Rust is a very hostile game where players will constantly do their best to ruin your experience. As you will get attacked by your neighbors every other day, you will need to learn how to properly raid their bases and start a proper turf war.
The problem with raiding in Rust is that it can be very scary for a new player to do it, as you have no idea what weapons work best and what you actually need to do to bring down a wall or a door.
Recommended Read: Rust – Complete Beginner’s Guide
Luckily, the game has been out for a long time, and we have learned everything there is to know about raiding. With a little bit of help, you, too, can become a master raider in Rust.
Here is a complete raiding guide for Rust that will allow you to learn how to properly destroy someone’s walls and doors, what the difference between soft and hard side walls is, some tips and tricks, and also why you should actually raid your fellow players.
Table of Contents
- Why You Should Raid in Rust
- Understanding the Difference Between the Soft and Hard Sides of a Wall
- Best Weapons and Tools for Raiding in Rust
- Should You Destroy Walls or Doors?
- Tips for Beginners and Veterans on How to Raid in Rust
Why You Should Raid in Rust
Just knowing that raiding is a vital part of Rust won’t be a good enough reason for players to actually do it. You need to know exactly why raiding is worth it in Rust.
First of all, the lifetime of a server will usually be a week. During this time, players won’t have enough time, especially if they play solo, to research all they need to unlock the highest-tier weapons or armor in the game.
Since you also lose most of your gear and equipment every time you leave your base, you also can’t get attached to loot.
Your base will also never be a true safe haven, as it will get raided while you are both online and offline. At some point, you might start to think that playing is pointless. However, that is the point.
The reason why you should raid is that you don’t actually have to waste hours farming and getting the resources you need.
If you want something, you can always take it. And if your annoying neighbor might have what you need, why not take down his walls and take what you need?
The second best reason to raid is that it is a fun experience, as long as you aren’t being toxic. Raiding a base is one of the best experiences in Rust, as long as you do it while they are online.
The battle to get inside their base can be very exciting, and most players can still remember some of their best moments while raiding.
Understanding the Difference Between the Soft and Hard Sides of a Wall
The first thing that new players have to learn about raiding in Rust is that walls have two different sides. One of them is soft, making it easier to destroy, while the other is hard.
If you hit soft side walls with a melee weapon or with bullets, they will take a lot more damage than they would normally take on the hard side.
Usually, if you are lucky enough to find a base with a soft side wall showing, you should use a melee weapon or tool rather than your precious explosives or bullets. The best tool to use when you want to lower someone’s wall HP would be the Jackhammer.
The Jackhammer isn’t the strongest tool, but it is the fastest. However, if you want to craft your tools, then a Pickaxe would still do the job.
Here is how to figure out if you are looking at the soft side of a wall in Rust just by looking at the details:
- Twig Wall – Has a big X on the soft side.
- Wooden Wall – The wall looks like it is made out of planks rather than logs.
- Stone Wall – You can barely see the detail between the stones, and it is extremely white.
- Sheet Metal Wall – Instead of seeing orange metal sheets, you see wooden planks held together by steel bars.
- Armored Wall – You can see the orange outlines of the wall, and there are two lines that look the same as the outlines that go through the center of the wall horizontally.
For the foundations, the soft side is the top of it. This means that you can’t easily destroy a foundation from the outside looking at it.
For floors, you will have to shoot them from underneath, as they will protect the base from attackers on the roof.
Best Weapons and Tools for Raiding in Rust
When you want to go raiding in Rust, you need to make sure you bring the right tools for the job.
Here are the most common weapons and explosives that players use to get inside bases, from the weakest to the best ones:
- Beancan Grenade
- Explosive 5.56 Rifle Ammo
- Satchel Charge
- Rocket Launcher
- C4
As you can see, explosives are usually the best choice if you want to get inside someone’s base. However, the Sulfur cost to make these explosives will differ depending on what type of wall or door you are trying to bring down.
The amount of C4 or Rockets that you will have to use will be very different each time you attack someone’s base. Luckily, we have a guide that will tell you how many Rockets you need to use to destroy a Wooden, Stone, and Sheet Metal Wall.
We can also help you if you want to use C4 or Satchels to do the same thing. However, if you want to destroy an Armored Door or an Armored Wall, you will need to come prepared with a huge arsenal.
When it comes to other tools that can be useful when raiding, the Jackhammer is a decent choice, as it can allow you to deal that final damage to a wall or door that will save you an Explosive Bullet or a Rocket.
Should You Destroy Walls or Doors?
In general, as long as the base you are attacking doesn’t have an Armored Door, you should always attack the door when you are raiding someone in Rust.
The only real problem with doors is that they are usually positioned in a way that will force you to destroy at least 2 of them to get inside someone’s base.
If you can predict where a wall might lead you inside a base, it can often be a better choice to destroy a wall rather than a door.
Though destroying a Sheet Metal Door might be less expensive than destroying a Stone Wall, you will usually have to destroy more than one and will likely also face some kind of traps through the main entrance.
Still, the doors are the way to go. No matter the risk that you have to follow the base’s bizarre labyrinth, you will have better chances of getting somewhere this way than attacking their walls if you have no idea about their base’s layout.
Tips for Beginners and Veterans on How to Raid in Rust
Must Know Tips for Beginners
- Try to raid bases that have their residents online. Though this might seem like a bad idea, you will realize that it is much more entertaining than exploding a wall for 30 minutes by yourself. Offline raiding is considered by many immoral and also boring. You will also learn a lot more about the game by fighting players rather than fighting walls.
- Always bring ladders with you. They will help you get on top of bases, to destroy the roofs if you think you are facing a honeycomb base, or they will allow you to get in or out of bases that have external walls.
- If you are raiding someone that has Wooden Doors, make sure to bring Fire Arrows with you. They will start burning the door, which will deal massive damage to it, allowing you to quickly eat through the base’s HP. You can also use Incendiary or Explosive Ammo for the same purpose.
- Though you will often learn that you need to use X or Y amount of Explosive Ammo to take down a structure in Rust, you will often have to make more than that for a raid. These bullets will also be useful for fighting the enemies inside and anything that may come your way. This is why you should start learning how many “reloads” you need to destroy a structure. So, rather than learn that you need 185 Explosive Ammo to destroy a Stone Wall, you should just remember that, with an AK, you will need to reload 6 times to finish the job.
Tips for Intermediate Players
- Set up a key to quickly see the Combat Log. This will allow you to see exactly what kind of damage you deal to enemies and their base’s structures that you are raiding. You can easily see exactly how much HP you took from their structures, allowing you to destroy their outer walls without exposing yourself to too much danger.
- Build an outpost base close to the base you want to raid. Since you will most likely die while trying to destroy your enemies, you will need to set up a bed or two close to their base. This way, you can quickly come back into the fight and also have a place to deposit the resources you get from their base in case you can’t get all the way home. Try not to go overboard with your raid base, as the raid target can often disappoint you with their loot.
- Never come with the exact amount of Rockets, C4, or Explosive Ammo that you need to get inside. Always be ready for the weirdest possible base layout. There is no worse feeling than entering a base and destroying most of their doors, only to be stuck with no way to get further in.
That’s everything you need to know about raiding and how to do it in Rust!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
