What Solo Only means
Solo Only means you play the whole wipe on your own. The test is not whether you know another player, but whether cooperating gives either of you an advantage over a player who is genuinely alone.
On Lone Wolf Rust, when players coordinate so that it creates a real and direct benefit over a solo player, staff evaluate it, with fair warning and potential action. You are expected to follow the spirit of Solo Only, not only its letter.
Solo does not mean silent. Being friendly is encouraged, you can agree to be friendly with your neighbors, and you can talk in global chat, including calling out booms and base locations. You may never defend a neighbor's base.
Solo Only, solo/duo and "no teaming" servers
Solo Only means a group size of one, so a pair working together is teaming, the same as a larger group.
Servers use other labels too, such as solo/duo or "no teaming". If a server's name uses one, check its rules for the group size it allows before you join: read the rules, not the server name. Lone Wolf Rust is strictly Solo Only, and its rules list what is and is not allowed, with examples.
What counts as teaming
Teaming is any cooperation with another player that gives you an advantage. On Lone Wolf Rust, these all count:
- Fighting on the same side. Two players fight a third and then don't fight each other.
- Moving together. Roaming, riding in a vehicle together, or looting monuments and decayed bases together, puzzles included.
- Sharing a base. Sharing authorization on tool cupboards, code locks or turrets, sharing keys, or giving or trading a base to another player, even if you are quitting.
- Entering bases. Going into another player's base for anything but raiding, or letting someone into yours except to trap and kill them straight away.
- Bags and services. Placing a sleeping bag for another player, or letting one be placed for you, and services of any kind, taxis included.
- Loot and raids. Giving loot back later or somewhere else, sharing raid loot, letting players live when you counter-raid, or making any agreement during a raid or any other KoS situation.
- Outside communication. Using voice, video or out-of-game text with other players to gain an unfair advantage.
You are not required to kill every player you meet. Outside the situations below, you can pass someone by. The full lists are in the rules: what is not allowed and what is allowed.
Kill-on-sight and hot zones
Kill-on-sight (KoS) means that in certain situations everyone nearby must either fight straight away or leave straight away. On Lone Wolf Rust it applies:
- when PvP combat happens nearby, which makes the area around it a hot zone
- during raids and counter-raids
- at monuments, large and small
- at heli, cargo and other events
- at air drops and decaying bases
A tactical pause of a few seconds before you shoot or flee is allowed, but only if all four are true: there was no earlier communication between the players, no coordinated or mutual advantage is gained, the pause gives no unfair benefit over any other player, and there is no bait, meatshield, diversion or other teaming behavior. The KoS rule in full.
Trading and donations
You can trade, but you can't give things away. On Lone Wolf Rust a trade must be relatively fair to both sides and made in real time; a gift is a donation, and donations are a ban.
Trade through drop trades, vending machines, shopfronts and drones, item for item or item for vehicle. A vehicle trade must be a real-time drop trade, with a note traded to confirm it is a vehicle being traded for items. Staff allow a very wide range of what counts as fair, but a lopsided trade, such as some charcoal for an M2, is not.
How Solo Only is enforced
Lone Wolf Rust enforces Solo Only with its own anti-teaming system, active staff and player reports.
The anti-teaming system was custom built for the Solo Only rules and works in four ways:
- No shared spawns. Sleeping bags and beds can't be assigned to other players.
- In-game signals. 25+ signals, including players fighting, raiding and riding together, sharing bases, reviving each other and trading.
- History. Every signal is recorded against the players involved, so a pattern across days stands out.
- Hot zones. When a fight breaks out, the system records who was there, who fought whom, who held back and who left.
Nothing bans you automatically. Every teaming ban is a staff member's judgement on all the evidence together, and sharing an internet connection, logging on at the same time or being Steam friends is never enough on its own. A ban also needs a written rule, real evidence and recent timing.
If you see teaming, press F7 in game, which records the player for staff, then open a ticket in Discord (how to report a player). Don't call players out in global chat: it warns them, and the first time earns a temporary mute (why we mute callouts). Staff never play on Lone Wolf Rust as players, and you can appeal a ban once.
What to check before choosing a solo server
Check the rules and how they are enforced, not the name:
- Is solo a group of one? Or does the server allow duos?
- Is teaming defined? Look for written examples of what is and is not allowed.
- Where does KoS apply? And is a tactical pause allowed?
- How is trading handled? Fair, real-time trades, or gifts too?
- How is it enforced? Anti-teaming tools, active staff, a way to report and a way to appeal.
- Do staff play? On Lone Wolf Rust, by written policy, they never do.
- Is anything pay-to-win? On Lone Wolf Rust, nothing Wolf Pass buys offers in-game advantage.
- When does it wipe? Lone Wolf Rust's map wipes on the first Thursday of every month at 1:45 PM Eastern, and blueprints are kept (wipe schedule).
- Where is it hosted? Lone Wolf Rust is in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas (US Central).
New to the server? Your first wipe covers the rest.