The Rust Halloween 2026 event is live now and runs until November 5, 2026, according to Facepunch’s Halloween 2026 post. It switched on with the mandatory update on October 22. Three things matter: the Candy Hunt, the Frankenstein pet you build from scarecrow and mummy parts, and the rift portals that lead into scarecrow dungeons.
Below: how each part works, what to do first, the Twitch drops still running and this year’s store items with prices. This guide covers Rust on PC (Steam); Rust Console Edition gets its own updates on a separate schedule. Checked October 24, 2026, 04:10 UTC.
Table of Contents
Quick answer: Rust Halloween 2026 at a glance
- Dates: live since the October 22 update. Facepunch says it “will run until November 5th.”
- Candy Hunt: starts about once every two in-game days. You get 3 minutes to grab candy. The top 3 players get loot bags.
- Loot ladder: 10 candy make a Small Loot Bag, 10 Small make a Medium, 10 Medium make a Large. Facepunch says the loot goes “from scrap, all the way up to an M249.”
- Pet monster: kill scarecrows and mummies for a head, torso and legs. Put them on a Frankenstein table. Control the pet with P.
- Rifts: portals open at random spots on the map and lead to small dungeons with scarecrows and crates.
- Twitch drops: five general drops until November 1, 23:59 UTC. Watch any Rust stream with drops enabled.
- Discord: Nitro subscribers can claim a Zombie Wumpus Plush with Discord Orbs from October 22 to November 5.
When does the Rust Halloween event end?
Facepunch’s post gives November 5, 2026 as the end date. That’s the first Thursday of November, the day Rust’s monthly forced wipe usually lands. Past events ended the same way: the 2024 event ran until November 7, and Rustafied reported the 2025 event lasting until that year’s November 6 wipe. So you have about 12 days left. Anything you build or loot will go with the wipe anyway, so spend the candy and bags before then.
| What | Date (UTC) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Halloween update and event start | October 22, 17:00 | Facepunch (Oct 1 devblog), Steam post Oct 22 |
| Twitch Rivals Base Invaders (one-day Spooky Backpack drop) | October 23, 18:00 (over) | Facepunch |
| General Twitch drops end | November 1, 23:59 | twitch.facepunch.com |
| Discord Zombie Wumpus Plush | October 22 to November 5 | Facepunch |
| Halloween event ends | November 5 | Facepunch |
What to do first
- Craft a Frankenstein table early. In past events it was a default blueprint costing 200 metal fragments at a Level 1 workbench, according to Rustafied. Check the crafting menu, since costs can change.
- Hunt the scarecrows and mummies roaming the map. They drop the body parts for your pet, and some drop a Wooden Stake or Dracula Cape.
- Stay outside when the Candy Hunt music starts. Even if you don’t place, every candy counts toward the next loot bag.
- Save candy in tens. Don’t eat it unless you’re starving. Ten pieces make a bag.
- Enter a rift with a full kit and a teammate. Dungeons are tight, and the scarecrows inside hit hard.
- Link Twitch and Steam at twitch.facepunch.com if you want the free drops.
A cleared scarecrow in one of the Halloween 2026 rift dungeons, from Facepunch's event post. Image: Facepunch Studios
How the Rust Candy Hunt works
About once every two in-game days, the Candy Hunt begins. RustHelp says spooky music announces it. You then have 3 minutes to pick up as much candy as you can. When time runs out, the top 3 collectors get special loot bags. RustHelp’s event page lists the split as 3 Medium Loot Bags for first place, 1 Medium for second and 1 Small for third. That’s from earlier events, so treat it as a guide, not a promise.
Two items help:
- Pumpkin Basket: “collect candy much faster during Trick or Treat events with left click,” says the official Rust wiki. Right click throws candy. It can come out of the small loot bags.
- Scarecrow Wrap: according to RustHelp, wearing it shows you one extra candy that other players can’t see.
Loose candy is food too. The wiki lists +25 calories and +1 healing over time per piece, and it stacks to 1,000.
Rust Halloween loot bag upgrades
You don’t have to win the hunt. Every item in the chain upgrades once you have 10 of it, according to the item descriptions on the official wiki:
| You have | Upgrade to | What’s inside (reported in past events) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Halloween Candy | 1 Small Loot Bag | Basic resources, candy, bows, Halloween items like the Pumpkin Basket or Scarecrow Wrap |
| 10 Small Loot Bags | 1 Medium Loot Bag | Bigger resource stacks, mid-tier guns and tools such as a revolver, double barrel or chainsaw |
| 10 Medium Loot Bags | 1 Large Loot Bag | “The best halloween loot,” up to an M249 and rockets |
One warning from the wiki: bags and candy despawn 5 minutes after you drop them. Don’t leave them on the ground during a fight.
How to make a Frankenstein pet in Rust
Facepunch’s instructions are short: “slay the scarecrows and mummies that roam the lands,” collect a head, torso and legs, craft a Frankenstein’s table and place the parts in it. Then wake your monster.
- Get three parts. Scarecrows and mummies drop Light, Medium and Heavy heads, torsos and legs. Rustafied’s 2025 guide says the parts are interchangeable, so you can mix light legs with a heavy torso.
- Craft and place the table. Rustafied says it needs no power.
- Wake it. Put the parts in, then hold E on the table and choose “Wake Frankenstein.”
- Give orders. Hold P while looking at the pet to open the command wheel. If P is already bound, Facepunch suggests the console command
bind X +petsor the in-game controls menu.
Waking a Frankenstein pet at the table once the head, torso and legs are in. Image: Facepunch Studios
Light, medium or heavy: which pet to build
| Type | Strength | Weakness | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light | Fast | Low health | Following you on roams |
| Medium | Balanced | Nothing stands out | A first pet, or mixing parts |
| Heavy | Most health | Very slow | Guarding a base or soaking damage |
The commands are Idle, Follow, Guard (attacks anything that attacks you), Assist (attacks what you attack), Combat (both, and defends itself), Move and Destroy. You can only have one pet at a time. Rustafied also notes pets travel at most 100 metres and show on your map.
Scarecrows and mummies: what they drop
These Halloween NPCs chase you with chainsaws, sickles, machetes and beancan grenades. Rustafied counted about 40 on a default map in 2025, each with 200 HP. Besides pet parts, they carry Halloween gear:
- Wooden Stake: Facepunch says it can “release the soul of undead creatures with a single strike” and yields extra loot from them. Found on the corpses of the undead.
- Dracula Cape: “a robustly thick outer garment,” also found on undead corpses.
- Scarecrow and Mummy suits: the wiki lists 10% melee, 30% bite, 15% radiation and 80% cold protection. That makes them warm, but weak in a gunfight.
The Dracula Mask is different. Facepunch says it gives early-game head protection and needs 10 cloth to craft, once you own it from the store.
Rust rift portals: what’s inside the Halloween dungeons
Facepunch’s lore says cultists, or a Cobalt experiment code-named R.U.I.N., opened portals across the island. In practice, rifts spawn at random spots and stay open for a while before they collapse. RustHelp describes them as blue glowing doors. Step through and you land in a small underground dungeon full of scarecrows and loot crates. Leave through the portal you came in by.
Rustafied logged its dungeon runs in past years. It found 2 to 5 scarecrows per dungeon, guarding a mix of normal and military crates. Military crates make a rift worth the risk early in a wipe. Bring meds, a solid melee or shotgun for close quarters and a light. On modded or community servers, the number of portals may differ: server owners set it with the halloweendungeon.population convar.
A haunted manor from Facepunch's Halloween 2026 announcement, whose store items include a Manor Ceiling wallpaper. Image: Facepunch Studios
Rust Halloween 2026 Twitch drops
The general drops for campaign 54, hosted by Rustoria, run until November 1, 2026 at 23:59 UTC, according to Facepunch’s drops page. They work on any Rust stream with the drops-enabled tag.
| Watch time | Drop |
|---|---|
| 1 hour | Rug skin |
| 2 hours | Bed skin |
| 3 hours | Garage Door skin |
| 4 hours | Thompson skin |
| 5 hours | Large Wood Box skin |
The Spooky Backpack was a one-day TwitchRivals streamer drop on October 23, so it’s gone. Only one channel counts at a time, and Facepunch says items can take up to 10 minutes to reach your Steam inventory after you press Claim.
Rust Halloween 2026 skins and prices
This year’s new Limited items on the Rust Item Store, with US prices checked October 24:
| Item | Type | Price (US) |
|---|---|---|
| Alien Costume | Inflatable costume, three variations | $9.99 |
| Cultist Tile | Wallpaper | $2.99 |
| Manor (Manor Ceiling) | Wallpaper | $2.99 |
| Derelict Wood | Wallpaper | $2.99 |
| Skull Wall Lamp | Tuna Can Lamp skin | $2.99 |
Facepunch also lists a Spooky Decor Bundle with the three wallpapers, the Skull Wall Lamp and an exclusive Halloween Wreath and Halloween String Lights. Returning Halloween items on the store include the Dracula Mask ($3.99), Dracula Cape ($5.99), Baseball Bat mace skin ($2.99) and Cultist Deer Torch ($2.99). All of them are cosmetic. You don’t need any of them to play the event.
More Halloween guides
Playing something else this week too? See our Fortnitemares 2026 quests and rewards guide, the Halloween events in mobile games roundup and this weekend’s Roblox Halloween updates. For another survival game with a fresh update, there’s our Once Human Isles of Abyss guide.
FAQ
When is the Rust Halloween event 2026?
It started with the mandatory update on October 22, 2026, at 17:00 UTC and runs until November 5, 2026, according to Facepunch.
How do you get candy in Rust?
Go outside when the Candy Hunt starts, about once every two in-game days, and pick up candy for 3 minutes. Candy also comes out of loot bags. A Pumpkin Basket collects it faster.
How do you upgrade candy in Rust?
Collect 10 Halloween Candy to upgrade to a Small Loot Bag. Ten Small bags upgrade to a Medium, and ten Medium bags to a Large, which holds the best loot.
Where do you find Frankenstein parts in Rust?
Kill the scarecrows and mummies that roam the map during the event. They drop Light, Medium and Heavy heads, torsos and legs. Any three (one of each slot) make a pet.
Is the Rust Halloween update a wipe?
No. The October 22 update switched on the event without a forced wipe. The event ends on November 5, the first Thursday of the month, when the regular monthly forced wipe usually happens.
Sources: Facepunch, Halloween 2026 (also on Steam); Facepunch Twitch Drops; Rust Wiki (Facepunch), Halloween Event and item pages; Rustafied, 2025 Halloween event; RustHelp, Halloween Event; LOW.MS, update timing; Steam Rust Item Store prices.
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