GRAIN ROT items: what to smash, grind, keep and carry
Quick answer
GRAIN ROT does not run on a sprawling item database — it runs on one loot loop. You smash furniture with the Mallet for Scrap, feed bulk debris to the Grinder for Gold, and carry glowing Artifacts home because they unlock Outpost blueprints. Spare vessels are your extra lives. Anything you are still carrying when the crew loses its last vessel is gone for good.
The loot loop at a glance
| Item | Where you get it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Mallet | Murch hands you the starter mallet at the Outpost | Breaks furniture and weak props down into Scrap. It is a demolition tool, not a weapon — it is deliberately bad against the Corrupted. |
| Scrap | Broken furniture, weak props, general salvage | Repairs damaged walls and builds furniture back at the Outpost. Only smashing gives you Scrap; the Grinder does not. |
| Gold | The Grinder, plus loose coins found underground | Buys tools and weapons from Murch, pays for Outpost upgrades, and covers the elevator's return fare. |
| Artifact | Glowing loot found in the ruins | Never grind it. Three Artifacts roll one random structure blueprint at the Ball Machine. |
| Furniture | Everywhere in the ruins | Three jobs at once: loot value, physical cover during a chase, and crafting material once it is broken down. |
| Vessel | Spare bodies found and bought at the Outpost | Your extra lives. A broken vessel is not a death as long as another body is within reach. |
| Fuse | Loot found in the Deep Layers | Required to extract when the elevator's Broken Fuse modifier is active. |
The one rule: never grind an Artifact
The Grinder converts heavy salvage into Gold and is a core part of the economy — crews that skip it haul heavy loot for a fraction of its value. Artifacts are the one exception. They are the input for the Outpost's blueprint machine, not Grinder food.
Three Artifacts fed to the Ball Machine roll a random structure blueprint, and blueprints are permanent. An Artifact you ground up is a blueprint you will never own. Pocket the glowing pieces, grind the furniture.
Tools, consumables and utility items
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Repair Glue | An emergency repair consumable for gear that is about to fail. |
| Bed | Restores HP. Beds sit at the Outpost and in some ruin rooms — note the nearest one as you pass. |
| Chair | Restores stamina only. A chair does not heal HP, which catches new crews out. |
| Compass | Helps you find the elevator again in ruins that reshuffle every run. Community reports say it can also be recalibrated to point at a Deep Layers Grinder. |
| Hat | Cosmetic headwear added in patch 1.07 and found in the Deep Layers. |
Weapons: what is actually confirmed
The mallet is a demolition tool first. Standing still to hammer a Corrupted wastes time, makes noise, and puts your vessel at risk — early survival comes from movement, barriers and disengaging, not from trading hits.
Better weapons unlock through Outpost progression rather than being scattered around the ruins. Published lists of specific weapon names disagree with each other and several entries have no verifiable source, so this page does not reproduce a roster. Check the in-game shop as your Outpost levels up.
The environment is a weapon too: room traps damage smaller Corrupted, fire clears Rot but also burns your wooden vessel, and a thrown chair is a perfectly good way to knock something over.
Confirmed facts vs community reports
Everything in the two tables above is confirmed by the Steam store page, official patch notes, the developer's press material or repeated community testing. Three entries are marked community-reported because no official source states them: the compass recalibration, the elevator panel starting as question marks, and the exact unlock tier of individual weapons. Treat those as player findings until a patch note confirms them.