Rust “Friends with Benefits” update: New party system and deployable snapping

The long-awaited Friends with Benefits update for Rust has been available since July 3, 2025 and brings with it a host of exciting new features. The update focuses primarily on quality of life improvements and makes survival in the harsh Rust world much more enjoyable.

New party system: spawning together has never been so easy

The biggest highlight of the update is undoubtedly the brand new party system. Players can finally form a party before server joining and start the game together. The system works very simply: friends can be invited directly from the Steam friends list via the main menu. Alternatively, the console command party.inviteparty is available.

The biggest advantage is obvious: the first time you spawn on a server, all party members land within a 100-meter radius of each other. This finally puts an end to hours of searching for friends on the beach. The invitations are not only displayed in the game, but also via the Discord overlay and Steam itself.

Deployable snapping: tidying up the base

Another game-changing feature is the new deployable snapping system. Ovens, shelves, plant troughs, workbenches, fridges and many other items can now be precisely aligned or lined up against walls. The system offers both a simple and an advanced mode.

In simple mode, objects can only be aligned with walls, while the advanced mode also enables snapping in corners and against each other. The result: tidy bases without hours of shuffling around and perfectly aligned storage rooms.

Outpost Spawn: New strategic possibilities

With the new Outpost Spawn feature, players can unlock a permanent spawn point in the Outpost after completing a mission. The NPC CZ-721 at the Outpost assigns a mission in which players must travel to a fishing village. After successful completion, the Outpost spawn is available with a 30-minute cooldown and does not count towards the sleeping space limit.

This new feature offers strategic advantages for solo players and smaller groups in particular, as it gives them a safe spawn point near important trade routes.

Patrol helicopter rebalancing: less flight behavior

The patrol helicopter has been fundamentally revised. The helicopter now only flees a maximum of one map grid and prefers monuments as an escape point. Particularly important: If the helicopter is attacked from a monument, it will no longer flee at all. This change is intended to encourage more PvP action around monuments.

Improved world erosion and other QOL features

The procedural world erosion has been significantly improved. Canyons and lakes now blend more naturally into the environment, resulting in more realistic maps. In addition, numerous smaller improvements have been implemented:

• Improved team invitations directly from the inventory
• New camera animations for older weapons
• Optimized turret calculations on the server side
• Stabilized building physics for pyramid bases

Bug fixes and optimizations

The update also fixes a variety of bugs that affected gameplay. These include fixes for UI flickering with several attack helicopters, shadow problems with small boxes and calculation errors with water purifiers.

The Friends with Benefits update clearly shows that Facepunch continues to place great emphasis on improving the player experience. The party system and deployable snapping in particular will improve the gameplay in the long term and delight newcomers and veterans alike.