Understanding which materials to gather first in Permafrost determines whether you survive the first blizzard or freeze before your first workbench is built. Permafrost stone anchors your early tool progression, while scrap, cloth, and metal feed the engineering bench that turns scavenged junk into working gear. This guide breaks down each resource, where to find it, and what to prioritize when the cold starts closing in.
Permafrost Stone and Early Tool Progression
Permafrost stone is the first resource you will reliably gather, and it sits at the heart of the early crafting loop. The game opens with your character as a Rook, an engineer with little wilderness experience, dropped into a frozen world after following a radio signal. Your first meaningful action is usually smashing loose rocks to collect enough stone for a Stone Axe and Stone Pickaxe, the two tools that unlock every other material in the early game.
The official gameplay footage shows blueprint-based crafting where stone tools act as the gateway. Without a pickaxe, you cannot break harder mineral nodes. Without an axe, you cannot harvest frozen wood efficiently. This makes permafrost stone the foundational resource for the first hour, and the permafrost tools guide covers the full upgrade path from stone to better tool tiers.
| Tool | Primary Use | Stone Cost (Approx.) | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone Axe | Harvest frozen wood | 4-6 stone | Wood-based crafting, fuel |
| Stone Pickaxe | Break mineral nodes | 4-6 stone | Scrap and metal collection |
| Stone Knife | Skin animals, cut cloth | 3-5 stone | Cloth and hide gathering |
| Stone Hammer | Repair structures | 5-8 stone | Base building and fortification |
Stone nodes appear most frequently near rocky outcrops, frozen riverbeds, and the edges of cliffs. Community reports suggest that early stone is abundant but spread out, so you will spend a lot of time walking between nodes. Because inventory space is limited, you should convert raw stone into tools as soon as possible rather than hoarding it, since tools weigh less than the equivalent raw material in many cases.
Permafrost Scrap and the Engineering Bench
Permafrost scrap is the second major resource you need to understand because it feeds directly into permafrost engineering, the crafting discipline that separates basic survival tools from advanced equipment. Scrap comes from abandoned vehicles, collapsed structures, and old machinery scattered across the frozen landscape. The game's setting is an Earth in the near future caught in a permanent freeze, which means the ruins of civilization are everywhere, and each ruin is a potential scrap source.
The engineering bench consumes scrap, cloth, and metal to produce components that cannot be made from raw stone alone. According to the official Steam page for Permafrost, the game emphasizes scavenging every resource to stay alive, and scrap is one of the most versatile materials in that loop. Players report that scrap is best gathered with a pickaxe or crowbar, and higher-tier tools yield more scrap per node.
| Scrap Source | Typical Yield | Tool Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abandoned cars | 3-6 scrap | Crowbar or pickaxe | Common near roads |
| Collapsed buildings | 5-10 scrap | Pickaxe | Higher risk, higher reward |
| Old machinery | 4-8 scrap | Wrench or pickaxe | Often guarded by wildlife |
| Frozen crates | 2-4 scrap | Axe or hammer | Scattered in camps |
One important distinction is that scrap is not a single item type. The game splits scrap into categories like permafrost components, which are refined versions of raw scrap used in engineering recipes. You will often need to process raw scrap at a workbench before it becomes useful, which means you need a safe place to work. Because the cold drains your health over time, setting up a small shelter near a scrap-rich area is more efficient than running back to a distant base.
Permafrost Cloth and Metal for Advanced Crafting
Permafrost cloth and permafrost metal are the two resources that gate your mid-game progression. Cloth comes from tearing apart abandoned clothing, furniture, and tents, while metal comes from breaking down appliances, pipes, and structural beams. Both materials are required for permafrost components used in engineering, and both are harder to find in large quantities than stone or scrap.
Cloth is especially important because it feeds into clothing crafting, which directly affects your cold resistance. The game's core survival loop involves battling extreme weather, and better clothing means you can stay outside longer to gather more of everything else. Metal, on the other hand, feeds into tool upgrades and structural repairs, making it the backbone of your long-term base development.
| Material | Primary Sources | Used For | Rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permafrost Cloth | Clothing, tents, furniture | Clothing, bandages, insulation | Common to uncommon |
| Permafrost Metal | Appliances, pipes, beams | Tools, structures, components | Uncommon to rare |
| Permafrost Components | Engineering bench | Advanced tools, repairs | Crafted from scrap, cloth, metal |
| Permafrost Scrap | Vehicles, ruins, machinery | Base material for components | Common |
The relationship between these materials is hierarchical. Raw scrap, cloth, and metal are gathered in the field, then converted into permafrost components at the engineering bench. Those components then feed into advanced recipes. This means you should never ignore any material type, because a shortage of cloth can stall your clothing progression just as badly as a shortage of metal can stall your tool upgrades.
Efficient Gathering Routes and Material Priorities
Efficient gathering in Permafrost is about understanding what to carry and what to leave behind. Because your carrying capacity is limited, you need to make hard choices about which materials to prioritize on each trip. The general rule from community testing is that stone is the easiest to replace, so it should be the first thing you drop when your inventory fills up.
A practical gathering loop looks like this: start at your base with a stone pickaxe and axe, head to a scrap-rich area, clear it while collecting cloth and metal as secondary targets, then return before the cold becomes dangerous. This loop maximizes your engineering bench uptime because you return with a balanced mix of materials rather than a pile of one type.
| Priority | Material | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Permafrost Scrap | Feeds engineering bench, hard to find in bulk |
| 2 | Permafrost Metal | Gates tool upgrades and repairs |
| 3 | Permafrost Cloth | Gates clothing and cold resistance |
| 4 | Permafrost Stone | Easy to replace, drop first when full |
| 5 | Permafrost Components | Crafted, not gathered, so plan ahead |
One mistake new players make is treating every material as equally valuable. In practice, scrap and metal are the bottlenecks because they come from finite sources that do not respawn quickly. Stone is effectively infinite because it is everywhere, and cloth is common enough that you will rarely run out if you loot every structure you pass. Adjust your gathering priorities accordingly, and you will spend less time walking and more time crafting.
Engineering Bench Recipes and Material Ratios
The engineering bench is where permafrost stone, scrap, cloth, and metal come together to create usable gear. Understanding the material ratios helps you plan your gathering trips more efficiently. While exact recipe numbers may vary by patch, community data suggests that most mid-tier engineering recipes require a mix of at least three material types, which is why balanced gathering matters.
Component Crafting Basics
Permafrost components are the intermediate products that sit between raw materials and finished gear. A typical component recipe might require scrap as the base, metal for structural integrity, and cloth for insulation or binding. This three-material pattern repeats across most engineering recipes, which means you should always keep a small stockpile of each material type at your base.
| Component Type | Scrap | Metal | Cloth | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Component | 3 | 1 | 1 | Tool repairs, simple upgrades |
| Insulated Component | 2 | 2 | 3 | Cold-resistant gear |
| Structural Component | 2 | 4 | 1 | Base building, fortifications |
| Precision Component | 4 | 3 | 2 | Advanced tools, weapon mods |
The engineering bench also consumes fuel, which usually comes from wood gathered with your stone axe. This creates a full resource loop: stone tools gather wood and scrap, scrap and wood feed the bench, and the bench produces components that upgrade your tools. Because every step depends on the previous one, a shortage at any point stalls the entire progression chain.
Tool Upgrade Paths
Upgrading from stone tools to metal tools is the first major engineering milestone. The jump requires a significant amount of permafrost metal and scrap, which is why many players report spending their second session focused entirely on metal gathering. The payoff is substantial: metal tools gather faster, last longer, and unlock new resource types that stone tools cannot touch.
| Tool Tier | Primary Material | Durability | Gathering Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone | Permafrost stone | Low | Base |
| Scrap | Permafrost scrap | Medium | +25% (approx.) |
| Metal | Permafrost metal | High | +50% (approx.) |
| Engineered | Permafrost components | Very high | +75% (approx.) |
These numbers are approximate based on community testing and may shift with patches, but the relative progression is consistent. Each tier requires the previous tier's tools to gather the materials for the next tier, which creates a natural progression curve that rewards methodical play over rushing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the best place to find permafrost stone?
Permafrost stone appears most frequently near rocky outcrops, frozen riverbeds, and cliff edges. Early game areas are designed to provide enough stone for your first tools within a few minutes of starting. Community reports suggest that stone is abundant but spread out, so expect to walk between nodes.
How do I get permafrost scrap efficiently?
Focus on abandoned vehicles, collapsed buildings, and old machinery, which are concentrated near roads and former settlements. A pickaxe or crowbar yields more scrap per node than an axe. Setting up a temporary shelter near a scrap-rich area reduces travel time and cold exposure.
What is permafrost engineering used for?
Permafrost engineering is the crafting discipline that converts raw scrap, cloth, and metal into permafrost components, which then feed advanced tool upgrades, structural repairs, and cold-resistant gear. It is the primary progression system for mid-game crafting.
Which material should I prioritize first?
Prioritize permafrost scrap and permafrost metal because they come from finite sources and gate most engineering recipes. Permafrost stone is easy to replace and should be dropped first when your inventory fills. Cloth is common enough that you will rarely run out if you loot every structure you pass.
Can I craft permafrost components without an engineering bench?
No, permafrost components require an engineering bench to craft. The bench consumes fuel, usually wood gathered with a stone axe, and combines scrap, metal, and cloth into usable components. Building a bench early is one of the most impactful decisions you can make in the first few hours.