Buckets are your primary tool in Drain the Lake. Developed by IWTM10GTMPLS and launched in June 2026, this incremental simulator tasks players with a simple yet monumental objective: your phone fell into the lake, and you must drain the water bucket by bucket to retrieve it. Each bucket has unique passive bonuses that directly affect your drain cycle efficiency, token earnings, and item collection capabilities. This complete guide covers every bucket from Common to Legendary, with costs, bonuses, and unlock methods, alongside strategies for integrating them into your skill tree and depth progression.
All 7+ Buckets at a Glance
| Bucket | Tier | Rarity | Cost | Currency | Bonus | How to Get |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common | D | Common | Free | — | None | Starting bucket |
| Plastic | D | Common | 200 | Gems | +5% Fill Speed | Shop |
| Metal | C | Uncommon | 500 | Gems | Improved drain efficiency | Shop |
| Magnet | C | Rare | 1,200 | Gems | Attracts nearby items | Shop |
| Toxic | A | Epic | Epic tier | Gems | +10% Tokens, 10% instant drain | Shop |
| Golden | S | Legendary | 2,000 | Diamonds | Best for gem farming, +Token earnings | Shop |
| Ancient | S | Legendary | 10 Badges + Group | — | +10% Tokens, higher-tier gem digs | Badge requirement |
| Toilet | ? | ? | Wheel Spin | — | Exclusive | Wheel Spin only |
| Use the Bucket | ? | ? | Wheel Spin | — | Exclusive | Wheel Spin only |
Common Bucket
Your starting bucket. Free with no special bonus. Functional but strictly limited — it serves only to introduce you to the core loop of filling, draining, and trading water for tokens. Because it lacks any passive bonuses, every cycle takes longer and yields baseline rewards. Replace this as soon as you accumulate 200 Gems.
Stats: No bonus | Tier: D | Cost: Free
Plastic Bucket
The cheapest meaningful upgrade at 200 Gems. The +5% Fill Speed bonus is immediately impactful because fill speed is your primary bottleneck in the early game. By reducing the time it takes to fill your bucket at the water's edge, you increase the number of drain cycles you can complete per minute. This directly accelerates your token generation and allows you to invest in the skill tree faster.
Stats: +5% Fill Speed | Tier: D | Cost: 200 Gems
Metal Bucket
An uncommon-tier bucket at 500 Gems with improved drain efficiency. While the Plastic Bucket speeds up the fill phase, the Metal Bucket optimizes the drain phase, ensuring you extract maximum value from each trip. This is a solid mid-game stepping stone that pairs well with early Capacity upgrades, allowing you to drain larger volumes of water without suffering diminishing returns on token conversion.
Stats: Improved drain efficiency | Tier: C | Cost: 500 Gems
Magnet Bucket
A rare-tier bucket priced at 1,200 Gems. Its primary function is attracting nearby items, which is a massive convenience and economic upgrade. As you drain water, chests containing Gems and rare items spawn in the vicinity. The Magnet Bucket pulls these toward you automatically, saving time you would otherwise spend swimming off-path. This creates a positive feedback loop: more chests collected means more Gems, which funds your progression toward higher-tier buckets.
Stats: Attracts nearby items | Tier: C | Cost: 1,200 Gems
Toxic Bucket
An epic-tier bucket that costs Gems at the Epic tier pricing. It provides +10% Token earnings and a 10% chance of instant drain when full. The instant drain proc is a massive time-saver; when your bucket hits maximum capacity, there is a 1-in-10 chance the water is instantly processed for tokens without requiring the standard drain animation or walk to the checkpoint. Combined with the flat 10% Token boost, this bucket excels in the mid-to-late game where token multipliers scale exponentially with depth.
Stats: +10% Token earnings, 10% instant drain | Tier: A | Cost: Gems (Epic tier)
Golden Bucket
A Legendary bucket available exclusively for 2,000 Diamonds (the premium currency). The Golden Bucket is the best bucket for gem farming and significantly increases Token earnings. Because Diamonds are rare and premium, this bucket is typically purchased by players looking to optimize their endgame loops or accelerate past the Molten and Lost City checkpoints. Its enhanced gem farming capability means it effectively pays for itself over time by increasing the yield of gem-bearing chests and digs.
Stats: Best for gem farming, increases Token earnings | Tier: S | Cost: 2,000 Diamonds
Ancient Bucket
The most powerful non-premium bucket in the game. It cannot be bought with currency; instead, it is earned by collecting 10 badges and joining the IWTM10GTMPLS Roblox group. It provides +10% Token earnings and enables higher-tier gem digs, meaning digs yield rarer and more valuable gem types than standard buckets. Because it matches the Toxic Bucket's token boost while adding superior gem dig outcomes, it is the ultimate goal for free-to-play players.
Stats: +10% Token earnings, higher-tier gem digs | Tier: S | Cost: 10 Badges + Group Join
Toilet Bucket
An exclusive bucket available only through the Wheel Spin bonus mechanic. It is not purchasable in the standard shop. While its exact stat line remains categorized by its unique rarity, it serves as a collector's item and a functional tool for players looking to maximize every possible passive bonus.
Stats: Exclusive | How to get: Wheel Spin
Use the Bucket
Another special bucket exclusive to the Wheel Spin. Similar to the Toilet Bucket, it offers unique aesthetics and utility for dedicated players spinning the wheel for exclusive rewards.
Stats: Exclusive | How to get: Wheel Spin
Bucket Synergies and Upgrade Priority
Buckets do not function in isolation; their bonuses multiply with your skill tree investments. The skill tree contains six families: Fill Speed, Capacity, Movement Speed, Token Multiplier, Depth Unlock, and Automation.
The optimal upgrade priority is Fill Speed → Capacity → Token Multiplier → Character/Movement → Depth Unlock → Automation.
Because Fill Speed is the primary bottleneck, the Plastic Bucket (+5% Fill Speed) synergizes perfectly with early Fill Speed skill nodes, compounding your cycle rate. Once your fill rate is optimized, Capacity upgrades ensure you carry more water per trip, making the Metal Bucket's improved drain efficiency more impactful. Later, the Toxic and Ancient Buckets' +10% Token earnings scale directly with the Token Multiplier nodes, creating exponential growth. Automation should be your last investment; it provides idle token generation while offline, but is only worth the token cost after your active loop is fully upgraded.
Depth Scaling and Bucket Efficiency
As you push deeper through the six depth checkpoints, token multipliers increase dramatically. A bucket's percentage bonuses become more valuable the deeper you go, as they multiply against higher base values.
| Checkpoint | Depth Multiplier | Bucket Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | 1x | Baseline token generation |
| Shipwreck | 1.5-2x | +10% Token buckets start showing value |
| Cavern | 2-3x | Fill Speed and Capacity compound heavily |
| Mineshaft | 3-4x | Magnet Bucket item attraction crucial for chests |
| Molten | 4-6x | Toxic/Ancient 10% instant drain saves significant time |
| Lost City | 6-8x | Golden Bucket gem farming scales exponentially |
| Abyss | 8-12x | Maximum token multiplier; all bucket bonuses essential |
At the Abyss checkpoint (8-12x multiplier), a +10% Token earnings bonus from the Toxic or Ancient Bucket effectively adds 0.8x-1.2x to your base multiplier. This makes endgame progression vastly more efficient and is critical for reaching the phone and achieving the Find My Phone ending, which currently has a 62% win rate among players who reach that depth.
Earning Gems and Badges for Upgrades
Gems are the primary currency for purchasing buckets in the shop, and they are exclusively earned through badges and chests found while draining. There are 30 badges in total, offering a combined 830+ Gems.
Easy badges provide immediate Gem income for your first bucket upgrades:
- First Drop: Drain your first bucket. Rewards 10 Gems. Over 10M+ players have earned this.
- Plunge: Swim in the lake. Rewards 10 Gems.
- Shark Bait: Get caught by a shark. Rewards 10 Gems.
Harder badges offer substantial payouts and are necessary for the Ancient Bucket:
- Find My Phone: Reach the Abyss checkpoint and pick up your phone.
- Fully Trained: Fully upgrade the skill tree.
- Bottomless Treasure: A rare endgame badge.
- Ocean's Worst Nightmare: The rarest badge in the game, earned by only 56 players as of July 2026.
Badge Rarity and Gem Payout Breakdown
| Rarity Tier | Number of Badges | Gem Reward Range | Total Potential Gems |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 8 | 10 each | 80 |
| Rare | 10 | 10-20 each | 100-200 |
| Epic | 6 | 20-30 each | 120-180 |
| Legendary | 6 | 50-200 each | 300-1200 |
By systematically chasing badges, players can accumulate enough Gems to purchase the Plastic, Metal, and Magnet buckets without spending Diamonds. The 10 badges required for the Ancient Bucket will naturally yield a significant amount of Gems along the way, further accelerating your progression.
FAQ
How many buckets are there total? There are 7 confirmed standard buckets in the shop/badge system (Common, Plastic, Metal, Magnet, Toxic, Golden, Ancient), plus exclusive Wheel Spin buckets like the Toilet Bucket and Use the Bucket.
Do I need all buckets? No, but earning 10 badges for the Ancient Bucket is highly recommended for free-to-play players as it is the most powerful non-premium option. The Plastic Bucket is the best early purchase, and the Magnet Bucket drastically reduces the tedium of collecting chests. The Golden Bucket is optimal for endgame gem farmers but requires premium Diamonds.
Can I switch between buckets? Yes — once owned, you can switch buckets at any time with no cost. This allows you to equip the Magnet Bucket when actively hunting for chests, then swap to the Toxic or Ancient Bucket when grinding tokens at deeper depth checkpoints.
What is the spend-immediately principle? In incremental simulators like Drain the Lake, hoarding tokens provides no benefit. The spend-immediately principle dictates that you should never hoard tokens; instead, invest them immediately into your Skill Tree. Every second your tokens sit unspent is a second they aren't generating additional value through upgraded Fill Speed, Capacity, or Token Multipliers.
Are there codes for free buckets or Gems? As of July 2026, there are no verified codes. However, codes are expected to be released via the official Discord and the IWTM10GTMPLS Roblox group following future updates. Joining the group is already required for the Ancient Bucket, so it is worth doing early.
Visit our tier list for bucket rankings, or check our beginner guide for early game tips.