Rust's latest update adds mortars but 'no visual guide to help you land shells,' so get ready for some chaos

A mortar shell launches from a tube in Rust. — (Image credit: Facepunch Studios)

Facepunch Studios may have only just released S&box, but the launch of its spiritual successor to Garry's Mod has done nothing to slow down its monthly Rust update. It is as predictable as the tide, or having your base raided by your half-naked neighbours. This month's "Upgrade hard, raid harder" patch brings a major overhaul to one of Rust's key systems, though personally I'm more interested in the addition of mortars, sicko for explosions that I am.

We'll eat our vegetables first, however. The headline change affects workbenches, which according to Facepunch have received "a whole new upgrade system". This includes nine new upgrades, each of which provides a different bonus to a workbench's functionality.

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Now, onto dessert. Mortars are a new weapon that players can deploy into battles, letting them pummel opponents from afar with portable artillery. On the face of it, this sounds ludicrously powerful. But Facepunch stresses that using mortars won't be easy. "Firing a mortar requires mastery through trial & error as there is no visual guide to help you land shells," the developer explains. "Instead, you'll need to pair it with binoculars to estimate how high to aim the mortar for it to land on your target."

A closeup image of a workbench in Rust, showing shelves stacked with boxes and a worktop with an old computer and a lockbox on it. — (Image credit: Facepunch Studios)

In other words, you'll need to do proper spotting to get the most out of your mortar. In addition, Facepunch points out that the recoil from a shell's launch will affect the position of the tube, meaning you can't fix a target and then bombard without making further adjustments. It sounds pretty complicated to use, and given players tend to gravitate toward the most direct solution to a problem, it'll be interesting to see whether Rust's community finds it useful.

Elsewhere, tin can alarms can now be customised with various trap items, such as flashbangs, Molotov cocktails, and bee grenades, the vending machine UI has received an overhaul, and a new "crypt stone" building skin has been added to the Rust store for those players who want a base that constantly reminds them of their virtual mortality.

For the five of you reading this who still don't own Rust, the game's currently available for half price at $20 (£17.50). That discount ends tomorrow, though, so if the addition of mortars or workbench upgrades has finally tipped you over the edge, you'd better get in quick.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.