Rust Update & Patch Notes: Latest Update, Next Update Date & 2026 History

The latest Rust update is Printed and Polished, which went live on Thursday, November 5, 2026 with that month’s forced wipe. It reworked blueprints (tech trees now cost Blueprint Fragments, Pages and Books instead of scrap), added the loot-only Uzi, controller support, a lighthouse you repair to open the deep sea and the biggest performance pass of the year. The next Rust update is due on Thursday, December 3, 2026, at 2 PM ET (7 PM UK), and it will wipe every official server again.

The Darkness Falls Halloween event (October 22 to November 5) ended with this wipe.

This page is our running hub for every Rust update and its patch notes: what is live now, when the next one drops in your time zone, what each 2026 and 2025 update changed, what gets wiped on update day, and where to read the official notes. It is checked against Facepunch’s devblogs, the Steam news feed and the public commit log every month. For the exact minute of the next wipe, keep the Rust force wipe countdown on our home page open.

• Latest Update
• Next Update
• Update Schedule
• 2026 Updates
• 2025 Updates
• What Gets Wiped
• Staging and Hotfixes
• Where to Read Patch Notes
• Console Updates
• Update Day Tips
• FAQ

Latest Rust Update: Printed and Polished (November 2026)

The November 2026 Rust update is Printed and Polished, released on Thursday, November 5, 2026 with a forced wipe on every server. Facepunch called it their biggest optimisation update yet, and it changes how every wipe progresses.

• Blueprint rework. Tech tree nodes cost 1 Blueprint Fragment (Workbench 1 and Engineering), 1 Page (Workbench 2) or 1 Book (Workbench 3) instead of scrap, workbenches cost scrap again, and research went to 20, 40, 100 and 300 scrap. See the blueprint update guide and the tech tree.
• Uzi. A loot-only 9mm SMG: automatic and shield-friendly with the stock folded, semi-auto and more accurate with it unfolded. Our Uzi guide has the stats and drop rates.
• Controller support. Gamepads now work across core gameplay through Steam Input, with a new gamepad options screen.
• Lighthouse and deep sea. The deep sea cycle starts once the lighthouse is repaired, and every lighthouse on the map shares the progress.
• Livestock rework, Shears and new food. Simpler cow ownership, no death from old age, a new Potential stat, Shears for more wool, the Wool Armour Insert and Crocodile Pie.
• Scientist boats and nailgun refresh. Scientist boats now patrol the main island coast, and the nailgun got a new model and Workshop skins.
• Performance. Faster base loading, cheaper gun effects, a building privilege check that dropped from 5.7 ms to under 0.02 ms, and a new navmesh.
• Softcore. Max 6 Tool Cupboards per player, clans off and raided boxes no longer leave a half-loot corpse. See Rust softcore.

Every change, with sources, is in our Rust November 2026 update guide. The update before it was Livestock on October 1, 2026, which added cows and sheep (see our livestock guide).

Next Rust Update: December 3, 2026

The next Rust update is on Thursday, December 3, 2026, the first Thursday of the month. It lands at 19:00 UTC: 2 PM Eastern, 11 AM Pacific and 7 PM in the UK, with a forced map wipe on every server.

Facepunch has not named the December update yet. The November devblog says Rust Premium, a paid monthly service with exclusive skins and non-gameplay perks (not a battle pass), is coming soon, and the Christmas event usually goes live in December. We update this page as soon as the changes show up on staging.

Rust Update Schedule: When Does Rust Update?

Rust updates on a fixed rhythm. Facepunch’s Surviving 12 Years post on January 1, 2026 promised a guaranteed monthly update on the first Thursday of every month, and that schedule has held all year.

• Day: the first Thursday of the month, every month, holidays included (January 1, 2026 still wiped on the day).
• Time: 7 PM UK clock time. That is 18:00 UTC in British Summer Time and 19:00 UTC in winter, which works out to 2 PM ET and 11 AM PT in most months.
• Size: one big content update with its patch notes, then smaller fixes during the month.

Every Rust Update in 2026

These are the official monthly updates of 2026, each released on the first Thursday with a forced wipe. The links go to our guides for the biggest additions.

Want the bigger picture going back to 2013? Our Rust release date and history page has every landmark update from the first alpha to today.

Rust Updates in 2025

2025 was the year Facepunch reshaped progression. If a guide quotes research costs of 75 or 125 scrap, or says workbenches need scrap, it was written before Pivot or Die.

What a Rust Update Wipes

Every monthly update changes the game’s network protocol and map generation, so every server has to update and start a new map. That is why update day and force wipe day are the same day.

• Map and bases: always wiped. Every base, box and deployable on the old map is gone.
• Blueprints: only wiped when Facepunch forces a blueprint wipe, as it did with Pivot or Die (November 2025) and Built Different (June 2026). Many community servers wipe blueprints on their own schedule. Our blueprints guide explains the difference.
• Skins, DLC and stats: never wiped. They live on your Steam account.
• Modded servers: often come back a little later, once Oxide or Carbon is updated for the new build.

Staging Branch, Hotfixes and Small Patches

Rust’s content does not appear out of nowhere on update day. It goes through three stages:

1. Commits. Every change the developers make shows up on Facepunch’s public commit log, often weeks ahead.
2. Staging branch. A public test build anyone who owns Rust can install free on Steam (see our Rust staging branch guide). New features usually land there one to three weeks before release, with test servers to try them.
3. Release and hotfixes. The update goes live on the first Thursday, and a hotfix or two often follows in the next few days. Hotfixes restart servers but do not wipe them.

Where to Read Official Rust Patch Notes

Rust Console Edition Updates

Rust Console Edition on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S is built by Double Eleven, and it does not follow the PC update schedule. Console patches are numbered (for example patch 1.16 on September 24, 2026), they arrive on their own dates, and console content usually lands months after PC. Official console servers wipe on the last Thursday of the month at 18:00 UTC.

Our Rust Console Edition hub tracks console patches and the console roadmap, and the Rust console wipe schedule has every console wipe date.

Rust Update Day Tips

1. Update Steam before the wipe. The new build downloads at release time. Restart Steam if it does not start on its own.
2. Read the notes first. Recipes, upkeep and loot tables change often, as with the group upkeep change in Breach and Clear. Our base designs guide covers how upkeep works now.
3. Expect queues. Popular servers fill in minutes. Have two or three picked from our server list.
4. Check your settings. Big engine updates, like the June move to Unity 6, can change performance. Our best settings and console commands guide helps you get your FPS back.
5. Watch for hotfixes. If something feels broken on day one, a fix is usually out within a few days.

Rust Update FAQ

Sources and Further Reading

• Official devblogs and patch notes: Facepunch, Rust news
• 2026 schedule and roadmap: Facepunch, Surviving 12 Years
• Power Trip: Facepunch, Power Trip
• Every change as it is made: Facepunch Commits, Rust
• Patch notes on Steam: Steam, Rust news
• Naval delay: PCGamesN, Rust Naval update delayed into 2026