12:00am EST - April’s update brings a mix of new gameplay systems and meaningful quality-of-life upgrades. With armored ladder hatches, a new water-powered electricity source, and a full console overhaul, there’s a lot packed into this one.

The update is expected at normal time (2pm EST / 7pm BST). Our update stream goes live at 1pm EST. Follow @Rustafied for news throughout the day.

Armored Ladder Hatch

A long-requested upgrade is finally landing with the addition of the armored ladder hatch. This new top-tier variant brings armored door-level durability to vertical access points, giving players a much stronger option for securing their bases. Both square and triangle versions are included, and it sits firmly in the Tier 3 progression.

This fills a major gap in base design. Ladder hatches have always been one of the weaker points in otherwise strong builds, and this finally brings them in line with the rest of the armored tier. It’s a simple addition on paper, but a big upgrade for base defense and overall build quality.

Water Wheel Power Generation

A new power source is arriving with the introduction of the water wheel, offering an alternative to solar panels and wind turbines. Designed to be placed in moving water and the size of 1 foundation, it generates power passively from rivers, but players can also jump on and manually run the wheel to significantly boost output to 100%. It only works in flowing river water, meaning placement and location matter.

This adds a more interactive layer to electricity setups. Manual use drains calories and hydration, meaning there’s a real tradeoff for the extra power, especially in the early game. Between river placement, water flow requirements, and active input, this ends up being a much more hands-on and situational power option compared to existing setups.

Cost
500 Wood
2 Gears
1 Sheet Metal

Craft time
30s

Workbench
Level 1 required

Console UI Overhaul

A major overhaul of Rust’s console is landing this update, bringing a much more modern and usable interface for both players and admins. The new system also includes favorites, history tracking, loadout saving, along with a full command list UI with search, filtering, and improved autocomplete, making it far easier to discover and run commands without needing to memorize them.

Usability has been heavily improved across the board. Commands can now be browsed, clicked, and copied directly from the interface, with tooltips, default values, and clearer descriptions helping explain what everything does. Autocomplete has been reworked to behave more intuitively, with proper keyboard navigation, better suggestions, and cleaner input handling. Individual entries can now be copied directly, making it much easier to grab specific logs or outputs.

On top of that, the console itself has seen a full visual and functional pass. Logs are now color-coded with clearer separation between user input, errors, and system messages, and repeated errors are grouped together instead of flooding the console. A new error display replaces the old wall of red text with something much easier to read, while improvements to scrolling, layout, and performance make the entire system feel significantly more responsive.

Overall, this is a huge quality of life upgrade, especially for admins and power users who rely on the console regularly.

Easter 2026 Event & DLC

Rust’s Easter event is returning with a fresh batch of themed content, and it looks like this year’s drop will include a small DLC alongside the usual seasonal event. The highlight appears to be a new bunny suit, which has seen extensive work across models, materials, cloth physics, and multiple variants. Crafting the bunny suit will randomly roll one of several variations.

Alongside that, a collection of Easter-themed wallpapers and decorative items are being added, including floor and wall variants with updated textures, icons, and store assets. The Rustige egg is also getting new versions and polish, with updated models, animations, and materials, suggesting a more refined set of collectibles this time around.

As usual, the core egg hunt gameplay is returning with some additional polish and fixes, including improvements to spawning, loot handling, and overall event stability. Between the new cosmetics, updated items, and continued iteration on the event itself, this year’s Easter looks to be a more complete and content-heavy version of the seasonal drop.

Tech Tree Improvements

The tech tree is getting a solid quality-of-life upgrade this update, with the addition of multi-unlock functionality. Players can now select and unlock entire paths in one go, with the UI clearly previewing the route and showing the total scrap cost before confirming.

The system has seen a lot of iteration to make it feel smooth and reliable. Unlock paths are now highlighted, nodes unlock in a clean top-to-bottom sequence, and the process is paced with updated animations and sound feedback. There are also safeguards in place to prevent misclicks or interruptions while unlocking, keeping everything consistent.

On top of that, the tech tree UI itself has been cleaned up with better layout, centered navigation, and clearer category organization across weapons, attire, construction, and utility. Overall, this makes progression feel much faster and more intuitive, especially when working through larger sections of the tree.

Gameplay Improvements

A handful of smaller gameplay improvements are landing this update, with a focus on smoothing out common interactions and systems.

Shields now have a smaller hitbox when not aiming down sights, making passive use less effective
Chainsaw now always gathers at the sweet spot, removing the need to aim for the X and making wood farming more consistent
Overfishing system added — repeatedly fishing the same area will reduce yields and eventually return junk items, encouraging players to move around
Cargo ship can now destroy player boats, with a warning system in place
Hot air balloons now include an altimeter, giving players better control over flight height
Various smaller improvements to deployable placement, interactions, and general gameplay flow
Notification handling has been cleaned up for more consistent feedback across different scenarios

Gameplay & System Changes

A number of underlying systems are being refined this update, bringing improvements to how the game handles interactions, feedback, and overall flow. The notification system has been reworked with more consistent world event messaging, better sound and toast controls, and cleaner handling across different gameplay scenarios.

On the backend, several systems have been tightened up to reduce inconsistencies. Deployables and IO interactions have seen validation improvements, helping prevent edge case issues with placement, behavior, and state syncing. Loadout handling has also been improved, making it more reliable in cases where presets are missing or partially configured.

These changes aren’t as flashy as new content, but they go a long way in making the game feel more consistent and predictable, especially in larger bases or more complex setups.

Performance Improvements

This update brings a continued push on performance and backend optimization, with a strong focus on networking and large-scale scenarios. Improvements to how network updates are processed and grouped should help reduce overhead, especially on higher population servers or in areas with lots of entities.

Additional optimizations target terrain systems, world positioning, and general data handling, helping improve stability and reduce spikes in certain situations. There’s also ongoing work to reduce unnecessary allocations and clean up legacy systems, which should contribute to smoother overall performance on both the client and server side.

While much of this work happens behind the scenes, it should result in a more stable experience overall, particularly in busy environments or during large fights.

Fixes

This update includes a wide range of fixes across gameplay, UI, rendering, AI, and backend systems.

Fixed terrain clipping and margin issues when using geoclip terrain
Fixed missing ocean topology around certain rivers
Fixed water rendering issues, including cases where water could disappear
Fixed projectile effects sometimes spawning under the map
Fixed deployable inconsistencies (HP, repair costs, pickup behavior, variant mismatches)
Fixed items incorrectly changing variants when picked up
Fixed reactive targets being picked up while building blocked
Fixed multiple lighting, fog, and sky rendering issues
Fixed LOD validation issues causing rendering inconsistencies
Fixed UI issues with search bars, input fields, and text rendering
Fixed vending machine UI errors and layout problems
Fixed admin UI issues including player list scrolling and missing data
Fixed network profiling inaccuracies and packet tracking issues
Fixed AI/navmesh issues causing animals and NPCs to get stuck or behave incorrectly
Fixed navigation issues on moving platforms
Fixed sound occlusion and missing audio triggers
Fixed looping or incorrect audio behavior on certain deployables
Fixed safe zone issues with loot bags and interaction restrictions
Fixed incorrect messaging related to corpses and player remains
Fixed door knocker placement guides being incorrect
Fixed combat knife rotation issues on weapon racks
Fixed multiple NullReferenceExceptions across terrain, UI, and gameplay systems
Fixed asset loading and bootstrap sequence issues causing missing data or delays
Fixed deep sea notification and sleeping bag UI issues

Other Changes

Colored button system expanded with more options and improved consistency
Electric Furnace is now skinnable
Loadout system improvements, including better handling when no presets exist
Clan name colors now correctly display on map tags
Improved gameplay notifications with better sound and toast configuration
Server browser filtering and command handling improvements
Continued animation polish across player rigs, mounts, and item interactions
Ongoing audio system improvements, including expanded ambient and streaming support
Additional industrial and deployable validation to catch inconsistencies
Continued work on terrain generation and sampling systems
Improvements to world position generation and overall performance stability
Patrol helicopter behavior improvements, including more accurate collision handling for gibs
Expanded unit testing and automated test coverage across systems
General code cleanup and refactoring across multiple systems
Continued Unity engine upgrade work in progress