Drain the Lake All Badges Guide — Every Badge and How to Earn Them

Drain the Lake features 30 badges that track your progression through the game's increasingly treacherous depth checkpoints. Launched in June 2026 by developer IWTM10GTMPLS, this incremental simulator has reached over 29.9 million visits and 152,000 favorites. Beyond simple achievements, badges serve as the primary method for earning Gems, the currency required to purchase advanced buckets like the Metal Bucket (500 Gems) and the Magnet Bucket (1200 Gems). Most importantly, earning 10 badges and joining the IWTM10GTMPLS group unlocks the Legendary Ancient Bucket—the best bucket in the game for token farming. This guide covers every badge, their unlock requirements, Gem rewards, and the optimal strategies to earn them.

Badge Rarity and Gem Rewards

Badges in Drain the Lake are divided into four rarity tiers, each offering progressively higher Gem payouts. With over 830 total Gems available from the badge system alone, strategically hunting these achievements is essential for upgrading your bucket inventory without spending premium Diamonds.

Bucket Costs and Gem Economy

Understanding the Gem economy is vital when pursuing badges. Gems are exclusively earned through badges and chests found while draining, meaning every Gem counts toward your bucket upgrades. Below is a breakdown of how your badge Gem rewards translate into bucket purchases.

Because the highest-tier buckets require substantial Gem investments, targeting Rare, Epic, and Legendary badges provides the necessary capital to progress past the early-game Common and Plastic buckets.

All 30 Badges Complete List

Common Badges (10 Gems each)

Common badges are typically unlocked through natural gameplay during your first few hours. They introduce core mechanics like the shark encounters, chest looting, and basic draining.

First Drop is the most earned badge in the game, with over 10 million players having unlocked it. Simply fill your Common bucket at the surface and drain it for tokens. Plunge requires you to jump into the lake water rather than draining it. For Shark Bait, Live Bait, and Chew Toy, you must intentionally encounter the shark that patrols the depths. The shark is more aggressive at deeper checkpoints, making early encounters safer despite the lower token multipliers. Lucky Find requires opening a chest while draining; equipping a Magnet Bucket (1200 Gems) significantly increases the pull range for these chests. Tourist is a milestone badge that requires reaching all six depth checkpoints: Shipwreck, Cavern, Mineshaft, Molten, Lost City, and Abyss.

Rare Badges (10-20 Gems)

Rare badges demand sustained playtime and progression into the mid-game depth checkpoints. Earning these requires investing tokens into the Skill Tree, specifically the Depth Unlock and Capacity families.

To unlock The Mines and Fire Below, you must push past the early 1x–2x token multipliers and reach the 3-4x and 4-6x multiplier zones respectively. Slippery is a unique badge requiring you to escape the shark's grasp at the very last moment before it catches you. Sunken Secrets involves finding hidden alcoves within the Cavern or Mineshaft zones. Token Tycoon requires holding a massive amount of tokens at once; note that this conflicts with the standard "spend-immediately principle," so you should only attempt this badge once your active loop upgrades are maxed out.

Epic Badges (20-30 Gems)

Epic badges require mastery of the game's systems, including maxing out Skill Tree families and acquiring multiple bucket types.

Ancient Ruins is awarded upon reaching the Lost City checkpoint, where the token multiplier scales from 6-8x. Fully Trained requires completely upgrading one of the six Skill Tree families (Fill Speed, Capacity, Movement Speed, Token Multiplier, Depth Unlock, or Automation). Because Automation generates idle tokens while offline, maxing that tree first can fund the other trees passively. Bucket List requires owning one of every bucket type available in the shop, excluding Wheel Spin exclusives like the Toilet Bucket or Use the Bucket. Hidden Treasure yields the highest Gem reward in the Epic tier and demands finding a chest with rare contents, which has a low base chance but is improved with the Golden Bucket.

Legendary Badges (50-200 Gems)

Legendary badges represent the ultimate milestones in Drain the Lake. They are tied to the game's ending, the deepest reaches of the lake, and the most grueling grinds.

Into the Abyss requires reaching the final depth checkpoint where the token multiplier reaches 8-12x. Once there, you can complete the game's core story by retrieving your fallen phone, unlocking Find My Phone. Currently, 62% of players who reach the Abyss pick up the phone and achieve this ending. Ocean's Worst Nightmare is the rarest badge in Drain the Lake, with only 56 players having earned it as of July 2026. The exact criteria are intentionally obscured, but it is believed to involve an extreme depth or shark encounter condition. Ultimate Bucket awards a massive 200 Gems and is triggered automatically upon claiming the Ancient Bucket.

The Path to the Ancient Bucket

Earning 10 badges and joining the IWTM10GTMPLS Roblox group unlocks the Legendary Ancient Bucket. This bucket provides a +10% Token earnings boost and enables higher-tier gem digs, making it the ultimate tool for endgame token farming.

To reach 10 badges as quickly as possible, focus on the trivial and easy badges first. You can secure five badges within your first session: First Drop, Plunge, Shark Bait, Live Bait, and Chew Toy. By simply jumping into the water and letting the shark catch you multiple times, you rapidly stack early badges. Next, progress through the main checkpoints to earn Tourist, Deep Dive, The Mines, Fire Below, and Into the Abyss. Reaching the Abyss guarantees you hit the 10-badge threshold.

Once you have the 10 badges, ensure you join the IWTM10GTMPLS group. If you claim the bucket without being in the group, the unlock will not register. The Ancient Bucket's +10% Token earnings pairs perfectly with the Token Multiplier Skill Tree, drastically accelerating your post-game progression.

Depth Progression and Badge Unlocks

Drain the Lake operates on a depth scaling system where deeper water yields higher token multipliers. Progressing through these checkpoints is mandatory for unlocking the mid-to-high-tier badges. Following the optimal upgrade priority—Fill Speed → Capacity → Token Multiplier → Character/Movement → Depth Unlock → Automation—ensures you can survive and drain efficiently at deeper levels.

Tokens are the primary currency from draining, used exclusively for Skill Tree upgrades. Deeper checkpoints have denser water volumes, requiring significant investments in the Capacity and Fill Speed trees before you can drain them efficiently. Always adhere to the spend-immediately principle: never hoard tokens. Reinvest them into the Skill Tree instantly to push deeper and unlock the higher multiplier zones where badge progression naturally occurs.

Advanced Badge Farming Strategies

While most badges are tied to straightforward milestones, a few require specific strategies and bucket loadouts.

Chest and Item Hunting: Badges like Lucky Find and Hidden Treasure rely on discovering rare items and chests while draining. The Magnet Bucket (1200 Gems) is highly recommended here, as its item attraction passive pulls chests toward you automatically, saving you from swimming into dangerous depths. For Hidden Treasure specifically, the Golden Bucket (2000 Diamonds) increases the likelihood of rare chest contents spawning.

Shark Manipulation: The shark is a persistent threat that disrupts the fill-and-drain loop. However, badges like Shark Bait, Live Bait, Chew Toy, and Slippery require direct interaction with it. To farm shark encounters efficiently, stay in the Shipwreck zone (1.5-2x multiplier) where the shark is less lethal. For Slippery, let the shark approach and begin its lunge animation before swimming away at the last possible frame; high Movement Speed upgrades are practically required to outrun the attack.

Wheel Spin Exclusives: While not directly tied to a specific badge, the Wheel Spin bonus mechanic offers exclusive buckets like the Toilet Bucket and Use the Bucket. Earning these contributes to the Bucket List Epic badge. Save your Wheel Spins for when you have surplus currency, as acquiring these unique buckets is entirely RNG-dependent.

Offline Automation: The Automation Skill Tree provides idle token generation while offline. While offline tokens cannot directly earn badges, they allow you to accumulate wealth passively. When you log back in, immediately dump these tokens into Depth Unlock or Capacity upgrades, accelerating your push toward checkpoint badges like Ancient Ruins and Into the Abyss.

FAQ

How many badges do I need for the Ancient Bucket? You need exactly 10 badges, plus you must join the IWTM10GTMPLS Roblox group. Any combination of 10 badges counts toward the unlock, so you can focus on the easiest Common badges or push for depth milestones depending on your playstyle.

What is the rarest badge in Drain the Lake? Ocean's Worst Nightmare is the rarest badge, with only 56 players having earned it as of July 2026. The exact unlock condition is an ultra-rare achievement, making it the most elusive milestone in the game.

How many total Gems can I earn from all badges? You can earn over 830 Gems from all 30 badges combined. This is enough to purchase the Plastic Bucket (200 Gems) and the Metal Bucket (500 Gems) purely from badge rewards, with plenty left over.

What is the difference between Tokens, Gems, and Diamonds? Tokens are the primary currency earned by draining water, used for Skill Tree upgrades. Gems are earned from badges and chests, used to buy buckets like the Magnet Bucket. Diamonds are a premium currency used for high-tier purchases like the Golden Bucket (2000 Diamonds).

Are there any promo codes for free Gems or badges? As of July 2026, there are no verified codes for Drain the Lake. The developer is expected to release codes via the official Discord and IWTM10GTMPLS group following future updates.

Visit our ancient bucket guide for unlock details, or check our tier list for bucket rankings.