Vehicle Guide: Minicopters, Scrap Helis, and Land Vehicles

Transportation in Rust is the difference between being confined to your immediate neighbourhood and controlling the entire map. Vehicles let you reach any monument in minutes, transport bulk resources, escape dangerous situations, and engage in naval and aerial PvP. The Naval Update and subsequent patches have dramatically expanded Rust's vehicle roster, adding modular boats and improving existing vehicles. This guide covers every vehicle in Rust — how to acquire them, how to operate them effectively, and how to defend against vehicle-based raids.

Aerial Vehicles

Minicopter

The minicopter is the most versatile vehicle in Rust. It seats two players, flies at high speed, and can land on most surfaces including the roofs of Oil Rigs and Cargo Ship. It is the preferred vehicle for monument rushing and escape.

• How to acquire: Minicopters spawn at specific monument helipads — Airfield, Launch Site, and mining outposts. They respawn on a timer (usually 30-60 minutes after being taken or destroyed). You can also purchase one from Bandit Camp for 100 scrap.
• Fuel: Low Grade Fuel. A full tank (250 LGF) lasts approximately 30 minutes of flight. Always carry a spare fuel can.
• Controls: W to ascend, S to descend, A/D to turn, mouse to tilt forward/backward. The minicopter is sensitive — small mouse movements produce large reactions. Practice on a low-population server before using it for serious gameplay.
• Landing: The hardest skill to master. Approach your landing spot at a shallow angle, reduce throttle as you approach, and level the craft just before touchdown. Hold S to descend gently. A hard landing damages the minicopter — three hard landings will destroy it.
• Combat use: The minicopter can carry a passenger who shoots from the side. It is fast enough to dodge most fire, but a single rocket or several rifle shots will destroy it. Never hover stationary over a monument — you are an easy target.
• Storage: The minicopter has a small storage compartment under the seat. Use it for emergency supplies, not your main loot.

Scrap Transport Helicopter (Scrap Heli)

The scrap heli is a larger, slower, more durable version of the minicopter. It seats four players and has significantly more storage.

• How to acquire: Available for purchase at Bandit Camp for 200 scrap. Cannot be found in the wild — you must buy it.
• Fuel: Low Grade Fuel. It burns fuel faster than the minicopter due to its weight. A full tank lasts about 20 minutes.
• Controls: Same as the minicopter but heavier. It handles like a bus compared to a sports car — plan your movements further in advance.
• Best use: Group transport and supply runs. Load it with resources at your base and fly to an outpost or monument for recycling and crafting. The storage compartment can hold multiple stacks of items.
• Weakness: Slow speed and large hitbox make it vulnerable to SAM sites (if enabled on the server) and player fire. Do not fly it over active PvP zones.

Attack Helicopter

Added in the Naval Update (February 2026), the Attack Helicopter is a military-grade aircraft with mounted weapons. It seats two players — a pilot and a gunner.

• How to acquire: Rare spawn at Launch Site helipad. Server events may also drop Attack Helicopter crates. Extremely rare — you will not see one every wipe.
• Weapons: The gunner controls a .50 caliber machine gun. The pilot controls rockets. This combination makes the Attack Helicopter the most powerful vehicle in Rust for PvP.
• Risk: The Attack Helicopter is a server-wide target. If you fly it, every player on the server will try to shoot it down. Use it for specific offensive operations and store it securely when not in use.

Land Vehicles

Horse

Horses are the most accessible land vehicle. They are slower than motorised vehicles but silent, fuel-free, and can traverse rough terrain that cars cannot handle.

• How to acquire: Find horses in the wild, usually in grassland and forest biomes. Approach slowly and press E to mount. You must be holding a horse saddle (crafted from leather and metal fragments) to ride it.
• Health and stamina: Horses have health bars and stamina. Sprinting drains stamina. Let the horse rest between sprints to maintain speed. A dead horse drops raw meat and leather.
• Storage: Horses can carry a large wood storage box strapped to their side. This gives you mobile inventory space equivalent to a large box.
• Combat: You can fire weapons while riding a horse, but accuracy is reduced. Horses are easily killed by gunfire — dismount and use the horse as cover in a fight.
• Breeding: On some servers, horses can be bred. The breeding system is basic — two healthy horses produce a foal after a set period. Breeding for better stats (speed, health, stamina) requires selective breeding over multiple generations.

Snowmobile

The snowmobile is designed for the arctic biome. It handles snow and ice terrain better than any other vehicle.

• How to acquire: Found at Arctic Research Base and other snow-biome monuments. Respawns like the minicopter.
• Fuel: Low Grade Fuel. Efficient — a full tank lasts about 45 minutes.
• Best use: Traversing the snow biome to access Arctic Research Base, the Snow Tunnel, and other northern monuments. The snowmobile is also excellent for escaping pursuers in the snow, where other vehicles struggle.

Rowboat and Modular Boats

The Naval Update introduced modular boat building, but the humble rowboat remains relevant for early-game water travel:

• Rowboat: Found along coastlines. Seats two, no fuel required, extremely slow. Use it to reach Small Oil Rig or cross rivers early in wipe.
• RHIB: The motorised inflatable boat. Fast, seats four, requires LGF. The RHIB is the standard boat for monument access. Updated in the Naval Update with a built-in compass and map display.
• Modular boats: Built at the Boat Building Station using a Boat Building Plan. Fully customisable with engines, sails, cannons, and storage. Modular boats can be as small as a fishing skiff or as large as a mobile base. The Naval Update guide (linked above) covers modular boat building in depth.

Vehicle Storage and Security

A vehicle you leave outside is a vehicle you will lose. Proper vehicle storage is essential:

• Helipads and hangars — Build a roof structure with a helipad (a flat square of foundations) and walls around it. A garage door opening gives your minicopter a secure shelter. Lock the hangar when not in use.
• Boat houses — Build a structure extending from the shoreline into the water. Use high external gates or garage doors to seal the entrance. Place a sleeping bag inside in case you die at sea.
• Vehicle lift — The vehicle lift lets you park a vehicle on a platform and raise it out of reach. This prevents theft and damage. Lifts require electricity to operate.
• Code locks — Some vehicles (modular boats) support code locks on their helm. Always lock your vehicle when parking it.

Vehicle Defense: Protecting Against Vehicle-Based Raids

Raiders use vehicles to bypass your base's ground defenses. Here is how to counter them:

• SAM sites — Auto-targeted missile launchers that engage aircraft. Place SAM sites on your base roof. They require electricity and ammunition. A single SAM site can deter minicopter raids.
• High external walls with barbed wire — Prevents land vehicles from approaching your base. Walls also block line of sight for vehicle-mounted weapons.
• Roof turrets — Place auto turrets on your roof covering all approach angles. Configure them to target players only (not vehicles) to save ammunition — the players will exit the vehicle eventually.
• Land mines — Place land mines at vehicle approach paths. A minicopter landing on a land mine is destroyed instantly along with its passengers.

Fuel Management

Low Grade Fuel is the lifeblood of Rust's motorised vehicles. Here is how to produce and manage it:

• Crafting LGF: 3 animal fat + 1 cloth = 3 Low Grade Fuel. Animal fat comes from cooking animal meat. A single bear yields enough fat for 30-40 LGF.
• Pump jack — Place a small pump jack on an oil node. Oil nodes are found in the desert and arctic biomes. The pump jack produces crude oil automatically. Refine crude oil in a refinery to produce LGF.
• Refinery: 5 crude oil = 3 LGF. A refinery takes time to process — plan ahead and keep it running whenever you are at your base.
• Fuel storage: Store LGF in fuel tanks (crafted from metal fragments). Fuel tanks stack in boxes. Never carry more LGF than you need for a single trip — losing a stack of 500 LGF to a death is devastating.

Conclusion

Rust's vehicle system transforms you from a pedestrian into a mobile threat. Learn the minicopter for quick monument access and escape. Use horses for silent, fuel-free transport. Build modular boats for naval dominance. And always, always secure your vehicles in locked hangars when not in use. A player who controls the skies and the seas controls the map. Master the vehicles, master Rust.