08 — Monuments Guide

Last updated: May 18, 2026

Every monument in Rust has a loot profile, a difficulty rating, and a set of requirements (keycards, fuses, puzzle steps). This file is a per-monument reference. Use it to pick which monument to run when and what to bring.

Difficulty ratings

• Low: no scientists, no radiation worth fearing. Safe pickup loot.
• Medium: some scientists or radiation. Bring meds and a gun.
• High: hostile scientists, significant radiation, frequent PvP contestation.
• Extreme: highest-tier scientists, Bradley APC or other event hazards, server-population PvP magnet.

Keycards and puzzle requirements

Puzzles gate the best loot. Three keycards exist (Green, Blue, Red), each one requiring the previous to access. Plus fuses to power doors. The progression at a typical puzzle monument:

1. Green Card found on dead scientists, in basic crates, or at Outpost shop (~15 scrap)
2. Fuse (Electric Fuse), found in basic crates or crafted (10 scrap or 1 fuse box from monument)
3. Blue Card behind a green-card door + fuse-powered terminal
4. Red Card behind a blue-card door + fuse-powered terminal

Always travel with at least 2 green cards, 1 blue, and 2 fuses. You'll burn through them at the bigger monuments.

Per-monument breakdown

Lighthouse

• Difficulty: Low
• Recycler: No
• Radiation: None
• Scientists: None
• Keycard: None
• Loot: 2–3 basic crates, ~4 barrels, occasional food crate. Sometimes a corpse.
• Avg scrap: 50–80
• Run time: 5 min
• Wipe day: Great for first 1–2 hours. Multiple lighthouses on most maps.

Pro tip: lighthouses spawn around the coast. Run 2–3 in a row right at spawn for free scrap and starting components.

Fishing Village (small / large)

• Difficulty: Safe Zone (NPC-protected, no PvP)
• Recycler: Yes (-20% yield in safe zones)
• Loot: shop, not lootable. Sells fishing rod, boats, bait, etc.
• Run time: 5 min
• Wipe day: secondary stop after Lighthouse to buy a rod and start fishing.

Bandit Camp (safe zone)

• Difficulty: Safe Zone
• Recycler: Yes (-20% yield)
• Loot: shop (Scope arbitrage works here, see 07_Scrap_Farming.md)
• Notable: Wheel of Misfortune gambling table, fertilizer/scrap shop, Air Wolf (helicopter shop)
• Wipe day: visit when you have scrap to spend and want to buy basic gear or run the scope cycle.

Outpost (safe zone)

• Difficulty: Safe Zone
• Recycler: Yes (-20%)
• Loot: shop with basic-to-mid weapons, attachments, food, vehicle parts
• Notable: large open area, sometimes hosts roaming patrol scientists outside walls
• Wipe day: gas mask + radsuit purchase if you can afford. Workbench Level 1 available for use.

Junkyard

• Difficulty: Medium
• Recycler: Yes (baseline)
• Radiation: Low
• Scientists: A magnet crane drops barrels and crates that spawn scientists nearby
• Keycard: None
• Loot: ~6–8 basic crates + barrels via crane drops + scientist drops
• Avg scrap: 100–150
• Run time: 15 min
• Wipe day: hour 4+ once you have hazmat suit.

Sewer Branch

• Difficulty: Medium
• Recycler: Yes (baseline)
• Radiation: Medium
• Scientists: 4–6 patrol scientists
• Keycard: Green Card + fuse for the central puzzle room
• Loot: 2–3 elite crates (in puzzle area) + military crates + barrels
• Avg scrap: 100–200
• Run time: 10 min (no puzzle) or 20 min (with puzzle)
• Wipe day: hour 6+ once you have green cards.

Harbor (small)

• Difficulty: Medium
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: Low
• Scientists: 6–10
• Keycard: Green Card for some side rooms
• Loot: military crates on the ships + crates around the dock
• Avg scrap: 150–250
• Run time: 10–15 min
• Wipe day: hour 4+.

Harbor (large)

• Difficulty: High
• Recycler: Yes
• Scientists: 10–15
• Keycard: Green + Blue for puzzle area
• Loot: 2 elite crates inside ship + military spread + 3+ basic crates
• Avg scrap: 250–400
• Run time: 20 min
• Wipe day: hour 8+ with friends or stealth.

Satellite Dish

• Difficulty: Medium
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: Medium (red zone in center, manageable with gear)
• Scientists: 4–6
• Keycard: None
• Loot: scrap + elite crate accessible on the dish via ladder (sometimes contested)
• Avg scrap: 100–200
• Run time: 10 min
• Wipe day: hour 3+.

Power Plant

• Difficulty: High
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: High in core area
• Scientists: 8–12
• Keycard: Green + Blue for puzzle (one of the highest-value blue card monuments)
• Loot: elite crates × 2–3 in puzzle, plus ~6 military, plus barrels
• Avg scrap: 300–500
• Run time: 25–30 min
• Wipe day: hour 8+ with hazmat and decent guns. Multiple cards needed.

Water Treatment Plant

• Difficulty: High
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: High
• Scientists: 6–10
• Keycard: Green + Blue for puzzle
• Loot: elite crates + military crates
• Avg scrap: 200–400
• Run time: 20 min
• Wipe day: hour 8+.

Train Yard

• Difficulty: Very High
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: Low–Medium
• Scientists: 8–15 (high-tier loadouts)
• Keycard: Green + Blue for central puzzle, sometimes Red for high-value rooms
• Loot: 2–3 elite crates + many military + the parked train cars sometimes loaded
• Avg scrap: 250–400 base + train if loaded
• Run time: 25 min
• Wipe day: hour 10+, ideally with team. Trains arriving at the yard add another loot layer.

Military Tunnels

• Difficulty: Very High
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: High
• Scientists: 8–12 (high-tier, accurate, M249s drop here)
• Keycard: Red Card required for deep loot (rare)
• Loot: 4+ elite crates + tons of military + the famous M249 drop chance from heavy scientist
• Avg scrap: 300–500
• Run time: 25 min
• Wipe day: hour 12+ with team. Tight corridors make it a PvP funhouse.

Airfield

• Difficulty: Very High
• Recycler: Yes (+20% bonus location)
• Radiation: Low
• Scientists: 8–12 around hangars and tower
• Keycard: Green + Blue for some buildings
• Loot: 3–4 elite crates + many military + the locked crate respawn
• Avg scrap: 400–700
• Run time: 25–30 min
• Wipe day: hour 12+. Open field PvP is brutal. Worth the bonus recycler.

Arctic Research Base

• Difficulty: High
• Recycler: Yes (+20% bonus location)
• Radiation: Low
• Scientists: heavily armed and in cold-weather gear, more accurate, hit harder
• Keycard: Green + Blue + Red progressively
• Loot: elite crates + the chinook crate spawn here
• Avg scrap: 300–600
• Run time: 25 min
• Wipe day: hour 12+ with cold-weather gear. The +20% recycler makes loot conversion sweet.

Abandoned Supermarket

• Difficulty: Medium
• Recycler: Yes (+20% bonus location)
• Radiation: None
• Scientists: None
• Keycard: None
• Loot: 2–3 basic crates + food crates + scrap pile
• Avg scrap: 50–100 raw, but the +20% recycler is the real prize
• Run time: 5 min
• Wipe day: any time. Easy stop for recycling without PvP risk.

Abandoned Cabins

• Difficulty: Low
• Recycler: No
• Scientists: None
• Loot: 4–6 basic crates spread across cabins
• Avg scrap: 30–60
• Run time: 5–10 min
• Wipe day: hour 1–4 easy farm.

Stables

• Difficulty: Safe-ish (no scientists, occasional bandits)
• Recycler: No
• Loot: shop selling horse-related gear + horses
• Wipe day: when you want to buy a horse (75 scrap typical).

Ranch

• Difficulty: Low
• Recycler: No
• Loot: basic crates + farming-themed loot
• Avg scrap: 30–50
• Run time: 5 min

Mining Outpost

• Difficulty: Safe Zone
• Recycler: Yes (-20%)
• Loot: shop + 1 recycler
• Wipe day: emergency recycler stop. Convenient on most maps.

Oxum's Gas Station

• Difficulty: Low
• Recycler: No
• Scientists: None
• Loot: basic crates + food + sometimes higher-tier in the back room
• Avg scrap: 40–80
• Run time: 5 min
• Wipe day: hour 1–6. Drive-by stop.

Underwater Labs (multiple per map)

• Difficulty: High (radiation + scientists + PvP at top)
• Recycler: Yes (baseline)
• Radiation: High
• Scientists: 4–8 per lab
• Keycard: Green + Blue for some areas, sometimes Red for the top-tier card room
• Loot: 5–15 crates per lab (mix of basic, military, elite)
• Avg scrap: 400–600 per lab visit
• Run time: 20 min
• Wipe day: hour 10+ with boat, hazmat, decent gear. The respawn timer (~30 min) lets you cycle through 3–4 labs in an hour.

Cargo Ship (event)

• Difficulty: Extreme
• Recycler: Yes (on deck)
• Spawn: random, every 1–2 hours, sails for 50 min
• Loot: ~5 elite + ~10 military + ~10 basic + 1 hackable locked crate (15-min hack timer at end)
• Avg scrap: ~1,293 per successful run
• Run time: full event 30–50 min
• Wipe day: any time once you have a boat. PvP magnet.

Patrol Helicopter (event)

• Difficulty: Extreme
• Spawn: random, multiple per wipe day
• Loot: 6 elite + 2 locked crates at crash site
• Avg scrap: 500–1,200
• Cost to kill: 8–20 rockets or ~200 AK rounds to tail
• Wipe day: only worth engaging if you have rockets stockpiled.

Bradley APC (at Launch Site)

• Difficulty: Extreme
• Spawn: Launch Site, respawns ~1 hr after kill
• Loot: 2–4 high-tier crates + named gear from APC
• Cost to kill: 4–6 rockets through rear armor, or C4 sticky if you can sneak
• Avg scrap: 200–400 from crates
• Wipe day: once you have rockets.

Launch Site

• Difficulty: Extreme
• Recycler: Yes
• Radiation: Very High (rad suit mandatory)
• Scientists: 10–20, high-tier
• Keycard: Red Card required for end loot
• Loot: 6+ elite + military + the locked crate at the silo + Bradley APC roaming
• Avg scrap: 600–1,200+
• Run time: 45 min
• Wipe day: hour 18+ with team. The PvP magnet of the wipe.

Train Tunnels (underground network)

• Difficulty: Medium–High depending on which junction
• Recycler: Yes at several stations
• Radiation: Medium in deeper tunnels
• Scientists: 6–10 at junctions
• Keycard: green/blue at puzzle stations
• Loot: crates at stations + barrels + work cart loot
• Avg scrap: 100–300 per junction
• Run time: variable, can loop for hours
• Wipe day: mid-wipe, when you have a workcart fuel supply.

Monument run priority by wipe time

Hour 0–2: Lighthouse, Abandoned Cabins, Oxum's Gas Station. Easy crates to bootstrap.

Hour 2–6: Junkyard, Sewer Branch, Satellite Dish, Harbor (small). Mid-tier with green card.

Hour 6–12: Power Plant, Water Treatment, Harbor (large), Train Yard. Need green+blue, rad gear.

Hour 12+: Military Tunnels, Airfield, Underwater Labs, Arctic Research. Need red card, full kit, often team.

Hour 18+: Launch Site, Patrol Heli, Cargo Ship. End-game scrap-to-time ratios.

Cards I recommend always carrying

• 2× Green Card (buy at Outpost for 15 scrap each)
• 1× Blue Card (drop from blue-card puzzles)
• 1× Red Card (drop from red-card puzzles)
• 3× Fuse (craft for 10 scrap or find at monuments)
• Bonus: 1× Mining Hat with light (for tunnels)

Common monument mistakes

1. Running Launch Site at hour 4 without rad suit. You'll die to radiation alone.
2. Skipping the on-site recycler. Always recycle on-site before leaving. Components weigh down inventory.
3. Solo-running a contested monument at peak hours. Move at off-peak (early morning server time) for less PvP.
4. Bringing your best gear. Run monuments in mid-tier gear. If you die, you didn't lose the wipe.
5. Hoarding green cards in your inventory. Stockpile at base, only bring 2.
6. Looting clockwise habit. Loot order matters because crates have respawn timers. Hit highest-tier first.

Pro tips

• Map memorization is the biggest skill upgrade. Spend 30 minutes wandering each monument early-wipe to learn the crate locations.
• Backpack early in your gear loadout. A few hours of scrap farming requires hauling capacity. Tactical or LR300-tier pack worth getting.
• Pair monument runs with travel. Don't go to Lighthouse → home → Junkyard. Go Lighthouse → Junkyard → Recycler → home. Save the travel time.
• Time of day matters. Monuments at server-night have fewer PvP players but more difficult vision. Server-morning is the sweet spot.
• Some monuments share spawns with NPCs. Bandit Camp scientist roamers can wander into nearby roads. Don't get pulled into PvE while you're trying to PvP rotate.