Rust November 2026 update: new blueprints, the Uzi and gamepad support
Printed and Polished is out: three blueprint tiers replace scrap on the tech trees, plus the Uzi, gamepad support, 1.6 GB less memory and a ban wave for scripting.
The November update for Rust is called Printed and Polished. It landed on November 5 with the monthly force wipe, and the biggest hit is to progression: workbenches no longer need blueprint fragments, and scrap isn’t spent on the tech trees anymore.
Blueprints replace scrap
Blueprints now come in three tiers: fragments, pages and books. Each one pays for its own tech tree level. You can still research items with scrap at the research table, but Facepunch wants you finding, trading for or befriending your way to the gear you need.
The reasoning makes sense. Basic fragments used to spawn in places a weaker player might never reach, which left the level 2 workbench out of their hands. Fragments now drop from ordinary barrels and boxes, and a blueprint can be upgraded into the next tier. Puzzle rooms and harder content stay the fastest route.
Workbench upgrades changed too. Salvage has a 20% chance not to consume a blueprint, while Prototype gets a flat 25% success rate and loses the cost doubling.
If you only play a couple of evenings a week, this is the headline of the patch. In our piece on how many hours Rust takes we said players like that rarely reach the late wipe. Barrels won’t change that, but a second workbench no longer depends on whether anyone lets you into a monument. Facepunch admits the balance probably won’t be right on the first try and promises to adjust it sooner than last time.
The Uzi and gamepad support
The new Uzi 9mm submachine gun has two modes. With the stock folded it’s automatic and works with shields. Unfold it and you get semi-auto with better accuracy. Hold the fire mode button to switch.
Gamepads now work through Steam Input. Inventory and crafting use a stick cursor by default, with a D-pad option in the settings. It’s a first release, so some features still need a keyboard. Steam Deck owners shouldn’t get excited yet: the patch notes say nothing about Linux or Proton, and as we noted in our Rust review, Facepunch doesn’t support either.
Performance
The studio says outright that the game isn’t where it should be, and it shared numbers from its staging client:
| Metric | Change |
|---|---|
| Memory | about 1.6 GB less |
| Median frame time | −0.54 ms |
| 1% low frame time | −1.17 ms |
| 0.1% low frame time | −2.51 ms |
| Garbage collection | every ~12 minutes instead of ~6 |
In plain terms, a frame at 70 FPS takes about 14.3 ms, so shaving 0.54 ms gets you roughly 73 FPS. That’s a modest gain. The memory figure is more interesting: the in-game counter on our PC reached 17.9 GB, and 1.6 GB is about 9% of that. We haven’t verified these numbers ourselves yet.
The option to turn off volumetric clouds is gone as well. Facepunch says it fixed their performance, so they should now run about as well as the old ones.
Cows and sheep
October’s livestock got easier to live with. Cows no longer die of old age, and starvation just leaves them lying down at 1 HP. Whoever buys a cow or feeds it at their trough becomes its owner. Troughs now show how long the food will last, and a cow can store up to three milk.
There’s also a new stat, Potential. It reflects how happy an animal was growing up and multiplies your rewards. You can pet your animals now, too. Shears, crafted at a level 1 workbench, give more wool and can’t hurt the sheep, and wool goes into a new armor insert with strong cold resistance.
Cheaters and Rust Premium
As the wipe begins, Facepunch is banning users of public and private script providers, over 3,000 accounts in total.
The same post announces Rust Premium, a paid monthly service with exclusive skins and perks that don’t affect gameplay. The studio insists it isn’t a battle pass, with no reward track or gated progression. There’s no price or date yet.
Everything else worth knowing
- Rare scientist boats now patrol around the main island. They stay for up to an hour, attack only geared players and have no map marker.
- The deep sea cycle now starts once the lighthouse is repaired.
- Crocodile Pie scares animals away, sharks and bees included.
- Randomly spawned modular cars start with their engines half filled.
- L and U stairs have mirrored versions, flipped with Shift + R.
- The Nailgun has a new model and animations.
- Softcore now limits each player to six tool cupboards.
- Intel Macs lose support, leaving Apple Silicon only.
The next force wipe should fall on December 3 if the usual schedule holds. And if you don’t own the game yet, it’s 50% off on Steam until November 9. The other windows are in our guide to Rust discounts.
