Raft’s early game progression hinges heavily on your ability to gather sand and clay.

Raft is a survival game, so you have to come prepared.

You need these items on your raft to do well.

A player in Raft finds a patch of clay while diving in the shallows.

These resources are protected by the shark, a strong enemy that must either be distracted or defeated.

Here’s where to find clay and sand, along with how to gather them safely.

Examining the shallows around these islandswill reveal some reefs.

Raft Recipe’s Promo

In shallow areas, they are easily visible from the surface.

Deeper ones might have vines of seaweed poking above the waves.

A disposable anchor can be crafted,we have a full guide on this here.

The player’s Raft pulls up to a small island to gather resources.

it’s possible for you to pick up a few early on by collecting floating barrels.

A multiplayer lobby can leave a player on board to ensure it doesn’t drift away.

Swimming down into these reveals deposits of metal, rock, sand and clay.

A player in raft swims down to a reef filled with sand, clay and metal ores.

All of these resources can bedislodged with a hook, but your priority is sand and clay.

You’ll need some way of dealing with it.

Method

Requirements

Description

Sharkbait

Some fish to craft the bait.

The player in Raft faces off against a shark using a spear. A reef filled with resources expands below them.

Larger islands can haveinland pools the shark cannot reach.

Evasion

A decent sized island and a way of anchoring your ship.

Teamwork

At least two people in a multiplayer lobby.

A trio of brick smelters are used to melt down metal ores.

Typically, thehost should do the fightingas they will have the best latency.

Easy Difficulty

Set difficulty to easy when creating the world.

In easy difficulty you do not lose items upon death.

The player in Raft explores underwater with an upgraded scrap hook.

Melee Combat

Wooden Spear or better.

The shark can be fought in the water with a spear.

Ranged Combat

20 or more stones.

Graffiti On A Wall, The Moon In The Night Sky, A Floating Radio Tower

The shark will break off its current attack if struck with any weapon.

Throwing rocks underwater is difficult but requires less timing than using a spear.

you’re able to also combine several of these methods.

Indie Games

If you successfully kill the shark, anew one will not spawn while the corpse is still present.

This roughly doubles the time before a new shark spawns.

What you’ll instead want to do iscraft wet bricks, using two of each resource.

Raft

Place these on the deck of your boat and wait about one in-game day as they dry.

You’ll typically want more to craft a second and third smelter.

Later on you’ll need sand to smelt into glass.

More likely, you’ll need tofind a second island with the remaining resources.

It is also possible to gather some upgrades beforehand.

The scrap hook requires one metal bolt, a frequent drop from loot boxes on islands and other rafts.

If you should probably buy or sell things in Raft, here’s your guide.