Methodology & sources

The formulas

Three formulas run the entire site. If any page ever shows a number that doesn’t satisfy them, that’s a bug - please report it.

1. Units per target: count = ceil(target HP ÷ damage per explosive). Damage values are per-explosive, per-structure. You always round up.
2. Sulfur per line: sulfur = count × sulfur per explosive. Sulfur costs are computed from raw crafting recipes, not from hearsay.
3. Farming ETA: time = sulfur needed ÷ sulfur per minute; nodes = sulfur ÷ 300; charcoal ≈ sulfur × 1.5 (gunpowder ratio 30 charcoal : 20 sulfur).

The one exception: torch counts are tested hit counts, not HP divisions - fire and melee damage vs wood involves multipliers that don’t reduce to a clean per-hit number, so we store community-tested values instead of deriving them.

The sulfur chain, reconciled

Every sulfur figure traces to two base recipes (Rust Wiki item pages):

• Gun Powder: 20 sulfur + 30 charcoal → 10 gun powder ⇒ 2 sulfur per gun powder
• Explosives: 50 gun powder + 10 sulfur + 3 low grade + 10 metal fragments ⇒ 110 sulfur per Explosives

Explosive	Recipe	Sulfur
C4	20 Explosives + 5 cloth + 2 tech trash	20 × 110 = 2,200
Rocket	2 pipes + 150 gun powder + 10 Explosives	10 × 110 + 150 × 2 = 1,400
Satchel Charge	4 beancans + 1 rope + 1 small stash	4 × 120 = 480
Beancan Grenade	60 gun powder + 20 metal fragments	60 × 2 = 120
Explosive 5.56	per 2 rounds: 20 gun powder + 10 sulfur + 10 metal frags	25 per round
MLRS Rocket	Not craftable - looted from APC/heli/elite crates	n/a

Workbench gates follow the crafting requirements: C4 and rockets require a Tier 3 workbench; satchels, beancans and explosive ammo require Tier 1.

Sources

• Rust Wiki (Fandom) - tier HP values (Building page), the Destruction raid chart (per-item damage and minimum quantities), crafting recipes and raw sulfur for each explosive, explosive ammo’s strong/weak side demolition table, sulfur node yield (300 ore → 300 sulfur), TC 100 HP, satchel malfunction note.
  rust.fandom.com - pages: Building, Destruction, Timed Explosive Charge, Rocket, Satchel Charge, Beancan Grenade, Explosives, Gun Powder, Explosive 5.56 Rifle Ammo, MLRS, Sulfur Ore, Tool Cupboard, Auto Turret
• RustClash wiki (successor of Rustlabs) - per-target raid tables used to cross-check every count and sulfur figure, plus deployable values the Fandom chart doesn’t list (turret, SAM site, TC, ladder hatch).
  wiki.rustclash.com - stone/wood/metal/armored wall, all doors, tool-cupboard, auto-turret, sam-site, high-external walls, ladder-hatch

When sources disagree

Two conflicts existed at snapshot time. In both cases we kept the value whose internal math is self-consistent (damage × (count − 1) < HP ≤ damage × count) and which comes from the more actively maintained dataset:

Cell	Fandom Destruction	RustClash	Used	Why
Beancan vs armored door	56	69	69	Fandom’s own damage table (14.5 dmg) gives ceil(1000 ÷ 14.5) = 69 - its count table is stale.
Explosive ammo vs stone wall	127	185 (hard) / 173 (soft)	185 / 173	RustClash’s per-round damage (2.704 hard / 2.904 soft) reproduces 185/173 exactly; 127 matches no damage value in either source.

Known limits of the data

• Counts are lab-condition minimums: point-blank placement, every charge detonates, no splash falloff.
• Satchel malfunction chance is documented qualitatively by the wiki - we don’t add a numeric buffer.
• Server mods and raw-rework changes are out of scope; this is vanilla data.
• Facepunch rebalances regularly. A count that mismatches your in-game test may mean a patch landed - tell us and we’ll re-verify.

Review & update process

• Verification: after every Rust force-wipe cycle with balance notes, and at minimum quarterly, we re-pull the source pages and re-run the site’s dataset tests (18 assertions pinning every published count).
• Corrections: reader reports are checked against both sources; accepted corrections ship with a changelog entry and a fresh snapshot date.
• AI disclosure: page copy is drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by the maintainers against the dataset before publishing; no number on this site is AI-generated - all values come from the cited tables and the test-pinned dataset.
• Independence: no ads, affiliates or sponsorships; nothing on this site is paid placement.