High quality metal is the resource that decides how far your base and your kit can go. Every armored wall, every armored door, every AK, the Workbench 3 itself and now every auto turret needs it, and unlike wood, stone or metal fragments you cannot just walk out and farm a stack of it in ten minutes. Most groups spend the whole wipe a little short of HQM.
This high quality metal Rust guide covers what HQM is, every way to get it with real numbers, how to smelt the ore, which components to recycle for it, what it crafts, how much upkeep an armored base burns, and the habits that keep your boxes full.
What Is High Quality Metal in Rust?
High Quality Metal is a refined resource, one step above metal fragments. The game describes it as a material for armor and weapon construction, and that is exactly where it goes: top tier building, the best guns, metal armor and most of the electrical and defensive endgame. It cannot be crafted, researched or recycled back into anything, so every unit you own came out of a furnace or a crate.
Do not confuse it with HQM ore. The ore is the raw rock you mine or pull out of a quarry, and it does nothing until you smelt it. The finished metal is the shiny bar you actually craft with.
| Stat | High Quality Metal |
|---|---|
| Type | Resource |
| Made from | High Quality Metal Ore, 1 to 1 in any furnace |
| Smelt time | 6.7 s furnace, 4 s electric furnace, 45 a minute in a Large Furnace |
| Craftable / researchable | No / No |
| Recyclable | No, it is already a base material |
| Stack size | 100 |
| Despawn time | 40 minutes when dropped |
| Shortname / Item ID | metal.refined / 317398316 |
| Ore shortname | hq.metal.ore |
How to Get High Quality Metal
There are six real sources. Four give you ore that still needs a furnace, and the crates give finished metal you can spend straight away.
| Source | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Metal node | 2 HQM ore on the finishing hit, with about 600 metal ore | Passive HQM while you farm frags |
| HQM node | About 20 HQM ore plus about 400 metal ore | Rare jungle-biased spawns since September 2026 |
| HQM collectable | About 5 HQM ore, picked up by hand | Small top-ups while roaming |
| HQM Quarry | 50 HQM ore per diesel | Bulk HQM if you can hold the hopper |
| Giant Excavator | 100 HQM ore per diesel on metal mode | Clans with a diesel stack |
| Military crate | 15 to 25 HQM, 16.7% chance | Monument runs |
| Elite crate | 15 to 50 HQM, 27.7% chance | Tier 3 monuments and keycard rooms |
| Recycling | 1 to 2 HQM per component, 30 per spare AK | The most reliable source every wipe |
Early in a wipe almost all of your HQM comes from the last hit on metal nodes and from recycling the gun bodies, pipes and road signs you find in barrels and crates. Once your group can fuel it, the HQM Quarry turns 20 diesel into 1,000 HQM ore in about 42 minutes, but the hopper is public, so someone has to stand on it.
How to Smelt HQM Ore
Drop HQM ore into any furnace with wood and it comes out as high quality metal at a flat 1 to 1. Nothing is lost, and there is no special fuel. The only catch is speed: HQM is the slowest ore in the game to cook.
| Furnace | HQM per minute | Metal frags per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Furnace | 9 | 18 |
| Large Furnace | 45 | 90 |
| Electric Furnace | 15 | 30 |
Because HQM cooks at half the speed of metal fragments, put it in its own furnace instead of mixing it into a slot next to a big stack of metal ore. A full quarry run of 1,000 ore takes almost two hours in one standard furnace, or about 22 minutes in a Large Furnace.
Recycling for High Quality Metal
Recycling is where most players really get their HQM. Ten components return it, and spare guns and armor return a lot more. The numbers below are for a powered green monument recycler (60%).
| Item | HQM (powered green, 60%) | HQM (safe zone, 40%) |
|---|---|---|
| Rifle Body | 1, 80% chance of a 2nd | 1, 20% chance of a 2nd |
| SMG Body / Semi Body | 1, 80% chance of a 2nd | 1, 20% chance of a 2nd |
| Targeting Computer | 1, 20% chance of a 2nd, plus 3 tech trash | 80% chance of 1, plus 2 tech trash |
| CCTV Camera | 1, 80% chance of a 2nd, plus tech trash | 1, 20% chance of a 2nd |
| Tech Trash, Metal Pipe, Metal Spring, Road Signs | 1, 20% chance of a 2nd | 80% chance of 1 |
| Sheet Metal | 1, 20% chance of a 2nd, plus 120 frags | 80% chance of 1, plus 80 frags |
| Assault Rifle | 30 | 20 |
| M39 | 30 | 20 |
| LR-300 | 24 | 16 |
| Armored Door | 12, plus 3 gears | 8, plus 2 gears |
Safe zone recyclers at Outpost and Bandit Camp only run at 40%, which turns most of the guaranteed single HQM into an 80% roll. Every wipe also starts with the Power Plant offline, so green recyclers pay 50% until someone powers the grid, and the red Power Plant recycler pays 75%.
What High Quality Metal Crafts
HQM goes into well over a hundred recipes. These are the ones that eat most of it.
| Item | HQM | Rest of the recipe | Workbench |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workbench Level 3 | 100 | 1,000 metal fragments, 5 Advanced Blueprint Fragments | Level 2 |
| Assault Rifle | 50 | 200 wood, 4 metal springs, 1 rifle body | Level 3 |
| Armored Ladder Hatch | 35 | 6 gears, 1 wooden ladder | Level 3 |
| Armored Wall (upgrade) | 25 | None, hammer upgrade | None |
| Auto Turret | 25 | 1 targeting computer, 1 CCTV camera | Level 2 |
| Armored Double Door | 25 | 5 gears | Level 3 |
| Armored Door | 20 | 5 gears | Level 3 |
| Workbench Level 2 | 20 | 500 metal fragments, 5 Basic Blueprint Fragments | Level 1 |
| Bolt Action Rifle | 20 | 3 metal pipes, 1 metal spring, 1 rifle body | Level 3 |
| Vending Machine | 20 | 3 gears | Level 1 |
| Metal Chest Plate | 18 | 50 leather, 8 sewing kits | Level 3 |
| Metal Facemask | 15 | 50 leather, 6 sewing kits | Level 3 |
| MP5A4 | 15 | 1 SMG body, 2 metal springs | Level 3 |
| Armored floor (upgrade) | 13 | None, hammer upgrade | None |
| Thompson | 10 | 100 wood, 1 metal spring, 1 SMG body | Level 2 |
| Hazmat Suit | 8 | 5 tarp, 2 sewing kits | Level 2 |
| Custom SMG | 8 | 1 SMG body, 1 metal spring | Level 2 |
| Electric Furnace | 5 | 200 metal fragments | Level 2 |
| Computer Station | 5 | 1 targeting computer, 1 RF broadcaster, 1 RF receiver | Level 2 |
| Semi-Automatic Rifle | 4 | 450 metal fragments, 1 metal spring, 1 semi body | Level 2 |
| Metal Pipe | 2 | 20 scrap | Level 3 |
HQM Upkeep on an Armored Base
Building armored is not a one-off cost. Your tool cupboard charges upkeep in the same material the block is made of, so every armored wall and foundation costs HQM every day. One armored wall costs about 3 HQM a day on a small base and up to about 8 a day on a big one, because the upkeep rate climbs as the base grows. An armored foundation is in the same 3 to 8 range.
That is why most groups build their core in sheet metal and only armor the walls that face the loot room. Twenty armored walls on a mid-size base can cost well over 100 HQM a day, which is more than two HQM Quarry diesels a day just to keep the lights on.
High Quality Metal Tips
- Recycle every gun body you do not need. Rifle, SMG and semi bodies give 1 HQM plus an 80% roll at a monument recycler.
- Scrap spare guns. One spare AK or M39 is 30 HQM, more than an hour of node farming.
- Give HQM its own furnace. It cooks at half the speed of metal fragments, so do not bury it behind a metal ore stack.
- Guard the quarry. The HQM Quarry hopper has no lock, so stay with it or lose the ore.
- Stock the tool cupboard. Armored walls cost 3 to 8 HQM a day each, so check the upkeep before you upgrade.
- Finish every metal node. The HQM ore drops on the last hit, so never walk away from a half-mined node.
All the high quality metal in your boxes resets on wipe day. Check the force wipe countdown before you spend it on a turret wall, and the Rust item IDs list for the metal.refined spawn name.
Rust High Quality Metal FAQ
How do you get high quality metal in Rust?
Mine metal nodes (2 HQM ore on the last hit) and rare HQM nodes (about 20 ore), run the HQM Quarry (50 ore per diesel) or the Giant Excavator (100 per diesel), and smelt the ore in a furnace. Military and elite crates drop finished HQM, and recycling rifle, SMG and semi bodies, pipes, springs, road signs, sheet metal and spare guns gives HQM too.
How long does HQM take to smelt?
One HQM ore becomes one high quality metal in about 6.7 seconds in a standard furnace, which is 9 a minute. A Large Furnace does 45 a minute across its slots and an Electric Furnace does 15 a minute.
What is the best item to recycle for HQM?
Spare guns are the biggest single source: an Assault Rifle or M39 gives 30 HQM at a monument recycler. Among components, rifle, SMG and semi automatic bodies are best because they give 1 HQM plus an 80% chance of a second. Gears and metal blades give no HQM.
How much HQM does an auto turret cost?
An auto turret costs 25 high quality metal, 1 targeting computer and 1 CCTV camera at a Workbench Level 2. The August 2026 Power Trip update raised it from 10 HQM.
What is the stack size of high quality metal?
High quality metal stacks to 100 in one slot, and a dropped stack despawns after 40 minutes. Its shortname is metal.refined and its item ID is 317398316.
How much HQM upkeep does an armored wall cost?
About 3 to 8 high quality metal per wall per day, paid from the tool cupboard. The rate goes up as your base gets bigger.
Sources and Further Reading
- Facepunch Rust Wiki, High Quality Metal (stack size, despawn, item ID, recipes)
- Facepunch Rust Wiki, High Quality Metal Ore (node yield and smelt times)
- Facepunch Rust Wiki, Military Crate and Elite Crate (HQM loot chances)
- PlayNews, Auto Turret went from 10 to 25 HQM (Power Trip change)
- Every item ID: Rust item IDs list