Rust is one of those survival games that has a massive learning curve. Once you know how to do anything, it pretty much becomes second nature to you. You also have to spend a considerable amount of time playing the game because you have to grind material just to make a decent base.
The weapons in the game are another story though because there are soo many to get. There are a total of 18 guns currently in the game and each time you get a new one, you can unlock the blueprint to make it again.
The best thing for you to do is stock up on materials so you can defend yourself. Here are all the guns currently in the game.
Related: If you want to take Rust everywhere you go, then consider looking at this Rust notebook on Amazon here. Also, if you are interested in reading about the Monuments in Rust, then check out this article here.
Eoka Pistol
Crafting Materials:
- 75 Wood
- 30 Metal Fragments
It is a very basic pistol that can fire only one shotgun round at a time. The rounds it can fire are Handmade Shells, 12 Gauge Buckshot, 12 Gauge Incendiary Shells, and 12 Gauge Slugs. It is generally considered to be the worst ranged weapon in the game, due to its unreliable firing mechanic. The Hunting Bow will outperform this pistol in most situations. However, the pistol, with whatever ammo is extremely devastating at close range.
It is actually a fairly good raiding tool for beginners if you have the right amount of ammo. By firing 45 Homemade Shells at a wooden door will knock it down and allow you to loot some small bases. It only has a single-fire mode and is not a very good choice for firefights. It is fired by striking a hole on top of the pistol with a piece of flint which takes a random number of attempts, usually 2-3 attempts.
M92 Pistol
Crafting Materials:
- Cannot be crafted
It is a ranged weapon that fires Pistol Bullets. It has a high rate of fire and deals more damage than the Semi-Automatic Pistol. It can be obtained from Airdrops, Attack Helicopters, and Scientist Boxes, or it can be purchased from Bandit Camps for 250 Scrap. There is not much to say about this pistol other than that it is very good against other players and NPCs, but when it is destroyed, you have to go find another one somewhere else again. It is not a reliable gun to use all the time.
Python Revolver
Crafting Materials:
- 3 Metal Pipes
- 1 Metal Spring
- 10 High-Quality Metal
It is a long-ranged weapon that fires Pistol Bullets. It deals more damage than the M92 Pistol and the Semi-Automatic Pistol but has a higher recoil with only six shots. It can do a lot of damage if you hit someone in the head especially if they lack any armor. This is a perfect weapon for long-ranged warfare because you can put longer-ranged scopes on it, perfect for getting those satisfying headshots. It does take 125 Scrap to research so make sure if you get one of these weapons to research it so you can craft it whenever you want to.
Revolver
Crafting Materials:
- 1 Metal Pipe
- 25 Cloth
- 125 Metal Fragments
It is a ranged weapon that fires Pistol bullets and holds 8 rounds while loaded. While crude in design, the Revolver can do a low amount of damage. Unlike most guns, it does not require High-Quality Metal to craft and is, therefore, a simple weapon.
It is cheap requiring only metal fragments instead of high-quality metal and simple, holding 8 shots compared to the Eoka Pistol and Waterpipe Shotgun’s single shot. This pistol is going to be the most reliable in the beginning because it is really easy to craft compared to the other guns. It also shoots all kinds of pistol ammo.
Semi-Automatic Pistol
Crafting Materials:
- 1 Semi-Automatic Body
- 4 High-Quality Metal
- 1 Metal Pipe
It is a ranged weapon in Rust, in between the Revolver and the Thompson and the counterpart to the P250 in Legacy. It has a fast rate of fire, slower than the Thompson but faster than the Revolver. It can do a decent amount of damage to unarmored players. If you can get your hands on one of these pistols, then you will be set for sidearms for the rest of the game.
These paired with HV or Incendiary bullets will destroy anyone in your path. This is the best pistol in the game so make sure you research it when you get it. It does take a Level 2 Workbench to make so take your time and use other weapons in the time being.
Double Barrel Shotgun
Crafting Materials:
- 150 Metal Fragments
- 1 Metal Pipe
It is a shotgun that can fire two rounds with a widespread before needing a reload. Each individual shot does roughly the same amount of damage as one round fired from a water pipe shotgun, however, the ability to fire two rounds consecutively before being able to switch from two water pipes, allows for more damage per second, making the double-barrel shotgun an all-around more effective weapon than two water pipe shotguns.
The double-barrel shotgun has a wider spread than that of a water pipe shotgun, requiring closer quarters to be effective. It can take any shotgun ammunition. This shotgun is the most common shotgun in the game and is really helpful if you can find one early on. It is probably the easiest way to protect yourself in close-quarters and will be beneficial in raiding early on as well. Make sure you research it so you can make it again.
Pump Shotgun
Crafting Materials:
- 15 High-Quality Metal
- 2 Metal Pipe
- 1 Metal Spring
It is a high-end ranged weapon that fires 12 Gauge Buckshot shells as well as 12 Gauge Slugs. Additionally, the shotgun can be reloaded with Handmade Shells. Due to its large bullet spread, it makes it incapable of hitting targets effectively at medium or long-range. Anything at close range, however, can be easily taken down in one or two shots.
This makes the Pump Shotgun effective against hostile animals, and anything else that needs to get close in order to do damage to you. Also, getting a headshot with the gun is usually a one-hit kill so get good at aiming.
Waterpipe Shotgun
Crafting Materials:
- 200 Wood
- 100 Metal Fragments
It is a single-fire ranged weapon. Like all the Shotgun weapons, it uses all 4 ammo types: Handmade Shell, 12 Gauge Buckshot, 12 Gauge Slug, and 12 Gauge Incendiary ammunition. It is very powerful and fires a large barrage of pellets, capable of one-shotting at close range. In the early game, the Waterpipe Shotgun is a very capable weapon, as it is cheap, and delivers high damage at close range, making it great for indoor fights.
You can also find this gun basically anywhere you go and it also is very helpful if you don’t have any other weapons to use or you don’t want to destroy a good one. If you get one, use it as much as you can because you can just easily make another. It is also very easy to use for any new player who just picked up the game.
Custom SMG
Crafting Materials:
- 8 High-Quality Metal
- 1 SMG Body
- 1 Metal Spring
It is a submachine gun, which holds 24 bullets, and has a fast rate of fire (faster than the Thompson). It also has a huge bullet drop and deals slightly less damage than the Thompson. As stated in Rust Devblog 59, the Custom SMG was intended to “bridge the gap” between the relentless power of the Thompson and the improvised Revolver. The Custom SMG is an improvised-looking weapon, as it looks like it was put together from scrap metal and common materials.
The SMG is a quite fast-firing gun; however, its accuracy is its downfall. The SMG inflicts a decent 5-15 damage per shot, inflicts Bleeding, and uses pistol bullets as ammo. Make sure you are closer to the enemy when using this because it loses damage the farther you shoot it. Almost treat it like a shotgun that can shoot a little farther.
MP5A4
Crafting Materials:
- 15 High-Quality Metal
- 1 SMG Body
- 2 Metal Springs
It is a submachine gun that shoots Pistol Bullets and holds 30 rounds of ammunition. While the Thompson has higher damage, the MP5A4 has higher accuracy, range, and ammo capacity. This makes it a more versatile weapon / suitable to more situations, and closing the gap between the assault rifles and the submachine guns. This is the most reliable SMG in the game and is probably the easiest to handle.
It is the only military-grade weapon in the game that can be crafted using a workbench. If you find one of these in-game, make sure you research it because you will need it in the future when raiding or fighting enemies. Also, remember that every bullet you shoot out of any weapon damages the weapon very slightly so you always want to be very careful with how many bullets you use and the gun’s durability because you probably don’t want your gun breaking mid-fight.
Thompson
Crafting Materials:
- 10 High-Quality Metal
- 100 Wood
- 1 SMG Body
- 1 Metal Spring
It is a submachine gun that shoots Pistol Bullets and holds 20 rounds of ammunition. The Thompson was the fastest firing gun in the game, until the Custom SMG was added, which has a higher fire rate. The gun suffers from a shabby accuracy. Compared to the MP5A4, the Thompson has higher damage, and its lower recoil makes it easier to control, but the Thompson has lower range and accuracy, making it more suitable to close-ranged encounters.
This is a great SMG for early game, but you are going to want something better later on. Try putting scopes and attachments on to make it a better gun in general. The more upgrades mean the easier it will be to defeat someone else. It is pretty hard to craft so the easiest thing to do is raid someone else to find one and then research it. Make the corresponding workbench and then use the stolen materials to craft another.
Assault Rifle
Crafting Materials:
- 50 High-Quality Metal
- 200 Wood
- 1 Rifle Body
- 4 Metal Springs
It is a high powered automatic rifle. Together with the Bolt Action Rifle, it’s a high-tier firearm capable of firing powerful rounds at long range, at the cost of high recoil and being a scarce find with expensive ingredients to craft it, almost more expensive than the Bolt Action Rifle. This weapon is probably one of the best weapons in the entire game and that is without the attachments. If you find one of these, you are very lucky.
The stock of the weapon is actually the handle of a shovel; this is likely a parody of the many uses of an AK because they have been rumored to have been used in the field for as many things as frying eggs or digging holes. It might also be a reference to the famous gallery demonstrating a person making a fully functional AK out of a shovel.
Bolt Action Rifle
Crafting Materials:
- 20 High-Quality Metal
- 1 Rifle Body
- 3 Metal Pipes
- 1 Metal Spring
It is a high powered, accurate rifle. It is a high-end gun capable of accurate shots from long distances and is commonly regarded as the standard sniper rifle of Rust. The Bolt Action Rifle holds 4 rounds of 5.56 Rifle Ammo at a time and has a very high damage output. It is very rare to find and expensive to craft. When coupled with a 4x Zoom Scope, the Bolt Action Rifle can make an extremely effective long-ranged weapon. The only downside to this weapon is that you need a Workbench level 3 to actually craft it. It is the same with the Assault Rifle as well.
LR-300 Assault Rifle
Crafting Materials:
- Cannot be crafted
It is an automatic ranged weapon that can fire all 5.56 Rifle Ammo variants. It is an experimental weapon in that it has lower recoil and higher spread, as opposed to the Assault Rifle which has high recoil and low spread. There is not much to say about this weapon other than that you should be very careful with how much you use it because you can’t craft it at all. The only way to get it is if you obtain it from Crates, Bradley APC, Airdrops, Bandit Camp and Attack Helicopters. It is a great weapon though, not gonna lie.
Semi-Automatic Rifle
Crafting Materials:
- 450 Metal Fragments
- 1 Semi-Automatic Body
- 1 Metal Spring
- 4 High-Quality Metal
It is a semi-automatic rifle with high damage and good distance. It can easily take an enemy out with a couple of shots to the head and it can be upgraded with attachments. It is not easy to make but also not too hard so it is perfect for those who can’t afford the top-notch stuff, but don’t want to use the base weapons. Make sure you are careful how you use it though because the durability is very low on it. There is not much to say about this weapon other than if you find it, use it.
M249
Crafting Materials:
- Cannot be crafted
It is a high damage, high rate of fire, belt-fed light machinegun. It is arguably one of the best weapons in the game and can be obtained from looting the crash site of an Attack Helicopter, or from the Bradley APC. The M249 has an extremely large magazine size, which allows for excellent defense capability in the event that you don’t have time to reload, though do bear in mind that the M249 takes the longest time to reload out of all of the guns.
A single magazine holds 100 bullets, and the rate of fire of the M249 is comparable to that of an Assault Rifle. The M249 also suffers from high recoil, so it must be fired in short bursts for the best accuracy. If you are lucky enough to find this weapon, then try to use this as your main weapon. You are able to repair this gun if you so desire as of one of the newer patches in the game.
Rocket Launcher
Crafting Materials:
- 50 High-Quality Metal
- 6 Metal Pipes
It is a weapon found in Rust. It fires a Rocket as ammo. The Rocket Launcher is a highly effective weapon against players, animals, and buildings, although the weapon and ammo are expensive to craft. The Rocket Launcher is arguably the best, or one of the best weapons in Rust, as even an indirect hit will still cause massive damage. This is balanced by the relatively slow reload speed and rocket velocity. A Rocket Launcher can fire 66 rockets before breaking.
This weapon is the best thing to use besides C4 to raid a well-guarded base. Yes, the rockets are expensive, but if you can successfully raid a base, you could get all your material back and more. It can also shoot pretty far as well. If there is someone coming after you, then shoot your rocket to scare them off. This weapon can be used for basically anything.
Flame Thrower
Crafting Materials:
- 15 High-Quality Metal
- 100 Low-Grade Fuel
- 2 Empty Propane Tanks
- 6 Metal Pipes
It is a ranged weapon that shoots out intense flames. It uses Low-Grade Fuel as ammunition and it is the first weapon in Rust that specializes only in Fire/Heat damage. It is chambered in fuel canisters of 100 Low-Grade Fuel, and it takes around 10 – 15 seconds of constant fire before the canister is emptied. You usually see these weapons used in raiding wooden bases, but not much else.
It is highly effective against wooden and twig buildings and makes an impressive weapon for self-defense against hostile animals, although loot drops from an animal killed in this manner will be reduced, presumably because they have been burned. However, it is very ineffective against stone, metal, and armored buildings. The range is short, so it is not very common to see in PvP situations.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are a lot of weapons to choose from in Rust. If you like one gun and I said it is not that good, everyone has there own opinions and you can use any gun you like. If you are going to get into Rust at any point, just remember that you will only be playing Rust because you will be soo afraid of other people trying to steal your stuff. Try to make your base far away from a large base because you will most likely find your base destroyed the next time you log on. Make sure you keep yourself protected and have the right weapons to defend yourself.
All images are taken from the Fandom Wiki.