Rust - Tips for Beginners

Pointers, tips, and methods for beginning Rust players.

Rust Guides:

Starting Out

Note: Credit goes to Comatose

Chances are, you’ve already played on a server or two as a new spawn, also referred to as a “Naked”. Chances also are, you got killed by another player or an NPC. Don’t fret, though! Just follow a few of these steps and raise your chances of survival by a few percentiles.

I. Rust is not a friendly game.

Though there are nice players, don’t expect every player to be your buddy. There WILL be bullies on this game, and you WILL have competitors. The first step is to try to avoid interaction with other players, at least until you have a weapon besides your rock and torch.

II. Every man’s gotta eat.

There’s an even bigger problem than enemy players, and that’s your body itself. A lot of new players struggle to find food and freshwater, and often get killed at gas stations while looking for some. Food, however, tends to be more important than water in this game – unlike real life. Sprinting, healing, and using tools burns up your food bar quickly. Instead of looking to gas stations, look around nature! Eat wild mushrooms, hunt easy animals ( like chickens, deer, and maybe even sleeping players – bears, wolves, and boars will kill you quite easily. ), and if you’re lucky you might even find a food crate. On the topic of drinkable water, you can press G to take a look at your map; ponds and rivers are scattered throughout the world.

III. This is my rifle!

Step three is to get some nifty tools, clothing to cover up that naked body, and armor to protect yourself. Making tools should be self explanatory – hit trees with your rock to gather wood, and break certain boulders to gather stone. Use Q to open up your crafting menu. Next is clothing – also pretty self explanatory, gather hemp to collect cloth, and don’t forget to plant the hemp seeds you find! Armor, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult. You can gather rope from breaking metal barrels across the world, and combine it with your wood to make plank armor – OR you could act like Ted Bundy and make a suit of bone armor out of cloth and bone fragments. You can collect bone fragments from harvesting animal carcasses, including humans.

IV. Hunker down!

If you really want your character – now equipped with armor and tools – to survive when you log off, you have to build a base. You can go to your crafting menu ( Q ) and craft a building plan for ten wood, and a hammer for 100 wood. The building plan is how you make walls and foundations, and the hammer is how you upgrade them. I recommend upgrading your foundation, walls, and ceiling to stone immediately, and your doors to sheet metal later on. Don’t forget to make a tool cupboard so your base doesn’t start decaying!

V. Leave the Stone Age.

You don’t want to be stuck with stone tools forever, believe me. If by chance you come across canned food, keep the can after eating the food! You can melt the cans in a campfire for a few metal fragments. To mass produce metal fragments, you need to craft a furnace, which requires a new item – low grade fuel. Low grade fuel can be crafted from cloth and animal fat ( which again, is harvested from carcasses, including your fellow man ), or can be looted from red oil barrels scattered throughout the world. Metal ore is harvested from metal boulders; which look similar to stone boulders, but are shiny; and is your ticket to entering the Iron Age.