You enter the world of Rust stumbling and untested, like a baby deer, clad in nothing but a pair of underpants and no weapon but your trusty fists. You leave the world of Rust clad in a full suit of metal armor and a pocket full of explosives.
The journey to metal armor is a strange one, with a mix of coffee-can helmets and kilts. Here are some of the best armor pieces in the game and when you should think about acquiring them.
Updated on 21 May 2021 by Harry Alston: Rust is now available on Xbox and a whole new wave of players are about to embark on week-long adventures in the irradiated chaos of Rust. To match the new players arriving in Rust, this list has been updated with more information about the best armor pieces in Rust, how to craft them, and what to use them for.
Armor is essential in Rust. No matter how friendly you think someone is, there's always a chance they're just waiting to beat you down and take all your loot.
10 Wood Armor And Wolf Headdress - Early Game Picks
The early game of Rust is all about surviving by any means necessary. Wood armor is the first step in bulking up, easily acquired by cutting down trees. It protects against early damage very well, especially from rudimentary weapons like Spears and Maces. Watch out, as Wooden Armor is vulnerable to fire.
Wooden Armor is crafted with:
- 300 Wood and One Rope for the Chestplate
- 200 Wood and One Rope for the Wood Armor Pants
- 15 Cloth and 200 Wood for the Wood Armor Helmet
Wooden Armor provides these resistances:
- 40% resistance against melee damage
- 10% resistance against ranged damage
- 5% resistance against blast damage
- 5% resistance to bite damage
It's a good idea to mix and match the Wooden Armor with a Wolf Headress. Not only is the Wolf Headdress a badass-looking accessory, but it also offers protection against ranged damage, melee damage, and even a tiny, tiny bit of radiation (somehow).
You'll need to take down some wolves first, but that shouldn't be too hard with a bow or even a hatchet. A Wooden Helmet works fine for starters, as it has a decent level of protection against arrow damage.
9 Coffee Can Helmet - Mid Game Protection
The Coffee Can Helmet is inexpensive, effective, and one of the best armor pieces in Rust. It offers better protection against bullets than the Wolf Headdress or Wooden Armor, and you'll inevitably begin to see more bullets. It also offers better protection than either the Bucket Helmet or Riot Helmet — the two other mid-game helmets. This is the most common helmet you'll see players wearing in the mid-game, a few days into a server wipe.
If you can look past the ridiculousness of the helmet, it's recommended you craft one as soon as you have access to Cloth and Metal Fragments. A sewing kit is needed to tie it all together, even though the helmet is made of metal, and the last we heard you can't sew metal.
A Coffee Can Helmet is crafted with:
- 15 Cloth
- 60 Metal Fragments
- One Sewing Kit
The helmet has these resistances:
- 5% protection against Radiation (not much, but every little bit helps when it comes to exploring irradiated monuments)
- 50% protection against melee damage
- 35% protection against bullets
- 8% protection against animal attacks
- 8% blast protection
8 Road Sign Kilt - Looks Shoddy, But Good Mid-tier Armor
As the in-game tooltip reads, the Road Sign Kilt is a "shoddy piece of leg armor" which perfectly sums it up, honestly. There's a bit of a debate as to which armor is better — the Bone Armor or the Road Sign Kilt — but in terms of sheer protection, it's this metallic kilt that does the job. When worn, it activates a cold debuff, so it's recommended you put on some pants underneath to keep your character warm.
The Road Sign Kilt is crafted with:
- 20 Leather
- One Road Sign
- One Sewing Kit
The Road Sign Kilt has these resistances:
- 20% protection against projectile damage
- 25% resistance against melee damage
- 10% resistance to bite damage
- 8% cold penalty
There are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to the Road Sign Kilt. The Bone Leg Armor is another suitable piece of gear to get, and while wearing the Bone armor you won't suffer a cold penalty. You may also want to save some of your leather — if you're running low on the resource — for the powerful Metal Facemask.
7 Road Sign Jacket - Heavy Armor For The Mid-game
The Road Sign Kilt and Jacket combination is a fashion statement and also considered one of the best mid-game armor combinations available in Rust. Yes, they do make you chilly, so chuck on a shirt and pants underneath.
The Jacket requires many of the same materials as the Kilt:
- Leather
- One Road Sign
- Three Sewing Kits (Sewing Kits, by the way, have a chance to spawn in a Sunken Chest, Sunken Crates, Barrels, or dropped by the new Tunnel Dwellers NPCs.)
- A Tier Two workbench
Much like the Road Sign Kilt, wearing the Road Sign Jacket does come with a cold penalty, whereas the alternative, the Bone Armor set, does not — something to keep in mind when planning out your armor set.
The Road Sign Jacket has these resistances:
- 25% protection against melee damage
- 20% protection against bullets
- 10% protection against animal attacks
6 Metal Facemask - Late Game Face Armor
The Metal Facemask is a terrifying piece of kit, likely to appear toward the end of the wipe. Usually paired with the Metal Chestplate and the Road Sign Kilt, this is the most protective headwear in Rust except for the situation-specific Plate Helmet. It offers the greatest protection against bullets than any other head armor in the game.
It's also a lot more expensive than its counterparts, requiring :
- 50 leather
- 15 High-Quality Metal
- Six sewing kits
The Metal Facemask offers these resistances:
- 70% protection against melee damage
- A decent 50% against ranged damage
- The Metal armor set does have a small cold penalty of 5%, although this is quite low and not something that should concern you all that much
The Metal Facemask also has some of the coolest skins available in the game, like the cheeky Big Grin and the camouflaged Army Facemask.
5 Metal Chest Plate - Heavy Armor, Good Protection Against Ranged Damage
The Metal Chest Plate is one of the best armor pieces in Rust, beaten in protection only by the Heavy Plate Armor. The design of the armor means it offers a lot of protection from the front and back, although the sides are open to the elements (and bullets).
It decreases cold resistance by 8, which is pretty significant, so it's best worn with a hoodie underneath. The chest plate requires 50 leather, 25 High-Quality Metal, and eight sewing kits to craft, and it takes about a minute to make. High-Quality metal is not required for that many items in Rust, so you'll likely have a stockpile. It's a good idea to begin collecting sewing kits, though.
There is a chance to find the Metal Chest Plate in these loot spots:
- Inside a Locked Crate at the Oil Rig Monument
- A Locked Crate
- Elite Tier Crate
- Helicopter Crate
- Dropped by a Heavy Scientist NPC
The Metal Chest Plate provides these resistances:
- 25% protection against bullets
- 20% protection against melee damage
- 3% protection against animal bites
- Comes with an 8% cold penalty
4 Heavy Plate Jacket - Heavy, Heavy Protection But Severe Movement Penalties
The Heavy Plate armor set offers very high protection, but the armor pieces reduce mobility by 40%. A player also can't wear any other chest or hand armor while the Plate Jacket is equipped. This means it's no use in the field, as you're basically a sitting duck. It is, however, awesome to chuck on if you're holding off raiders in your base.
You also can't aim down your sights, and it also comes with a cold penalty of 17%. If you do want to have a Heavy Plate Jacket ready at your base, then you'll need:
- Three Sheet Metal
- Eight High-Quality Metal
- Three Rope
- It can only be crafted with a Tier Two Workbench or higher
The Heavy Plate Jacket has these resistances:
- 70% reduction of melee damage
- 75% protection against ranged damage
- 12% protection against explosive damage
- 12% protection against animal bites
3 Heavy Plate Helmet - Lots Of Protection But You Can't See Much
The Heavy Plate Helmet is like the Coffee Can Helmet's big brother. It's two pieces of metal with a pot welded to the top. This piece of armor reduces movement by 40% and restricts vision to a thin rectangular slit in the middle of the screen. It also has some of arguably the best skins in Rust.
That being said, it's definitely the top choice for base defense. With the right healing technique, you can survive six shots to the head from a rifle. Not bad, not bad.
Here's what you need to crat the Plate Helmet:
- Two Sheet Metal
- Five High-Quality Metal.
The Heavy Plate Helmet has these resistances:
- 80% protection against melee damage.
- 90% protection against ranged damage (that's a lot!)
- 8% protection against blast damage
- 13% protection against animal attacks
However, the armor does come with a 17% cold penalty.
2 Heavy Plate Pants - Useful In Specific Situations
These heavy pants will make you hotter, colder, and move much slower. As such, they're only recommended for the most intense, close-quarter gunfights. You can craft them with Sheet Metal and High-Quality metal, or loot them from Locked Crates, Military Crates, and other high-tier areas.
When paired with the Plate Helmet and Armor, you won't be able to move very far. That being said, the player's movement penalty maxes out at 40%, so one piece of armor gets you to the max. The movement penalty doesn't stack. You'll also get hot or cold very quickly, so it's not recommended to keep the full set on for a long time.
You craft Heavy Plate Pants at a Tier Two Workbench with:
- Two Sheet Metal
- Four High-Quality Metal
- Two Rope
The Plate Pants have these resistances:
- 70% protection against melee damage
- 75% protection against ranged damage
- 12% protection against animal attacks
- 12% blast protection
- 7% protection against radiation
1 Hazmat Suit - Radiation Protection, but Hi-Vis
The rad suit is an essential item in Rust as it allows you to explore and roam freely across the irradiated landscape. However, the suit is also bright yellow and doesn't offer much protection. You're a target when wearing one, even if other players just want to get their hands on your suit.
It can be found at some loot locations, although it's rare, and the best option is to craft a suit with the following items:
- Two Tarps
- Sewing Kits
- Eight High-Quality Metal
Players can research the blueprint for a Hazmat suit with 125 scrap, and it will require a Tier Two Workbench to craft. Once crafted, you'll be able to go pretty much anywhere you want, except the Power Plant and the Factory at the Launch Site monument, which still has too much radiation in certain areas.