How do I burn slag?
Flamethrower or lava, then press burnt slag — not raw slag.
Sandustry Slag
Sandustry slag guide: burn leftover Shaker slag, drop burnt slag into the Kinetic Press, and recover extra gold plus spores. Verified August 2026 Early Access.
Flamethrower on slag, spores ignoring fire, Kinetic Slag Press as the gold spike.
~7 min read
At A Glance
This Sandustry slag page separates the confirmed Early Access factory loop from Demo-era numbers that may be stale after the 2026 simulation rewrite. Sandustry is a 2D falling-sand factory game from Lantto Games, published by Hooded Horse. Dig a destructible world, wet sand, shake gold, burn slag, pipe water, and unlock research while exploring ancient vaults. Use it beside the factory, not as a promise that every ratio still matches a 2025 wiki printout.
Gold buys research. Purple Fluxite buys tool, weapon, and drone upgrades. Energy exists as a later resource. When a ratio is uncertain, bank what you have and re-check the live panel.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Platform | Steam PC · GOG · Game Pass |
| Mode | Single-player |
| Status | Early Access · Aug 13, 2026 |
| Topic | Slag |
| Heat sources | Flamethrower · lava · some rocket upgrades (verify) |
| Press input | Burnt Slag from above, not raw slag |
| EA note | Press called out as the early gold spike |
| Source boundary | Steam listing, official site, and current EA player footage; Demo ratios stay TBA until re-checked |
After slag starts piling up
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How do I process Sandustry slag?
Slag is the Shaker’s leftover solid. It is not trash. Current EA clips burn it, then drop burnt slag into the Kinetic Slag Press. People searching “slag burner” usually need the Flamethrower plus that drop — not a missing building with that exact name.
The reliable foundation is the same on every seed: sand plus water becomes Wet Sand, a Shaker drops gold and slag, gold only counts in a Collector, and leftover water will flood a solids line unless you wall it with Blocks or belts. A basic Filter sorts one solid — it does not dam a lake. That is why slag advice should start with banking and containment, not with a supposed infinite trick.
- Do01Separate slag from gold with a Filter so it never enters the Collector pit
- Do02Research Tools 1 and the Press when gold allows
- Do03Burn a small test pile and confirm the pixel name changes to Burnt Slag
- Do04Build a tall drop into the Press — official text wants a great height
- Do05Belt Press gold back to a Collector; park spores for later planters
Treat the first factory as disposable
Early Access footage shows players throwing down a tiny Shaker just to bank the first research unlocks — Logistics 1 for belts and launchers — then deleting that stub once the washer can run. Hover is a Fluxite / movement upgrade, not a gold research node. A pretty first box is optional. A Collector that actually receives gold is not.
Copy (Shift-select, C) and delete (X-drag) are the hotkeys that keep this rebuild cheap. Press V while placing to read tile counts. Ctrl-place overwrites old pieces instead of stacking collisions.
Spend gold; do not hoard it
Holding thousands of gold in the first hour slows the factory more than it protects you. Unlock the next belt, Filter, or Flamethrower so the line can run while you scout. The Kinetic Slag Press is repeatedly called out in current EA clips as the early gold spike once slag can be burned.
With that baseline in place, the next question is not “can I scale?” but “what fails if water, slag, or Crackstone shows up on this line?”
What should I decide while working on Slag?
If the Press is silent, decide whether the input is still raw slag, whether it is arriving from the side, or whether you never researched the building.
Use the table as a decision aid, not a hidden-stat calculator. Sandustry worlds are procedural and Early Access numbers move. A conservative threshold — bank gold, contain water, burn slag before pressing — beats a copied Demo ratio that no longer matches the live panel.
| Situation | Action | Why it is safer |
|---|---|---|
| Pile is still named Slag | Apply fire or lava first | Press wants Burnt Slag |
| Burnt Slag sits beside the Press | Raise a tall drop or add a launcher | Official: drop from a great height |
| Fire did nothing | Scan the pile — you may be aiming at spores | Flamethrower ignores spores in EA clips |
| Gold and slag mixed | Filter before the burn ramp | Burning gold is just losing bank |
Make the irreversible choice last
Deleting a running washer, dumping lava into a gold pit, or researching a vanity gun before Filters can remove options. Before doing any of those, confirm what the factory keeps if the attempt fails. If the answer is “the line floods,” choose the reversible option first: add a Filter, raise a wall, or pause the launchers.
That same habit makes progress steadier. One secure Collector cycle funds Logistics; a flooded pit repeats the first twenty minutes with no new research.
Do I need a dedicated slag burner building?
Not in the confirmed early list. Heat is a tool or a lava contact. Later belts may include burn helpers — mark those TBA if the live research tree adds a named burner. Until then, Flamethrower plus containment is the guide answer.
Avoid turning one creator’s layout into a universal rule. A 44×28 washer works in that cave. Your sand pit may be shallower. Record the context: water on which side, how high the launchers sat, and whether leftover water reached the Shakers.
Lava as automation
A slag stream that kisses lava can burn while you are underground. Contain the lava; it also makes steam on water.
The useful follow-up is to connect this observation to the wider factory: does it bank more gold, stop a flood, unlock a research door, or only look neat? If it does not answer one of those questions, do not let it pull you off the Collector.
Scanner first
The same clip that burns slag shows spores ignoring fire. Scan before you empty a fuel tank into a mixed heap.
The useful follow-up is to connect this observation to the wider factory: does it bank more gold, stop a flood, unlock a research door, or only look neat? If it does not answer one of those questions, do not let it pull you off the Collector.
What do I do with Press spores?
Spores plus water become Wet Spores for Planter Boxes, which lead to flowers, Amethelis, Voidbloom, and Fluxite. Do not default-incinerate them once the gold panic is over. If you are still in the first gold hour, bag them in a box and return after Filters exist.
A conservative guide matters while EA and Demo wikis sit side by side. Steam confirms the pixel-physics factory, artifacts, and mod tools. It does not publish a complete density table. This site therefore marks unverified costs and chances as TBA instead of inventing a databook.
Spores are a later chain
They are not a second Shaker. Park them.
If the observed result matters to your next unlock, verify it on the live research panel or compare a short clip in the official Discord. Keep the claim narrow: “this happened in this EA seed” lasts longer than “always 20 percent.”
Burnt slag throughput
Once the Press is the gold spike, your bottleneck is heat and drop rate, not more spawn-box Shakers.
If the observed result matters to your next unlock, verify it on the live research panel or compare a short clip in the official Discord. Keep the claim narrow: “this happened in this EA seed” lasts longer than “always 20 percent.”
What should I verify before trusting Slag advice?
Check the current Early Access build before treating a gold chance, research cost, channel name, or “unlimited water” clip as settled. The official Steam page is the source for the game’s premise; sandustry.com is the source for the Discord invite. Demo tutorials can still teach hotkeys and washer shape — they cannot guarantee today’s numbers.
- Do01Confirm the claim is about Sandustry, not Mindustry or a sandwich guide
- Do02Check whether the clip is Early Access (August 2026+) or a 2025 Demo rewrite leftover
- Do03Separate a confirmed system (Shaker, Collector, Fluxite upgrades) from a personal layout
- Do04Keep a Collector and a water wall before testing a risky burn or rocket shot
- Do05Use tools guide when the next decision leaves this page
- Do06Use the verified Steam listing or the official Discord for details marked TBA
Sandustry Slag FAQ
Where is the slag burner?
Early on it is a tool plus the Kinetic Slag Press, not a separate named burner.
Is every slag number confirmed?
No. This guide labels Demo-era ratios, full artifact lists, and unverified costs as TBA rather than guessing.
What should I read next?
Next: tools guide. It continues the factory decision from this page.
Related pages
Matched by build plan, shared topics, and guide progression — not random related links.