Survival¶
A warm room and a spare set of tools have rescued more of my evenings than a fine rifle. This chapter is for keeping yourself in working order, and for getting back when that fails.
Death and recovery¶
If you are ghosted, stay connected. Logging out gives up the recovery. Your health display is a countdown, not a wound to treat.
| What happened | What to do |
|---|---|
| You woke as a ghost | Return to your own active gravestone within the five-minute ghost window. Look at it and use E to pray. |
| Prayer succeeds while ghosted | Your original belongings and health return. You receive 30 seconds of protection; hostile attacks end it early. |
| The ghost countdown expires | You return weak, with retained belongings and five minutes of reduced healing. A living prayer can still recover part of what remains at the grave. |
You deliberately use /giveup, or disconnect while ghosted |
All unresolved active graves are abandoned and their holdings scatter into the world. |
| Death occurred under legal-PvP rules | Rust's ordinary corpse, backpack and respawn flow applies. There is no ghost recovery. |
A ghost has its own shroud and torch. It cannot fight, gather, loot, craft, build, mount, move supplies or put on a recovery kit. Travel straight to the grave; your ordinary belongings remain in custody until the recovery resolves. Ghost travel protects against damage and harmful metabolism.
Graves last fifteen minutes, and you can have three active graves. A fourth displaces the oldest. Expired or abandoned holdings scatter rather than waiting safely forever. A living prayer heals toward 70% health and returns 75% of the unresolved grave items, scattering the rest. These are different outcomes from successful ghost prayer.
A nearby sleeping bag can help with the return, but it does not guarantee your ghost's starting point. Graveyards provide the other ordinary arrival points. I keep my bag somewhere I can recognize without a compass lecture.
Warmth, comfort and exposure¶
Hold a lit torch when you need its warmth. A torch stowed in a pack cannot supply the same warmth. Skull and diving torches have their own uses; supported lanterns, lamps and torch holders can make a home more comfortable.
| Source | Use | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Torch | Hold it active and lit | Warmth and comfort |
| Cultist Deer Torch | Hold it active and lit | Warmth and comfort |
| Abyss Torch | Hold it active and lit | Warmth and comfort |
| Fuel lanterns | Lit; stay nearby | Warmth and comfort |
| Jack-o’-lanterns | Lit; stay nearby | Warmth and comfort |
| Decorative lanterns | Lit; stay nearby | Warmth and comfort |
| Torch holders | Lit; stay nearby | Warmth and comfort |
| Burning hobo barrels | Lit; stay nearby | Drying alongside the barrel’s ordinary warmth |
Stay within reach of the source and give warmth time to build. Burning hobo barrels dry you off as well. Wet clothes and cold water can make the short walk between two warm places surprisingly difficult.
Some natural woodpiles have an ignite prompt. Use it to make a fueled campfire for cooking and a stop along the way. Check the ground around it before settling down; firelight attracts an audience.
Wounds and movement¶
Low health, bleeding, exposure and grave-sickness need different responses. Stop continuing damage before judging whether a treatment helped. A hard fall can leave a temporary limp after the health loss; recovering health does not immediately restore your running speed.
Quikclot stops bleeding and provides a short clotting window. It does not replace a full heal or a revive. Keep the item's actual name in view when packing medicines that share an ordinary syringe shape.
Food, medicine and effects¶
Food supports work and recovery, while particular meals can warm you, improve a dive or attract company. Use /fx to inspect active effects and their remaining time. Read the item entry and recipe before taking a second serving.
Elixirs, special mushrooms and Lemmon 714 Pills have different rules. Lemmon can cause falls and eventual sleep, leaving you on whatever ground you chose. Its come-down clears eligible stew effects and ordinary mushroom/cactus trips; special mushroom effects keep their own behavior. I prefer to find a chair before testing a new theory about relaxation.
Fire and weather¶
Fire spreads through vegetation and can threaten buildings. Move out of its path before trying to save supplies. Rain, fresh water, buckets, hoses and sprinklers can help extinguish exposed fire. A dry brush corridor is a poor retreat.
Ordinary startup radiation zones are suppressed, with Missile Silo radiation preserved. Radioactive liquids and specialist exposures still harm you. A quiet Geiger counter in one place says little about the next.
Water¶
Before diving, check air, clothing, light and the way back aboard. Compatible diving arrangements let a backpack and tank share an outfit; other clothing still needs room. A Diver's Flare burns underwater. Scavenging covers the search itself, and Fishing covers rods and bait.
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Around home¶
Home & Workshop covers farming, compost, repairs and household equipment. For experimental preparations, use the Chemistry Lab. Rules & Help explains sharing and consensual fights.
Continue to Improvised repairsContinue to FarmingContinue to Dropped fertilizer and seedsContinue to CompostingContinue to Chicken care and automationContinue to Automation extensionsContinue to Chemistry LabContinue to What can go into an experimentContinue to Read, record and repeatContinue to Consensual feuds