You spawn with zero days survived on a single chunk above the void. The opening line of the run is to gather resources, craft chunks and items, build a base, and live through nights, raids, and bosses. Explorer is the free class, and it is the right one until a Gem class solves a problem you have actually hit.
Before you drop in
- Enter the lobby and open the Classes shop.
- Leave Explorer equipped, or equip a class you already own. Buying a class is not the same as equipping it.
- Start the run. Starter tools and buffs apply when that run begins.
Explorer starts with a Wooden Sword, a Wooden Pickaxe, and a Wooden Axe. There is no extra buff. Chef and Medic cost 75 Gems if you already know you lose to hunger or to damage. Do not buy Engineer on the first visit. It is the Robux class, and the posted price has already differed between a September 16, 2026 playthrough (320 Robux) and the September 30 and October 1, 2026 class writeups (399 Robux).
The first chunk
The craft prompt for the first chunk, read on camera in public play, is 8 wood and 2 leaves.
- Chop wood with the Wooden Axe. Lumberjack players already hold an Iron Axe and chop 10% faster, but that class costs 150 Gems.
- Gather 2 leaves with the wood.
- Craft the first chunk from that prompt.
- Place it only where you still have room. A public run hit the message "You have reached your placement limit," so the island does not grow without a cap.
Wood is used across the craft menu, not only for that first prompt. A later craft in the same runs also took wood and leaves and displayed a percentage. That percentage is not a published drop rate. Use the craft menu for anything after the first chunk.
Campfires matter as soon as raw food is not enough. Chef exists because hunger is a clock: three extra Cooked Meat and hunger that falls 30% slower buy time before the fire is up. Without Chef, cook before the bar gets low instead of treating food as a boss reward.
The first night
Nights bring zombies. The official description also names raids, and a day-100 playthrough has a chapter specifically for hunter raids. None of those sources publish a clock, a wave count, or a raid roster.
- Keep a weapon in hand. Explorer's Wooden Sword is the free option. Engineer's extra Crossbow is a base-defense start, not a free drop.
- Heal with bandages if you took hits. Medic starts with two extra bandages and heals 10% faster.
- Do not stand in the open to learn a raid. Wall and floor space come from the chunks you place, and the placement limit means a scattered camp can block a later wall.
- A viewer of the day-100 run warned that lightning rods pull lightning onto the rod. Keep rods off the middle of stored gear until you have seen where strikes land on your own base.
You are ready for the next loop when the first chunk is down, you can cook, and you can name the thing that killed you. That name picks the class. The chunk, boss, and totem steps are in Craft chunks and defend boss totems. Class prices live on Classes.