You spawn on a beach with a rock and a torch. No explanation, no tutorial, no waypoint telling you where to go. Rust assumes you will figure it out or die trying. Most people die a lot first. This part of the guide covers the basics. Just the things that decide whether you end the session with a base or end it naked on a respawn screen.
The Rock and the Torch
You start with both. The rock is your only tool until you can replace it, which should be the first thing on your mind. It gathers wood and stone, harvests bodies, and can be used as a weapon. It does all of these things slowly and badly.
The torch is more dangerous than new players realise. Nights in Rust are genuinely dark. Not dim, but completely black. The torch fixes that, but it also makes you the only visible object in the landscape. Anyone nearby sees you long before you see them. Keep it off unless you are inside with the door closed or desperately need to use it.
You also have a map. Press G to open it. It shows your position and teammates if you have any. Get used to checking it. Know where you are relative to monuments and roads matters early on.
Vitals
Bottom right of your screen shows three bars: health, food, and water. The way they interact catches most new players off guard.
Losing health from damage is obvious. What is less obvious is that your food and water bars drain your health too if they drop too low. Go below 40 on either and you start taking passive damage. To recover health naturally you need food above 100 and water above 40 at the same time. Below those numbers you stop draining but you do not heal.
Getting Your First Tools
Your first two crafts should be a Stone Hatchet and a Stone Pickaxe. Both cost 200 wood and 100 stone. The hatchet chops trees properly, the pickaxe handles ore nodes.
To get wood and stone, hit trees and rock nodes. When you hit a tree the first time, a marker appears on the bark. Hit that spot every swing and you harvest much more quickly. Rock and ore nodes have a sparkling glint on the surface. Same idea.
Pick up hemp plants whenever you see them. They are tall plants and easy to spot. They give cloth, which you need for sleeping bags, bows and basic clothing.
Food and Water
Hunt animals with your bow and cook the meat on a campfire immediately. Cooked food restores hunger and helps you heal. Raw meat will make you sick. Mushrooms, corn and pumpkins scattered across the map are safe without cooking. Useful before you have a campfire set up.
For water, drink directly from rivers by looking down at the surface. Bottles let you carry water for later. Stay reasonably close to a river until you have a water catcher at base.
Finding Somewhere to Build
Before placing a single foundation, think about where you are building.
You need trees close by. Base construction burns through wood fast and running a long distance to farm while carrying materials is time you are exposed. Being near a road is also useful. Barrels and crates spawn along roads and give scrap, tools and components. Scrap unlocks the tech tree and is the most important mid-game resource. Just do not build anywhere visible from the road itself.
Stay out of the snow biome for your first base. Cold drains health at night without proper clothing. Do not build directly on the beach either. That is where everyone spawns and patrols. Move inland.
When starting out, build near tier zero or tier one monuments. Tier zero covers the Gas Station, Supermarket and Harbour. No radiation, easy loot, and each has a Recycler. The Recycler breaks down items into raw materials including scrap, and getting access to one early changes how fast you progress. Each monument has its own guide linked at the bottom of this page.
Building the Base
Your first base does not need to be impressive. A 2x1 or a 2x2 with an airlock is enough for day one. A 2x1 is two square foundations side by side. Two rooms, one for storage, one for crafting. A 2x2 is a two-by-two grid giving you four rooms. Either works. What matters is that it is locked, has a Tool Cupboard inside and has walls that are not twig.
See the base design guide for layouts. See the airlock guide for how to build one correctly and why it matters.
Before placing foundations, have these crafted:
Hard Side and Soft Side
Every wall has two faces. The outside face is the hard side and takes normal damage. The inside face is the soft side and takes a lot more damage. Raiders always go for the soft side.
When placing walls, the hard side should face outward. If it is facing the wrong way you have ten minutes to rotate it with your hammer. Check every wall before that window closes.
Upgrading Your Walls
Twig breaks with almost no effort. Wood takes some work to destroy. Stone is where you want to be. Getting through it requires rockets or explosive charges, which most players will not have on day one.
Use your hammer to upgrade everything to stone as fast as your resources allow. A basic starter base at stone tier takes roughly 3000 wood and 5000 stone. Farm what you need before you log off.
What Comes Next
Once the doors are closed and the TC is stocked, your next two targets are sheet metal doors and a Workbench Level 1.
For the doors: farm enough animal fat and cloth to produce 50 low grade fuel, then build a Furnace. The furnace smelts metal ore into metal fragments. Wood doors burn. Metal doors do not. Getting sheet metal doors up is the most impactful single security upgrade available in the first couple of days.
For the workbench: collect 50 scrap from road barrels and build a Workbench Level 1. This opens the tech tree and moves you into the early metal age, which the next guide covers.