Summary
7 Days To Dieis the quintessentialzombie survival game, and at the time of this writing, it has the dubious honor of being the game that has stayed in early access the longest. That shouldn’t put players off, as this is a fantastic zombie action survival title.
The survival aspect of7 Days To Diefollows the general ethos of farming raw materials, and then using those materials to craft more advanced components or finished items. Some materials are also used forbase building. Therefore, it is well worth farming certain materials from the very first few hours of gameplay, so that a stockpile is established for the later game.
Updated on July 29, 2025, by Mac Wheeler:Additionally, there are some resources that are best farmed early game, as they cannot be crafted until much later, or are needed very early on in a playthrough. Although the 1.0 release of 7 Days To Die didn’t add any new resources or materials, the updated crafting requirements for weapons means that collecting these materials in some quantity is now vital.
11Scrap Polymers
Plastic By Another Name
Scrap polymers are one of the crafting materials that a) cannot be made by the player, and b) are used for many useful crafting recipes, including almost all weapons and tools. Therefore, the player will need to harvest plenty of these. One piece of good news though, is that scrap polymers are not used in the recipes for many of the consumable items the player will need to craft stacks of continuously.
Luckily, scrap polymers are easy to get. Anything that the player uses a wrench on that could have plastic parts, can provide scarp polymers. This can be anything from a whole car to a traffic cone. Many pieces of machinery, such as a laundry machine and other household appliances can also give a fair few scrap polymers. Overall, 15 minutes with a wrench can provide enough scrap polymers to make a tier 5 weapon easily.
10Springs
Needed For Consumables Such As Grenades
Springs are another material that a7 Days To Dieplayer will need in abundance, but that cannot be crafted. They are used in most mechanical objects the player crafts, such as weapons. Additionally, they are a common component in many consumables, with all types of grenades being the most demanding drain on a stock of springs.
They are quite easy to acquire though. Every old bed, chair, or mattress is a good source of springs. As are most pieces of machinery such as kitchen appliances. As long as the player harvests as they clear POIs, they should end up with plenty of springs. However, in the endgame stage, when grenades become almost a must-have item, a player might need to spend some time farming springs now and then to replenish their stocks.
9Iron Ingots
Needed Before They Can Be Crafted
Most7 Days To Die, players, know that they are going to need some iron ingots long before they can build a forge and start crafting this resource themselves. And because of this, veteran players know never to pass by a possible source of iron ingots early in the game. However, there is a need to be selective in what to harvest from. For example, a car might give a couple of iron ingots, but a broken vending machine could give many more.
The reason for being so selective early in7 Days To Die, is that a player won’t be able to keep repairing their wrench every time it wears out. Simply due to the fact they won’t have enough repair kits for this. So it makes sense to use the wrench in the most efficient way possible. This means harvesting resources such as iron ingots from places that are known to give more per use of a wrench. As mentioned, early game this will mean tracking down broken vending machines. Don’t try harvesting from working machines, they are electrified.
8Wood
Useful Basic Resource
Woodis one of the most basic resources in7 Days To Die, but an important one nonetheless. In the early game, the player will use wood to build basic structures for their first horde base, preparing for the first Blood Moon.
As the game progresses, wood becomes a very important source of fuel for cooking fires, forges, and all of the different crafting benches. In the mid-game, wood will be the player’s primary fuel, although they will likely switch over to burning coal by the late game.
7Stone
Sturdier Building Material
New playersto7 Days To Diewon’t have an awful lot of use forstonein their first few hours of gameplay. However, after this point, they will need vast quantities of stone, so it is worth farming right from the start. Stone is used to create more robust building materials than basic wood can build.
Stone can be turned into cobblestone, which is a good upgrade over wood in the early game forbuilding a defensive base. Later on, stone can be turned into the components for cement, and then put into a cement mixer to produce concrete, which is much tougher than wood. Put simply, start farming stone early. It will be needed in huge quantities later on.
6Eggs
Good Early Game Food
New players to7 Days To Dieneed a good source of food in the early game, not just to keep them full up, but also as a source of healing health points, as they will not have access to suitable healing items such as first aid bandages until later in the game.
Eggsare easy to find, and can be boiled on a campfire once the player has looted a glass beaker to boil them in. Some of the early-game advanced recipes, such as bacon and eggs, also need eggs to craft them. Put simply, the player will need eggs for the entire game, so the sooner they start stockpiling them the better.
5Meat
Another Good Early Game Food
Meatis another great early-game food in7 Days To Die. It can be cooked on a campfire once the player has looted a grill. Furthermore, there is an excellent early game recipe for boiled meat that gives not only fullness, but also hydration in the same package, making it something of an early game superfood.
Meat is also needed in many later game recipes, such as the aforementioned bacon and eggs, and all sorts of pies and stews. Only uninfected animals such as rabbits, chickens, bears, and wolves give meat. Infected creators give rotten meat, which is toxic to the player.
4Clay
Needed To Keep Forges Running
Clayis one of the more annoying resources to farm in7 Days To Die. Yes, it is very easy to get, all that is needed is a shovel. The problem is that it is slow to dig up, relying on player stamina for digging with a shovel. It can take quite some time to dig up a whole stack of clay.
Unfortunately, clay is needed any time a forge is running to smelt ores or create alloys. This means that the player needs to keep going out to farm clay. In the early game, it is a good idea to run low-level Buried Treasure missions from the Trader, simply because they are a) easy, and b) leave the player with plenty of clay for the later game.
3Coal
Needed To Make Gunpowder
Coalis a raw material that all7 Days To Dieplayers will want to farm in large quantities, simply because, along with nitrate, it is one of the main materials needed to make gunpowder. Any player who wants to useranged weaponsis going to need to constantly be making gunpowder in a chemical station.
Coal is also a great source of fuel. It burns much slower than wood, and is therefore better to use for long-term fueling of crafting stations, especially if the player wants to leave the crafting station running for some hours.
2Nitrate
Only Used For Gunpowder
Every7 Days To Dieplayer will end up spending a long time miningnitrate, as it is needed to make gunpowder. The game has a prettyrealistic crafting systemwhen it comes to making advanced materials. By mid-game, it becomes hard to keep up with gunpowder consumption, so it is worth starting to stockpile nitrate at the very start of the game.
The good thing about mining nitrate is that it is the easiest mineral to see while underground, as it is white and sparkly. Something like coal is black, and it is very easy to lose the seam. This is not so with nitrate, and it can be mined easily followed.
