What changed in Rust in 2026

New animations for player turning while standing to improve realism.

Fixed issues with ramps being blocked by deployables and other ramps.

Flocks of crows and seagulls added to enhance wildlife interactions.

Map markers can now be dragged using the middle mouse button.

New Armour Insert using Wool for added protection against melee and cold.

Deep sea cycle starts once the lighthouse is repaired, affecting resource sharing.

Improved performance for building privilege checks in large bases.

New mirrored versions of L and U stairs for building.

Lower fuel consumption and improved acceleration for DPV.

Fixed splash damage issues with triangle frames.

Introduction of roaming scientist boats that patrol the main island.

New UZI 9mm Submachine Gun with two firing modes based on stock configuration.

Updated model, textures, and animations for the Nailgun.

Updated map icon for hackable locked crates.

Updated animations for dropping and attaching grenade-type items.

Reduced hitches when loading large bases with numerous entities.

Controller functionality now available across core gameplay via Steam Input.

New option to extract seeds from berries without consuming them.

Changes to cow ownership, feeding, reproduction, and UI improvements for livestock management.

Workbenches no longer require blueprint fragments; introducing three tiers of blueprints for tech tree progression.

New cooking recipe using Crocodile meat that intimidates nearby animals.

Optimizations across CPU, memory, and networking for better performance.

Improvements to movement, targeting, and turret systems on scientist boats.

Randomly spawned modular cars now start with half-filled engines with low-quality parts.

Resolved inconsistencies across building skins affecting placement.

Small trees are now easier to hit.

New default blueprint for Shears to produce more wool without harming sheep.

Reduced framerate drops when firing guns with improved effect handling.

New spooky skins including wallpapers, a Skull Wall Lamp, and an inflatable Alien Costume are now for sale.

A competition with exclusive drops, including a Spooky Backpack, scheduled for October 23, 2026.

Players have 3 minutes to collect candy, with top players receiving special loot bags. Collected candies can be upgraded for better loot.

New portals have appeared across the island, with unknown effects and dangers for players who enter.

Eligible Discord Nitro subscribers can claim the exclusive Zombie Wumpus item from October 22 to November 5.

Players can collect body parts from scarecrows and mummies to create a controllable monster.

Includes Dracula Mask & Cape, Wooden Stake, Hockey Facemask, Cultist Deer Torch, and Baseball Bat.

The yearly Halloween event is now active, featuring the Candy Hunt event and monster building.

Grown cattle and sheep can be sold at a Stable for resources based on gene quality.

New DLC item available for purchase in-game or from the Steam item store.

Improved design for the country selection UI in the server browser.

Heavy fuses now last longer on low population servers to ease power issues.

Store assets now load/unload based on visibility, saving memory.

Sandbags now have four upgrade stages and reduced crafting costs.

Reduced memory usage by standardizing hand meshes across viewmodels.

Transition to a new custom Scriptable Render Pipeline for improved performance and graphics.

Inverse kinematics processing moved to multithreading for better performance.

Converts organic matter to low grade fuel, requires manual stirring.

New animals that produce dung, milk, wool, and can be harvested for meat, bones, and leather.

New critters like frogs, rabbits, and jellyfish added to enhance world liveliness.

High-quality model and animations for the machete have been updated.

Four new ladder hatch items available for skinning in the workshop.

New loot rooms added to various monuments, unlocked by inserting Heavy Fuses.

Helipad in Bandit Camp must be repaired before air vehicles can be purchased.

More servers now require TPM + Secure Boot for enhanced security.

Improved responsiveness for throwing grenades and explosives with client prediction.

Increased drop rate for SMG bodies and slight reduction for rifle bodies.

New obstacles added to monuments with red keycard puzzle rooms to slow down early access to loot.

Improvements to allow multithreading in scripting for better performance.

Heavy Plate Helmet now suppresses noise; Heavy Plate Armour makes noise when moving.

New scarce HQM nodes can be found across the island, particularly in the Jungle.

All four pieces of Wood Armor available for community skins.

Extended durations and adjusted recipes for various pies.

Added display for how quickly items will turn into fertilizer.

Over 70 new world models introduced to replace burlap sack.

Increased wood harvest from swamp trees to match other tree types.

Improved missile speed and detonation area for SAM sites targeting drones.

Updated flashlight model, textures, and animations with new functionality.

Wooden arrows updated with new visuals and fletching.

Enabled new navmesh on some servers for improved NPC navigation.

Added display for how long it will take to turn into fertilizer.

Simplified mechanics for water flow and pressure in the water treatment plant.

Reduced damage at range for the Semi-Pistol and increased crafting cost.

Simplified mechanics for the water treatment plant with increased IO output.

Customizations to the physics engine for better performance.

New option to apply a random unlocked skin when crafting items.

Tweaks to steering, turning, and suspension for better handling, plus a new handbrake mechanic.

New healing item added to Workbench Level 1 using honey.

New Assault Rifle skin available in 5 color variations.

Visual update for wooden arrows with new fletching.

New UI option to project the current paintbrush onto the object being painted.

New option in painting UI to project current paintbrush onto objects.

Enhanced saving and loading of server event states to prevent loot loss.

Improved network range settings for around 300 entities to reduce overhead.

Reduced stack sizes for several grenade types.

Increased wood harvest from swamp trees to match other tree types.

Improved missile speed and detonation area for SAM sites targeting drones.

Large Medkit now removes radiation like Medical Syringes.

Helmet now suppresses noise; Heavy Plate Armour makes noise when moving.

New scarce HQM nodes and collectables introduced across the island.

Over 70 new world models introduced to replace burlap sack.

New tax system based on the number of players in a base affecting upkeep costs.

Tweaks to steering, turning, and suspension for better handling, plus new handbrake mechanic.

Extended durations and adjusted recipes for various pies.

Increased commonality of SMG bodies; slight reduction for rifle bodies.

Reduced lock-on duration for the homing launcher.

Attack helicopter armour now degrades as it takes damage, exposing the pilot and gunner.

Marketplace now requires the Power Plant to be operational for drone deliveries.

Improved multithreading capabilities for scripting to enhance performance.

New Assault Rifle skin available in five color variations.

Improved network range settings for around 300 entities to reduce overhead.

Updated flashlight model, textures, and animations with new functionality.

Increased effectiveness of Radwater when used in Sprinklers against armoured players.

New skinnable items for Wood Armor available in the workshop.

Customized physics engine for better performance, doubling performance on some servers.

Large Medkit now removes radiation like Medical Syringes.

Reduced stack sizes for F1, Bee Grenade, Molotov, Flashbangs, and Beancans.

New healing item designed to utilize excess honey from beekeeping.

Reduced lock-on duration for the homing launcher.

Marketplace now requires the Power Plant to be operational for drone deliveries.

New tax system based on the number of players in a base, affecting upkeep costs.

Enhanced saving/loading of server event states to prevent loot loss.

Radwater now seeps through more armour types, causing significant radiation.

Increased damage falloff at range and crafting cost for the Semi-Pistol.

New obstacles added to monuments with red keycard puzzle rooms to slow down access to loot.

Attack Helicopter's cockpit armour now falls off in stages, exposing pilot and gunner.

New navmesh enabled on some servers for improved NPC navigation.

New option to apply a random unlocked skin when crafting items.

New mechanics for maintaining water pipes and restoring water flow.

Improved loading times by optimizing asset loading.

Power plant can be activated using Heavy Fuses to unlock new gameplay features.

New DLC featuring mini-games like Pool and Darts, and themed items.

New features in Oxum's car garage when the power grid is active.

Fixed hover looting issues with clothing from corpses.

Players can now toggle shield positions with a cooldown.

High walls now have a static upkeep cost of 20%.

Wooden arrows updated for more visual interest.

Complete makeover of the demo UI for easier use and powerful features.

Ore nodes and woodpiles can no longer spawn in safe zones.

New features tying together existing monuments to encourage player interaction.

Master Key now has a fully functional view model and animations.

New switch on Large Oil Rig to pump crude oil to Dome when the Power Plant is active.

Green recyclers efficiency reduced by 10%, restored with power from the power plant.

New options for marking respawn points on the compass.

New interactive deployable item allowing players to carve stone.

Recycle Bin now has its own inventory for bonus items.

New wearable item for players to create skins.

Stock reduced from 10 to 2 and restock time increased from 2m to 10m.

New terminals in the control tower that can increase air drop rates.

New event where players can control a satellite to target crash locations.

Wolf Headdress now requires a Tier 1 workbench to craft.

New freezer in the Supermarket providing chilled food as long as it has power.

Limited-time charity bears available for purchase to support causes.

Jobs 3 becomes the default mode, Jobs 2 will be deprecated.

A new pack of 27 luminous wallpapers for bases.

New backpack with exclusive weapon charms available for purchase.

Fixed issue where picked skin was not greyed out.

Players can purchase and run shops in the new apartment complex.

Charity drive to support Cancer Research UK and Ronald McDonald House UK.

A new monument allowing players to rent rooms with various perks.

Extended animation system for one-handed melee weapons.

Players can create custom skins for the Metal Shopfront.

Real-life replica of the Auto Turret created by ASH Entertainment.

Earn drops by watching Rust streams on Twitch during the charity drive.

New layer to help older demos work with the latest version.

Introduced 2x resource gathering and defined raid windows.

Added auto-sorting feature for storage adaptors.

Improved player animations while sprinting with rifles.

New clan tables for managing clans and clan chat features.

New top-tier armour set that cannot be crafted, found through loot.

Increased number of heads with unique materials and improved hairstyles and beards.

Loot-only clothing option providing improved protection over existing options.

New pack featuring 20 industrial-themed items for base decoration.

Rewritten object pooling system to enhance performance and reduce garbage collection pressure.

New animation systems to enhance player animations and reduce robotic movements.

You can now inspect skins in your hand directly from the store or inventory.

Unique skin for the Crossbow available for purchase.

Military-grade rifle with a three-round burst fire mode, found through loot.

Addressed CPU overhead issues caused by high polling rate mice; recommended to lower polling rate.

Enhanced hit validation for players in hot air balloons or boats.

Complete rebuild of the player model with improved meshes, materials, and proportions.

Exclusive in-game plushie available through Discord shop.

Updated model, animations, and UI for binoculars.

New anti-personnel/raiding deployable weapon that allows for long-distance projectile launching.

Official Rust Shop launched inside Discord with a launch celebration discount.

Workbenches have received a new upgrade system with nine upgrades to customize benches.

Fixed issues with 3rd person grenade throw animations.

Monuments with multiple no build zones now correctly display each zone.

New set of achievements added related to the recent Naval Update.

Improvements to player processing and removal of old code.

Windows Server 2016 will no longer be supported; upgrade required.

Animations for using items now play out correctly before stopping.

Reduced loot found in the Deep Sea to balance with other areas.

Twitch Rivals event with exclusive skin drops for viewers.

Electric Furnace is now available for community-created skins.

New building skin available in the store for customization of stone tier bases.

New country mapping system prevents server ping spoofing.

Floating City Boat Vendor now sells modular boat parts.

Computer Station now requires power to operate.

Complete visual and animation overhaul of the Salvaged Cleaver.

Drag has been greatly increased for boats with a flat bow.

Complete redesign of the vending machine administration page and purchase page.

Tin can alarm can now be trapped with various items to alert nearby players.

Road signs now correctly spawn in Outpost, Junkyard, and Water wells.

Barrel skins now compatible with Spray Can/Repair Bench for swapping skins.

A renewable energy source that generates electricity from flowing water, usable in rivers and oceans.

New limited-time wallpapers available for players.

The Salvaged Axe received a high-resolution model and new animations.

New limited-time Bunny Costume available for players.

Enabled UsePlayerUpdateJobs 2 by default for improved server performance.

New altimeter feature added to the Hot Air Balloon for better altitude awareness.

Concentrated loot pool in deep sea fishing, removing lower-value catches.

Players can now set the reset value of the IO counter.

New skinnable item available in the workshop for the Salvaged Axe.

Complete redesign of the F1 menu with new features and improvements.

A new top-tier construction item that upgrades from the Metal Ladder Hatch, available in square and triangle variants.

Removed unnecessary meshes from the server build to save memory.

New mechanic to prevent overfishing in certain areas.

Optimized network group code for better area of interest management.

Added colour pickers for Discord DM and team chat tags.

Hitbox for shields adjusted based on whether they are being held up.

Increased the time plants are in their ripe stage from 14 to 24 hours.

New coloured buttons added, supporting nested radial menus.

Players can now unlock multiple tech tree nodes at once with a preview path.

New decorative item available for a limited time.

Chainsaw now consistently hits the X when farming trees.

Watchtowers can no longer be spam placed next to each other.

Easter Egg Hunt event running until April 16th with various items.

Update on the evaluation of secure servers with TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot.

New radial menu for toggling light sources individually.

New terrain rendering system for improved CPU performance.

Visual indicator added to distinguish sleeping bags in the deep sea on the death screen.

The medical syringe has been upgraded with a new model and animations.

Resolved issue with junkpiles spawning on sleeping bags.

Deploy & Edit steering wheel option now always shows, with error toast for unsuitable locations.

Servers can opt-in to require TPM and Secure Boot for players to connect.

Physics library limitation removed, allowing for more colliders in each broadphase cell.

Decay delay doubled to 24 hours, decay duration reduced to 12 hours.

Deep Sea can no longer be accessed using RHIBs.

Loot now respawns slowly, initial fill decreased to 70%.

Electricity, industrial, and water IO items can now be used on boats.

Players can now use wallpaper on boats.

New DLC featuring 16 uniquely designed skins for the Large Wood Box.

Fixed issue causing sails to be destroyed when placed incorrectly.

Static Boat Building Station added to every Deep Sea island.

Moderate aim sway added while on player built boats, scaled by speed.

Fixed issues with boat building blocks, allowing rotation and demolition at any time in edit mode.

Optimized mission validation process to reduce discrepancies and improve performance.

Resolved issue where tiny dive site buoys would halt full-size boats.

Deployable snapping feature added for player built boats.

Naval scientists' AI improved for better combat behavior and protection adjustments.

Shadow settings reworked for better performance and visual balance.

Sunken boats can now be damaged block by block for exploration.

Increased daily sunlight duration by approximately 20 minutes.

Added movement penalty for boats hit by cannons, reducing speed to 30%.

New tool allows players to draw lines while painting.

Added notification sound for when the Deep Sea opens.

Players can now build and customize their own boats using a new Boat Building Station and Boat Building Plan.

New DLC pack featuring items for artistic expression including paintball guns and various frames.

Scientist boats now spawn at Large Oilrig, adding challenge to oil extraction.

Introduction of the SKS as a new skinnable weapon in the workshop.

Updated model and textures for the RHIB, now includes a working compass and map display.

Optimizations made to improve server performance and reduce bottlenecks.

Five new naval-themed missions available from NPCs, some requiring deep sea exploration.

Micro-islands in the Deep Sea with unique resources and environments.

Improvements made to the cooking process to reduce frame spikes when multiple ovens are running.

New floating cities in the Deep Sea offering various facilities and NPC vendors.

Added new deployables for boats including sails, helm, engine, anchor, cannon, small ramp, and plank.

A new offshore region with high risk and high reward, featuring tropical islands, floating cities, and ghost ships.

New PT Boat and scientist boats that patrol the Deep Sea, engaging players.

Stationary ships in the Deep Sea filled with loot, guarded by scientists.

Updated AI for scientists on oil rigs and at sea, improving their behavior and tactics.

Twitch Drops event scheduled from February 5th-15th.

Community event celebrating Rust's 12th Birthday with concerts and fireworks.

Winners of the Rustmas Base Decoration contest announced.

The Naval Update is set to release with the February wipe.

Teaser for a new item, Remote C4.

Expanding ecosystem with new animals like cows and sheep, and a breeding system.

Made sweeping changes to progression, including Blueprint fragments and custom crosshair.

Introduced a new game mode along with new items and raiding methods.

Added advanced cooking, farming (chickens, bees), and new workbenches.

Introduced climbable trees, deadly tigers, crocodiles, and new monuments.

Enabled by default across all servers to limit high-impact cheat features.

Upcoming update on February 5th will include player-made boats and new AI encounters.

Implemented sweeping changes to main menu, server browser, and store.

Public program for reporting security vulnerabilities with a bug bounty.

Reduced load and server connection times by around 65% and decreased RAM/VRAM usage.

Rust Mobile will be released globally in 2026.

Introduced a party system and snappable deployables.

New server type aimed at reducing cheating and improving fair play.