Rust Wipe Schedule: How to Pick One That Fills Your Server

In Rust, wipe day is your best recruiting day. Players are hunting for a fresh server where everyone starts from zero, and that's exactly when they compare servers.

The problem? Plenty of admins pick their wipe schedule at random, or change it every month. Players never know when to come back. Here's how to pick a schedule that fits your server, and stick to it.

Quick refresher: how Rust wipes work

A wipe resets the server. There are two kinds:

• Map wipe: the map, bases and loot are gone. Players keep the blueprints they've learned.
• BP wipe: on top of the map, every blueprint is erased. Everyone has to research again. This is the true fresh start.

Then there's the force wipe. Every month, Facepunch ships the Rust update on the first Thursday of the month, usually around 7 p.m. UK time. That update forces a map wipe on every PC server, official and community alike. There's no way around it: without the update, players can't connect.

Worth knowing: the force wipe doesn't automatically erase blueprints. A forced BP wipe only happens when Facepunch announces one, usually alongside a big update. And Rust Console Edition runs on its own schedule, separate from PC.

Between force wipes, you're the one in charge.

The most common wipe schedules

There's no "best" schedule. There's the one that fits your players.

How to pick yours

Ask yourself these four questions.

1. Who are your players?

Players with only a couple of hours a night won't keep up with a weekly wipe. They'll get raided before their base is even finished. On the flip side, PvP players who live for the first days of a wipe get bored fast on a monthly server.

2. What are your rates?

The higher your gather rates, the faster players progress, and the more often you need to wipe. On a 10x, everyone is geared up within four days and the server empties out. On vanilla, a weekly wipe cuts progression short.

3. What's your group limit?

Solo/duo servers stay balanced longer. With no group limit, a big clan can take over the map fast, and more frequent wipes give everyone a fresh shot.

4. What time zone do your players live in?

Line your wipe up with when your community actually plays. A 2 p.m. weekday wipe is a wipe half your players will miss.

Day and time: where it all happens

Lots of servers wipe on Thursday to stay in sync with the force wipe. Others go for Friday to catch weekend players. Both work. What matters more:

• Pick a time when your players are online. Evenings in your players' time zone are usually the safe bet.
• Don't move it every week. A fixed time becomes a habit, and players show up without thinking.
• Wipe when you said you would. An hour late means players drift off to another server.

Announce your wipe everywhere

A great schedule is useless if nobody knows about it.

• In your server name. Many servers include their schedule, like "Weekly" or "Bi-Weekly". Players see it right in the server list.
• On Discord. A dedicated announcements channel, a reminder the day before and another an hour before, plus a role people can opt into for pings.
• In your description. Spell out your map wipe and BP wipe schedule clearly.
• On server directories. That's exactly where players go looking for a server that's about to wipe.

On TOPSPAWN, you can also post your wipe as an event with its date and time, so it shows up in the players' calendar.

Mistakes that empty a server

• Changing your schedule all the time. Players stop knowing when to come back.
• Announcing the wipe at the last minute. Players have already picked another server.
• BP wiping too often. Redoing all your research every week wears people out.
• Opening with broken plugins. After Facepunch's update, some Oxide or Carbon plugins stop working until their authors update them. Open with a broken shop or kit and you'll lose players within the hour.

Force wipe day checklist

1. Prepare your new map (seed and size) ahead of time.
2. Wait for Facepunch's update to drop, then update your server.
3. Update Oxide or Carbon and your plugins.
4. Test it yourself: connecting, kits, shop, commands.
5. Open up, then announce it on Discord.

Better to open 20 minutes late with a working server than on time with a broken one.

Get your Rust server seen

A good wipe schedule brings players in, but they still need to find you. On TOPSPAWN, players filter Rust servers by type (Vanilla, Modded, Solo/Duo, PvE…), map and language. You can add your server for free, and it shows up in the rankings once approved.

FAQ

Can you skip the Rust force wipe?

No. Every PC server has to install Facepunch's monthly update, and it forces a map wipe.

Does the force wipe reset blueprints?

Not automatically. It resets the map. Blueprints are only reset when Facepunch announces it, or when you run a BP wipe yourself.

What time is the Rust force wipe?

On the first Thursday of the month, when Facepunch ships the update, usually around 7 p.m. UK time (2 p.m. Eastern). The exact time can shift a little.

Weekly or monthly: which brings in more players?

It depends on your audience and your rates. Weekly attracts PvP players who love fresh starts, monthly attracts builders. The worst choice is a schedule that keeps changing.

Sources: GameSpot — Rust force wipe schedule explained · Double Eleven — Rust Console Edition FAQ