Rust Basics

1) What is Rust?

Rust is a multiplayer survival game. You spawn naked on a large island, gather resources, craft tools and weapons, build a base, and fight the environment — animals, radiation, scientists, and (on most servers) other players. There is no quest line: you set your own goals.

On RustLords: We are a protected vanilla PvE server in the EU. Gameplay matches Facepunch Rust, but strangers cannot raid or grief you while your PvE shield is on. Optional duels, war groups, and a full-vanilla Deep Sea zone exist for players who want PvP by choice. Read Rules before your first serious base.

2) Waking up & the map

When you join a server you wake up on a beach with almost nothing — usually a rock and a torch. Spawn location is random along the coast. Press G to open the map and see where you are, monument names, and (if you are on a team) teammate markers.

On RustLords: Connect with client.connect 37.187.133.205:28015 (F1 console) or use the launch button on the homepage. /pve on protection is enabled automatically when you join — you do not need to toggle it on your first spawn.

3) Torch, rock & gathering

Your rock is your first tool: hit trees for wood, stone nodes for stone, and ore nodes for metal or sulfur. On trees, look for the red X after the first hit — aiming there chops faster. On nodes, hit the sparkling sweet spot. You can also pick up small piles of wood, stone, and ore from the ground (about 50 each).

The torch lights your way at night but makes you very visible. Use it only when you need it, and prefer working indoors after dark on busy servers.

On RustLords: Night is still dangerous because of animals and monuments, but random players cannot ambush you in the open while /pve on is active. You still need shelter, food, and light — PvE does not remove survival mechanics.

4) Hunger, thirst & health

Bottom-right HUD bars track health, food, and water. If food or water drops below about 40, you lose health. To heal naturally, get water above 40 and food to 100. Eat cooked meat, corn, pumpkins, or mushrooms; drink from rivers (not saltwater), eat berries cautiously, or use water containers later. Later you can craft teas and pies for real buffs — see the berries & teas chapter below.

On RustLords: Same survival rules as vanilla. Dying to hunger, bears, or radiation still costs your loot unless you retrieve your body. Run /pve on before logging out so strangers cannot loot you while offline.

5) First tools & weapons

Craft these as soon as you can — everything is made from the crafting menu (Q) or quick craft:

• Stone hatchet — 200 wood, 100 stone. Chops trees much faster than the rock.
• Stone pickaxe — 200 wood, 100 stone. Mines stone, metal, and sulfur ore efficiently.
• Wooden spear — 300 wood. Throwable melee weapon for animals and early fights.
• Hunting bow — 200 wood, 50 cloth; arrows cost wood + stone. Main ranged weapon for the first day.
• Bone knife — 30 bone fragments. Best tool for harvesting animals — get it after your first kill.

Kill animals with the bow or spear, then harvest with the bone knife for leather, fat, cloth, and bones. Cloth comes from hemp plants (tall green bushes) or animals.

On RustLords: You do not need weapons to defend against random player raids on day one. Bows and spears are still essential for animals, scientists, and monuments. Duels (/duel <name>) and war groups (/war create) are the only normal ways another player can fight you outside Deep Sea.

6) Your first base

Before nightfall, place a sleeping bag (30 cloth) to set a respawn point, then farm wood and stone for a small base. Most starters build a 2×1 or 2×2 with a triangle airlock at the door — two doorways so someone cannot follow you in and steal everything if you die at the entrance.

Good first-base tips on any server:

• Build near trees and stone, but not in the middle of a monument.
• Near a road gives barrel loot but more traffic — stay slightly off the road.
• Snow biomes need warm clothes or fire; desert has harsh heat.
• Do not farm more than you can carry back — dying loses what is on your body.

On RustLords: You can pick a calmer spot without worrying about offline raiding. Grief rules still apply — do not block rivers (2-foundation-wide passage), respect windmill/searchlight limits, and keep traps inside your footprint. External auto turrets must be on peacekeeper mode. See Rules §10.

7) Tool cupboard, locks & decay

The tool cupboard (TC) costs 1,000 wood. Place it inside your base and authorize yourself — only authorized players can build or demolish in that area. The TC stores upkeep materials; without them your walls decay and disappear over time.

Key lock (100 wood) — fine for solo; you do not need to craft a physical key. Code lock (100 metal fragments) — share one code with teammates. Use the hammer (100 wood) to upgrade twig → wood → stone → metal → armored (right-click on a piece). Strong side of walls faces outward; soft side breaks faster.

On RustLords: Only authorize people you trust — teammates are not protected from each other. Strangers cannot raid your TC-authorized base while your PvE shield is on. Decay and upkeep work exactly like vanilla.

8) Furnace, metal & workbench

Craft a furnace (50 low-grade fuel, 100 wood, 200 stone). Add wood as fuel, insert ore, and wait for metal fragments or sulfur. Low-grade fuel is made from 3 animal fat + 1 cloth (crafts 4 fuel). Smelt metal ore to unlock metal doors, weapons, and better tools.

Tip: Split ore into multiple furnace slots instead of one huge stack — it smelts faster (“furnace split”). Build a workbench level 1 (500 wood, 100 metal fragments, 50 scrap) to research and craft tier-1 blueprints.

On RustLords: Progression is vanilla — furnaces, workbenches, and electricity work the same. Website Scrap and Blood are separate from in-game scrap; see Wallet and FAQ.

9) Farming & food crops

Beyond hunting, you can grow steady food with planters. Craft a small planter (100 wood + 1 tarp, 3 plant slots) or large planter (200 wood + 2 tarps, 9 slots) and place it indoors or in a lit compound. Tarps drop from road barrels and crates, or recycle unwanted items at a monument recycler — stock a few before you plan a farm. Plant corn, pumpkin, or hemp seeds — seeds come from eating those foods or finding them in loot.

• Light — crops grow faster with ceiling lights or sunlight. Dark corners grow slowly.
• Water — use a water catcher, river water in a container, or sprinklers later. Planters need moisture to thrive.
• Compost — a composter turns plant matter and horse dung into fertilizer for much faster growth.
• Hemp — grows cloth for bows, sleeping bags, and fuel crafts; essential even on PvE servers.

Mushrooms and berries from the map are fine early on, but a small farm stops you running out of food every time you leave base. Cook corn and pumpkin in a campfire or furnace slot for better hunger restore.

On RustLords: Farming works like vanilla — no plugin changes to crop growth. Base rules still apply: keep defenses inside your footprint, respect river-passage rules, and cap 4 windmills and 2 searchlights per person or team per base (Rules §10).

10) Fishing

Fishing is a reliable food source once you have a little cloth and wood. Craft a handmade fishing rod, equip it, put bait (food scraps work early) in the bait slot, stand at water (beach, river, lake), and cast with left click. Wait for a bite, then reel in. Cook raw fish on a campfire — eating it raw risks poison.

• Survival fish trap — place in shallow water; passive fish over time. Good overnight supplement.
• Underwater loot — diving fins, tank, and spear let you hunt underwater nodes and crates; separate from rod fishing but pairs well with coastal bases.
• Comfort — fish stack well and keep hunger up cheaply while you farm scrap or build.

On RustLords: Fishing and traps are vanilla. Coastal and river spots are popular — you do not need to worry about other players stealing your catch while /pve on is active, but animals and drowning still hurt. Call busy waterfront monuments if others are waiting nearby.

11) Berries, teas & pies

Wild berry bushes are everywhere — pick them with E. They are weak food on their own but unlock much stronger buffs once you craft a mixing table and cooking workbench.

• Red / yellow / white berries — common tea ingredients; okay early hunger filler.
• Blue berries — small thirst restore when eaten raw.
• Green berries — mild healing if you are desperate.
• Black berries — hurt you if eaten raw; save them for crafting, not snacking.

Teas (mixing table + bottled water + berries): drink for timed buffs instead of one-shot food.

• Healing / advanced healing tea — recover HP over time after a fight.
• Max health tea — temporarily raises your HP ceiling — great before monuments or Bradley.
• Anti-rad tea — cuts radiation damage; bring to launch site, military tunnels, etc.
• Wood / ore / scrap tea — boosts how much you gather for a few minutes — use before a farm run.
• Cooling / warming tea — helps in snow or desert biomes.

Pies (cooking workbench — pumpkin, apple, bear, chicken, pork, fish, etc.) are high-tier food: big hunger and comfort restore, and many pies add a short combat or healing bonus. Stock a few before long monument trips instead of only grilled meat.

On RustLords: Teas and pies work exactly like vanilla — they are PvE-safe buffs for PvE content. They do not bypass monument calls or radiation; still bring anti-rad tea and call your run in chat.

12) Flowers & the Ranch (scrap)

Rust’s Ranch monument (stable area on the map — check G) lets you trade flowers for scrap. Pick wild flowers in the world or grow them in planters (rose, orchid, sunflower, and similar crops). Harvest the blooms, fill your inventory, and exchange at the Ranch vendor for a steady scrap income that does not depend on monument PvP.

• Low combat, good for quieter wipe days or when monuments are busy.
• Pairs well with farming — same planters, water, and lights you already use for corn and hemp.
• Plan routes: base near road or horse spawns, farm flowers, make periodic Ranch turn-ins.

This is in-game scrap for workbench research — not the same as website Scrap on rustlords.com (wallet / raidbases).

On RustLords: Ranch scrap exchange is vanilla. Call the Ranch if others are there (same on-site monument call rules). Your /pve on shield applies — strangers cannot grief you during flower runs, but respect first-on-site priority for vendor access if players are queued.

13) Monuments, loot & recyclers

Monuments are large map landmarks — gas stations, supermarkets, airfield, launch site, etc. They spawn loot crates, puzzles, scientists, and often a recycler that breaks components into scrap, metal, and cloth. Road barrels and ocean loot are good early-game supplement. Radiation zones need hazmat or anti-rad meds.

Bradley APC and attack helicopter are world events — heavy loot, high risk, and usually contested by other players on PvP servers.

On RustLords: Call major monuments, airdrops, Bradley/Heli, and admin raid activity in chat — first player on-site has puzzle priority. Use /call for call commands. Excavator limit: 45 minutes or 20 diesel per run. Admin raid bases use /raidclaim yes — different from website raidbases you buy with Scrap.

14) Scrap & researching

Scrap is the main progression currency in vanilla Rust. You find it in crates and barrels, earn it from recyclers, and spend it at a workbench to research item blueprints so you can craft them permanently on that wipe. Tech tree and workbench tiers gate higher-tier gear.

On RustLords: In-game scrap works like vanilla. Website Scrap (wallet, coupons, Scrap wheel) is our separate reward currency for raidbase blueprints — not the same balance as your in-game scrap pouch.

15) Electricity & automation

Mid wipe, many bases add electricity — not required for your first night, but very useful for lights, doors, and defenses. You need a power source, battery storage, and cable (wire tools) to connect devices.

• Solar panel — daytime power; cheap starter option. Angle toward the sun path.
• Wind turbine — strong output on hills and open ground; needs open sky above.
• Small/large rechargeable battery — stores power for night and turrets.
• Splitter, switch, timer — route power and automate lights or doors.
• Auto turret, siren light, ceiling light — common consumers; turrets need gun + ammo and draw heavy power.
• Root combiner / electrical branch — merge sources or split with fuse limits so circuits do not overload.

Run cable from source → battery → switch → device. Hold the wire tool, click an output plug, then an input plug. Check tooltips for required watts; one solar panel rarely runs multiple turrets — plan batteries and extra sources.

On RustLords: Electricity is vanilla. Server limits: max 4 windmills and 2 searchlights per person or team per base; shotgun traps and flame turrets inside your base footprint only; external auto turrets on peacekeeper mode (Rules §10). Do not block rivers with turbine farms — leave the required water passage open.

16) Deep Sea (Naval Update)

Facepunch’s Naval Update added the Deep Sea — an offshore region you sail to by boat, separate from the main island. It is high risk, high reward, and intentionally unforgiving. Read the official breakdown: rust.facepunch.com/news/naval.

• How to enter — sail toward the edge of the map in a sturdy boat (player-built boats, RHIB, or PT boat). The Deep Sea opens and closes intermittently like a world event — check your map before you commit a kit.
• Zone rules — you cannot build there and nothing respawns. First come, first served.
• Ghost Ships — stationary loot ships with scientists on deck and patrol boats nearby; some have locked crates to hack under pressure.
• Floating Cities — safe-zone monuments with docks, NPC vendors, recyclers, workbenches, and a casino; troublemakers get shot by turrets.
• Tropical islands — small offshore islands with ore, ruins, and new naval scientist AI (smarter flanking, less wall-hack than old scientists).
• Scientist boats — PT boats and RHIBs crewed by scientists; clear the crew and you can steal the vessel. PT boats carry heavy guns.
• Player-made boats — craft a Boat Building Station in deep water, use the boat building plan (sails, engines, helm, anchor, cannons). Deploy & Edit mode does not work inside the Deep Sea.

The normal sea around the mainland (oil rigs, fishing, RHIB travel) is still there — the Deep Sea is the new offshore event region beyond the island, not “any water on the map.”

On RustLords: While you are in the Deep Sea, /pve on turns off automatically — other players can fight and raid you under full vanilla rules. Staff do not restore lost gear; admins there are normal PvP targets (Rules §7). The protected mainland is unchanged. Deep Sea is optional endgame risk — duels and war groups are separate, consensual PvP anywhere with /duel or /war create.

17) Combat, death & respawn

When you die you drop everything in your inventory (and hotbar) in a lootable body bag. Respawn at a sleeping bag, bed, or random beach if you have no bag. On PvP servers, other players will loot you and raid your base; combat is loud and fast — armor and meds matter.

On RustLords: With /pve on, strangers cannot damage you or loot your authorized base on the main island. /duel <name> opts you into consensual PvP with one player until someone runs /pve on. /war create does the same for a whole group — anyone can /war join <name>, and only members can fight each other. For the marked Deep Sea PvP zone, see that chapter above — PvE is off inside it. /pve off anywhere means full vanilla risk; losses are not refunded.

18) Wipes

Most Rust servers wipe on a schedule — the map resets, bases disappear, and everyone starts fresh. Facepunch official servers wipe monthly (first Thursday). Blueprints and sometimes blueprints-only wipes vary by server. Early wipe days are the best time to learn because everyone starts equal.

On RustLords: We wipe monthly (see News and Discord for exact UTC time). About 23 hours before wipe, server-wide purge turns PvE off for everyone — treat it as high risk. Website wallets and some items follow their own wipe rules; check FAQ for what resets.

19) Essential commands (RustLords)

These are server-specific — vanilla Rust does not have PvE, duel, or war group commands:

On RustLords: Supporters who buy Blood can set name/chat colours from the website's Tools page. Full command table in Rules §13.

20) What to do next

You now know the core Rust loop: gather → craft → base → farm, fish, teas & pies → flowers or monuments for scrap → power your base → better gear. Deep Sea is optional PvP only if you choose it. On any server, join Discord or community chat, team up when you want, and expect to die a few times while learning.

On RustLords: Link Discord on the homepage for tickets and wipe news. Sign in with Steam on rustlords.com for wallet, store, trivia leaderboards, and referrals.