Rust is a survival game set on an island with a strong inclination on bloodthirsty PvP. The game makes use of voice chat in the best way possible, and you are most likely to enjoy the game at its best using voice chat.
The game starts with you alone and naked on the world’s most bizarre island. You start quietly, and you get submerged in the quietness of the game with the sound of grass crunching beneath your feet as there is no narrator or announcer.
One of the deadliest environmental factors in the game is Radiation. You must be very careful around it because if you do not pay attention, then you’re going to go through the phase of constantly respawning over and over with no weapons or resources.
Even though there is no possible way to escape death in Rust, but you can postpone it by a lot, especially when it comes to reducing the effect of Radiation.
Avoiding Radiation
The first and the most important rule is to be extremely cautious of your surroundings. In the future, as you progress in the game, you will want to visit some monuments or Rad Towns to gather useful loot. This loot is essential to prolong your survival and ensure your safety.
This thing with these places, though, is that you cannot stay in them for a long time. The longer you stay in these areas, the more Radiation you come across. Small hits of radiated debuffs do not threaten your life, but they can quickly stack up at a few places and reduce your health.
Now there are a lot of ways to deal with Radiation in Rust. Let us look at the ones that are easiest to use.
Water
Always have water on you wherever you go. The more water you have with you, the better off you will be. Water is the most essential to be able to survive in this game. It keeps you from getting dehydrated, restores your health over time if you take damage, and reduces radiation poisoning slightly. Keep a water jug with you. Be smart and try to find it early in the game, as it is one of the best water collectors in the game.
Do note that water is not a completely reliable way to fend off high amounts of Radiation that prove to be very dangerous. It is only useful in situations that are not highly life-threatening emergencies as it only takes away -5 rads.
Medical Syringes
Keep some medical syringes handy. They should be your go-to healing item, especially in combat, since they can heal most types of damages in the game. They are very good at reducing Radiation if you have a few to spare because they bring the radiation effect down by -10 rads. They are quite rare or uncommon. So, you might not want to use them when exploring Rad Towns.
In the case you were already taking a lot of damage from Radiation, then using the syringes might be smart as they instantly heal you up to +15 health and restore it by +25 over time. With the radiation reduction added by using the syringes, it can buy you a lot of time to explore more of the areas infested with Radiation.
In short, the syringes can be used smartly, either to get you to safety or buy you more time to do some intensive looting.
Special Teas
Brew special teas to reduce the effect of radiation poisoning. You can make various types of teas by using a mixing table. There are two teas of separate types and are ordered in the increasing levels of effectiveness that help you stay healthy.
Rad Removal Tea: It is the least useful type of tea. The basic version reduces the effect of radiation poisoning by -6 rads. The advanced version reduces it by -8 rads, and the pure version reduces it by -10 rads. In short, it is the same as water.
Anti-rad Tea: It is the better type of tea. Although radiation poisoning is not removed by this tea, it certainly does boost your ability to tolerate it. The basic version provides you +5 rad damage resistance and +50% rad exposure resistance. The advanced type only focuses and boosts rad damage resistance by +15%, and the pure version gives you +25% rad damage resistance and +50% rad exposure resistance.
The teas that give you exposure tolerance last about 5 minutes, while the damaged ones last 30 minutes. This is probably one of the best ways to protect yourself from Radiation early in the game, as you only need red and green berries to make these teas.
Hazmat Suit
You can either craft or find a hazmat suit in the game. This is useful when you want to explore irradiated areas for a long time. It is rarely found in loot crates, so crafting it would be better as you will need five pieces of a tarp, two sewing kits, and eight quality metals if you have a workbench that is level 2.
Hazmat suit provides you 50% radiation resistance. It is also useful to protect you against melee damage. If you do not have access to a Hazmat Suit then a Wetsuit or Surgeon Scrubs can also give you some sort of protection against Radiation but with lesser radiation resistance.
Anti-radiation Pills
You can quickly reduce Radiation with pills. They instantly bring down the radiation effect by -25 rads. So, make sure to use them when you are already inside a radiation area and not take them before. These pills will also dehydrate you by -10, as you do not need to wash the pills down with water.
You can acquire these pills from a shopkeeper in The Bandit Camp if you have enough scrap to be able to trade. These pills are so great for spots that are heavily irradiated that even a Hazmat Suit cannot protect you completely from, like the Launch Site monument.
Conclusion
In the end, it is suggested that you stay away from Radiation as long as you do not have the necessary means to survive in heavily irradiated areas.