Almost every Rust base starts life as a few twig foundations, and the first thing most players do with the Hammer is slap them up to wood. The wooden foundation is the cheapest real upgrade in the game: a few minutes of chopping turns a 10 HP twig square into something a naked with a rock cannot knock over. It is also the tier that burns, so it pays to know exactly what it can and cannot stop.
This wooden foundation Rust guide covers what a wood foundation costs, how much health it has, how many C4, rockets, satchels and molotovs it takes to raid, where its soft side is, what it costs in upkeep, and when you should move on to stone.
What Is a Wooden Foundation in Rust?
A foundation is the base building block in Rust. It is the only piece you can place straight onto the ground, and every other piece of your base, from wood walls to floors and roofs, gets its stability from the foundations below it. A wooden foundation is a foundation upgraded to the wood tier, the second of the five build tiers (twig, wood, stone, sheet metal, armored).
In game, the wood tier looks like a plank deck sitting on rough log legs, which is why a wood base on uneven ground shows its stilts underneath. The prefab is foundation.wood, and there is a matching wooden triangle foundation and wooden foundation steps. Square and triangle have the same health and the same raid cost; the triangle simply costs half as much and lets you build angled bases and honeycomb.
| Stat | Wooden Foundation | Wooden Triangle Foundation |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 250 HP | 250 HP |
| Upgrade cost | 200 wood | 100 wood |
| Twig placement cost | 50 wood | 25 wood |
| Total from scratch | 250 wood | 125 wood |
| Workbench needed | None | None |
| Upkeep per day | 20 to 67 wood | 10 to 33 wood |
| Decay time (no upkeep) | 3 hours | 3 hours |
| Soft side | Middle of the top | Middle of the top |
| Takes fire damage | Yes | Yes |
How Much Does a Wooden Foundation Cost?
A square wooden foundation costs 200 wood to upgrade, the same as a full wood wall. A triangle foundation costs 100 wood. You pay 50 wood (25 for a triangle) to place the twig foundation first, so a finished square is 250 wood from bare ground. You also need a Building Plan (20 wood) and a Hammer (100 wood), both default blueprints.
That makes wood the fastest tier to get up. A 2×1 starter on wood foundations (two foundations, walls, a doorway and a floor) is roughly 1,500 wood all in, which a hatchet gets you from a handful of trees. One full tree with a stone hatchet is a few hundred wood, so the wood tier is something you can afford within your first ten minutes on a fresh force wipe.
How to Build and Upgrade a Wooden Foundation
- Craft a Building Plan and a Hammer. 20 wood and 100 wood, no workbench.
- Place a twig foundation. Equip the Building Plan, hold right click, pick Foundation (or Triangle Foundation) and place it on fairly flat ground for 50 wood.
- Put down a Tool Cupboard. Do it before you upgrade, so nobody can build on or around your foundation and you can pay upkeep.
- Upgrade with the Hammer. Hold right click on the foundation with the Hammer and pick Wood. 200 wood is taken from your inventory.
How Much to Raid a Wooden Foundation?
A wooden foundation has the same 250 HP as a wood wall, so it takes the same boom. The table below uses the current RustLabs numbers. Sulfur is the raw sulfur cost of each explosive.
| Raid tool | Amount | Sulfur |
|---|---|---|
| Incendiary Rocket | 1 | 300 (cheapest) |
| Molotov Cocktail | 4 | 0 |
| C4 | 1 | 2,200 |
| Rocket | 2 | 2,800 |
| Satchel Charge | 3 | 1,440 |
| Beancan Grenade | 13 | 1,560 |
| Explosive 5.56 ammo (AK) | 48 (42 soft side) | 1,200 |
| High Velocity Rocket | 9 | 1,800 |
| 40mm HE Grenade | 8 | – |
| MLRS rocket | 1 | – |
Satchels are the sulfur-cheapest explosive at 1,440, but an incendiary rocket beats all of them at 300 sulfur. If you are working out a full raid, our Rust raid calculator adds up every piece on the way to the TC.
Can You Burn a Wooden Foundation?
Yes. Wood is the only real building tier that takes fire damage (stone, sheet metal and armored do not), and that is the wooden foundation’s biggest weakness. Fire does its damage over time, so you throw it and wait.
- 4 molotovs, about 21 seconds of burning. Each costs 50 low grade fuel and 10 cloth, no sulfur.
- 1 incendiary rocket, 300 sulfur. The cheapest sulfur raid on any wood piece.
- 125 fire arrows from a bow, about 2 minutes.
- 206 low grade fuel through a flamethrower, about 45 seconds.
Wooden Foundation Soft Side
The soft side of a foundation is the middle of the top, the surface you stand on. The outside faces are the hard side. On a normal base the top is covered by your walls, floor and loot, so raiders have to hit the hard edges. A foundation that sticks out past your walls, like a porch or an external ring, has its top exposed and can be soft-sided from outside.
| Melee tool | Hard side (edges) | Soft side (top) |
|---|---|---|
| Chainsaw | about 4 min | about 23 s |
| Jackhammer | about 4.5 min | about 27 s |
| Salvaged Axe | 6 axes, about 7 min | 1 axe, about 42 s |
| Hatchet | 12 hatchets, about 12 min | 2 hatchets, about 72 s |
| Pickaxe | 11 pickaxes, about 16 min | 1 pickaxe, about 94 s |
Wooden Foundation Upkeep and Decay
Upkeep for a square wooden foundation is 20 to 67 wood a day, and a triangle is 10 to 33 wood. The range comes from the upkeep brackets: the first pieces in a base cost the low end, and the rate climbs as the base grows. Since the Breach and Clear update (September 2026) upkeep also scales with group size: the first 4 authorised players are free, then it rises 2% a player up to 10 and 4% after that, capped at 300%. Our upkeep calculator works it out for a whole base.
With no wood in the Tool Cupboard, a wooden foundation decays from full health to nothing in 3 hours, and everything resting on it falls with it. Twig decays in 1 hour, stone in 5, sheet metal in 8 and armored in 12.
Wood vs Stone Foundation (and Every Other Tier)
| Tier | Square cost | Triangle cost | Health | C4 to raid | Decay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twig | 50 wood | 25 wood | 10 HP | Any melee | 1 h |
| Wood | 200 wood | 100 wood | 250 HP | 1 | 3 h |
| Stone | 300 stone | 150 stone | 500 HP | 2 | 5 h |
| Sheet Metal | 200 frags | 100 frags | 1,000 HP | 4 | 8 h |
| Armored | 25 HQM | 13 HQM | 2,000 HP | 8 | 12 h |
Stone is the big jump. It has double the health, takes no fire damage at all, and only costs 300 stone, which is two or three nodes. Wood is fine for the first hour of a wipe, for a quick loot room or for a farm outpost, but anything you want to keep overnight should be stone or better.
The wood tier also has a paid look: the Legacy Wood building skin (first released as Frontier in November 2023) gives wood pieces an old Legacy Rust style. A skin only changes how it looks, not its health or raid cost. See our Rust skins guide for more.
Wooden Foundation Tips
- Get off twig fast. Twig is 10 HP and anyone with a rock can remove it. Even wood stops most fresh spawns.
- Upgrade to stone as soon as you have it. 300 stone for double the health and no fire damage is the best deal in Rust building.
- Place the TC before you upgrade. Otherwise someone can block you in or build on your foundations.
- Use triangles to save wood. A triangle is half the cost of a square and has the same health.
- Respect molotovs. Four molotovs open a wooden foundation with no sulfur. Do not leave a wood base full of loot overnight.
- Cover the tops. Exposed foundation tops outside your walls are soft side. Keep extra foundations inside or upgrade them.
For the full build order from bare ground to a locked base, read our Rust building guide, plan the layout in the Rust base builder, and if you are new, start with the Rust beginner’s guide.
Wooden Foundation FAQ
How much HP does a wooden foundation have in Rust?
A wooden foundation has 250 HP, the same as a wood wall. A wooden triangle foundation also has 250 HP.
How much does a wooden foundation cost in Rust?
Upgrading a foundation to wood costs 200 wood, and a triangle foundation costs 100 wood. Placing the twig foundation first costs 50 wood, or 25 for a triangle, so a square is 250 wood in total. No workbench is needed.
How many C4 does it take to break a wooden foundation?
1 C4. It also takes 2 rockets, 3 satchel charges, 13 beancans or 48 explosive ammo. The cheapest sulfur option is 1 incendiary rocket (300 sulfur).
How many molotovs does a wooden foundation take?
4 molotovs burn a full HP wooden foundation down in about 21 seconds, with no sulfur needed.
Where is the soft side of a foundation in Rust?
The soft side of a foundation is the middle of the top. The outside faces are the hard side. On a wooden foundation, one salvaged axe breaks it from the top in about 42 seconds, but it takes 6 axes from the side.
How long does a wooden foundation take to decay?
Without upkeep, a wooden foundation decays from full health in 3 hours. Upkeep is 20 to 67 wood a day per square foundation and 10 to 33 for a triangle, paid from the Tool Cupboard.
Should I use wood or stone foundations in Rust?
Stone, as soon as you can. A stone foundation costs 300 stone, has 500 HP, takes 2 C4 and does not burn. Wood is only worth it for the first minutes of a wipe or a quick outpost.
Can you skip wood and upgrade a twig foundation straight to stone?
Yes. Hold right click with the Hammer on a twig foundation and pick any tier. You do not need to go through wood first.
Sources and Further Reading
- RustClash Wiki, Wooden Foundation
- Rustafied, Frontier building skin release
- Health, raid, melee, upkeep and decay figures from RustLabs data; in-game models from the Rust prefab files
- Every building piece: Rust raid calculator