The HQM node is the quietest big change in Rust’s September 2026 Breach and Clear update, and if you have ever run dry on high quality metal halfway through a base upgrade, it might end up being your favourite. For years, HQM only trickled in as a bonus from metal nodes, from the quarry, from recycling, or from monument loot. Now it spawns as its own ore node out in the world, and there is a smaller ground pickup to match. The catch is that these things are genuinely rare, and the best odds are deep in the jungle with the tigers.
This guide covers exactly what an HQM node is, how much high quality metal it gives (roughly 20 HQM for a full node and 5 for a collectable on launch), where they spawn, how to mine and smelt the ore, and how the new node stacks up against every other way to farm HQM in Rust. If you just want the numbers, the short version is below.
HQM nodes are ultra-rare high quality metal ore nodes added in the Breach and Clear update (3 September 2026). A full node gives about 20 HQM, and a smaller collectable ground pickup gives about 5. They can spawn anywhere on the island but are noticeably more common in the jungle biome. You mine a node with a pickaxe or jackhammer and smelt the ore in any furnace, while a collectable is grabbed straight off the ground. Treat the exact figures as day-one values that Facepunch may tune.
- What it is
- What it looks like
- How much HQM
- Where they spawn
- How to mine and smelt
- Node vs metal node
- Every way to get HQM
- What to spend it on
- Worth farming?
- Rest of the update
- FAQ
What is an HQM node in Rust?
An HQM node is a new, world-spawning ore node that gives high quality metal directly, rather than as a small side drop. Facepunch put it plainly in the devblog: “High quality metal ore nodes and collectables can now be found across the island. They’re extremely scarce, but you’ll have more luck finding the HQM node in the jungle.”
So there are actually two new things here, not one:
- HQM ore nodes, which look like a shiny silver boulder. You mine them like any other node and they hand over a big lump of HQM ore that you then smelt.
- HQM collectables, which are smaller ground pickups. You walk up, hold your use key, and pocket a small amount of ready-made high quality metal with no tool and no smelting required.
This matters because, before this update, you could play an entire wipe without ever seeing HQM in a raw, gatherable form out in the open. It came from smelting the odd ore a metal node coughed up, from feeding a quarry diesel, or from recycling parts. The HQM node makes high quality metal a thing you can go and find, the same way you would hunt for a good sulfur spot. It is a small addition with a real impact on how an early base gets its first armored walls.
What an HQM node looks like
An HQM node reads as a large, metallic, silver grey rock with a wet, reflective sheen, clearly shinier than the dull grey of a normal metal node and totally different from the sandy tone of a sulfur node. Once you know the look, they are hard to miss. The problem is finding one at all, because they are seeded thinly across the map.
The screenshot below is the real in-game node from the Breach and Clear devblog. Notice the setting: thick jungle foliage, ferns, broad leaves, and that heavy green canopy light. That is not a coincidence, it is the biome where you are most likely to trip over one.
How much HQM does a node give?
On launch day, the numbers Facepunch and the community are quoting are clean and easy to remember:
A full HQM node gives roughly 20 high quality metal worth of ore, and a collectable gives about 5. To put that in perspective, 20 HQM is a full armored door with none to spare, or two auto turrets if you have the other parts. A single lucky node is a meaningful chunk of a base upgrade, which is exactly why they are kept scarce.
Breach and Clear shipped today, and Facepunch described the yields as what nodes are “currently” giving. That word matters. A brand new gathering source almost always gets a balance pass once the developers see how fast players are farming it. Treat 20 HQM per node and 5 per collectable as the launch figures, not carved-in-stone stats, and do not be shocked if they move a little.
Where do HQM nodes spawn?
Two rules cover it. First, HQM nodes and collectables can appear anywhere on the island. Second, they are weighted toward the jungle biome. Rustafied summed the trade-off up well, noting that HQM spawns are more common in the jungle, “giving players another reason to risk wandering through tiger country looking for riches.”
That risk is the whole design. The jungle is one of the more dangerous places to roam. Tigers and panthers hunt there, cover is thick, and you cannot see a player creeping up on you the way you can across an open field. Facepunch has effectively planted the best HQM outside the safety of your usual farm routes, so grabbing it means accepting some danger.
If you are going HQM hunting, do it with a weapon you can actually fight animals and players with, and ideally in daylight so you can spot that silver sheen among the green. Bring a jackhammer if you have one, so a found node comes down in a couple of seconds and you are not stuck swinging a pickaxe in the open for half a minute.
How to mine and smelt an HQM node
Mining an HQM node works exactly like mining any other ore node. There is no special tool and no trick to it:
- Hit it with a mining tool. A pickaxe or jackhammer both work. The jackhammer is far faster and costs no fuel, so it is the tool of choice if you have one. Aim for the glowing sweet spot for bonus yield, the same as you would on a metal node.
- Collect the HQM ore. The node drops high quality metal ore into your inventory. Ore is not usable yet, it has to be refined.
- Smelt it in a furnace. Drop the HQM ore into any furnace with some wood for fuel. It smelts at a rate of one HQM per ore, taking around 6 to 7 seconds each, which is slower than smelting metal fragments, so give it time.
A collectable skips all of that. Because it is already refined high quality metal, you just hold your use key over it and it goes straight into your bag. No furnace, no wait, no fuel. That is the trade-off between the two: the node gives four times as much but needs smelting, the collectable is instant but small.
If you want to wring the most from a rare node, drink an ore tea before you mine it. Ore teas boost the yield of any node you hit while the buff is active, so timing one for a jackpot HQM node is a smart way to stretch a scarce resource further.
HQM node vs metal node vs collectable
It is easy to mix these up, because all three are grey rocks that give you metal. Here is the difference that actually matters when you are standing in front of one, deciding whether it is worth your time.
| Source | HQM yield | Also gives | Needs smelting? | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HQM node | ~20 HQM | Nothing else, pure HQM | Yes, as ore | Anywhere, best in jungle |
| HQM collectable | ~5 HQM | Nothing else | No, already refined | Anywhere, best in jungle |
| Metal node | 1-2 HQM ore | ~600 metal ore | Yes, both | Common everywhere |
The takeaway: a metal node is your bread and butter for metal fragments and always has been, with a couple of HQM ore as a small bonus on the finishing hit. An HQM node is the opposite, it is all high quality metal and nothing else, but you will only stumble on one occasionally. And a collectable is a nice little snack you grab in passing. If you see the shiny silver boulder, it is worth the detour every time.
Every way to get HQM in Rust
The node is the new kid, but it joins a long list of ways to stock up on high quality metal. Depending on where you are in the wipe, one of these is usually better than hunting the jungle for a rare spawn.
| Method | Roughly gives | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| HQM node (new) | ~20 HQM per node | Opportunistic grabs while roaming, especially in the jungle |
| HQM collectable (new) | ~5 HQM each | Instant top-ups, no tool needed |
| Metal nodes | 1-2 HQM ore per node | Passive HQM while you farm fragments anyway |
| HQM Quarry | 50 HQM ore per diesel | Steady bulk farming once you control the monument |
| Giant Excavator | 100 HQM ore per diesel | The biggest single HQM tap on the map |
| Recycling | Varies | Turning looted components into HQM safely at base |
A few of these deserve a note. The HQM quarry and the Giant Excavator are the heavyweight options once you can fuel them, turning diesel into ore by the stack. Recycling is the safest and most reliable, since parts like tech trash, gears, rifle bodies, metal blades and road signs all break down into high quality metal in a recycler. And the humble metal node is still the source most players get most of their HQM from, one or two ore at a time, without ever thinking about it.
If you are hurting for HQM and do not fancy the jungle, run a lap of monument recyclers with a bag of components. Road signs, gears and sheet metal are everywhere in barrels and crates, and they convert into high quality metal with zero risk. It is slower than a lucky node but you will never go home empty handed.
What to spend HQM on
High quality metal is the gate to the back half of the tech tree and the top tier of base building. It is worth knowing where it actually goes, so you can judge whether that rare node is worth chasing.
| What you build | HQM cost | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Armored Door | 20 HQM + 5 gears | The strongest door in the game, takes 3 C4 to raid |
| Armored walls | ~25 HQM per wall | The top building tier, the toughest base skin there is |
| Auto Turret | 10 HQM + parts | Automated defence that holds a compound while you are offline |
| Assault Rifle | 50 HQM | The staple end-game weapon, plus the M249 and more |
Put those costs next to the node yield and the picture is clear. One HQM node is a full armored door, or most of an armored wall, or two auto turrets minus the components. For a solo or a small group grinding toward a hard-to-raid base, a single lucky spawn can shave a real chunk off the farm. For a big clan sitting on a fuelled quarry, it is a rounding error. That difference is exactly who the feature is aimed at.
Is farming HQM nodes worth it?
Honestly? It depends entirely on how much you were already going to be in the jungle.
If you are roaming anyway, absolutely grab any node or collectable you pass. Free high quality metal is free high quality metal, and the detour is usually a few seconds. There is no reason to walk past 20 HQM sitting in a rock.
If you are thinking of dedicated HQM node runs, temper your expectations. They are rare by design, so you cannot rely on finding one on a given trip, and the jungle is dangerous enough that a farming run can end with you dead and your HQM on someone else’s corpse pile. For guaranteed bulk, the quarry, the excavator and steady recycling will always out-produce hoping for a spawn.
The best way to think about the HQM node is as a pleasant bonus layered on top of your normal play, not a farming strategy you build around. It rewards the players who explore and take risks, which is a healthy thing for the game, without letting anyone skip the grind entirely.
HQM nodes and the wipe cycle
Like everything on the map, HQM nodes and collectables reset when the server wipes. A fresh wipe reseeds the whole island, so the jungle you picked clean last week is repopulated with new spawns the moment the map regenerates. That makes the opening days of a wipe, when the jungle has not been farmed out yet, the best window to go looking.
It is one more reason to know exactly when your server force wipes. Time your first jungle sweep for early in the cycle and you are competing with far fewer players for those rare silver rocks, before the map gets picked over.
Want first crack at the fresh nodes? Know exactly when the next force wipe lands so you can hit the jungle before it is farmed out.
Check the force wipe countdownThe rest of the Breach and Clear update
HQM nodes are just one line on a busy patch note. The September 2026 Breach and Clear update is a chunky one, and a few of the other changes are worth knowing about, several of which the site covers in full.
| Feature | What changed |
|---|---|
| Monument blockers | Destructible barricades now sit on routes into red keycard puzzle rooms, taking roughly a C4 or five satchels to breach and slowing the wipe-day loot rush |
| Upkeep group scaling | Your tool cupboard now charges extra upkeep based on how many players are authorised. The first four are free, then it climbs |
| Breakable heli armour | The attack helicopter now loses armour panels at set damage thresholds, exposing the crew as it takes fire |
| Medical Honey Bandage | A new Workbench 1 heal that sits between a bandage and a syringe. See the honey bandage guide |
| Modular car drift | The handbrake (Ctrl) now lets modular cars drift through corners properly |
| SAM vs drones | Faster missiles and a wider blast so SAM sites finally deal with delivery drones |
Read together, the update leans gently toward the smaller player. Monument blockers slow the biggest groups off the wipe-day rush, the upkeep tax makes giant clan bases genuinely expensive to hold, and HQM nodes hand solos and duos a fresh way to find high quality metal without controlling a monument. None of it is a revolution, but the direction is clear.
Rust HQM node FAQ
What is an HQM node in Rust?
An HQM node is a world-spawning high quality metal ore node added in the Breach and Clear update on 3 September 2026. It looks like a shiny silver boulder, and mining it gives HQM ore that you smelt into high quality metal. There is also a smaller HQM collectable ground pickup that gives ready-made HQM with no smelting. Both are new, and both are rare.
How much HQM does a node give?
On launch, a full HQM node gives roughly 20 high quality metal worth of ore, and a smaller collectable gives about 5. Facepunch described these as the current values, so they may be tuned in a later patch. Twenty HQM is about a full armored door, to give you a sense of scale.
Where do HQM nodes spawn in Rust?
They can spawn anywhere on the island, but they are noticeably more common in the jungle biome. Facepunch weighted the spawns toward the jungle on purpose, so the best HQM hunting means braving tiger country rather than your usual safe farm routes.
How do you mine an HQM node?
Exactly like any other ore node. Hit it with a pickaxe or a jackhammer, aim for the sweet spot for extra yield, and collect the HQM ore it drops. The jackhammer is much faster and uses no fuel, so it is the better tool if you have one. A collectable needs no tool at all, you just hold your use key to pick it up.
Do you have to smelt HQM from a node?
Yes, a node gives HQM ore, which has to be smelted in a furnace before you can use it. It refines at one HQM per ore, taking around 6 to 7 seconds each. A collectable is different, it is already refined high quality metal, so it skips the furnace entirely.
What is the difference between an HQM node and a metal node?
A metal node is the common grey rock that gives around 600 metal ore plus a small bonus of 1 to 2 HQM ore on the last hit. An HQM node is the new, rare, shinier silver rock that gives about 20 HQM and nothing else. The metal node is your everyday farm, the HQM node is an occasional jackpot.
What biome has the most HQM nodes?
The jungle biome. HQM spawns are weighted toward the jungle, so if you are specifically hunting for high quality metal nodes, the jungle is where to look. Just remember it is home to tigers and panthers, so go armed and stay alert.
Are HQM nodes worth farming?
Grab any you pass while roaming, since free HQM is always worth a few seconds. But do not build a farming strategy around them, because they are rare and the jungle is dangerous. For guaranteed bulk HQM, the HQM quarry, the Giant Excavator and recycling components all out-produce hunting for a rare spawn.
What is the best way to get HQM in Rust?
It depends on the stage of the wipe. Early on, metal nodes and recycling components are the steady sources. Mid to late wipe, the HQM quarry (50 ore per diesel) and the Giant Excavator (100 ore per diesel) produce the most. The new HQM node is a great opportunistic bonus on top, not a replacement for those.
Do HQM nodes respawn after a wipe?
Yes. Like all resources, HQM nodes and collectables reseed when the server wipes and the map regenerates. The opening days of a wipe, before the jungle has been farmed out, are the best time to go looking for fresh spawns.
Can you use a jackhammer on an HQM node?
Yes, and you should. The jackhammer mines any node, HQM nodes included, far faster than a pickaxe and costs no fuel to run. Getting a rare node down in a couple of seconds also means less time standing exposed in the open jungle.
When were HQM nodes added to Rust?
In the Breach and Clear update on 3 September 2026, the monthly Rust update for that month. The same patch added monument blockers, the honey bandage, tool cupboard upkeep group scaling and breakable attack helicopter armour.
How much HQM is an armored door or turret?
An armored door costs 20 HQM plus 5 gears, an auto turret costs 10 HQM plus components, an armored wall is around 25 HQM, and an assault rifle is 50 HQM. So a single 20 HQM node is basically one armored door, or two turrets if you have the other parts.
The bottom line
The HQM node is a small, welcome addition that turns high quality metal into something you can actually go and find. A full node is about 20 HQM, a collectable about 5, and both favour the jungle, where the reward comes with real risk. It will not replace the quarry, the excavator or recycling for bulk farming, but it hands roaming solos and small groups a fresh way to fund their first armored walls, and that is a good thing.
Grab every node you pass, drink an ore tea when you find a good one, and time your jungle sweeps for early in the wipe when the map is fresh. Know when that wipe lands, and you will be picking the jungle clean while everyone else is still gathering their first stone.
Fresh map, fresh nodes. Line up your jungle run with the countdown and farm the HQM before anyone else gets there.
See the force wipe countdownSources
- Facepunch, Breach and Clear devblog (3 September 2026) for the HQM node and collectable announcement, the “extremely scarce” and jungle-weighted spawn quote, and the in-game screenshot.
- Rustafied, Breach and Clear Update Incoming for the 20 HQM per node and 5 per collectable figures, the “considerably rarer than standard ore” note, and the tiger country jungle detail.
- Corrosion Hour, RUST September 2026 Update Preview for the wider Breach and Clear feature list and the gathering context.
- Facepunch Wiki, High Quality Metal for what HQM is used to craft and its place in the tech tree.
- Rust official site for update history.