Rust Weapon Damage: What Kills a Player, and How Fast

Every fight in Rust comes down to one number: a player has 100 health and no armour of their own. Strip them of their clothes and the game has nothing between your bullet and that bar. One pull of a Pump Shotgun up close is more than twice what it takes. An Assault Rifle needs two shots to the body, or a single one to the head, but only if you are standing inside 20 metres. Everything else on this page is about why those numbers change: where you hit, how far away you are, and what is in your magazine.

All of it is worked out from the game's own files: the damage of every bullet, the way each gun scales it, the hit areas and the code that decides when a player dies. It assumes a vanilla server, a target with no clothes, no attachments on the gun and, for shotguns, every pellet landing. Armour changes the picture completely, and gets its own guide.

Which gun kills a naked player fastest?

Damage per shot only tells you half of it. What decides a duel is time: how many shots the target can take, multiplied by the gap your gun needs between two of them. A gun that needs two hits kills in one gap, not two, because the first shot leaves the barrel at zero.

That is why a revolver can keep up with an assault rifle. The Python Revolver hits for 55, so it also drops a player in two, and its 0.15 seconds between shots is only a hair slower than the AK. The M249 is the quickest of all at 0.12 seconds, and it does not even need a headshot to get there. Press the button and watch them race.

Look at the bottom of the chart. The Bolt Action Rifle hits harder than anything here, 80 a shot, and still needs 1.7 seconds to finish a body-shot target, because that is how long working the bolt takes. A bolt is a headshot weapon or a two-shot weapon with a long, nervous pause in the middle. Further up, the SMGs bunch together: the MP5A4 and the Thompson both need three body hits, and only the MP5's faster trigger puts it ahead. The Custom SMG needs four and still matches the SKS, which needs three, because it fires one and a half times as often.

Skins change none of this. The Abyss, Ice, Medieval and Crystal versions of the AK and the Space LR-300 are the same gun with a different coat of paint, down to the last decimal.

Every gun in numbers

Gun	Default ammo	Body	Head	Hits to drop, body / head	Time to drop, body / head
Rifles
Assault Rifle	5.56 Rifle Ammo	50	100	2 / 1	0.13 s / 0 s
LR-300 Assault Rifle	5.56 Rifle Ammo	40	80	3 / 2	0.24 s / 0.12 s
M249	5.56 Rifle Ammo	65	130	2 / 1	0.12 s / 0 s
HMLMG	5.56 Rifle Ammo	57.5	115	2 / 1	0.12 s / 0 s
M39 Rifle	5.56 Rifle Ammo	50	100	2 / 1	0.17 s / 0 s
SKS	5.56 Rifle Ammo	42.5	85	3 / 2	0.3 s / 0.15 s
Semi-Automatic Rifle	5.56 Rifle Ammo	40	80	3 / 2	0.35 s / 0.17 s
M16A2	5.56 Rifle Ammo	35	70	3 / 2	0.2 s / 0.1 s
Minigun	5.56 Rifle Ammo	37.5	75	3 / 2	0.2 s / 0.1 s
Bolt Action Rifle	5.56 Rifle Ammo	80	160	2 / 1	1.7 s / 0 s
L96 Rifle	5.56 Rifle Ammo	80	160	2 / 1	2.6 s / 0 s
SMGs
MP5A4	Pistol Bullet	37.5	75	3 / 2	0.2 s / 0.1 s
Thompson	Pistol Bullet	37.5	75	3 / 2	0.26 s / 0.13 s
Custom SMG	Pistol Bullet	30	60	4 / 2	0.3 s / 0.1 s
Handmade SMG	Pistol Bullet	20	40	5 / 3	0.56 s / 0.28 s
Pistols
Python Revolver	Pistol Bullet	55	110	2 / 1	0.15 s / 0 s
High Caliber Revolver	5.56 Rifle Ammo	65	130	2 / 1	0.7 s / 0 s
M92 Pistol	Pistol Bullet	45	90	3 / 2	0.3 s / 0.15 s
Prototype 17	Pistol Bullet	40	80	3 / 2	0.23 s / 0.11 s
Semi-Automatic Pistol	Pistol Bullet	40	80	3 / 2	0.3 s / 0.15 s
Revolver	Pistol Bullet	35	70	3 / 2	0.35 s / 0.17 s
Nailgun	Nailgun Nails	18	27	6 / 4	0.75 s / 0.45 s
Shotguns
Pump Shotgun	12 Gauge Buckshot	210	262.5	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Krieg Shotgun	12 Gauge Buckshot	210	262.5	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Spas-12 Shotgun	12 Gauge Buckshot	157.5	196.9	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
M4 Shotgun	12 Gauge Buckshot	168	210	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Double Barrel Shotgun	Handmade Shell	180	225	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Blunderbuss	Handmade Shell	180	225	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Waterpipe Shotgun	Handmade Shell	180	225	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Eoka Pistol	Handmade Shell	180	225	1 / 1	0 s / 0 s
Bows and crossbows
Hunting Bow	Wooden Arrow	50	75	2 / 2	reload / reload
Compound Bow	Wooden Arrow	50	75	2 / 2	reload / reload
Crossbow	Wooden Arrow	60	90	2 / 2	reload / reload
Mini Crossbow	Wooden Arrow	50	75	2 / 2	1 s / 1 s
Speargun	Speargun Spear	50	75	2 / 2	reload / reload
Blow Pipe	Wood Dart	50	75	2 / 2	reload / reload

Damage per shot at point blank, every pellet of a shell counted. "Reload" means the magazine runs out before the player drops.

Why does a headshot kill while a body shot only knocks down?

Here is a rule most players feel without ever reading it. When a bullet or an arrow takes the last of someone's health, the game checks where it landed. If it was the head, they die on the spot. Anywhere else, they go down wounded instead, crawling on 7 to 11 health while their friends try to pick them up. One more hit of anything finishes them. The only way to skip the crawl with a body shot is to down the same player twice within a minute: the game will not wound anyone again so soon, and the second time they simply die.

The head also takes more damage in the first place. Every bullet and arrow carries a small table of multipliers by body part, and the numbers are not the same for everything you can fire:

• Bullets: twice the damage on the head, three quarters on the legs and feet.
• Arrows, darts, nails and spears: one and a half times on the head.
• Buckshot: only a quarter more per pellet on the head, because a spread of pellets is not an aimed shot.
• Incendiary shells: no headshot bonus at all.

The chest, the stomach, the arms and even the hands all take plain damage. Pick a gun and see how many hits each part of the body needs.

Can an AK kill with one headshot?

Yes, and it does it with the most precise number in the game. A 5.56 bullet from the AK carries 50 damage, a headshot doubles it, and that makes exactly 100: the whole health bar, with nothing to spare. A player dies when their health reaches zero, not below it, so the shot kills.

The catch is distance. Rifle bullets start losing damage at 20 metres, and the smallest step past that line takes the headshot below 100. From there on, the AK needs two. The same knife edge decides the other guns that sit right on the line: the M39 Rifle keeps its one-shot headshot to 30 metres, and the Python to 26.

A few guns have so much damage to spare that the line never comes. The M249, the High Caliber Revolver, the Bolt Action and the L96 Rifle kill with a headshot at any distance you can see a head, and the HMLMG holds it out to 72 metres. There is also a trick for the AK itself: Incendiary 5.56 Rifle Ammo adds 6 points of heat to every bullet, the headshot becomes 112, and the one-shot range stretches from 20 metres to 62.

How much damage do you lose at range?

Every bullet, pellet and arrow in Rust follows the same shape. It hits with full damage up to a certain distance, then loses a steady amount per metre, and then stops losing at a floor it never drops below. A rifle bullet slides from full damage at 20 metres down to 80 percent at 100 metres and stays there. A Bolt Action round at 400 metres still hits for 64.

Each gun then stretches or squeezes those distances. The Bolt Action pushes the whole curve out by 1.75 times and the L96 doubles it, so their bullets keep full damage to 35 and 40 metres. The LR-300 Assault Rifle and the M39 stretch it by half again. Pistols and homemade guns go the other way: the Revolver squeezes it to four tenths, so its bullets have already started fading at 4 metres. Drag the slider to see five very different guns side by side.

The shotgun line is the one to remember. Buckshot keeps full damage only to 10 metres and then falls to a quarter by 40. On paper a Pump Shotgun still drops a player with one shell at 30 metres, but only if all 14 pellets land, and at that range most of them are already flying past. Inside a base it is the best gun in the game. In an open field it is a disappointment.

One gun breaks the pattern. The Semi-Automatic Pistol is the only weapon with its own floor: instead of the usual 80 percent, its bullets bottom out at 60 percent, falling from 40 damage to 24 between 5 and 45 metres. It is a starter gun, and it fights like one at range.

Close, middle and long range in one view. Most fights happen within the first two.

Which ammo hits harder?

Less often than the names suggest. Most special rounds change how a bullet flies or what it does after it lands, not how hard it hits a person.

5.56: regular, HV, incendiary, explosive

HV 5.56 Rifle Ammo does not hit any harder. It fires the very same bullet as 5.56 Rifle Ammo, just faster: 450 metres per second against 375, a fifth quicker. At range that means less lead on a running target and less drop, which can be the difference between a hit and a miss, but every hit counts the same 50.

Incendiary rounds are the only 5.56 that actually add damage, those 6 points of heat, at the price of a slow bullet: 225 metres per second. The fire they leave on the ground is not counted here. Explosive 5.56 Rifle Ammo is the same 50-damage bullet with a 5-point blast on top, made for doors and walls rather than people, as the raid cost guide shows.

Pistol rounds

The same story repeats for 9 mm. HV Pistol Ammo flies a third faster than a Pistol Bullet, 400 against 300, and hits exactly as hard. The incendiary pistol bullet adds the same 6 points of heat before the gun's own scale, so a Python with fire rounds hits for 61.6 and keeps its one-shot headshot out to 45 metres instead of 26.

Shotgun shells

Shells are where the choice really matters, because each one splits its damage differently:

Total damage of one shell from a Pump Shotgun at point blank, every pellet on target. The lighter bar is a headshot, the dashed line is 100: a whole health bar.

12 Gauge Buckshot is the all-rounder: 14 pellets of 15. Handmade Shell packs 20 smaller pellets for 180 in total, but they lose their punch by 20 metres instead of 40. Incendiary shells carry the least, 150, and get no headshot bonus. The 12 Gauge Slug is the odd one out: a single 80-damage ball that needs two body hits, but a headshot doubles it to 160 and it holds its damage longer.

Can a bow kill in one shot?

Almost never. A Wooden Arrow hits for 50, so a body shot from a Hunting Bow needs two, and the arrow headshot bonus is only one and a half times: 75, not enough. Since every bow holds a single arrow, that second shot always waits for a reload.

There is one exception, and it rewards patience. The Compound Bow gets stronger the longer you hold it drawn. Stand still with the string pulled for 3 seconds and both its damage and its range double: 100 to the body, enough to drop a player, and 150 to the head. Moving while you hold it drains the bonus, so the shot belongs to someone waiting behind a rock, not to someone running.

The Crossbow sits in between: it scales arrows by 1.2 for 60 damage and stretches their range by half. The Mini Crossbow trades range for a four-bolt magazine, the only crossbow that can put two arrows into a target without stopping to reload.