Materials guide · Updated August 30, 2026 · Early Access

Sandustry Crackstone: What It Is and How to Break It

Crackstone is hard terrain: your starting tools bounce off it, and when you finally do break it, nothing drops. It is cleared, not farmed. The tools that break it arrive in Tiers 4-5 — Rocket Launcher (2000 gold), Drill (2500 gold + Energy) or the Laser (5000 gold) — so if it is blocking your build right now, the answer is usually to reroute, not to fight it.

Quick decision: blocked by Crackstone early? Reroute the line — the tools arrive late and cost real Gold (see the research order). In the mid game, the Rocket Launcher is the cheapest breaker; endgame, the Laser tunnels through most surface obstacles on its own.

Every tool that breaks it

TIER 4 · 2000 GOLD

Rocket Launcher

Raw destructive power at range. The most cost-effective Crackstone breaker when hard terrain first becomes a real obstacle. Note the flamethrower still beats it on solid ice — different material, different tool.

TIER 5 · 2500 GOLD*

Drill

Built for hard materials, powered by Energy. Prerequisites: Rocket Launcher and Florinol Battery already unlocked — the Drill is a late purchase, not a shortcut past the Rocket Launcher.

TIER 5 · 5000 GOLD

Laser

Extremely power-hungry to fire for long, with incredible potential to tunnel through most obstacles in the surface layers. The endgame answer to terrain that refuses to move.

*Drill also requires Energy to operate, not just to unlock.

Why nothing drops

The official wiki is blunt about it: when Crackstone breaks, nothing remains. Every other hard-look material in the game is either ore (mine it), ice (melt it with a flamethrower), or lava-frozen cinder (move and reignite it). Crackstone alone is pure obstacle. Its only practical use is passive: leave it standing where it makes a natural wall for containing fluids or captured creatures.

Crackstone FAQ

What is Crackstone in Sandustry?
A hard material found in the world that basic digging tools cannot break. It acts as natural terrain walls until you unlock more destructive equipment.
How do I break Crackstone?
With advanced digging tools: the Rocket Launcher (Tier 4, 2000 gold) for raw destruction, the Drill (Tier 5, 2500 gold plus Energy and the Rocket Launcher and Florinol Battery prerequisites) for hard materials specifically, or the Laser (Tier 5, 5000 gold), which tunnels through most obstacles in the surface layers.
What does Crackstone drop?
Nothing. When it breaks, no resource remains — it is terrain to be cleared, not ore to be mined. Do not plan a supply chain around it.
Is Crackstone useful for anything?
As a barrier, yes: unmined hard material can serve as natural containment walls for fluids or creatures. As a resource, no — nothing drops from it.

Next guides

Budgeting the tools that break it: the research order. Building around terrain instead: the beginner guide and automation basics.

Verification sources