Force Wipe vs Server Wipe in Rust
A force wipe is Facepunch's mandatory monthly reset on the first Thursday: it always clears the map, but blueprints only in the months Facepunch forces a blueprint wipe or when the server chooses to. A server wipe is the owner's own schedule between force wipes, and it normally clears the map while leaving blueprints intact.
Editorial — Written and reviewed by the WipeDay team.
Getting this distinction wrong costs people real progress, so it is worth being precise about what each one actually destroys.
Force wipe. Once a month, on the first Thursday, Facepunch ships the monthly Rust update. Every server in the game — official, community, modded, all of them — resets. The map is regenerated and every base is gone. No server can opt out of that part. Blueprints are wiped only when Facepunch forces a blueprint wipe with the update, which happens in some months but not most; many servers also choose to wipe blueprints on force wipe day, so check the server description. You will also see this called a global wipe or forcewipe; they are the same event.
Server wipe. Between force wipes, server owners run their own schedule. A weekly server wipes every week, a biweekly server every two, a monthly server only at force wipe. What a server wipe clears is up to the owner, but the normal setup is a map wipe: the world regenerates, bases and loot are gone, but blueprints stay. That means you keep your tech tree progress and can get back to a working base far faster.
Some owners run a full wipe instead, which clears blueprints too. This is usually announced in advance and is more common on servers that want every cycle to feel like a fresh start. If a server's description says "BP wipe" alongside its map wipe, that is what it means.
The practical consequence: on a blueprint-keeping server, your second week is far stronger than your first, because you skip the research grind and go straight to building. On a full-wipe server every cycle starts equal. Neither is better — they suit different players. Someone with limited playtime usually prefers keeping blueprints; someone who enjoys the early game prefers full wipes.
One thing that survives all of it: your Steam inventory. Skins, items you bought or traded for, and your total playtime are account-level and untouched by any wipe. Nothing you paid for is ever deleted by a wipe.
Console follows the same conceptual split but a different calendar — Double Eleven wipes official monthly servers on the last Thursday, and their published policy is to avoid blueprint wipes where possible and announce one in advance if it becomes necessary.
| Force wipe | Map wipe | Full wipe | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who triggers it | Facepunch | Server owner | Server owner |
| Map regenerated | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Bases and loot | Gone | Gone | Gone |
| Blueprints | Only when forced or chosen | Kept | Wiped |
| Steam inventory / skins | Kept | Kept | Kept |