Apartment rooms in Rust look like tidy little safe-zone lockers, but they leak. Any player holding a Master Key can force a door, get temporary access to an occupied room, and clean out whatever is stored inside. The system pays off only when you follow one rule: never burn a key on a room worth less than the key itself.
Quick answer: Buy a Master Key from the Produce Exchange at Bandit Camp for a base price of 1,000 Scrap, rent any apartment room, open the apartment computer, and pick an occupied Medium or High Value door. Walk up to it, hold interact until temporary access is granted, loot the densest items first, and leave. The key is destroyed after one break-in.
Master Key cost, restock, and the profit math
The Master Key is sold at the Bandit Camp Produce Exchange. Its base price is 1,000 Scrap, and it restocks every 12 real-life hours, not in-game hours. Demand drives the price up, and it has climbed to nearly 3,000 Scrap when stock gets bought out.
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Where to buy | Bandit Camp Produce Exchange |
| Base cost | 1,000 Scrap |
| Restock | Every 12 real-life hours |
| Uses | One break-in, then consumed |
Because the key vanishes after a single successful raid, the price you paid decides how picky you should be. A cheap key lets you gamble on a decent room. An expensive key needs a confirmed payoff before you commit.
| Key price | Only raid |
|---|---|
| 1,000 Scrap | Medium or High Value rooms |
| 2,000 Scrap | High Medium or High Value rooms |
| 3,000+ Scrap | High Value or confirmed loot only |
Rent a room first to scout targets
You cannot pick targets without access to the apartment computer, and that means renting a room of your own. The cheapest option is enough if all you want to do is scout. If you forget your room number, ask the apartment NPC again before you start hauling loot around the building.
| Room type | Rent | Daily upkeep | Best use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basement | 100 Scrap | 25 Scrap/day | Cheapest access, basic storage |
| Standard | 200 Scrap | 50 Scrap/day | Mid-tier storage |
| Penthouse | 400 Scrap | 100 Scrap/day | More expensive storage |
Miss a full day of upkeep, and you lose the room, so keep the scrap topped up only if you actually plan to store gear. For pure scouting, a Basement room does the job.
Reading room value on the apartment computer
Once you have rented, the apartment computer lists every room in the building along with its type, storage slots, occupied status, and an estimated value rating. That rating is your filter. Do not raid blind.
| Room value | Likely contents | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Null / No Value | Empty or low-value items | Skip |
| Low | Scrap or light valuables | Only if the key was cheap |
| Medium | HQM, weapons, rockets, mixed loot | Worth checking |
| High | Explosives or high-tier loot | Best target |
A High Value tag is the strongest signal the game gives you, but it is not a guarantee of profit. Treat it as the best available read, not a promise of boom behind the door.
How to break into an occupied room
You know it worked when the door unlocks and the storage inside opens for you. If players start moving through the hallway mid-unlock, wait it out. Standing frozen at someone else’s locked room is an obvious tell that invites a fight.
Loot priority after the door opens
Temporary access means every second counts. Pull the densest value first and do not stop to sort your inventory. Work straight down this order.
- C4 and other explosives
- Rockets
- Scrap
- HQM
- Weapons
- Components
- Armor
- Basic resources
One limit to know before you go in: the upkeep storage tied to a room appears to be protected. You can take everything from normal storage, but the rent scrap held for upkeep is likely not stealable.
What raises room value, and what to keep out of yours
The value system does not weigh every item the same way. Explosives and high-tier materials move the rating far more than stacks of stone or metal. The moment your own room tips into Medium or High, it becomes a target for anyone scouting the building.
| Stored loot | Value impact | Risk if raided |
|---|---|---|
| Stone / metal fragments | Low | Low |
| Scrap | Low to Medium | Medium |
| HQM | Medium | Medium-High |
| Weapons | Medium | Medium |
| Rockets | Medium-High | High |
| C4 / explosives | High | Very High |
| Keycards / armor | Inconsistent | Low-Medium |
If you use a room for storage, play around the rating. Keep explosives, rockets, large HQM stacks, big scrap piles, and your best weapons out of apartments entirely. Split loot across multiple rooms so one break-in cannot clean you out, and check your room’s value after each deposit. If it reads High Value, move the expensive stuff back to your base.
Note: Rented rooms count as combat zones even though the wider Apartment Complex is a safe zone, so a break-in can turn into a fight. Treat any apartment as short-term storage, not a vault.
Apartment raiding is simple, but the cost of the key turns it into a decision rather than a reflex. A cheap Master Key rewards aggression against Medium rooms. An expensive one rewards patience and a confirmed High Value target. Scout first, match your standard to what you paid, and skip anything the computer marks as Null.
