Rust Halloween 2026 Event Is Live: Candy Hunt, Rifts, Pet Monsters and Everything Ending November 5

Halloween has arrived on Facepunch's island. Rust's yearly spooky event switched on with a mandatory update on Thursday, October 22, 2026, and it runs until November 5. That gives you just under a week left to grab candy, loot bags and a pet monster before things go back to normal. The event doesn't wipe your server, but it adds new reasons to leave your base at night. Here's what's in it and what to prioritize before it ends.

TL;DR

• The Halloween 2026 event went live on PC servers on October 22 and ends November 5.
• Candy Hunt starts about once every two in-game days. You get three minutes to grab candy, and the top three players win special loot bags.
• Scarecrows and mummies drop body parts you can stitch together into a pet monster at a Frankenstein's Table.
• Rifts open at random spots on the map and lead to dangerous Halloween dungeons.
• New limited store skins include three wallpapers, a Skull Wall Lamp and an inflatable Alien Costume, plus a Spooky Decor Bundle.
• Twitch drops run until November 1, and a Zombie Wumpus plush is available through Discord until November 5.

Candy Hunt: three minutes of chaos

The headline activity is back. Roughly every two in-game days, a Candy Hunt kicks off across the server. Once it starts you have three minutes to collect as much candy as you can, and the top three collectors get special loot bags at the end.

Facepunch says those bags and the candy itself can be opened for a wide spread of loot, from scrap all the way up to an M249. That makes the hunt worth joining even on a geared server. If you don't place, you don't walk away empty-handed: candy can be upgraded into better loot, so every piece you grab still counts.

Because everyone is running around at the same time, the Candy Hunt is also a magnet for fights. Bring a weapon you don't mind losing and stay close to cover.

Build your own monster

The most fun part of the event is the pet monster. Scarecrows and mummies roam the map, and killing them can drop body parts. Once you have a head, a torso and legs, craft a Frankenstein's Table, put the parts inside and wake up your creation.

Your monster follows orders without question. It will trail you around the map, defend you if you're attacked and go after targets you point it at. Press P to open the pet controls. If P is already bound to something else, or the menu won't open, Facepunch suggests the console command bind X +pets (swap X for the key you want) or rebinding it in the in-game controls menu.

Enter the rifts

This year's lore twist is a set of rifts. According to Facepunch, cultists have been opening portals across the island, though some claim it's a Cobalt experiment code-named R.U.I.N. gone wrong. The rifts appear in random locations and lead to Halloween dungeons full of undead enemies, with extra rewards for anyone who makes it out.

Go in prepared. Two returning event items help here. The Wooden Stake can release an undead creature's soul in a single strike and yields extra loot from its remains. The Dracula Cape offers solid protection. Both drop from the corpses of the undead. The Dracula Mask is craftable for 10 cloth and gives early-game head protection.

Server owners who want more or fewer portals can tune them with the halloweendungeon.population convar.

New Halloween skins

Alongside the free event content, the Rust Limited Item Store has a fresh Halloween collection:

• Three wallpapers: Cultist Tile, Manor Ceiling and Derelict Wood
• Skull Wall Lamp, a skin for the Tuna Can Lamp
• Inflatable Alien Costume, in three variations
• Spooky Decor Bundle, which packs the three wallpapers and the Skull Wall Lamp with an exclusive Halloween Wreath and Halloween String Lights

Facepunch is also promoting a spooky skin batch in the regular item store. It includes a Hockey Facemask (a Metal Facemask reskin), a Cultist Deer Torch (a starter torch reskin you also respawn with once selected), a Baseball Bat (a mace reskin), Skull Trophy and Skull Spike decoration packs, and Mummy Underwear. All of these are cosmetic.

Twitch Rivals and Discord extras

Twitch Rivals: Base Invaders returned on October 23, with an exclusive Spooky Backpack drop available for that one day only on the Twitch Rivals channel. The other general drops stay live until November 1 and can be earned on any Rust stream. As always, link your Twitch and Steam accounts through Facepunch's drops page first or the rewards won't arrive.

There's also a Discord collaboration. From October 22 to November 5, eligible Discord Nitro subscribers can claim a Zombie Wumpus Plush in the Rust shop on Discord using Discord Orbs. It's a placeable deployable that gives 70% comfort when you're near it, so it's a handy decoration to keep next to your sleeping bag.

What it means for players

Halloween is one of Rust's lighter events, but it's a good one for solos and small groups. The Candy Hunt gives anyone a shot at high-tier loot without raiding, and the pet monster adds a helpful extra body for PvE and base defense. The rifts are the riskiest content of the bunch. Clear them with a team, and bring stakes.

The clock is ticking, though. Everything wraps up on November 5, which is also the first Thursday of the month, when Facepunch usually ships its monthly update and forced wipe. Facepunch hasn't announced November's update yet, but it posted on October 29 that the staging branch had been wiped, so keep an eye on the official news page for the next devblog. If you want a pet monster or a stack of loot bags, play this weekend.