How to Break Crackstone in Sandustry
Your shovel and gun will never break Crackstone. Here is which tool does, what it costs to research, and why nothing drops when it breaks.
GamePrimer EditorialUpdated Verified
Your Shovel and your Gun do nothing to Crackstone, and no amount of clicking will change that. Every other digging tool breaks it. The first one you can research is the Rocket Launcher, at 2,000 Gold in tier 4.
If you have been swinging at a dark, cracked wall and watching nothing happen, the tool is the problem, not your aim.
Which tools break Crackstone
| Tool | Breaks Crackstone | Research cost |
|---|---|---|
| Shovel | No | starting tool |
| Gun | No | 1,500 Gold (tier 3) |
| Rocket Launcher | Yes | 2,000 Gold (tier 4) |
| Drill | Yes | 2,500 Gold (tier 5) |
| Laser | Yes | 5,000 Gold (tier 5) |
The wiki puts it plainly: Official“The Shovel and Gun do not affect Crackstone, all other digging tools will destroy it.”
Note that the Gun costs more than the Rocket Launcher’s tier suggests and still will not touch Crackstone. If breaking Crackstone is what you are saving for, skip the Gun and put the Gold towards the Rocket Launcher.
The cheapest route to breaking it
The Rocket Launcher is the answer for almost everyone: 2,000 Gold, no prerequisites, and it unlocks a tier earlier than the alternatives.
The Drill looks comparable at 2,500 Gold, but it also requires the Rocket Launcher and the Florinol Battery before you can unlock it, which puts the real cost at 6,000 Gold. The Drill also needs Energy to run. It is a better tool; it is not a cheaper way through a wall.
Nothing drops when it breaks
Crackstone leaves nothing behind. It is not a resource, and there is no reason to farm it — you break it to get through it, not to collect it.
It also cannot be burned, wetted, or launched, so the usual physics tricks are out. There is no clever early-game workaround here; the wall stays until you bring a tool that works.
What is behind it
Crackstone is generated naturally as terrain, and it is frequently holding back something you want. Break it from a position where you are not standing directly underneath whatever is on the other side — falling material and water both behave exactly as you would expect once the wall stops holding them.
Related
- Sandustry Beginner Guide — what to spend your first Gold on
- How to separate wet sand and water — the other early problem that has a mechanical answer rather than a trick
