Rusted Moss Bonus Content Map (+Winter Update Map)

A complete map of the Bonus Content added on 20/06/2024, alongside a map of the Winter Update added on 28/02/2025.

Contents of this guide

This is the 100% Map of the Bonus Content added on 20/06/2024 As part of the Major Content Update.

Though there isn't as much content necessarily to look at compared to the base game I was inspired by the 100% Rusted Moss Map Guide by DarkOnyx171, Cindorian, and IzzyOrnitier to still make a map guide of the content and as such any similarities to that guide are very much intentional.
I also want to thank the folks on the Rusted Moss Discord for helping out as well as of course the Rusted Moss team for.. well, the game.


Besides that if you have any feedback on the map or questions then feel free to leave them below, I'll try to answer anything I can to the best of my abilities. The guide icon is temporary btw, until I figure out something else I want to use.

Recommended Equipment

The DLC Area can be accessed immediately after killing the Void Worm in the Lake (the entrance; just behind Abby; is otherwise locked) meaning a player can access it as early as they do that.

However I would ultimately recommend an end-game build due to how tanky the late-Climb enemies get (with health rivalling that of base-game bosses). HP/MP Upgrades and ideally multiple (if not all) gun upgrades are highly recommended.

At minimum I would recommend having these weapons before starting the bonus content:







- acquired on the Factory Roof immediately above and to the left of the Shopkeeper









- acquired in the Ichor Refinery either by progressing through most of the refinery or by entering from the Face Stealers fight









- acquired in the Lake. After being chased by the giant probe for the first time and going through a few screens you will reach one with water below and a platform in it. Hug the right wall as you drop into the next screen and enter the room on the right


As for trinkets I would generally recommend:




- given (or rather taken) by the Box Girl in the Mountainside after returning her face from the Face Stealers. Run faster





- purchased for 200 Money from ??? (Fae Merchant) in Elfame. Shooting pushes you back a little





- [NEW CONTENT]
- acquired in the room above Juni before starting the Great Climb. In the top right of the room is a small patch of moss. Combine a charged jump with a rocket and shotgun to boost yourself up the wall and using the upgraded grapple on the moss to pull yourself up to the platform at the top where you will find the charm. Here is a video example: https://i.imgur.com/ZYdWtKj.mp4. Lets you bounce off of Pistol saws





- [NEW CONTENT]
- acquired in the room following the Forgotten Experiment "Noah" fight in the Sunken Library. Changes the behaviour of the Pistol


This build will take up 17 Backpack slots (out of 28). You can opt to ignore Energy Converter and Soft Fae for much of the climb (it's best use is for Juni skip into the climb in the first place) to reduce it to 12 Slots if you favour other trinkets.

Map

The map has been designed according to the following rules:
- the map should be 1:1.6 to the one seen in-game (the map squares are 64x64 as opposed to 40x40). Everything should be more or less accurate but if there's any errors please let me know
- individual sections have been recoloured compared to what they are seen in-game with the exception of the Sunken Library. This is for two reasons: colours in-game often vary based on the area's colour overlay and most of the new content maps just use varying tones of grey. I felt changing them to be coloured roughly to the moss featured in each area better distinguished one from the other (though Verse 3 "Red Velvet Corridor" can be a bit hard to read because of it).
- enemy arenas are marked with a red border with the exception of the unique arena at the end of Verse 2 "Mountain Town"
- switch doors have been very roughly marked on the map (I only marked ones that outright block passage from one room to another. Due to the nature of the room designs it can be hard to really accurately illustrate the location of a switch. I've tried my best to make it still readable but I apologise if there's any confusion
- there are two areas on the map that will not be accessible until you beat the boss at the end of the climb, one blocking the Bell Puzzle used to access Hardmode and the other blocking the 2nd code (found in "Mountain Town") According to Shadowfury they actually become accessible after interacting with Frøy and returning to their location. I've chosen to omit the solution to the Bell Puzzle for now because I have a separate guide for that but I will update the image to include the solution at some point in the future
EDIT (15/07/2024): the bell puzzle solution is now included on the map.

Here is the full map:

To expand on some of the notes on the image:
#2: this area is the "Forest of Recollections". The first (lower) screen offers the ability to replay bosses in their regular format (Frøy can be located through a hidden transition to the right of Lenore) while the second (upper) screen features empowered boss. Beating all empowered bosses will unlock the empowered boss rush

#3: Juni Skip is a hidden (speedrun) skip designed to allow you to access the climb without having collected all 6 Flags and beaten Juni's challenge in Barrow's Ceiling. It is an incredibly long horizontal screen with no floor and only a grapple-able platform in the middle.
You can do it with only a Shotgun and Rocket Launcher but it's designed around making use of the two new trinkets you likely have by now. Here is a (bad) video example of successfully doing the skip:

You CAN go back up to Juni's location having done the skip which will spawn Juni and unlock the path. HOWEVER, leaving and reentering that screen will re-lock the door and Juni will no longer be there requiring you to redo the skip.

#4: Nimue will ask you to find a dictionary (?) for foxes, it's located at the very bottom of the library. Returning it to her will unlock the Grapple Refresh; your grapple hook now recharges after defeating an enemy

#5: completing the Bell Puzzle (whether through your own effort; well done!; or this guide/my other guide) will open you to another room with an inaccessible switch. You must complete the arena to access the switch: be prepared, this arena is easily the longest arena in the game and will feature enemies found through the climb.

Beating it gives you access to the Dream Catcher which will let you rechallenge the climb in Hardmode More on that below.

#6: unlike any other arena this one does not require you to explicitly kill any number of enemies, instead making you push an invincible box container across a really long screen with multiple invincible enemies in your path. Shotgun is great for horizontal movement, rocket for giving vertical (or rather, rocket to launch it up and quickswap to shotgun to shoot it across).

You will be healed to full once the box reaches the end but now you have to return while being chased by the new "Mountain Fae" enemy.


#7: after beating Frøy you will unlock the ability to engrave your name on the leaderboard obelisk to the right of "The Summit" teleporter (it will NOT be available on Flexible difficulty). You will also be able to reset all arenas and locked doors on the climb with the two obelisks on the left of the teleporter.

Hardmode Climb

Hardmode follows a few different rules compared to the regular climb and as such the map is modified accordingly:
- there is NO reward for beating Hardmode besides glory (rather a second, separate leaderboard for both characters)
- dying will reset the run (you must interact with the Dream Catcher again to restart). You are only safe once you finish the climb and reach the Summit (or rather "???") where you will get a save before fighting Frøy? (or rather empowered Frøy/Frøy 2). Beating Frøy? will return you to the regular Summit but you can return to "???" at any point
- teleporters do not function in Hardmode and saves are instead replaced by infinite-use blue healing pads (they despawn on use but leaving and re-entering the room will respawn them). Normal healing pads found throughout the climb are now only SINGLE-USE and WILL despawn on leaving and re-entering a screen. I have chosen to mark these on the map for your convenience
- interludes and most bridge sections between the verses have been blocked off. Additionally many sections of the main verses have also omitted (Verse 3 More than any, though you can actually go in reverse to some of those rooms though why you would do that I can't say)
- AFAIK There is no changes whatsoever to enemy health, damage or their composition in any room across the climb. If I'm mistaken on this please let me know

All of that said, here's the map:

Winter Update Map

With even more content added in the Winter Update it felt appropriate to map it out as well and add it to this guide (I could've made a separate post for it but it didn't feel like there was enough to justify that, so, here it is as an addition to this guide), even if the areas are quite straight forward.

Naturally this will contain spoilers for the Winter Update content. This is your last warning if you wish to experience it blind:














Recommended Equipment:
The Winter Update areas are accessible from the Overgrown Tundra, just before the transition to the Sunken Library. This means the player can access it at the same time as accessing the Great Climb (that is to say as early as killing the Void Worm).
Like the Great Climb I would recommend waiting until you've progressed a decent amount into the game before coming here. Though the new areas are overall easier than the Climb they are still rather challenging especially if you enter with less experience and upgrades.



New items:




- healing mid-air refreshes your grapple.
- acquired in the room below the first Titania Statue in Court of Ash. This requires completing the whole area to get to the first DLC Boss, Diana, and beating them to access.








- picking up money increases damage (up to 2x). Effect resets after taking damage.
- acquired at the very end of the DLC In Temple of the Wild Dance, in the room after the Elicia boss fight.



Map:
- the map follows the same rules as those established for the DLC Map. The only exception to this is that the Winter Update areas feature slightly different doors. For the most part these function exactly the same as doors found elsewhere and are only visually different. There are two variants however:
-the first area; Court of Ash; contains various doors that require the player to shoot multiple switches to unlock
-the second area; Temple of the Wild Dance; has two blue and two green doors. To unlock both doors of a colour the player must shoot the corresponding switch.

Enough dillydallying though, here is the full area map:

[weebis]

how do you make the jump in the room past Abby

[Oketo_]

Amazing guide ! Iwas checking if I had done everything, and except the "Soft Fae" charm, I've done all of the above on my own ! (Well, except hardmode climb, but I'm getting better I can do it )

[NikiRGB]

very nicely made

[Cupid Stunt]

Interesting.

[Shadowfury]

> there are two areas on the map that will not be accessible until you beat the boss at the end of the climb, one blocking the Bell Puzzle used to access Hardmode and the other blocking the 2nd code (found in "Mountain Town").

Actually, the glitched wall blocking access to the 2nd code in mountain town clears up as soon as you talk to Froy just a few rooms afterwards