Rust – Beginner’s Guide: Tips for New Players

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Rust is an incredibly hard survival game that new players will most likely be afraid of. As you spend more and more time trying to understand how everything works, you might get bored with the game.

Since Rust is an amazing game once you understand some of the basic stuff, this beginner’s guide will help you truly enjoy the experience.

Recommended Read: How to Get a Helicopter in Rust

Once you realize what your goal is, what to do at the start, and learn some tips and tricks, the game won’t seem like a horrible experience. You will probably even realize that the community isn’t even as toxic as you thought.

Here are some good tips and information that will help most beginners understand Rust and start actually having fun on this horrible island.

Table of Contents

What Rust Servers to Choose When Starting

The first choice you will have to make the first time you play Rust will be the server you want to play on. This choice can impact your experience severely, as some servers can be extremely toxic while others can be full of friendly players.

Another thing to consider is the number of friends you have with you or if you are solo. Even the day you start playing matters a lot, as most servers go through a wipe every Thursday.

There are only a couple of things that matter when choosing a server in Rust as both a beginner and a veteran:

  • Wipe Frequency
  • Ping
  • Player Population

Luckily, you can see all of this information right from the “Play Game” menu, as you will have all the servers listed to the right, along with the information above.

Ping is the one thing that you should always make sure is low, as it can ruin your experience.

When it comes to wipe frequency, you can have weekly, biweekly, or monthly for most Official and Community servers. You should choose an option that you personally like, as the opinion on the frequency of wipes is subjective.

Last but not least, you should look for servers that can’t have a population larger than 200, since you won’t have anywhere to build a base, and higher than 50, since you won’t interact with any players if there are less than 50.

Most servers in the Official list have an average population of around 100, so you should be good looking there.

For Rust beginners, the best server choices would be:

  • Official, low ping server with a population of around 100 players for players that want to see the real Rust experience.
  • Modded, with increased resource gathering boosts, for players that want to learn how to build.

What is Your Main Goal in Rust?

Since Rust is a multiplayer survival game, you would expect there to be some kind of goal, right? Well, there is actually no objective goal that players need to reach to “win” in Rust, even though there are some progression systems in place.

The beauty of the game is that you can always find something fun to do, no matter how many hours you have played.

Generally, players set their own goals before joining a new server since you can do whatever you want.

Some decent goals for new Rust players can be:

Here are some goals that players can also go for once they become better at the game:

  • Make Tier 3 weapons and equipment.
  • Explore all Monuments on and off the island.
  • Destroy Bradley APC at the Rocket Launch Site.
  • Open Red Keycard doors.

What to Do After You Spawn on the Beach in Rust

The most important thing after spawning on the beach in Rust is to quickly get away. Depending on the day you chose to start playing Rust, there could either be hundreds of players on the beach or just a few sleeping bodies.

Usually, the spawn beach is one of the most dangerous locations in the game, as it can be full of new players or veterans that just want to shoot you for fun.

If you are lucky and there are only bodies around, try to hit some of them with your rock to get some Bone Fragments. You can use these to make a Bone Knife, which is the main tool for harvesting dead husks.

Try to quickly get into the woods and start looking around for food, as that will also be a problem at the start.

There are two ways to find food in Rust, either look around rivers or look at the base of trees, as there could be mushrooms there.

Usually, rivers are the best bet for food, as they have pumpkins and corn all over the place. Just open your map (press and hold G), and look for rivers that are close to get some food in you.

On the way to get food, you should also start harvesting some trees and rocks for Wood and Stone. These two resources will be extremely important after you spawn in Rust.

When cutting down trees, make sure to aim for the red X spot that appears after you hit the tree one time.

For rocks, only hit them if they are relatively big and you see a shining spot on them. Also, make sure to hit the shining spot with your rock. Your goal now should be making simple tools, such as an Axe and Pickaxe.

How to Build Your First Base

After you manage to get away from the chaos that is the spawn beach, you will need to make your first base in Rust.

To make a base in Rust, you will need a Building Plan. You can quickly craft this item from the inventory. Just look at the bottom right of the inventory screen for a blueprint-looking item.

You will only need Wood x20 to make the Building Plan. Once you have it and you equip it (have it in the hotbar and hold it in your hands), you can start building your base.

Generally know that you can’t build too close to other players’ bases (if they have a Tool Cupboard set down) or to Monuments (named locations).

Building the Base

All bases have a basic plan that you will need to follow:

  1. Foundation
  2. Walls
  3. Doorway
  4. Floor

The Foundation is the first thing you must build, and it is the first thing you will see when you equip the Building Plan. Just hold down the right mouse button to see other building options.

You can either set down a triangle or square Foundation to get started on your base. The square one costs 10 Wood, and the triangle one costs 5.

At the start, you should use more than either 2 square or 3 triangle Foundations. Even one single square Foundation would be good at the start if you combine it with a triangle one.

Once you have your Foundations set, you will need to place Walls. Make sure to place the weak side on the inside of the base.

The weak side is the one you see with a darker blue X on the side while using the Building Plan. If you place it the wrong way, you can quickly rotate it using a Hammer.

Don’t forget to leave an empty wall space to place the Doorway. You will need a Doorway if you actually want to get inside your base. To place the actual door, you will need to craft it separately in the Crafting menu and put it down afterward.

Once you have your Foundations, Walls, and Doorway, it is time to place the roof.

To place the roof of your base, you will need to select the Floor structures and put them down the same way you did the Walls and Foundations. The Floor will need to be the same shape as the Foundation below it.

How to Upgrade the Base

The base will be made out of Twigs at first, which you will have to quickly evolve into Wood if you don’t want people to destroy it in a second.

To upgrade the base in Rust, you will need a Hammer, which you can craft the same way as you did the Building Plan.

While holding the Hammer, approach the Foundations, Walls, and Floors and hold down the right mouse button to see what upgrade options you have for them.

Your initial goal will be getting Wood structures, as they are better for the first few hours.

Another very important item that you will need to craft and place in the base is the Tool Cupboard (TC). Structures built in Rust will slowly degrade and break down if you don’t maintain them. Now, you can either constantly fix them with the Hammer or build a TC to fix this.

The TC is a structure that will maintain your base as long as you place the necessary resources inside of it.

This building also protects you from players that would want to build right next to your base, or that would use nasty methods to get inside your base that are only possible if you don’t have a TC.

What Monuments to Visit as a Beginner in Rust

Monuments are named locations that you can see on the map at any time in Rust. These places usually hold really good loot, but they are also defended by NPCs.

If you see someone dressed in a Hazmat Suit, you can be 90% sure it is an NPC scientist.

These guys can be very dangerous when you are just getting started as you might approach them, thinking they are players, only to instantly get shot in the head. This is why you should be careful with what Monuments you visit as a beginner.

The best Monuments to loot as a new Rust player are the:

  • Abandoned Supermarket
  • Junkyard
  • Oxum’s Gas Station
  • Warehouse

The Supermarket and the Gas Station are usually some of the best places to go at the start as a rookie, as they have a lot of food inside of them.

They also have a Recycler, which will become a huge part of your experience once you learn how to use it.

The Junkyard will also be a decent location to visit if you are looking for some of the resources that you can also find along roads. Items such as Scrap, Metal Fragments, and components.

Vital Tips for New Rust Players

Now that we went through most of the things new players should know about, here are some great tips that will allow you to always have fun playing Rust:

  • Make sure you set up the best settings possible, since there are many things in there that can ruin your experience.
  • Set up your base relatively close to a river if you don’t want to worry about food and water.
  • You don’t necessarily need Medicine to heal. If you stand next to a campfire, or a fire in general, your Comfort will increase. When Comfort is high enough, your Health will start naturally growing back to 100%. However, you will lose a lot of Calories, so have some food on you as well.
  • If you constantly get your base destroyed, you can hide your loot inside a Small Stash that can be buried underground. However, make sure to place it somewhere that you know you will also find it later, as the spot isn’t shown on the map.
  • Horses are the best transport vehicle at the start of Rust. You can randomly find Horses in the wild, and you can instantly mount them, even if someone else used them. However, if you don’t feed them, they will die.
  • Learn how to quick loot. It will save your life.
  • Accept that you are going to lose equipment. That is just how Rust works, and you need to accept this fact if you want to have fun.
  • Visit the Outpost and Bandit Camp often to buy resources and gear. You don’t have to make everything yourself.

That’s everything you need to know about what to do as a beginner in Rust!

Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.

Adrian Oprea

Based in London, United Kingdom, Adrian Oprea is a Guides Writer. As a professional single-player RPG player, Adrian has often been stigmatized. He has decided to pour his frustration into writing guides!

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