Zombie Mode
What Is It?
A Roguelite survival mode in BossRush — you're dropped into a map with nothing, facing endless waves of zombies. 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.
Starter Loadout Choice
You must pick one of two loadouts upon entering:
| Loadout | Starting Gear |
|---|---|
| Melee | Random melee weapon ×1 (quality ≤5) + healing items (with guaranteed recovery items) + food ×3 + drinks ×2 |
| Gunner | Random firearm ×1 + matching caliber ammo ×1000 + medical ×3 + food ×2 + drinks ×1 |
Core Loop
Preparation → Combat Wave → Settlement → Reward Selection → Preparation → ...Every 5th wave is a Boss Wave; all others are normal waves.
Preparation Phase
- Lasts 30 seconds countdown
- A Safe Zone spawns at your feet (radius 8m, green circle)
- Inside the Safe Zone:
- Zombies are pushed outside the boundary
- Zombies won't aggro you (threat suppression)
- Attacking zombies with guns/melee weapons while inside breaks stealth (zone turns orange, zombies regain aggro)
- 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)
Extraction Opportunity
After each Boss Wave, the preparation phase includes an extraction opportunity:
- A prompt appears: "Extract Now" or "Continue 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)
- Kill target: 32 + (current wave - 1) × 5 zombies
- Zombies continuously respawn, max 50 normal zombies on the field at once
- Population checked and replenished every second
Boss Waves (wave 5, 10, 15...)
- No kill count target — defeat all Bosses instead
- Boss count scales with wave number
- Wave completes when all Bosses are dead
Ambient Pressure
- Zombies spawn during both preparation and combat phases
- Zombies actively track the player (trace distance: 500m)
Enemy Types
Normal Zombies
Base enemies using the Cname_Zombie preset. Drop 1 purification star (3–8 points).
Special Zombies
Stronger than normal with unique abilities. Drop 3 purification stars (30–60 points total).
| Type | Traits |
|---|---|
| Sprinter | Move speed ×1.2, dash ability (12m distance, 8s cooldown) |
| Exploder | HP ×1.3, detonates within 2.5m (1s delay, 4m radius, 80 damage) |
| Plague | HP ×1.5, speed ×0.95, green plague aura, releases poison cloud (4m radius, 3s duration, 8 DPS) |
| Summoner | HP ×1.5, speed ×0.95, periodically summons 2 normal zombies (15s cooldown) |
| Harasser | HP ×1.3, fires projectiles (speed 12, 25 damage), creates slow zone on hit (3.5m radius, 50% slow, 2s) |
Exploders don't appear in the first 5 waves.
Elite Zombies
Powerful mutants carrying 1–3 affixes. Drop 5 purification stars (80–150 points total).
Base multipliers:
- Normal elite: HP ×2.5 / Damage ×1.5 / Speed ×1.1
- Enhanced elite (pollution ≥15): HP ×3.2 / Damage ×1.7 / Speed ×1.3
Affix System:
| Affix | Effect | Unlock Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Swift | Speed ×1.3 | 0 |
| Frenzied | Damage ×1.15, speed ×1.1 | 0 |
| Tough | HP ×1.4 | 0 |
| Stalwart | HP ×1.15, 90% ranged damage reduction | 1 |
| Regenerating | Continuous health regeneration | 1 |
| Burst | Explodes on death (4m radius, 40 damage) | 1 |
| Plague | Releases poison clouds | 1 |
| Commander | Aura buffs nearby zombies (8m radius, +20% speed, +15% damage) | 3 |
| Toxic Aura | Continuous toxic damage | 3 |
| Splitting | Splits into 2 smaller zombies on death | 3 |
| Shielded | HP ×1.25, periodic shield (25% max HP, 5s duration, 12s cooldown) | 3 |
| Adaptive | After 5 consecutive hits from same source, gains 60% damage reduction for 8s | 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
Spawn Probability
| Pollution | Elite % | Special % | Normal % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–4 | 1% | 5% | 94% |
| 5–9 | 2% | 10% | 88% |
| 10–14 | 4% | 15% | 81% |
| 15–19 | 6% | 20% | 74% |
| 20–24 | 8% | 25% | 67% |
| ≥25 | 10% | 30% | 60% |
Boss System
Boss Waves appear every 5 waves. There are 5 Boss types. Each drops 8 purification stars (300–800 points total).
| Boss | HP Mult | Dmg Mult | Scale | Speed | Traits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titan | ×35 | ×1.8 | ×1.8 | ×0.7 | Slow but extremely tanky, shockwave + damage reduction |
| Hunter | ×18 | ×1.4 | ×1.2 | ×1.6 | Fast dash, low-HP frenzy |
| Splitter | ×25 | ×1.1 | ×1.5 | ×0.95 | Summons minions, HP-threshold splits |
| Shielder | ×28 | ×1.3 | ×1.3 | ×0.9 | Self shield + group shield aura |
| Corruptor | ×26 | ×1.2 | ×1.4 | ×1.0 | Ground corruption zones + poison trail |
Boss Abilities
Titan:
- Shockwave: 6m radius, 60 damage, 12s cooldown, 1s startup
- Fortify: 40% damage reduction, 4s duration, 20s cooldown
Hunter:
- Dash: Teleports 15m toward player, 3.5m radius dealing 40 damage, 5s cooldown
- Frenzy: Triggers below 30% HP — +50% attack speed, +30% move speed, size increase, lasts 15s
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 hasn't moved or taken damage for 45 seconds, it's teleported near the player.
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)
- Cash investment at entry (100 cash = 1 point)
- "Purification Points" reward option
Star Drops
| Enemy Type | Stars | Point Range (total) |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | 1 | 3–8 |
| Special | 3 | 30–60 |
| Elite | 5 | 80–150 |
| Boss | 8 | 300–800 |
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 (e.g., "Pollution Deal" contracts)
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
- Boss waves: 4 options
Refresh options:
- 3 free refreshes per node
- Paid refreshes after (escalating cost: 100 → 200 → 350 → 550 → 800 points)
Reward Categories
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| Attribute | Permanent boosts to HP/speed/melee damage/ranged damage/reload speed/damage reduction |
| Equipment | Random weapons/ammo/medical/armor/high-quality items |
| Economy | Purification points/free refreshes/healing |
| NPC | Temporarily summon merchant/nurse/goblin/courier |
| Fortification | Defensive structure supply packs |
| Contract | High-risk high-reward trades (may increase pollution) |
| Insurance | Keep some items on death |
| Map Event | High-value airdrop/elite squad |
| Projectile Mod | Penetration/burn/cold/poison/armor break/trident/shotgun spray/stasis/ricochet/fork/return/helix/trail |
| Trigger | Lifesteal/crit burst/purification siphon/second wind/doom pulse |
| Mutator | Crit focus/bullet time/guardian shield/quick reload/dash boost |
| Battlefield | 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
| Item | Stock | Base Price |
|---|---|---|
| Firearm | 1 | 500 |
| Melee Weapon | 1 | 300 |
| Accessory | 1 | 260 |
| Ammo | 120 | 100 |
| Helmet | 1 | 350 |
| Armor | 1 | 400 |
| Backpack | 1 | 260 |
| Totem | 1 | 500 |
| Mask | 1 | 180 |
| Medical | 3 | 80 |
| Food | 4 | 30 |
| Bait | 3 | 45 |
Boss Node Stock
After Boss Waves, stock quality increases (quality 3–6) with higher prices.
Nurse Services
| Service | Price | Uses |
|---|---|---|
| Heal 50% HP | 120 | 5 |
| Full Heal | 300 | 2 |
| Detox | 80 | 4 |
| Stop Bleeding | 60 | 4 |
| First Aid (revive insurance) | 500 | 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 is a solid strategy — 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
- 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 terrifying (3 affixes + enhanced multipliers)
- Shielder Boss is the most annoying — group shield makes all zombies tanky, prioritize killing it
- Hunter Boss frenzies at low HP — keep enough health to survive the dash
- 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 is a universal combo
- Lifesteal trigger is the best sustain option — grab it early