Improvised Balaclava
A makeshift balaclava. Cost effective protection from the cold, but unremarkable at preventing melee and projectile damage.
Wearing the Improvised Balaclava in Rust protects your head. Hits to the head take 15% less bullet, arrow and melee damage. It also gives 3 radiation protection and 80% cold protection. You can craft it without a workbench, and its blueprint costs 20 scrap to research.
About the Improvised Balaclava
Against blasts, which hit no single body part, its 20% explosion protection counts as 3.3%.
On the tech tree it sits behind 2 other unlocks: Beenie Hat and Tank Top. In all, 13 loot sources drop it; the full list of where it drops gives the chance for each.
Improvised Balaclava protection and stats
Against animal bites it gives 20% protection, and its full protection table covers every other damage type. Among the 35 protective head pieces, it ranks joint 21st for bullet protection. None of them beats it for warmth.
How to craft the Improvised Balaclava
Crafting one takes 15 seconds without a workbench and costs 15 × Cloth.
15 
How to get the Improvised Balaclava blueprint
Research it for 20 scrap, or unlock it on the Level 1 tech tree for 3 Blueprint Fragments in total.
1 Item 
20 Scrap Blueprint 20 
Node 
1 Blueprint Fragment Unlocked 3 Reduction is how much of that damage type never lands. Damage taken is the rest: at 50% reduction a hit for 100 does 50. A negative reduction means the hit lands harder than it would bare.
What the Improvised Balaclava recycles into
A green recycler always gives back 7 × Cloth for one.
×7 50% ×9 
×11 25% 
×6 Where to find the Improvised Balaclava
Primitive Crate has the best chance at 4.8%, followed by Gingerbread Man at 3.4% and Scarecrow at 3.4%.
Stats checked against the Rust game files on 14 November 2026.
