The April force wipe landed on April 2nd with Facepunch's "Spring Clean" update, and there's a surprising amount in here that directly affects how you run and configure your server. I've gone through the full patch notes and pulled out everything that matters from an admin perspective – plus some stuff your players will be asking you about.
Shield Hitbox Nerf
The shield meta took a meaningful hit. Previously, shields covered roughly half your character model even when you weren't actively blocking. Now, idle shields use a much smaller square hitbox – the expanded blocking zone only activates when you're holding the shield up with right-click. Facepunch also fixed a bug that was applying extra recoil when shooting at shields.
From an admin standpoint, this doesn't require any config changes. But if you run a PvP-focused server, expect your community to feel this one. Shield-peeking and passive shield play was dominant for months, and this pulls it back significantly.
Water Wheel – New Power Source
The Water Wheel is the first new renewable energy deployable in a while, and it's a Workbench Level 1 craft – 500 wood, 2 gears, 1 sheet metal. The power output breaks down like this:
- River placement (optimal): 30 watts passive
- Manual operation (running inside it): up to 60 watts
- Ocean placement: inconsistent due to tidal mechanics
- Blocked flow: 1 watt (essentially nothing)
It's a genuine early-game power option now. Players can get basic electricity running from a river before they have access to wind turbines or solar panels. The meta implication is that river-adjacent base locations just became more valuable.
One entertaining detail: you can force handcuffed players to run inside the wheel for power. Your roleplay server admins are probably already drafting rules about this.
No new ConVars for tuning Water Wheel output, so it works out of the box.
Overfishing Mechanic
This one has server config implications. Repeatedly fishing the same spot now triggers an "overfished" status – you'll only pull junk until the area repopulates. It's squarely aimed at AFK fishing farms, which were trivialising food and scrap economies on a lot of servers.
Key details for admins:
- Fishing traps are not affected – only rod fishing
- Deep sea fishing got a buff: herrings and anchovies were removed from the deep sea loot table
- Server ConVars are available to adjust or disable the mechanic entirely
If you run a server with custom economy plugins, test how this interacts with your setup. The overfishing penalty could conflict with plugins that modify fishing yields.
Tech Tree Multi-Unlock
Players can now select any node in the tech tree and unlock the entire path leading to it in one action, rather than clicking through each stage individually. It shows the total scrap cost upfront.
This is purely quality-of-life and won't affect server balance – it doesn't change scrap costs, just removes tedious clicking. Your players will love it.
F1 Console Overhaul
This is the biggest admin-relevant change in the patch. The F1 console got a full redesign:
- Browsable command list with every available ConVar
- Search, filtering, and improved autocomplete
- Favorites and Recents tabs
- CTRL+Scroll to resize text
- New Copy Pastes management tab
- Keyboard navigation throughout
If you manage your server via RCON, the admin tab also got teleport and mute buttons, plus SteamID display when spectating players.
Server Performance Improvements
Facepunch shipped a stack of backend optimisations:
- Custom terrain renderer replaces Unity's built-in system – roughly 1,000 fewer draw calls and a median 0.65ms CPU improvement
- Network group changes – entities now network in circles instead of squares, with variable ranges by entity size
- Server mesh stripping saves approximately 600MB of runtime memory and 2.7GB of disk space
UsePlayerUpdateJobsLevel 2 is now default on all servers
If you've been manually setting UsePlayerUpdateJobs levels, you can remove that from your startup config – Level 2 is now the default.
New ConVars and Commands
A handful of new server-side options:
ESPCanvas.ShowVoip– display voice chat icons on the ESP canvasglobal.spectatebots– spectate bot spawns- RCON and Rust+ connection limit ConVars
- New teleport commands:
teleportboat2marker,teleportboatpos,teleportboat2grid
Two ConVars were removed: global.legacymonumentnotifications and ui.monumentnotificationtoasts.
Other Changes Worth Knowing
- Armored Ladder Hatch – Tier 3 unlock at 60 scrap. Changes base defence meta.
- Chainsaw always hits the sweet spot on trees now
- Plants stay ripe for 24 hours instead of 14 – huge for farming bases
- Watchtower spam prevention – proximity radius prevents stacking
Oxide/uMod Plugin Notes
Plugins that modify fishing mechanics should be tested against the new overfishing system. Anything hooking into shield damage calculations may need updates. And plugins using the old monument notification ConVars will need updating since those were removed.
As always after a major patch – update Oxide itself first, then test your plugins one at a time.
If you're not hosting Rust yet, we have instant setup with full Oxide support. The getting started guide covers initial configuration, and the settings guide digs into the ConVars. For wipe scheduling, check out our 2026 wipe schedule.