Learning How to use the anchor in Raft is an important step on your journey to survival. Without it, you’ll never be able to leave your raft without it floating away. Anchors are critical to progressing through Raft and exploring its world, so you have to learn how to use them.
To use the anchor in Raft, place your anchor of choice. Then walk up to it and press E. If you’re using the throwable anchor, you’ll need to throw it into the ocean. If you’re using a stationary anchor, it’ll do that automatically.
Of course, there’s a little more to it than that, so we’re going to walk you through how to use both types in depth below.
Table of Contents
How to Use the Anchor in Raft
Throwable Anchor
The first type of anchor that you’ll get your hands on in Raft is the throwable one. You’ll have the recipe for it immediately once you start the game. Building it will cost you:
- 2 Planks.
- 4 Ropes.
- 4 Stones.
It’s not the most expensive recipe in the world, and it’s just as well because the throwable anchor is a single-use item. Once you use it, you’ll lose it and have to craft it again.
To use it, select it from your quick bar. It needs to be placed on the outer side of your raft, and the stick needs to be facing the water. If you’re trying to put it on the edge and it’s still highlighting red, use R to rotate it around.
Once you’ve placed your throwable anchor, walk up to it and press E, or whatever your interact key is to pick it up. Once it’s in your hands, use it like your hook or fishing rod. Left-click to charge it up, then release and you’ll throw it. It’s heavy and won’t fly very far, so make sure you’re on the edge of your raft when you fling it into the water.
Once it’s hit the bottom, your raft will be secured in place until you remove it. To remove it, walk up to the little stick still attached to your raft and press E. You’ll cut the anchor off and be on your merry way.
Stationary Anchor
Eventually, you’re going to get tired of having to craft a new anchor every single time you go to explore an island. That’s where the stationary anchor comes in. It’s big and chunky, but it is reusable which will save you a lot of resources.
Unlike the throwable variant, you’re going to have to do some research at your research table to unlock the stationary anchor. You need to research the following items in order to unlock its recipe:
- Plank
- Rope
- Metal Ingot
- Hinge
In other words, you’re going to need to have your smelter up and running before you can build one, making it a middle-game item. Once you do have access to metal, though, it isn’t too hard to get one up and running. The recipe for it is:
- 10 Planks
- 6 Ropes
- 3 Metal Ingots
- 1 Hinge
Figuring out how to use the stationary anchor is a little bit different than the throwable version. It’s a large piece of furniture that requires a 3×3 space to be placed. The center tile of that 3×3 grid also needs to be empty so that it can lower down into the water. I would recommend building an extra layer of foundation around your 3×3 to protect it from shark attacks.
Once you’ve placed it, walk over to the winch and press E. This will lower the anchor and stop your raft from moving. Press E on the winch again to pull it back up.
There is one other type of anchor: the advanced stationary anchor. That’s a late-game item, though, and is only slightly different from the regular stationary anchor so it’s not worth going over. Otherwise, that’s all you need to know on how to use the anchor in Raft. Hopefully, we managed to answer any questions you might have had.
