Surface RUST: What’s Coming in May’s RUST Patch
May’s RUST update is looking less like a single-feature patch and more like a pile of small problems waiting to become everyone’s new favorite arguments.
At the top of the list are Workbench Upgrades, a new set of bench-mounted effects that can change how players craft, tech tree, defend their benches, stretch crafting range, refund resources, and potentially squeeze bonus items out of batch crafting. Some of these are simple quality-of-life additions. Others, especially Prototype, Efficiency, Salvage, and Reinforced, seem likely to have real consequences for progression, raiding, and base design.
And yes, before anyone starts pacing around the moonpool, Deep Sea loot is getting hit. PT Boat and RHIB loot are being reduced, initial Deep Sea loot is being trimmed, and respawn behavior is being capped. It probably won’t make the Deep Sea irrelevant, but it does look like the days of printing guns out of the ocean may be getting a little less generous.
Beyond that, May is also bringing a new Mortar weapon, throwable-loaded Tin Can Alarm traps, Computer Station power requirements, vending machine interface updates, barrel reskinning, new achievements, Binocular improvements, possible Crypt DLC, and a handful of fixes aimed at smoothing out some of the rougher edges from recent additions.
As always, everything here is based on what we’ve spotted so far from staging, commits, and pre-release testing. Some details may shift before the update goes live, but for now, here’s what appears to be coming in the RUST May 2026 update.
Workbench Upgrades
The largest new ‘system’ of content coming in May is what we’re calling the Workbench Augmentation System. We say augmentation because they’re far more than upgrades; some of these items drastically change how you’ll think about and use your workbench. Each individual upgrade is listed below.
Modes of Acquisition
- Crafting: Not currently craftable
- Loot Sources: Currently shows up on the large brown, green military, and elite crate loot tables, as well as in locked crates.
- Research: Cannot be learned via Research Tables.
- Purchase: Cannot be bought in-game from NPC vendors. May be purchased from applicable player shops.
- Console Access: Spawnable via F1 console on servers with appropriate permissions.
Usage & Functionality
Workbench Augmentations are individual, solitary effects that cannot be stacked within the workbench itself, i.e., only one of each at any time. They were added as optional features to improve craft time, increase base comfort, or potentially reduce crafting costs, all while enhancing base appearance and vibe.
With appropriate Tool Cupboard privilege, or, in some cases, without a TC, players may hold the E key while looking at any workbench and select the Open option. You may then insert those of your choice. Each type is described in greater detail below.
- Accelerated – Cumulative Effect. When crafting a Bundle, IE Stack of something, for instance Explosives, each item crafted after the first has its crafting speed increased by 25%, capping at seemingly 75%. For example, crafting explosives in 100 stacks after 4 explosives has a static 1-second craft time per item for the remaining 96 crafts.
- Comfort – Increases the comfort of all players within proximity of the Workbenches reach to 100%.
- Defensive – Any item that can be crafted with an armor slot will have 1 by default, meaning its use with a Crafting Quality tea makes it very hard not to get perfect maximum slotting results.
- Efficiency – Items that aren’t Rockets or Timed Explosive Charges have a 10% chance to create an additional item when crafted in stacks. Back to our prior example, 100 explosives crafted as a stack yielded 14 bonus Explosives for no additional cost.
- Prototype – Allows players to directly learn any item in the available tech tree without traversing the rest of the tech tree. Twice the Scrap cost of the base research cost. 25% chance of failure, resulting in the consumption of the used Scrap without learning. May be attempted as many times as you like.
- Range – Doubles the base range of the workbench aura so that crafting may be started or continued at twice the original distance.
- Recycle Bin – Every craft has a chance to receive a 10% refund of its ingredient cost. Out of 100 Explosives, we were refunded 214 Gun Powder, 53 Metal Fragments, 51 Sulfur, and 48 Low Grade Fuel.
- Reinforced – Increases the maximum health of the workbench by 150% and grants 50% damage reduction to the workbench from explosive sources. This converts the Tier 1, Engineering, and Tier 2 workbenches from 500 health to 1250 (minus the difference, which will heal over time), and the Tier 3 from 750 to 1875. A Rocket against a Tier 3 by default deals 138 damage, but with this augment, it deals 69 damage.
- Salvage – All tech tree unlocks performed at this workbench will have their cost reduced by 20%. Yes, this impacts the double cost associated with the Prototype Workbench Upgrade.
- Surplus – Still a Work in Progress, unknown if this will be released with the May update.
Nighttime Duration Fix
Good news, you weren’t imagining it. Nighttime was noticeably shorter than expected and is being adjusted slightly to bring it back to about 10 minutes. Some noticed that night waning to dawn, or day waning to dusk, seemed to drag on forever. This should be addressed with the patch.
New Mortar Weapon
The Mortar is a deployable siege and PvP-type weapon, primarily used as a stationary assault implement for breaking down other player-deployed structures and defenses or simple crowd control. The damage outputs weren’t quite set in stone on the Staging Server yet, so we couldn’t see what kind of realistic raid damage it would do, but it seems to kill fellow players just fine. Comes with two new ammunition types, the default Mortar for raiding and the Fragmentation Mortar for crowd control.
Tin Can Alarm Traps
Tin Can Alarms are getting a simple inventory slot option, accessible by holding the E key and selecting Open. Once you’ve set up the alarm the way you want it, you may insert any of the following item types inside.
If any player, yourself included, would trip the alarm, the attached item will drop to the ground and do what it’d do had you thrown it. The alarm may be destroyed in the process if something like a grenade deals it damage.
- Beancan Grenade
- Bee Grenade
- F1 Grenade
- Firecrackers String
- Flare
- Flashbang
- Molotov Cocktail
- Smoke Grenade
- Supply Signal
Computer Station Power Requirement
Computer Stations, both the default skin and the spiced-up Twitch Rivals Desk, now require 5 power in order to operate. At the moment, they can’t be mounted at all when not powered, as a big No Power overlay pops up.
Vending Machine Beautification
In ongoing work on the interface, options, and aesthetics, the vending machine backend has been updated to make adding orders faster, with recommended items. Just a reminder that the images we show here are still a week out from Live and may alter considerably before then. The new assets shown include skin, ammo, genetics, and durability.
Barrels Reskinnable
After a few community requests, DLC barrels can now inter-skin to one another, so long as they are the same type. Tall Barrels can become other variants, including wide barrels. You must still have the alternate DLC skin to spray-can your existing version onto it.
Deep Sea Loot Nerf
Let’s rip the band-aid off. Here’s what we know so far. PT Boat and RHIB loot reduced (i.e., fewer guns). On top of that, the initial loot that spawns upon Deep Sea opening was reduced by 15%. Respawning caps out at 30% extra beyond what would be considered a full fill.
Floating City Boat Component Vendor
As an amendment to them, add stationary boat-building platforms to every island. In May, there will also be a vendor in the Floating City that can sell you emergency boat-building implements to get you back out of the Deep Sea. For a price, of course.
Crypt DLC
Allegedly, there will be a new stone DLC released in May called the Crypt Skin. It isn’t really all that much to look at, and is very close to both the jungle and brutalist skins if they were combined.
New RUST Achievements
To bring them more in line with the effectiveness of their mining counterpart, players will no longer need to play the X chopping game while using a Chainsaw in order to maximize efficiency. This makes chopping Wood at night much more effective.
- Dude, Where’s My Boat? – hidden achievement
- Hostile Waters – be the one to hack a locked crate on a ghost ship
- Need More Fibre – eat 10 coconuts
- New Horizons – enter the deep sea
- Oceans Are Now Battlefields – hit another floating vessel with a cannonball
- Safe Harbor – reach a floating city
- Shipshape – build a player boat
- Stolen Good – kill a player on a PT boat
- Swim with the Fishes – hidden achievement
- Treasure Ahoy! – loot 5 containers while on deep sea islands
Social Menu Improvement
When you press escape in-game, a button pops up at the bottom right called Social, and it shows you your friends list. This was apparently causing significant lag and other issues for players with an unusually large friend list, and steps have been taken to greatly reduce these stutters and problems. If you didn’t have friends to begin with, this might not mean much to you.
Harvesting & Cloning Deep Sea Fix
A bug that prevented harvesting or cloning crops while on player-made boats and in the Deep Sea has been fixed. Huzzah!
Binocular Model & View Update
The Binocular world model has been updated, and the viewable interface has had a few additions that make it a much nicer experience overall. They also fixed the middle-mouse-wheel ping feature (if that’s what you have it bound to) so you can use binoculars to mark things for your teammates to see.
Skinnable… Electric Furnaces?
Not much to show here, as there aren’t any skins available for this yet. But yeah, it’s looking like it will be a thing.
Salvaged Cleaver Model Update
The trusty Salvaged Cleaver has received a minor model update, now a much happier shade of blue overall and higher quality.
Gear, Weapons & Loadout Updates
We went over most of what’s above, so we will provide additional information below, along with the standard item description as it appears in-game. Some of them still say Placeholder, but should be in by Thursday.
New Items
| Item Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Accelerated Workbench Upgrade | “Crafting speed increases by 25% for each item already completed in the same batch.” |
| Comfort Workbench Upgrade | “Provides a 100% comfort zone around the workbench for those long crafting sessions.” |
| Defensive Workbench Upgrade | “Armor of clothing compatible with insert slots will roll an additional slot when crafted using this upgrade.” Side amendment: this can’t cause items limited to a number of slots to exceed their previous limit. Those limited to 1 will have a maximum of 1, and those limited to 3 can have 3. |
| Efficiency Workbench Upgrade | “10% chance to produce a free bonus item when crafting in batches. Does not apply to rockets or C4.” Bonus item in this context simply means what you were originally crafting. |
| Prototype Workbench Upgrade | “Allows unlocking any tech tree item regardless of progression. Cost is doubled and there is a 25% chance of failure that still consumes resources.” |
| Range Workbench Upgrade | “Doubles the workbench crafting radius, letting you craft from twice as far away.” |
| Recycle Bin Workbench Upgrade | “Crafting at a workbench with this upgrade has a chance to refund up to 10% of the ingredient costs back to you in raw material form.” |
| Reinforced Workbench Upgrade | “Increases the workbench’s max HP by 150% and grants explosive damage resistance.” |
| Salvage Workbench Upgrade | “Reduces the scrap cost of all tech tree unlocks at this bench by 20%.” |
| Surplus Workbench Upgrade | “20% chance to produce a random surplus part (1-8) when crafting. Surplus parts are used in special alternate recipes.” |
| Mortar | “The Mortar fires an arcing trajectory and favors volume over precision. Pairs well with binoculars.” |
| Fragmentation Mortar Shell | “A fragmentation mortar shell, dealing lethal damage in a large area of impact.” |
| Mortar Shell | “A high explosive mortal shell that deals minor structural damage on impact.” |
What’s Next?
The RUST 2026 Roadmap continues to deliver pretty much what to anticipate, with a few detours here and there. Among our favorites are Animal Additions, new work on Bridges, the Game Room DLC, and the Apartment Complex monument. As with all topics we cover, these subjects are highly subject to change at Facepunch’s whim, and we will endeavor to keep the information as current as possible.
