Rust’s September update, Breach and Clear, brings major changes to monuments, base upkeep, resources, vehicles, and combat.
The update feels like another step in Rust’s broader Q3 clan and progression changes, following the Clan System introduced earlier this year. With the new group-based Tool Cupboard upkeep modifier in particular, some players are already viewing Breach and Clear as a bit of a “clan nerf” update, since larger teams could face higher base maintenance costs while smaller groups remain mostly unaffected.
Players on a Rust server will soon have new monument routes to deal with, while larger groups could face higher upkeep costs depending on how many players are authorized to their base.
New Monument Blockers
One of the biggest additions in Breach and Clear is the introduction of Monument Blockers.
These destructible barriers are being added to several higher-tier monuments and block routes players may normally use when completing puzzles or moving through restricted areas.
Monument Blockers are appearing at:
- Launch Site
- Military Tunnels
- Missile Silo
- Large Oil Rig
- Small Oil Rig
- Underwater Labs red keycard areas
Players who want to take a blocked route will need to destroy the barrier. The blockers have been balanced around approximately one C4 or five Satchel Charges, although exact requirements can vary depending on the type of damage used.
Some blockers are also specifically resistant to easier non-explosive methods, making explosives the practical choice for breaking through.
The barriers feature visible health, different damage stages and destruction effects as they are damaged.
Once destroyed, they do not respawn. If nobody destroys one, it begins naturally decaying after approximately 24 real-world hours.
This means monument routes may change throughout a wipe. Early on, groups could be forced to spend explosives to access certain routes, while later players may find those same barriers already destroyed.
Tool Cupboard Upkeep Now Scales With Group Size
One of the most significant experimental changes affects Tool Cupboard upkeep.
Rust is testing a new group-based upkeep modifier that increases maintenance costs depending on how many unique players are connected to a base.
The current test values use three tiers:
- Tier 0: The first 4 players add 0% extra upkeep.
- Tier 1: The next 6 players add 2% upkeep each.
- Tier 2: Every additional player adds 4% upkeep each.
Under these values, a Tool Cupboard associated with 6 players would receive 4% additional upkeep, while one associated with 12 players would receive 20% additional upkeep.
Code Lock Authorization Also Counts
The calculation does not only look at players directly authorized on the Tool Cupboard.
Unique players authorized on code locks controlled by that TC can also contribute to the group size.
This prevents larger teams from simply leaving most members unauthorized on the TC while giving everyone access to the base through code locks.
However, there is an important exception.
Code locks with two or fewer authorized users are ignored by default when calculating the group tax. This helps avoid heavily increasing upkeep for setups such as player-run hotels or bases containing individually shared rooms.
Server owners can configure this threshold with:
decay.upkeep_lock_min_users
Code-lock counting itself can also be disabled using:
decay.upkeep_group_count_locks
The 24-Hour Authorization Window
Removing someone from the TC or a relevant code lock will not immediately remove them from the upkeep calculation.
That player continues counting for 24 real-world hours.
This prevents groups from authorizing everyone while building, removing their authorization afterward and avoiding the additional upkeep.
The TC interface will also display information about the current group tax when players hover over their upkeep cost.
It is important to remember that this entire system is still heavily WIP, and the current percentages are being tested rather than presented as permanent balance values.
New HQM Nodes And Collectables
High Quality Metal is getting dedicated resource spawns.
Players will now be able to find both HQM ore nodes and smaller HQM collectables around procedural maps.
The new resources are much rarer than traditional stone, metal and sulfur deposits.
Current values provide:
- 20 HQM from a full HQM node
- 5 HQM from an HQM collectable
HQM deposits are also more common around the jungle biome.
This adds another direct way to obtain one of Rust’s most valuable materials and could make certain areas of the map significantly more desirable during a wipe.
New Medical Honey Bandage
Honey is gaining another practical use through the Medical Honey Bandage.
This new Tier 1 healing item can be unlocked through progression, found in medical loot and purchased at Water Wells.
A Honey Bandage currently provides:
- 8 instant health
- 6 additional healing over time
- 5 radiation removal
Crafting one requires 4 Cloth and 2 Honey.
It gives players another early-game healing option while making honey and beekeeping slightly more useful during normal progression.
Marketplace Terminals Now Require Power
Marketplace drone terminals are becoming another part of Rust’s island power infrastructure.
The terminals will no longer operate permanently without electricity.
Once Power Plant reaches around four active Heavy Fuses, the Marketplace terminal begins charging. When enough power has been stored, players can begin placing orders again.
Rentable vending machines at the Marketplace will also receive refrigeration while Power Plant is supplying power.
This builds further on the Player Maintained Monument system introduced in the August update and gives players another reason to keep Power Plant operational.
Modular Cars Can Now Drift
Modular cars are receiving a substantial handling overhaul.
Steering, suspension, grip and body roll have all been adjusted to make cars easier to control and reduce unexpected spinouts.
More importantly, players can now drift modular cars.
Holding CTRL while braking activates the handbrake and locks the rear wheels, allowing the back of the vehicle to slide through corners.
The underlying tire forces and steering behavior have also been adjusted around the new mechanic, allowing players to maintain drifts at higher speeds rather than simply using the handbrake as a basic brake toggle.
So yes, drifting in Rust is now actually a thing.
Attack Helicopter And Hot Air Balloon Armor Changes
Armor on both the Attack Helicopter and Hot Air Balloon can now break away as it takes damage.
The Attack Helicopter's front, left and right cockpit armor sections can be destroyed independently.
When a section breaks away, its collision disappears as well, creating an exposed opening where the pilot or passenger can potentially be shot.
Hot Air Balloon armor follows a similar system, losing sections progressively as they take damage until only the underlying frame remains.
Installing Hot Air Balloon armor now also requires holding the interaction key for several seconds, reducing the chance of accidentally using an expensive armor module.
Weapon And Equipment Balance Changes
Breach and Clear includes another sizeable balance pass.
Some of the more important changes include:
- Homing Missile Launcher lock-on speed increased by 30%.
- SAM Sites now target drones much more effectively.
- SAM Sites can destroy explosives dropped from drones while airborne.
- Semi-Automatic Pistols have stronger long-range damage falloff.
- Semi-Automatic Pistols now cost an additional 2 HQM.
- Heavy Plate Helmets now require 2 Sheet Metal and 8 HQM.
- Heavy Plate Helmets now muffle surrounding audio and player voices.
- HMLMG crafting requires 30 less HQM.
- Mortar crafting costs have been reduced.
- Hazmat Suit crafting costs have been reduced.
- Longswords received improvements to attack speed and range.
- Prisoner Hoods are now default blueprints.
- Boat Building Plan research costs have been significantly reduced.
Throwable stack sizes have also been lowered.
F1 Grenades, Bee Grenades, Flashbangs and Molotovs now stack to 3, while Beancan Grenades stack to 4.
The Heavy Plate Helmet audio change is also more than a simple stat adjustment. Heavy armor now has additional movement and audio behavior designed to make wearing the equipment feel noticeably heavier and reduce the wearer's environmental awareness.
Other Changes Coming In Breach And Clear
Several smaller gameplay and quality-of-life improvements are also included:
- Swamp trees now provide 1,000 Wood, increased from 300.
- Dome crude pumps are capped at 1,000 crude oil per pump.
- Several pie effects now last longer.
- Hunter's Pie provides 90% bleed reduction.
- Radioactive water has been buffed.
- Wood Armor can now use Workshop skins.
- Salvaged Hammer models, animations and sounds have been refreshed.
- Loot crates received refreshed models and destruction visuals.
- Numerous items received improved dropped world models.
- Arrow visuals have been reworked.
- Three new clan-related Steam achievements have been added.
- SMG Bodies are slightly more common.
- Rifle Bodies are slightly less common.
- Players can select a random owned skin when crafting skinnable items.
- Rust+ now allows players to leave teams and kick team members.
Many of the new world models are also optimized versions of older assets, reducing unnecessary geometry and memory usage rather than simply changing how items look.
Server Restart And Performance Improvements
There are also several changes that should be particularly useful for Rust server hosting.
Active events are becoming more reliable through server restarts:
- Oil Rig hackable crates preserve their state and hacking progress.
- Cargo Ship remembers completed loot rounds and remaining crate locations.
- Patrol Helicopter crates and debris save correctly.
- Bradley crates and debris save correctly.
- Satellite Crash crates and debris save correctly.
- Boat last-used times now persist through restarts.
- Gas Station loot spawners have received restart-related fixes.
Event crate despawn timers have also been standardized to 30 minutes.
Additional work has been made to server saving and memory usage, including improvements to parallel entity saving when using the experimental UsePlayerUpdateJobs 4 system.
Another fix should prevent authorizing friends on turrets and other entities from causing large lag spikes for bigger teams.
These kinds of improvements may not be as noticeable as a new monument or weapon, but they can make an important difference on larger or heavily populated Rust servers.
If you're planning a new server and aren't sure how many resources your setup needs, using a Rust RAM calculator can provide a useful starting point based on player count, map size and the type of server you're planning to run.
Host Your Next Rust Wipe With Pine Hosting
Planning a fresh wipe for Breach and Clear? Pine Hosting makes it easy to set up and manage your own Rust server without having to maintain the underlying server hardware yourself.
With reliable Rust server hosting, you can focus on configuring your map, plugins, settings and community while Pine Hosting handles the infrastructure behind your server.
Whether you're creating a vanilla server for the September update or building a larger modded community, choosing reliable Rust hosting can help keep your server running smoothly as your player count and world grow.
If you're looking for the best Rust hosting for your next wipe, start your Rust server with Pine Hosting and get ready for Breach and Clear.
