Granite is one of the first materials in Winter Burrow that feels genuinely scarce. It gates upgrades to your burrow, better tools, and access to new areas, and it’s also easy to go hunting for it long before the game quietly allows you to find any.
When Granite actually becomes available
Granite is not in the starting region around your burrow. The game waits for a specific story beat before placing it in reachable areas:
| Requirement | What you need to do | Why it matters for Granite |
|---|---|---|
| Progress Aunty’s lessons | Craft what Aunty asks for (furniture, soup, etc.) and keep talking to her after each task. | Unlocks the cutscene where the Owl kidnaps Aunty and opens the path past her house. |
| Reach Bufo | Go right from your burrow, repair the bridge, pass Aunty’s house, cross the next bridge to Gnarled Oaks, then head to the campfire and northeast into the shaded trees. | Bufo’s area is one of the first regions where loose Granite appears. |
| Get the Sandstone Pickaxe | Bring Bufo 5 Pebbles and 2 Twigs from the area outside his home. | Lets you break basic rock piles, which is required to reach one of the Granite spots north of your burrow. |
Until Aunty has been taken by the Owl and you have access to Bufo’s side of the map, you will not find meaningful Granite. Searching the starter biome for it is a dead end.
How Granite appears in the world
Granite comes in two forms:
| Type | How it looks | How to collect | When it’s available |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loose Granite chunks | Small, dark, crooked stones; a bit larger and more jagged than standard Pebbles. | Pick up directly from the ground, no special tool needed. | From the moment Aunty is kidnapped and Bufo’s area opens. |
| Granite boulders | Medium-sized, sharp-edged, dark, slightly blue-toned rock piles. | Break with the Granite Pickaxe to get multiple Granite pieces (and sometimes Pebbles). | After you unlock and craft the Granite Pickaxe through Bufo’s later quest. |
Most early Granite needs are covered by loose chunks; boulders become important later when tool recipes and constructions ask for larger quantities.
Loose Granite locations
Once the Owl has taken Aunty and you have a basic Pickaxe from Bufo, there are two reliable regions where you can start collecting Granite without a Granite Pickaxe.
Granite near Bufo (east of Aunty)
This is the first practical Granite source and the one most players reach naturally while chasing the Owl.
| Step | Direction | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Get past Aunty | From your burrow, go right to the river and repair the bridge, then continue right to Aunty’s house. After the kidnapping cutscene, walk past her home. | The previously blocked route now leads into Gnarled Oaks. |
| 2. Reach the campfire | Continue east into Gnarled Oaks, then follow the path to a firepit and an abandoned backpack with Kindling. | This campfire is your warmth checkpoint on the way to Bufo. |
| 3. Enter Bufo’s ravine | From the campfire, move northeast into a darker stand of trees; the path funnels you into Bufo’s home area. | Bufo’s workshop is a cold-safe zone. |
| 4. Search outside Bufo’s house | In the open area between the campfire and Bufo’s home, move along the edges of paths and the waterline. | Loose Granite chunks spawn here, mixed in with Pebbles; they’re slightly darker and more angular. |
Spend some time sweeping these paths; Granite tends to sit in corners of clearings or just off the main trails. If you already have a Granite Pickaxe later, you’ll also notice Granite boulders in the same zone.
Granite north of your burrow
The second early Granite pocket is north of your own house, but it’s gated behind the basic Pickaxe you get from Bufo.
| Step | Requirement | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Break the rock barrier | Use the Sandstone Pickaxe from Bufo on the rock piles blocking the path directly north of your burrow. | Opens access to a higher-difficulty area. |
| 2. Move deeper north | Keep heading north through the new zone and cross into the next screen. | Loose Granite chunks start appearing across the terrain. |
| 3. Explore carefully | Monitor hunger, stamina, and warmth; this region is harsher and farther from safe beds and fireplaces. | Reward is a higher density of Granite, plus occasional backpack loot that can include Granite pieces. |
Tip: Bring warming foods like beechnut biscuits or elderberry tea to extend your range away from the burrow and avoid sprinting home every time the screen frosts over.
Granite boulders and the Granite Pickaxe
Granite boulders are the long-term solution to Granite shortages. You cannot break these with the Sandstone Pickaxe; the game expects a tool upgrade from Bufo.
The key points are:
- The Granite Pickaxe recipe comes from Bufo after you have already worked with him on Pebble and Granite tasks and progressed the main story far enough to rescue Aunty and complete Gnawtusk’s stash quests.
- The only tool Aunty formally teaches is the basic shovel; higher-tier tools are locked to other characters’ questlines.
- Once you learn the Granite Pickaxe, crafting it requires:
- 1 Granite (from the loose chunks in Bufo’s region or north of your burrow),
- 1 Wool Yarn (knitted from Fur Tufts in your armchair or any chair),
- 1 Pinewood (from the pine forest north of Gnawtusk’s area),
- 1 Oak Wood (harvested in the Bufo/Gnarled Oaks region).
After crafting the Granite Pickaxe at your workbench, start targeting the darker, sharper boulders between Aunty’s house and Bufo’s home. These break into multiple Granite pieces and will carry most midgame Granite needs.
Granite and the basement: avoiding a soft lock
The basement staircase in your burrow is one of the first major constructions that mentions Granite, and it’s easy to assume you must fully repair the basement walkway before you can plant mushrooms. That isn’t true, and treating it as a blocker can put you into a resource trap.
| Basement element | Granite requirement | What you can actually do |
|---|---|---|
| Door and stairs | Requires Granite at some upgrade stages. | You can unlock the basement door via the story and still use the upper section without fully repairing every structure. |
| Upper planting area | None. | Mushrooms and other seeds can be planted in the front/top section immediately, no Granite walkway repair needed. |
| Lower walkway and deeper plots | Granite-heavy. | Best tackled later, after you have stable Granite from boulders and side areas. |
Why you might not see Granite yet
If you’ve been wandering for several in-game days without spotting any Granite, it usually comes down to one of these situations:
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No Granite anywhere, can’t walk past Aunty’s house | Aunty’s quest chain isn’t finished, so the Owl hasn’t triggered. | Go home, craft the specific furniture and recipes Aunty mentions, then visit her repeatedly until the kidnapping event occurs and the right-side bridge opens. |
| Can reach Gnarled Oaks but not Bufo | Pathfinding confusion; the map funnels you more than it looks. | From Aunty’s, cross the right bridge, move into Gnarled Oaks, follow the obvious path to the campfire, then go northeast between dark trees—there’s only one accessible exit here at first, and it leads to Bufo. |
| Can’t get north of the burrow | Rocks are still blocking the northern path. | Complete Bufo’s Pebble/Twig task to receive the Sandstone Pickaxe, then use it on the rock piles north of your house. |
| Spent Granite on basement, now short for tools | Early Granite was used on non-essential construction. | Sweep Bufo’s area and north of the burrow carefully for missed chunks, dig snow piles for random drops, and progress Bufo’s quests until you unlock the Granite Pickaxe and boulder farming. |
Granite is meant to feel precious in early Winter Burrow, but it isn’t meant to be unknowable. Treat Aunty’s lessons as mandatory, make Bufo a priority once she’s taken, and delay heavy basement renovations until you’ve secured both loose chunks and the Granite Pickaxe. From there, the snowy forest opens up: boulders break, new paths clear, and Granite stops being the material that quietly holds your run hostage.
