Rust's Halloween 2026 event lets you stitch together your own pet monster

Facepunch switched on Rust’s yearly Halloween event on 22 October, and it runs until 5 November. Alongside the familiar Candy Hunt, this year adds a monster you build from body parts and portals to a mysterious dungeon.

The Candy Hunt kicks off roughly once every two in-game days. You get three minutes to grab as much candy as you can, and the top three players receive special loot bags. Both the candy and the bags can be opened, with rewards ranging “from scrap, all the way up to an M249”, according to Facepunch. Missing the podium is not a total loss, because collected candy can be upgraded for better loot.

The monster takes a bit more work. First you have to kill the scarecrows and mummies roaming the map. Once you have a head, a torso and legs, craft a Frankenstein’s table, put the parts inside and wake your creation up. You control it with the P key. It follows you around, defends you when you are attacked and goes after targets you pick. If P is already bound to something else, the console command bind X +pets or the in-game controls menu sorts it out.

Then there are the rifts. Portals are opening all over the island, and Facepunch leaves it open whether cultists or a Cobalt experiment code-named R.U.I.N are responsible. Few who went through have come back.

For people running their own servers, the portal count is adjustable through the halloweendungeon.population convar. That makes it easy to thin out the rifts on a small community server or add more on a busy one without touching mods.

The Halloween store has new gear as well. The Dracula mask gives early-game head protection and takes ten cloth to craft. The cape and a wooden stake drop only from undead corpses, and the stake kills undead in a single strike while yielding extra loot. Reskins include a hockey facemask for the metal facemask, a baseball bat for the mace and a Cultist Deer Torch for the starter torch.

Until 5 November, eligible Discord Nitro subscribers can also claim a Zombie Wumpus plush with Discord Orbs. Placed in your base, it gives 70% comfort when you stand near it.