Next forced wipe: Thursday 5 November 2026, 19:00 UK time (GMT).
Rust's forced wipe happens on the first Thursday of every month, at 19:00 UK time (2 pm Eastern). It comes with the monthly update, and every official, community and modded server is wiped at the same time. Sources: low.ms 2026 wipe schedule, GhostCap.
Below: the dates, the time in your region, what actually gets reset, and how community wipe cycles work.
Upcoming forced wipe dates
| Month | Forced wipe date | UK time |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Thursday 5 November | 19:00 GMT |
| December 2026 | Thursday 3 December | 19:00 GMT |
| January 2027 | Thursday 7 January | 19:00 GMT |
| February 2027 | Thursday 4 February | 19:00 GMT |
| March 2027 | Thursday 4 March | 19:00 GMT |
These dates follow the first-Thursday rule. Updates are occasionally delayed, and very rarely there is an extra wipe after a large patch. If a date moves, we update this page.
Forced wipe time in your region (November 2026 to March 2027)
The UK is on GMT from 25 October 2026 and the US is on standard time from 1 November 2026, so all five wipes above fall at the same local times:
| Region | Local time on wipe day |
|---|---|
| UK, Ireland, Portugal (GMT) | 19:00 Thursday |
| Central Europe: Germany, France, Poland, Hungary (CET) | 20:00 Thursday |
| Eastern Europe: Finland, Romania, Greece (EET) | 21:00 Thursday |
| US East (EST) | 14:00 Thursday |
| US Central (CST) | 13:00 Thursday |
| US West (PST) | 11:00 Thursday |
| Brazil, São Paulo (BRT) | 16:00 Thursday |
| Australia, Sydney and Melbourne (AEDT) | 06:00 Friday |
| Australia, Perth (AWST) | 03:00 Friday |
Servers usually take a few minutes after the update to come back up. Bigger networks often restart in a staggered order, so the browser fills up over the first half hour.
What a forced wipe resets
- The map, always. The monthly update changes the game version, so every server starts on a fresh map. All bases, deployables, loot and items are gone.
- Blueprints, only sometimes. Your learned blueprints carry over unless the update forces a blueprint reset (this is announced ahead) or the server owner chooses to wipe blueprints. Many servers list "BP wipe" or "no BP wipe" in their name or description.
- Your Steam items stay. Skins and DLC are on your Steam account, not on the server.
Community wipe cycles explained
Outside the forced wipe, each server owner picks a schedule. You can filter by it in the server browser with the weekly, biweekly and monthly tags.
| Cycle | Map lasts | Who it suits | What to expect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly | 7 days (usually Thursday to Thursday) | Players with limited time, solos and duos | Fast progression; the server is busiest days 1 to 3 |
| Biweekly | 14 days, plus the forced wipe | Players who want a proper base and a few raids | A middle ground; quieter in week 2 |
| Monthly | Until the next forced wipe | Groups and players who play most days | Big bases, long fights, slower start |
Some servers also run "twice a week" wipes, often Monday and Thursday. Most community servers wipe on Thursday, so Thursday evening is the busiest time of the week for picking a new server.
The Rust population curve around wipe day
We looked at SteamCharts daily peak player counts for Rust across the forced wipes of 2026 (SteamCharts). The pattern is consistent:
- Two days before the forced wipe, peaks were 22–32% below a normal day. Nobody wants to invest in a map that's about to disappear.
- On forced-wipe Thursday, peaks averaged about 28% above normal. Day on day, the jump was as large as 85%: on 2 September 2026 the peak was about 80,000, on 3 September about 148,000.
- The surge lasts about four days, Thursday to Sunday, and is gone by Monday.
- In normal weeks, Wednesday is the quietest day and Saturday the busiest.
For players, that means the best time to join a fresh server is Thursday evening or Friday, when every server is new. For server owners, it means the fight for players happens in the first hours, and the fight to keep them happens on day 3 and 4.
Rust servers with rewards
Some community servers run SpawnBoost offers, on wipe day or any other day: press Start, play on the server, reach a simple goal like "Play 90 minutes and place a Tool Cupboard", and get a cash reward from the server's campaign budget once the goal is verified. Joining is free, and you can leave whenever you want. You confirm you're 18 or older before you press Start, and payouts need an identity check.
See Rust offers · How rewards work
Running a server?
Wipe day is when players choose where to spend the next week or month. Our wipe-day checklist for server owners covers everything from the T−2 map vote to the day-3 retention push. If your server needs a busier start, or a lift mid-wipe, a pay-per-goal campaign brings real, verified players on the dates you choose, and you pay only for goals they complete.