Zombie Mode
| Entry | Horde invitation |
|---|---|
| Loadout | Auto-stashed on entry |
| Structure | Roguelite survival, endless horde |
| Economy | Purification points, self-contained |
| Mutators | No — own reward track |
| Difficulty | ★★★★☆ |
What Is It?
A Roguelite survival mode in BossRush: you're dropped into a map with nothing, and the zombies keep coming. Clear each wave, pick a reward to grow stronger, but enemies scale up too. Survive long enough to extract and convert your Purification Points into cash; die and you lose everything.
Entry Requirements
- Purchase a Zombie Tide Invitation from the base merchant (consumed on entry)
- Use the invitation to open the map selection screen
- After confirming, optionally invest cash: 100 cash = 1 starting Purification Point (rounded down). Investing 0 is fine
- Upon entering the map, all your items are automatically transferred to storage (naked entry)
- Choose your starter loadout to begin
The invitation is not refunded on death. If an error occurs during loading, both the invitation and cash are automatically refunded.
How it connects to the other systems
Zombie Mode has its own lifecycle and reward system, so most Mod systems don't apply here. Two exceptions are worth knowing:
- Duck King Campaign chapter 5, "The Match Nobody Takes", sends you here - hold the tide to wave 5 and extract once, for a 100,000 payout. It's the only chapter that enters Zombie Mode.
- All five Zombie Bosses appear in the Duckov Codex - Titan, Hunter, Splitter, Shielder and Corruptor each get a square, tracking total kills, first-seen date and fastest kill just like any other Boss. There's no completing the codex without this mode.
What does not apply here: mutators (this mode has its own in-run upgrades), random events, affix forging (the temporary goblin doesn't offer it), and relic soul/egg drops (PetNest cubs can accompany you as usual).
Starter Loadout Choice
You must pick one of two loadouts upon entering:
- Melee — Starting Gear: Random melee weapon ×1 (quality ≤5) + healing items (with guaranteed recovery items) + food ×3 + drinks ×2
- Gunner — Starting Gear: Random firearm ×1 + one stack of matching ammo (limited by the item's stack cap; heavy ammo with small stacks or no stacking is topped up to at least 4 rounds) + medical ×3 + food ×2 + drinks ×1
Both loadouts also get a random armor set: body armor, helmet and headset, one each (quality ≤5).
Your starter choice does not restrict weapons for the run: Melee starters can use guns, and Gunners can switch to melee. It affects starting supplies, early guaranteed upgrades, and starter-gear rerolls; both weapon reward types remain available.
Core Loop
Preparation → Combat Wave → Settlement → Reward Selection → Preparation → ...Every 5th wave is a Boss Wave; all others are normal waves.
Preparation Phase
- The reward screen normally shows only the current Rest Time with an Edit button, keeping the reward area compact. Edit opens a 15-second-step slider from 15 to 300 seconds (5 minutes); click Apply to save.
- Each run starts at 45 seconds. Once changed, that value becomes the default for every later wave, including the post-Boss extraction preparation.
- A Safe Zone spawns at your feet (radius 8m, green circle)
- Inside the Safe Zone:
- Normal zombies inside are removed immediately when the zone is deployed; Bosses are moved outside the boundary
- New zombies entering the zone are continuously pushed out, so the zone never becomes a zombie standing area
- Zombies won't aggro you (threat suppression)
- Directly damaging a zombie while inside cancels the entire safe zone immediately, including its circle, map marker, and bound terminal
- Portable Safe-Zone Device: used in combat it moves the safe zone to your current position, and the normal merchant-bearing zone is recreated as usual once the wave ends; used during preparation it deploys an extra zone without a merchant that coexists with the normal one until the next wave formally starts, when both are cleared
- Both uses obey the attack-cancellation rule above; damaging a zombie inside either zone cancels both.
- Zone flashes yellow in the last 5 seconds as warning
- A Supply Terminal (merchant NPC) spawns inside the safe zone
- You can use the Zombie Tide Beacon to skip the countdown and start the next wave immediately (3-second channel)
- Preparation does not stop spawning: 12-48 low-tide zombies remain outside the safe zone, replenishing at most one zombie every 1.65 seconds
Extraction Opportunity
After each Boss Wave, the preparation phase includes an extraction opportunity:
- A prompt appears: "Extract Now" or "Keep Fighting"
- Choosing extraction requires standing in the extraction zone for 15 seconds
- Leaving the zone cancels extraction and starts the next wave
- Successful extraction: Purification Points convert 1:1 to cash, return to base
Combat Waves
Normal Waves (non-multiples of 5)
The tide runs in five-wave cycles: Low Tide → Rising Tide → High Tide → Peak Tide → Boss Tide.
Wave 1 — Stage: Low Tide; Field Pressure: 24; Kill Target: 18; Refill Interval: 1.00s; Non-Boss Move Speed: 72%
Wave 2 — Stage: Rising Tide; Field Pressure: 36; Kill Target: 24; Refill Interval: 0.86s; Non-Boss Move Speed: 76%
Wave 3 — Stage: High Tide; Field Pressure: 51; Kill Target: 30; Refill Interval: 0.72s; Non-Boss Move Speed: 79%
Wave 4 — Stage: Peak Tide; Field Pressure: 69; Kill Target: 38; Refill Interval: 0.58s; Non-Boss Move Speed: 83%
Wave 5 — Stage: Boss Tide; Field Pressure: 24 support zombies; Kill Target: Defeat the Boss; Refill Interval: 1.00s; Non-Boss Move Speed: 86% (support only)
After each Boss, the next cycle drops back to Low Tide with +18 normal-wave baseline pressure, the original +18 kill-target growth, and slightly faster refills
Non-Boss enemy move speed starts at 72%, increases by 3.5% each wave, and caps at the original 100%
150 remains a hard safety cap for normal zombies, not a target that every refill tries to fill
As a normal wave approaches its kill target, pressure falls automatically to create a finishable ebb
Boss Waves (wave 5, 10, 15...)
There is no kill-count target; defeat every Boss in the wave instead
Boss count grows only with progression: waves 5/10/15/20/25 contain 1/2/3/4/5 Bosses, then every later Boss wave adds one more with no gameplay cap
Boss count is independent of map size and spawn-point count
If a Boss fails to spawn, the game retries at another spot, up to 4 attempts in total; only when all 4 fail is that Boss dropped from the wave
Boss cycles do not add movement speed; difficulty grows through Boss health, damage, and support pressure
The wave completes only after every Boss is dead
Wave 5 — Boss Count: 1; Per-Boss HP: 100%; Per-Boss Damage: 100%; Support Pressure: 24; Per-Boss Purification: 100%; Roguelite Rewards: One full-pool 4-choice pick
Wave 10 — Boss Count: 2; Per-Boss HP: 130%; Per-Boss Damage: 112%; Support Pressure: 33; Per-Boss Purification: 125%; Roguelite Rewards: One combat 4-choice pick + one full-pool 4-choice pick
Wave 15 — Boss Count: 3; Per-Boss HP: 160%; Per-Boss Damage: 124%; Support Pressure: 42; Per-Boss Purification: 150%; Roguelite Rewards: One combat 4-choice pick + one full-pool 4-choice pick
Wave 20 — Boss Count: 4; Per-Boss HP: 190%; Per-Boss Damage: 136%; Support Pressure: 51; Per-Boss Purification: 175%; Roguelite Rewards: One combat 4-choice pick + one full-pool 4-choice pick
Wave 25 — Boss Count: 5; Per-Boss HP: 220%; Per-Boss Damage: 148%; Support Pressure: 60; Per-Boss Purification: 200%; Roguelite Rewards: One combat 4-choice pick + one full-pool 4-choice pick
Later Bosses cap at 250% HP and 180% damage; support pressure caps at 60 and purification gain caps at 300%
The bonus combat pick only contains attributes, projectiles, triggers, and run mutators; NPC, ordinary supply, and economy choices cannot occupy it
Every Boss independently drops purification stars and one lootbox, so total wave purification and lootbox count keep growing with Boss count and have no gameplay cap
Per-Boss kill purification and the reward-screen purification choice use the purification multiplier; each lootbox's quantity and quality rise on the same cycle
Each Boss lootbox gains one item per cycle (starting at 6-9, capped at 10-13); maximum quality rises toward Q8 and minimum quality rises every two cycles
Ambient Pressure
- Preparation maintains 35% of the next wave's pressure, clamped to 12-48 zombies, and replenishes at most one every 1.65 seconds
- Combat refills toward its current pressure target in bounded batches; it prefers reachable NavMesh positions near the player and retains a safe fallback of at least 12m when strict candidates fail
- Preferred spawn distance is 22m for waves 1-2, 20m for waves 3-5, and 18m afterward
- Every spawn point must be walkable to where you stand: points on a disconnected island or another level are discarded, so no zombie spawns that can never reach you
- Living counts are reconciled against valid runtime enemies before each refill; a normal zombie that remains more than 60m away for 8 seconds is recovered near the player instead of occupying a hidden slot
- Zombies actively track the player (trace distance: 500m)
Enemy Types
Normal Zombies
The rank-and-file of the horde. Drop 1 purification star (3-8 points).
Special Zombies
Stronger than normal with unique abilities. Drop 3 purification stars (30–60 points total). The multipliers below are the final special-type values before pollution scaling; every Special starts from HP ×1.40, damage ×1.20, and speed ×1.10.
- Sprinter Zombie — Combat multipliers before pollution: HP ×1.40 / damage ×1.20 / speed ×1.32; Target color / size: Yellow target
#FFD91F; size ×1.35; Known behavior: Dash distance 12m, 0.5s startup, 8s cooldown. - Exploder Zombie (mod blast) — Combat multipliers before pollution: HP ×1.30 / damage ×1.20 / speed ×1.10; Target color / size: Red-orange target
#FF4D14; size ×1.60; Known behavior: Detonates when the player enters 2.5m; 1s delay, 4m radius, 80 damage, 9s skill cycle; self-destructs after triggering, and a pre-detonation death can trigger the blast once. - Exploder Zombie (vanilla blast) — Combat multipliers before pollution: HP ×1.30 / damage ×1.20 / speed ×1.10; Target color / size: Red-orange target
#FF4D14; size ×1.60; Known behavior: Uses the base game zombie's own self-destruct skill. The mod does not layer a second blast on top; its exact range and damage come from the base game and are not guessed here. - Plague Zombie — Combat multipliers before pollution: HP ×1.50 / damage ×1.20 / speed ×0.95; Target color / size: Green target
#2EFF59; size ×1.80; Known behavior: Every 12s, casts a poison cloud with 0.9s telegraph, 4m radius, 3s duration, and 8 DPS. The ground zone stays at the cast point; the mutant also carries a green plague aura. - Summoner Zombie — Combat multipliers before pollution: HP ×1.50 / damage ×1.20 / speed ×0.95; Target color / size: Purple target
#BF4DFF; size ×2.00; Known behavior: Every 15s, summons 2 normal zombies. Summoned zombies are scaled to ×0.60. - Harasser Zombie — Combat multipliers before pollution: HP ×1.30 / damage ×1.20 / speed ×1.10; Target color / size: Cyan target
#26F2FF; size ×1.45; Known behavior: Every 4s, fires a visible-trail projectile (speed 10, damage 25, flight lifetime 3.5s). It deals damage and creates a 3.5m slow zone only on an actual player hit; reaching the launch-time target point or expiring without a hit counts as a successful dodge.
Both exploder variants show in-game as "Exploder Zombie"; they differ only in whether the blast is the mod's or the base game's. Neither appears in waves 1-5; the full special pool opens up from wave 6. The poison clouds of Plague Zombies, the Plague affix and the Toxic Aura apply the Poison status with every damage tick.
Elite Zombies
Powerful mutants carrying 1–3 affixes. Drop 5 purification stars (80–150 points total). Normal elites use HP ×2.50 / damage ×1.50 / speed ×1.10; at pollution ≥15, enhanced elites use HP ×3.20 / damage ×1.70 / speed ×1.30.
Pollution is applied after the base and affix multipliers: HP ×(1 + pollution × 0.05) and damage ×(1 + pollution × 0.04); speed has no pollution multiplier. Affix multipliers stack multiplicatively.
Affix encyclopedia:
- Swift — Exact effect: Additional speed ×1.30.; Target color (priority): Yellow
#FFD91F(5); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 0 - Frenzied — Exact effect: Additional damage ×1.15 and speed ×1.10.; Target color (priority): Yellow
#FFD91F(5); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 0 - Tough — Exact effect: Additional HP ×1.40.; Target color (priority): Default orange
#FFA61F(6); Size bonus: +0.20; Unlock tier: 0 - Stalwart — Exact effect: Additional HP ×1.15; damage from the main player that is not melee is reduced to 10% (90% reduction).; Target color (priority): Default orange
#FFA61F(6); Size bonus: +0.20; Unlock tier: 1 - Regenerating — Exact effect: Restores 2.5% of max HP every second, with a minimum of 1 HP.; Target color (priority): Green
#2EFF59(2); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 1 - Burst — Exact effect: Death explosion: 4m radius, 40 damage.; Target color (priority): Red-orange
#FF4D14(4); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 1 - Plague — Exact effect: Every 12s, casts a fixed-position poison cloud: 0.9s telegraph, 5.5m radius, 3s duration, 26 total damage (about 8.67 DPS).; Target color (priority): Green
#2EFF59(2); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 1 - Commander — Exact effect: An 8m aura refreshes every 0.5s; nearby zombies gain +20% walk/run speed and +15% melee/gun damage.; Target color (priority): Purple
#BF4DFF(1); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 3 - Toxic Aura — Exact effect: Every 12s, creates a caster-following toxic zone: 0.9s telegraph, 5.5m radius, 3s duration, 26 total damage (about 8.67 DPS).; Target color (priority): Green
#2EFF59(2); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 3 - Splitting — Exact effect: On death, spawns 2 normal small zombies at ×0.60 size.; Target color (priority): Purple
#BF4DFF(1); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 3 - Shielded — Exact effect: Additional HP ×1.25; every 12s gains a shield equal to 25% of max HP for 5s.; Target color (priority): Cyan
#26F2FF(3); Size bonus: +0.20; Unlock tier: 3 - Adaptive — Exact effect: After 5 consecutive melee or 5 consecutive non-melee hits from the main player, damage from that category is reduced by 60% for 8s; switching category resets the opposite counter.; Target color (priority): Cyan
#26F2FF(3); Size bonus: None; Unlock tier: 5
Affix count by pollution:
- Pollution < 5: 1 affix
- Pollution 5–14: 1 (65%) or 2 (35%)
- Pollution 15–24: 2 affixes
- Pollution ≥ 25: 2–3 affixes
Forbidden combinations:
- Stalwart + Shielded + Regenerating is never allowed.
- Below pollution 15, Stalwart + Swift is forbidden.
- Below pollution 15, ToxicAura + Plague + Swift is forbidden.
Color and scale rules:
- For multiple affixes, color priority is purple (Commander/Splitting) > green (Plague/ToxicAura/Regenerating) > cyan (Shielded/Adaptive) > red-orange (Burst) > yellow (Swift/Frenzied) > default orange (Tough/Stalwart or no match). These are target colors: what you actually see is blended toward the zombie's original palette, so it won't match exactly.
- Elites grow with affix count: 1 = ×1.65, 2 = ×1.95, 3 = ×2.25. Tough, Stalwart, or Shielded adds ×0.20; the hard cap is ×3.00 (the current three-affix high-threat maximum is ×2.45).
- Only the appearance grows. Attack range, collision and pathing are unaffected - don't judge its reach by its size. If the recolor and resize can't be applied, a persistent marker appears at its feet so you can still pick it out.
- All Bosses, including Titan, are excluded from this mutation identity system; this page documents only Specials and Elites.
Spawn Probability
The first five waves use a fixed onboarding curve instead of the pollution table:
- Wave 1 — Elite %: 0%; Special %: 0%
- Wave 2 — Elite %: 0%; Special %: 3%
- Wave 3 — Elite %: 0%; Special %: 5%
- Waves 4–5 — Elite %: 1%; Special %: 8%
From wave 6 onward, the mode uses continuously growing weights. Normal weight stays at 100; Elite weight is "pollution base + 3 × (wave - 5)"; Special weight is "pollution base + 5 × (wave - 5)." The three weights are normalized, so the combined Elite/Special chance keeps approaching 100% without either type crowding out the other.
Examples below assume pollution 0; higher pollution raises the Elite and Special shares further:
- Wave 6 — Elite %: 3.5%; Special %: 8.8%; Elite + Special: 12.3%
- Wave 10 — Elite %: 11.0%; Special %: 20.5%; Elite + Special: 31.5%
- Wave 20 — Elite %: 20.4%; Special %: 35.4%; Elite + Special: 55.8%
- Wave 50 — Elite %: 29.2%; Special %: 49.4%; Elite + Special: 78.5%
- Wave 100 — Elite %: 33.0%; Special %: 55.4%; Elite + Special: 88.5%
Boss System
Boss Waves appear every 5 waves. There are 5 Boss types. Each drops 8 purification stars (300–700 points total).
- Titan — HP Mult: ×35; Dmg Mult: ×1.8; Scale: ×1.8; Speed: ×0.7; Traits: Slow but extremely tanky, shockwave + damage reduction
- Hunter — HP Mult: ×18; Dmg Mult: ×1.4; Scale: ×1.2; Speed: ×1.6; Traits: Fast dash, low-HP frenzy
- Splitter — HP Mult: ×25; Dmg Mult: ×1.1; Scale: ×1.5; Speed: ×0.95; Traits: Summons minions, HP-threshold splits
- Shielder — HP Mult: ×28; Dmg Mult: ×1.3; Scale: ×1.3; Speed: ×0.9; Traits: Self shield + group shield aura
- Corruptor — HP Mult: ×26; Dmg Mult: ×1.2; Scale: ×1.4; Speed: ×1.0; Traits: Ground corruption zones + poison trail
Appearance and Codex
- Titan: heavy dark shoulder armor and a three-pronged crown with ember-orange blade tips; its ground sigil is a double ring with three crown teeth. Fortify spins the sigil faster and brightens the tips.
- Hunter: crimson twin back blades and forward claws; its ground sigil is two chevrons pointing where it faces. Dashes leave a red afterimage streak, and frenzy accelerates its energy ring.
- Splitter: a purple crystal spine fan with staggered shards; its ground sigil is a ring of five cells. Summoning triggers a pulse.
- Shielder: three cyan shield plates and a hexagonal ring; its ground sigil is two nested hexagons of shield plates. An active shield brightens the sigil and blade tips.
- Corruptor: toxic-green branching antlers and back spines; its ground sigil is a warped ring dripping outward. Casting a corruption zone releases a pulse.
Each ability cast bursts matching sparks from the chest and sends a shock ring across the ground; a kill ends in a burst of sparks and a smoke ring. Ground sigils draw beneath ability warning circles, so they never hide a danger zone. All five use official nameplates with the official Boss icon beside the name. Your own kills count as separate Emperor Codex entries; ordinary zombies, split offspring, companion kills and environmental kills do not unlock Boss entries. Progress is queued during combat and saved after returning to base. Use the Emperor Codex item to check kill totals.
Boss Abilities
When several Bosses are on the field, their damaging openers (shockwave, dash, corruption zone) are spaced at least 0.9s apart so they never all land on the same instant; shields and summons are not limited by this.
Titan:
- Shockwave: 6m radius, 60 damage, 12s cooldown, 1s startup
- Fortify: 40% damage reduction, 4s duration, 20s cooldown
Hunter:
- Dash: Shows a 0.45s startup warning, then dashes toward the locked player position up to 15m; deals 40 damage within 3.5m of its actual landing position, 5s cooldown
- Frenzy: Triggers below 30% HP — +50% attack speed, +30% move speed, size increase; once triggered it lasts until the Hunter dies
Splitter:
- Summon: Spawns 4 smaller zombies (0.7× scale), 15s cooldown
- HP Split: At 50% and 25% HP, splits into 2 small zombies (0.5× scale)
- Death Burst: Explodes on death (4m radius, 45 damage) and spawns 2 small zombies
Shielder:
- Self Shield: 35% max HP shield, 8s duration, 25s cooldown
- Group Shield: All zombies within 8m get 35% max HP shield, 6s duration, 35s cooldown
- Damage Reduction Aura: 15% damage reduction for zombies within 6m (passive)
Corruptor:
- Corruption Zone: Places toxic circle at player's feet (4m radius, 8s duration, 6 DPS, 20% slow), 12s cooldown
- Poison Trail: Leaves toxic path while moving (1.2m wide, 5s duration, 4 DPS)
- Death Cloud: Releases poison cloud on death (5m radius, 6s duration, 5 DPS)
Boss Stuck Handling
If a Boss has made no positional progress for 12 seconds, it is teleported near the player with its ground position, NavMeshAgent, and rigidbody velocity corrected; ongoing player damage does not block recovery.
Purification Points
The core currency of Zombie Mode:
- Buy supplies: All merchant items cost Purification Points
- Cash out on extraction: 1 Purification Point = 1 cash on successful extraction
Sources
- Killing zombies drops Purification Stars (auto-magnetize within 30m)
- Ordinary loose drops, including elite zombies' ordinary drops, are cleared when the next wave actually starts. They remain pickable during reward selection and rest; Boss lootboxes remain until collected or end-of-run cleanup.
- Cash investment at entry (100 cash = 1 point)
- "Purification Points" reward option
Star Drops
- Normal — Stars: 1; Point Range (total): 3–8
- Special — Stars: 3; Point Range (total): 30–60
- Elite — Stars: 5; Point Range (total): 80–150
- Boss — Stars: 8; Point Range (total): 300–700
High pollution grants bonus points: +10% per 10 pollution, up to +50%.
Pollution System
Pollution is the difficulty scaling mechanic.
Sources
- +1 natural pollution per Boss Wave cleared
- Some reward options add pollution (the Pact options, e.g. the one that costs Purification 80/150 for Pollution +1/+2)
Effects
- Enemy HP: +5% per pollution point
- Enemy Damage: +4% per pollution point
- Increased elite/special spawn rates (see probability table above)
- More elite affixes
- Higher-tier affixes unlock
- Price inflation: At pollution 5/10/15/20/25, prices multiply by 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5
Reward Selection
After each wave, choose from rewards:
- Normal waves: 3 options
- Wave 5 Boss: pick 1 of 4
- From the Wave 10 Boss onward: first pick 1 of 4 combat upgrades, then pick 1 of 4 from the full reward pool, for two rewards total
- Waves 1–2 always include one offense upgrade matching the starter loadout and one medical, armor, or healing option
- The bottom of the panel keeps a compact “Rest Time + Edit” row. The 15–300 second choices appear only after Edit is clicked; choosing one collapses the editor and carries that value into later waves.
Refresh options:
- 3 free refreshes per node
- Paid refreshes after (escalating cost: 100 → 200 → 350 → 550 → 800 points)
Reward Categories
- Attribute — Description: Permanent boosts to HP/speed/melee damage/ranged damage/reload speed/damage reduction
- Equipment — Description: Random weapons/ammo/medical/armor/high-quality items/one-use Portable Safe-Zone Device
- Economy — Description: Purification Points/paid-refresh discounts/healing/a high-weight low-quality junk recycling option; weapons, ammo, medical, food, keys, special items, and containers with attachments or contents are protected
- NPC — Description: Temporarily summon merchant/nurse/goblin/courier
- Fortification — Description: Defensive structure supply packs
- Pact — Description: High-risk high-reward trades (may increase pollution)
- Insurance — Description: Keep some items on death
- Event — Description: High-value airdrop/elite squad
- Projectile — Description: Penetration/burn/cold/poison/armor break/trident/shotgun spray/stasis/ricochet/fork/return/helix/trail
- Trigger — Description: Lifesteal/crit burst/purification siphon/second wind/doom pulse
- Mutator — Description: Crit focus/bullet time/guardian shield/quick reload/dash boost
- Battlefield — Description: Ammo rain/purge aura/curse trap/black hole/gravity drag
Supply Terminal (Merchant NPC)
Spawns automatically in the safe zone each preparation phase. All items cost Purification Points.
Normal Wave Stock
- Firearm — Stock: 1; Base Price: 500
- Melee Weapon — Stock: 1; Base Price: 300
- Accessory — Stock: 1; Base Price: 260
- Ammo — Stock: 120 purchases; Base Price: 100 per purchase, 200 rounds each
- Helmet — Stock: 1; Base Price: 350
- Armor — Stock: 1; Base Price: 400
- Backpack — Stock: 1; Base Price: 260
- Totem — Stock: 1; Base Price: 500
- Mask — Stock: 1; Base Price: 180
- Medical — Stock: 3; Base Price: 80
- Food — Stock: 4; Base Price: 30
- Drinks — Stock: 4; Base Price: 30
- Bait — Stock: 3; Base Price: 45
Boss Node Stock
After Boss Waves, stock quality increases (quality 3–6) with higher prices. Drinks have 3 units of stock with a base price of 50.
The terminal shows current Purification balance, stock, and price directly. When you cannot afford an item, its price and purchase action provide clear feedback before you commit.
Nurse Services
- Heal 50% HP — Price: 120; Uses: 5
- Full Heal — Price: 300; Uses: 2
- Detox — Price: 80; Uses: 4
- Stop Bleeding — Price: 60; Uses: 4
- First Aid (revive insurance) — Price: 500; Uses: 1
Fortification System
Obtained through rewards, fortification packs let you place defensive structures:
- Foldable Cover — provides cover
- Reinforced Roadblock — blocks zombie movement
- Barbed Wire — slows and damages zombies
- Emergency Repair Spray — repairs damaged fortifications
Normal wave packs contain 1 of each; Boss node packs contain 2 of each.
Failure & Death
- Player death = game over, auto-return to base
- All Purification Points are lost (no cash conversion)
- Invitation is not refunded
- Insurance rewards can preserve some items on death
Successful Extraction
- Choose to extract during the extraction opportunity and stand in the zone for 15 seconds
- Purification Points convert 1:1 to cash
- Return to base with all acquired items
Tips
- Investing cash pays off: starting Purification Points let you buy gear after wave 1
- Melee loadout suits aggressive playstyles with more healing; Gunner loadout suits kiting with abundant ammo
- The first 5 waves are your buildup phase. Use the safe zone to rest and shop
- Always consider extracting after Boss Waves. It gets harder, but points also increase
- Watch your pollution level. High-pollution elites are nasty (3 affixes + enhanced multipliers)
- Shielder Boss is the most annoying: its group shield makes every zombie tanky, so kill it first
- Hunter Boss stays in frenzy from 30% HP until it dies. Keep enough health to survive the dash and burst down its last stretch
- Don't fight Splitter Boss in tight spaces; split zombies will block your escape
- Use the Zombie Tide Beacon to skip preparation when you're well-equipped
- Projectile mods stack (most cap at 3). Penetration + Burn works with almost anything
- Lifesteal trigger is the best sustain option. Grab it early