack can be buried too |
| Condition | The weapon comes back with the condition it had when it was lost |
| Lifetime | ~24 hours, then it expires if nobody found it |
| No stashing | Buried items are placed on a rough grid — you cannot drop a gun and dig it back up in the same spot |
The more weapons get dropped, the more of this there is. On a busy server, near the roads and the places people fight, the detector stops being a scrap tool and starts being a weapon recovery tool.
Where to find one without crafting it
| Source | Chance |
|---|---|
| Cannon Crate | 11% — the best current listed chance |
| Underwater Advanced Crates | 1.1% |
| Wagon Brown Crates | 0.4% |
Normal roadside crates and low-tier monuments drop them too, at low rates, and some scientists carry them. Most players end up crafting one after researching it.
Running a detecting trip
- Carry a melee tool. You cannot dig with the detector itself. A rock works; a hatchet swaps faster.
- Go light. Detecting is a cheap-kit activity. A pistol and basic armour is enough — you are not raiding.
- Bring a backpack. Frags, HQM and scrap eat slots fast on a long sweep.
- Repair it. The detector loses condition as you use it. A Repair Bench is cheaper than a new craft.
- Sweep near fights. Roads and the ground around PvP hotspots are where weapons get dropped and lost, which is exactly where buried gear spawns.
- Do not wait in one spot. After you loot a flag, sweep the surroundings; if there is no signal, move on. There is nothing to gain from standing still.
Related guides
- How to Get Scrap Fast in Rust — if scrap, not metal, is what you are short of
- Rust Farming Guide — where the detector fits in a farm route
- Rust Crafting Guide — workbenches, research and the tech tree
- Rust Tech Tree Guide — what to unlock with the scrap you dig up
- Rust Monuments Guide — where to look for Cannon Crates
- Rust Items Tier List — what a dug-up gun is actually worth
- Rust Beginner Guide — if you are reading this on wipe day
- Rust Tips and Tricks — the small things