The September update is here! Dubbed the Breach and Clear Update, this month's patch goes is expected today around 2pm EST / 7pm BST with some significant changes to monuments, base upkeep, resources, vehicles, and item balance.

Our update stream goes live at 1pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news through the day. Let's get into it.

Monument Blockers

Several of Rust's higher-tier monuments are getting new destructible blockers this month. Launch Site, Military Tunnels, Missile Silo, Large Oil Rig, and Small Oil Rig now feature barriers blocking some familiar routes, meaning you'll need to bring a little extra firepower if you want to take the direct approach.

These blockers have been tuned to take roughly 1 C4 or 5 Satchels to destroy, with melee and other damage options available if you have significantly more patience than explosives. They also feature visible health bars, different damage states, and destruction effects. The result should shake up some familiar monument routes while adding another cost to accessing certain areas.

Larger groups, higher upkeep

Larger groups are going to pay more to maintain their bases. Upkeep can now increase based on the number of players authorized on a Tool Cupboard, putting additional upkeep pressure on bigger teams while having less impact on solos and smaller groups.

Players also remain counted for a period after deauthorizing, preventing groups from simply clearing everyone off the TC whenever it's time to fill the cupboard. The developers have been tuning the exact scaling throughout development, but the goal is straightforward: the more people sharing a base, the more expensive that base becomes to maintain.

HQM Nodes

High Quality Metal is getting its own dedicated resource nodes. Players can now find both HQM ore nodes and smaller HQM collectables around the map, providing a new direct source for one of Rust's most valuable resources.

They're considerably rarer than standard ore, with full nodes currently providing 20 HQM and collectables giving 5. HQM spawns are also more common in the jungle biome, giving players another reason to risk wandering through tiger country looking for riches.

Honey Bandage

Honey gets another use this month with the arrival of the Honey Bandage. This new Tier 1 medical item sits beneath the Bee Grenade in the tech tree and can also be found in medical crates and purchased at the Water Well.

The Honey Bandage provides 8 instant health followed by another 6 healing over time while also removing 5 radiation. It currently costs 4 cloth and 2 jars of honey to craft, giving beekeeping another practical use besides producing jars of angry insect ammunition.

Balance changes

A sizable balance pass is also arriving this month. The Semi-Automatic Pistol gets stronger damage falloff at range along with a higher HQM crafting cost, while the Heavy Plate Helmet now muffles audio and costs more to craft. Throwable explosive stacks have also been reduced, with F1 Grenades, Bee Grenades, Flashbangs, and Molotovs dropping from stacks of 5 to 3 and Beancans dropping to 4.

A number of less-used items are getting buffs instead. The HMLMG, Hazmat Suit, and Mortar have cheaper crafting recipes, Large Medkits now remove radiation, and the Boat Planner tech tree unlock drops from 120 scrap to just 30. The Longsword gets faster swings and a larger attack radius, several pies receive longer-lasting buffs, and the Homing Missile Launcher now locks onto targets 30% faster. SAM Sites are also better at dealing with drones and can destroy explosives dropped from them while they're still in the air.

Drifting

Modular cars are getting a handling overhaul this month, and yes, that includes drifting. Holding Control and braking locks the rear wheels, allowing players to kick the back end out and carry a proper drift through corners.

Steering, suspension, grip, and body roll have all been tuned alongside the new mechanic, with additional work done to reduce unexpected spinouts and allow drifts to be maintained at higher speeds. Rust may not be turning into Forza just yet, but we're getting closer.

Breakaway vehicle armor

Armor on both the Attack Helicopter and Hot Air Balloon can now be stripped away as it takes damage. The Attack Helicopter's left, right, and front armor panels break off individually, removing their collision along with them and opening actual gaps where the pilot and passenger can be shot.

Hot Air Balloon armor works similarly, breaking apart chunk by chunk until only the frame remains. Equipping balloon armor now also requires holding E for three seconds instead of happening instantly, helping prevent a particularly expensive misclick.

Model refreshes

Several older items are looking noticeably better this month. The Salvaged Hammer has received a full visual refresh with a new model, textures, animations, and sounds, while the handheld Flashlight gets refreshed animations and a more intuitive setup where right-click toggles the light instead of the old F-key interaction.

Loot crates have also received a visual overhaul, including refreshed military, basic, and elite crates along with updated destruction pieces. A broader world model cleanup adds proper dropped models for several items including the Car Radio, Chainsaw, Fire Arrows, Bone Arrows, and Heavy Fuses, along with improvements and optimizations to a number of existing models.

Other stuff

Marketplace drone terminals now require stored power generated by the Power Plant before orders can be placed.
A random skin option has been added when crafting skinnable items, randomly selecting from skins you own.
Radioactive water sprinkler traps have been buffed to remain dangerous against players with high radiation protection.
Swamp trees now provide 1,000 wood instead of 300.
Crude oil stored in Dome fuel pumps is capped at 1,000.
Rust+ now supports leaving your team and kicking other team members.
Jukeboxes have deployment snapping for easier placement.
New Clan achievements have been added.
Rentable shop vending machines are refrigerated while the Power Plant is powered.
The Prisoner Hood is now a default blueprint and has been removed from the tech tree.
SMG bodies are slightly more common while rifle bodies are slightly less common.
Big Cat, Hunter's, Pork, Fish, and Chicken Pie buffs have had their durations increased.
Hunter's Pie now provides 90% bleed reduction.
The Launch Site rocket factory ledge has been made taller.
Various weapons, vehicles, deployables, props, and world assets received texture, memory, and performance optimizations.

Fixes

Oil Rig hackable crates now preserve their state and hacking progress through server restarts.
Cargo Ship saves completed loot rounds and remaining crate spawn locations through restarts.
Patrol Helicopter, Bradley, and Satellite Crash crates and debris now save correctly through restarts.
Event crate despawn times have been standardized to 30 minutes.
Oil Rig crate and barrel respawning has been fixed following the new event persistence work.
Several Cargo Ship, Oil Rig, monument, and animal navigation issues have been fixed.
Heavy Scientists should be less likely to get stuck after deployment.
Authorizing friends on turrets and other entities should no longer cause large lag spikes for big teams.
A freeze that could occur the first time deploying or mounting an instrument has been fixed.
Rugs no longer prevent Workbench upgrades from being installed.
Rug and Bear Rug comfort ranges have been corrected.
Boat last-used times now persist properly through server restarts.
Players can no longer loot bodies clipping through submarines while remaining mounted inside.
Long server descriptions no longer push the disconnect button outside the connection window.
Marketplace terminal names should no longer overflow their UI.
Gas Station loot spawners have been fixed after server restarts.
Water Treatment pipe spawning has been cleaned up.
Numerous navmesh, renderer, animation, collision, LOD, UI, memory, and general performance improvements have been made across the game.