Beginner's Guide to Rust

You spawn on a random beach with nothing but a rock and a torch. Your first priority is to move inland and away from other players. Beach spawns are dangerous because other nakeds will try to kill you for your rock.

Immediately start hitting trees and stone nodes with your rock. You need 200 wood and 100 stone to craft your first tools. Look for hemp plants (green bushes) on the ground to collect cloth, which you will need for a sleeping bag.

Find food quickly. Look for mushrooms on the forest floor, corn near rivers, or hunt animals. Starvation will kill you within minutes if you ignore your hunger bar.

Open your crafting menu (default: Q) and craft these items in order:

1. Stone Hatchet (200 wood, 100 stone) -- gathers wood and food much faster than the rock
2. Stone Pickaxe (200 wood, 125 stone) -- mines stone, metal ore, and sulfur ore efficiently
3. Sleeping Bag (30 cloth) -- your respawn point. Place this somewhere hidden
4. Wooden Spear (300 wood) -- your first weapon for defense and hunting

Once you have a hatchet and pickaxe, resource gathering becomes dramatically faster. Focus on collecting enough materials for a starter base before you do anything else.

Your first base should be a simple 2x1 with airlock. You need approximately:

• 5,000 wood (for twig placement + wood door)
• 5,000 stone (for upgrading walls and foundation)
• 100 metal fragments (for a code lock)

Find a flat, hidden spot away from monuments and roads. Build in twig first: place two square foundations, walls all around, a doorframe with a triangle airlock, and a roof. Place your Tool Cupboard immediately and authorize yourself.

Upgrade walls to stone from the inside out, starting with the walls closest to your TC. Check that all walls face the correct direction: the smooth side should face outward.

Your sleeping bag is your respawn point. Place one inside your base and one hidden outside nearby. If you die, you can respawn at the bag instead of a random beach. Bags have a cooldown, so having multiple helps.

The Tool Cupboard (TC) must be placed in the most protected part of your base. It controls building privilege in a radius around it. Without TC authorization, no one can build or upgrade near your base. Stock it with resources for upkeep or your base will decay.

Wood: Hit trees. Larger trees give more wood. Look for the red X marker on trees for bonus resources.

Stone: Mine stone nodes (rounded gray rocks on the ground). Also found in boulders (the large rocks you see everywhere, but they give less).

Metal Ore: Dark-colored ore nodes with a metallic sheen. Smelt in a furnace to get metal fragments.

Sulfur Ore: Bright yellow nodes. Critical for crafting gunpowder, ammo, and explosives. Guard sulfur carefully.

Scrap: Found in barrels, crates, and by recycling components at monuments. Used for researching blueprints and crafting.

As a beginner, avoid fighting geared players. If you see someone with metal armor or a gun, run. You cannot win a rock fight against a shotgun. Instead:

• Avoid major roads and monuments until you have at least a bow
• Do not carry all your resources at once. Make frequent trips to base
• Run in zigzag patterns if someone shoots at you
• Use cover (rocks, trees, buildings) whenever moving in the open
• Craft a bow (200 wood, 50 cloth) as soon as possible for self-defense

Progress through these weapons as you gather resources:

1. Wooden Spear (300 wood) -- throwable, good for hunting and early fights
2. Hunting Bow (200 wood, 50 cloth) -- your first ranged weapon, essential
3. Crossbow (200 wood, 75 metal frags, 2 rope) -- more damage than the bow
4. Revolver (125 metal frags, 10 cloth) -- first gun, needs a workbench level 1
5. Double Barrel Shotgun (175 metal frags, 100 wood) -- devastating at close range

Nights in Rust are pitch black. Without a flashlight or torch, you cannot see anything. Plan your evening:

• Get inside your base before dark. Use nighttime to organize inventory and smelt resources
• A campfire provides light and warmth but makes you visible to other players
• If caught outside, crouch and move slowly. Do not use your torch unless absolutely necessary
• Night lasts about 10 real-time minutes on most servers