What is Rust
New to Rust? Then this is the guide for you.
Rust is a survival game set on a large island. You will need to hunt or farm to get food, find water, and build a base. By chopping trees and mining rocks, you gain resources that help you progress. Travel around the map, find loot, and explore monuments (high-value locations) to discover what Rust has to offer.
But you will have to be careful, since other players roam the island too. Some of them may become your friends, and some of them may be... less friendly. Sometimes you may also run into NPCs out in the wild or within some monuments.
If your first hour feels chaotic, that's completely normal. Rust has a learning curve, and every experienced player has gone through that same early struggle.
If you're new to HWS Frontier in general, you can also read Welcome to HWS Frontier for the bigger picture.
When you need a break, you can seek out safe-zones on the map. In these areas, you can't equip weapons, and NPCs (non-player characters) guard the area, killing anyone who poses a direct threat. In these areas, you can typically buy things, trade, or ready yourself before heading back out into the wild. Safe-zones can be found by opening the map (default: 'G') and looking for green shopping cart icons. Avoid combat before heading there, or the NPCs may consider you a threat and try to kill you.
To learn how to join one of the HWS servers, head over to Joining a Server.
Why play on HWS?#
HWS offers a modern and intuitive web interface that is directly connected with the in-game world. This means you can trade with other players from your computer or phone, chat with your clan without being in-game, and save some of your progress across full wipes.
No matter whether you're a veteran with thousands of hours, or if you've just bought Rust, HWS is the right place for you. Our servers are designed to be inclusive and accommodating, giving veterans room to fight, and new players the resources to learn the game from scratch.
When you're finally in-game, you'll start out with a kit of items and tools. If you need help or want to find a clan to play with, feel free to ask in-game or in our Discord server.
You don't need to know everything on day one. Just focus on small wins, and you'll improve quickly.
Your first 30 minutes in Rust#
As soon as you're in-game, you should start by heading a little away from the beach you spawned on, to avoid colliding with other players who also just started.
You will want to gather some wood and stone so you can start building tools and a base. Crafting happens in the crafting menu (default: 'Q'), where you should build yourself a hammer and a blueprint. With the blueprint in your hand, hold down your right mouse button to choose which type of block you'd like to build. After placing blocks, you can upgrade them to wood by equipping your hammer and right-clicking while looking at a block.
Using the tools you started with in your inventory, you will want to hunt for food, for example by killing a boar. When you've killed it, hit it with your axe to extract meat. Then open the crafting menu again, craft a campfire, fill it with wood and meat, and soon your food will be cooked and ready to eat.
And if things go wrong at first, don't worry. In Rust, every setback teaches you something useful for the next run.
When you're ready to jump in, continue to Joining a Server.