Run the test above for at least 60 seconds. Here is what each
number means for this game specifically.
Red lines (packet loss)
Loss during a raid or a fight is what produces the classic Rust teleport: you run, the server never hears about it, and you are snapped back to where it last saw you. It also eats building placements, which is why walls sometimes refuse to go up under pressure.
Jitter (stability)
Rust interpolates other players' movement heavily. Uneven packet arrival is what makes a running target stutter, and a stuttering target is one you cannot lead. Low jitter matters more here than a low absolute ping.
Ping (latency)
Under 60 ms is fine for a 30-tick server - the server only updates every 33 ms anyway, so shaving 10 ms off a good ping buys you almost nothing. Above 100 ms you start losing close trades and door peeks.
What you see in game, and which number on this page explains it.
In almost every other game on this site, the tick rate is decided by the studio and applies everywhere. In Rust it is a line in a config file. server.tickrate ships at 30, and the overwhelming majority of community servers leave it there, but an operator can raise it to make gunplay crisper or lower it to keep a 300-player wipe day from melting the CPU. Nothing in the client tells you which you joined.
This matters because it breaks the usual diagnostic logic. If two servers feel different on the same evening, on the same connection, with the same chart in front of you, the difference is not your line. It is either the tick rate or - more often - the server's own frame rate collapsing under player and entity count. Neither is something you can fix from your side, and both get blamed on ISPs every day.
The second Rust-specific complication is the wipe cycle. On the first evening after a wipe, every player is online, every base is being built, and entity counts spike far above the weekly average. A server that runs perfectly on day four can be unplayable on day one with no configuration change at all. If your measured line is clean during that window, you have diagnosed a crowd, not a fault.
What is left for you to control is loss and jitter, and Rust is unusually unforgiving about both because progress is persistent. A dropped input in a round-based shooter costs a round. A dropped input during a raid defence costs everything behind the wall that did not go up.
If the chart above shows packet loss or high jitter, work through
these in order.
What tick rate does Rust actually run at?
Whatever the server operator set server.tickrate to. Facepunch's default is 30, and most servers stay there. This test sends 30 packets per second to match that default.
Why do I rubber-band only on some servers?
Because tick rate and server hardware differ per server. If this test shows a clean line while a specific server rubber-bands, you have measured that server, not your connection.
Does a higher tick rate server help my hit registration?
It reduces the window in which the server has no idea where you are, so yes, slightly. It does nothing about packet loss on your own line, which is the more common cause.
Is high ping or high jitter worse for Rust?
Jitter. A steady 90 ms is predictable and you can lead your shots; 40 ms that swings by 30 ms is not, and that is what makes targets stutter across your screen.