For many players, the first day of a cleanup is the best Rust experience they can dive into.
No need to worry about chad clan players wielding rifles. Just a bunch of low level players killing each other without thinking.
In these situations, many new players find it best to run inland and try to pick up a base. They may be successful, but by the time they’ve turned the walls to stone and the doors to metal, all the other players will be wandering around with powerful weapons.
To stay safe in these types of situations, a thorough knowledge of the best early game weapons is mandatory.
I’ll go through these weapons and give you tips on how best to use them and how hard they are to get!
This list only includes weapons that are unlocked by default, no blueprints required!
Damage is based on chest hits, arm/leg damage is reduced by 20%, and headshot damage is doubled.
10) rocks
crafting materials: 10 stone
Damage: 10
Range: 1.25m
By far the worst weapon in the game, but if you’re literally just starting out, you have no choice.
Also, you will be surprised how lucky you can be when attacking someone randomly.
Bare rock fights on the beach are one of Rust’s most prominent features, particularly early in a cleanup.
Getting used to the rock’s low melee range can mean a lot when it comes to mastering the early stages of a cleanup, as you’re the one progressing to the later stages.
9) Bone Club
crafting materials: 20 bone fragments
Damage: 12
Range: 1.5 meters
If there is a severe lack of floor resources, creating a Bone Club is a great idea to start with. It doubles as a melee sap and a tool for obtaining stone and wood.
Low crafting material requirements allow you to craft a Bone Club as soon as you find or kill a naked enemy player.
It will serve you well until you can craft a better weapon or tool, which is further down this list.
8) Stone ax
crafting materials: 200 Wood and 50 Stone
Damage: fifteen
Range: 1.5m
Stone Hatchet is the first tool you should build when you get some stone as it will be used to collect wood to build a base.
It will also deter naked gamers. Various rock-wielding maniacs can pose a real threat at this stage of your adventure, but luckily, the Stone Hatchet’s fast attack speed offers a high amount of damage.
Even if you’ve obtained a ranged weapon, having this tool close at hand can be a lifesaver in close-quarters engagements.
7) bone knife
crafting materials: 30 Bone Fragments
Damage: 17
Range: 1.5m
One of the most useful and readily available melee weapons in the entire game, Bone Knives are great for chopping up dead animals (and humans) for their resources.
Despite the fact that its model is clearly shorter than other melee weapons, the bone knife has the same melee attack range.
Decent damage and super fast attack range add up to one of the best early weapons you can get your hands on.
6) Cutlass
crafting materials: 100 wood shards and 40 metal shards
Damage: 35
Range: 1.5m
We’ve all had those beginnings where you find plenty of barrels to farm but not enough stone to craft a tool. Recycle earned components to get enough resources to craft a Machete to master early melee power.
It can also be used to harvest wood, although it harvests half as much as a stone axe.
The 35 damage is huge right off the bat, allowing you to fire off two-shot barrels, gather resources from meat faster, and take on just about anyone else in melee fights!
5) nail gun
crafting materials: 75 Metal Fragments and 15 Scrap
Damage: 18
Range: Short
Fast-firing short-range weapon to dominate early melee fights, easily obtained by recycling some components and acquiring a level 1 workbench.
Shooting nails that cost 8 metal shards per 5 shots, it’s best to bring while doing recycling runs, as you really don’t want to waste too many nails shooting at enemies that throw spears or carry ranged weapons.
While the Nail Gun is awesome in niche situations, the high price (for the early game) and Workbench requirement mean it’s not as good as other options.
4) Crossbow
crafting materials: 200 Wood, 75 Metal Fragments and 2 Ropes
Damage: 60
Range: Medium
My personal favorite weapon in the entire game. Having played over a thousand hours as a solo player, I can say that Crossbow is absolutely amazing.
However, it requires a level 1 workbench to craft, as well as a rope. Fabric is in short supply early on and rope is largely recycled, so that’s a tradeoff to consider.
With that being said, you should aim to craft a crossbow as soon as you can. Just two headshots will take down even mid-gear players for easy gear sets.
3) Hunting Bow
crafting materials: 200 Wood and 50 Cloth
Damage: fifty
Range: Short
Bow fights are common after a cleanup and players need to find only 4 piles of wood and 2 hemp plants to create one. Either that or recycle a few barrels of components.
It’s definitely a good weapon that has its uses until the middle of the game, but you need experience to get the most out of it, as the drop rate of arrows is quite high.
I would recommend jumping to 5x servers that spawn you a bow as standard. You can also connect to modded training servers as they usually have primitive practice battles with bows. 🙂
2) Eoka Gun
crafting materials: 75 wood shards and 30 metal shards
Damage: 180
Range: Short
Honestly, the Eoka gun is what sets Rust apart from any other survival game out there. It can cut through literally any armor in the entire game and is very cheap to make.
I’ve personally acquired many of the best weapons in the game by taking out an Eoka and carefully hunting down aimed targets.
The Eoka misses firing after 12 attempts more than half the time, but for every 9 kills, you get that sweet epic kill you’ve been looking for.
1) wooden spear
crafting materials: 300 Wood
Damage: 25
Range: 2.2m
Don’t just craft one, fill your hotbar with spears. Seeing an enemy dare to approach within a few meters of his presence, I unleashed a volley of unholy javelins on them.
Save the spear to push them down as they try to run to safety.
Throwing spears is worth practicing as they can be a huge advantage early in the game. Camping bases, recyclers, and monument tickets are easy loot!