Spore Pod Harvest

The short version

Halloween runs on top of normal Infected rounds. Nothing about hiding, surviving or infecting changes. What it adds is something to fight over: spore pods sprout around the map a few seconds after the infected are released, and each one pays Spores, sometimes Marrow, and rarely Heartwood. Spend them in /halloween on upgrades and event classes that stay yours, and keep working all year.

How a Halloween round plays out

Rounds keep the usual 60-second hide and four-minute outbreak. Here is what the event layers on, in order.

1. Everyone lands on the map

   The boss roll

   Before the Mother Zombies are picked, the round rolls for a boss: a 15% chance for each boss the map has (so a boss in 30% of rounds on a map with both), and never more than one a round. If one is coming, everyone is told straight away, with a title, a sound and a pulse of darkness, and where it will be.

2. The hide phase

   Pods lie dormant

   Every pod shrinks to a sapling and can't be used. Their labels read "Sprouts once the infected are out".

3. Release

   Pods sprout, and the Brood Host rises

   Each pod ripens at its own random moment in the first 30 seconds, so there's no single rush. If the round rolled the Brood Host, it rises at its nest the moment the infection begins and stays all round.

4. All round

   Harvest and trap

   Survivors harvest pods. The infected trap them so the next harvester lights up.

5. 2:50 left

   The Harvestman walks in

   If the round rolled him, the Harvestman comes for the infected's Blight Heart, and the horde has to stop him.

6. 30 seconds left, then round end

   The pouch pays out

   A "30 seconds left" chat line and sound (in every round, not just Halloween) tell you the end is close. When the round ends, everything you earned in resources lands in your account, as long as the round was a real one. See the rules.

Spore pods

Staff hand-place pods on every map, never inside a spawn sanctuary. Every harvestable pod wears a floating label so you can tell it from decoration, and ripe pods sparkle in their own colour.

How to harvest

• Hold right-click on a ripe pod for 1 second. A progress bar fills on your action bar.
• The harvest breaks if you let go, move more than 1.5 blocks, take any damage, or the pod stops being ripe. Get caught mid-harvest and you lose it.
• Every harvest pays 2 cookies on the spot (boosters count). The resources go into your round pouch.
• A harvested pod shrinks back to a sapling and regrows after 2 minutes in a 6-player round, and faster the more players there are (90s with 8, 1 minute with 12, never under 40s), so a full lobby has as many pods to go round as a small one.
• You can harvest at most 10 times per round.
• Taking the same pod twice in a round still pays cookies and Spores, but no Marrow or Heartwood roll and no Pod Roll. Move around the map.

The five kinds of pod

The kind is set when a pod is placed. Each harvest pays the Spores shown, plus a chance at one Marrow and a separate chance at one Heartwood.

Pod	Spores	Marrow	Heartwood	How to spot it
Spore Pod	3–5	30%	—	The everyday pod. Green label.
Prime Spore Pod	3–5	70%	12%	Bigger, lit from inside, sparkles gold. The best Heartwood odds.
Blight Pod	4–6	40%	3%	A sealed egg pod that bursts when taken.
Giant Puffball	6–9	15%	—	All Spores. Bursts into a cloud when taken.
Glowcap Cluster	2–4	55%	6%	Fewer Spores, good Marrow and Heartwood odds.

Heartwood is the rare one, so the whole server sees it in chat whenever someone pulls Heartwood from a pod.

The Pod Roll

Every harvest that pays in full also rolls once for a bonus. The reels spin on your action bar, and most of the time nothing extra lands. When something does, it's one prize from its tier:

Rolled Spores, Marrow and Heartwood go into your round pouch like the rest. Epic and legendary wins are announced to the whole server. A legendary gets a title, a fanfare for everyone and a burst of totem sparks.

Reading the label

• "Hold right-click to harvest": it's ripe.
• "Being harvested...": someone is on it right now.
• "⟳ Regrowing within 2 minutes": already taken. It tells you roughly when it's back, never the exact second, so there's no point standing on it.
• "Sprouting within a minute": dormant at the start of the round.
• "Needs 6+ players": the round is too small for pods.

Trapping pods

The infected can't harvest, but they can turn a pod against whoever takes it next.

• Hold right-click on a ripe pod for 5 seconds to trap it. It breaks on the same things as a harvest: letting go, moving 1.5 blocks, or being hit.
• A trapped pod looks completely normal to survivors. Infected within 32 blocks see a red haze on it.
• The next survivor to harvest it still gets paid in full, but glows for everyone for 3 seconds with a "TRAPPED! The horde can see you" title.
• The trapper earns +0.25 scorestreak.
• A trap is used up by one harvest, and every trap is cleared when the next round starts.

Resources & the round pouch

The three resources are Spores (the common one), Marrow (uncommon) and Heartwood (rare). They're spent in /halloween on upgrades and event classes, and they carry over to next Halloween. Nothing ever wipes them.

Everything goes into a pouch first

Resources from pods and boss kills aren't paid the moment you earn them. They collect in a round pouch that pays out when the round ends, and only if the round was a real fight. All three of these have to be true:

• If any rule fails, you keep your cookies but the round's resources are void, and you're told why.
• If the Brood Host is still alive when the round ends, every pouch pays two thirds (rounded down).
• Left before the end? You're still paid, as long as the round qualifies.

Halloween upgrades

Seven of your prestige-shop perks get an extra Halloween rung on top. Buy them in /halloween with resources.

• It works once its perk is level 2 in /prestigeshop (Final Stand's top level is 2), so every upgrade is 1-4 prestiges away (Final Stand, at 5 tokens, is the long one). You can buy it before that. There's no rank requirement.
• They can only be bought while the event is on, and once bought they're yours for good. No perk reset or refund removes them.
• They keep working all year, not just during Halloween, as long as the perk is level 2 or higher.

The three event classes

The Scarecrow (the top class), the Clown and the Mutant are earned, never bought with money:

• Finish the class's three quests, then buy it in /halloween with resources.
• Quest progress is shared: one infection counts towards both the Scarecrow's and the Mutant's infect quests. Quests only count while the event is on, and progress is saved.
• Unlocked classes are yours for good, and playable all year, not just during Halloween.
• Each has three class skills like any other class (2 class prestiges and a Skill Token unlock them).
• They're not available in Duels.

The Scarecrow

Ability cooldown 18s · Zombie armour, wooden sword

Ability · Carrion Tunnel

Send a tunnel of 12 bats streaming into the survivor in your sights (up to 24 blocks, line of sight needed). Over 5 seconds they bite 5 times for 2 hearts in total. If that survivor is infected, gets more than 30 blocks away or breaks line of sight, the tunnel swings to the next survivor, up to 3 in total. A survivor who's blocking takes no bite damage. No target, no cooldown spent.

Rise

Every bite that lands charges Rise by 15. At 100 you get a lantern: use it to climb out of the ground 2–3 blocks from a random survivor. For the 2 seconds you're rising you can't be hurt or hurt anyone, then you have Weakness I for 5s. The charge lasts all round, even through deaths.

Passive

Sticky and flash grenades do nothing to you.

Unlock quests

• Harvest 40 spore pods
• Trap 10 ripe pods as infected
• Infect 15 survivors

1,200 Spores150 Marrow25 Heartwood

Class skills

• Split Flock: two beams of 8 bats on two survivors, so Rise charges twice as fast.
• Grasping Roots: survivors within 3 blocks when you Rise are rooted for 1.5s.
• Carrion Mark: every bite that lands makes that survivor glow for 4s.

The Clown

Ability cooldown 20s · Zombie armour, wooden sword

Ability · Balloon Rocket

Mark a survivor within 28 blocks (they're warned), and after a half-second wind-up you corkscrew at them on a bunch of balloons at about 27 blocks a second, steering after them for up to 1.5s. It does no damage: the mark and anyone you pass close to are blinded for 3 seconds and shoved. Walls stop you. No fall damage. No target, no cooldown spent.

The planted balloon

Where you land, a balloon is planted for 6 seconds. Survivors within 4 blocks get 3 balloons tied on and their screen fills with drifting balloons for 5s. Survivors can pop it by hitting it.

Passive · Pop

Hitting a survivor who has balloons tied on pops one and gives you Speed I for 3 seconds, up to 3 pops per survivor.

Unlock quests

• Survive 5 rounds to the end
• Kill 30 infected as a survivor
• Harvest 8 prime pods

900 Spores110 Marrow16 Heartwood

Class skills

• Encore: for 3s after landing, press again to rocket at a second mark.
• Surprise Party: when your balloon pops or runs out, survivors within 4 blocks are blinded for 2s.
• Balloon Animal: your balloon becomes a balloon dog that trots towards the nearest survivor.

The Mutant

Ability cooldown 18s · Leather armour, wooden sword

Ability · Hurl

The only class built for teamwork. Pick up another Mutant (right-click them, or use the ability with one within 4.5 blocks) and press again to throw them where you're looking, about 28 blocks on flat ground and further if you aim up. You're slowed while carrying and drop them after 2s. The thrown Mutant takes no fall damage for 8s, and the first survivor they fly into takes 2 hearts and is knocked away. The cooldown is only spent on the throw. If the Mutant you threw gets a kill within 10 seconds, you earn +0.5 scorestreak.

Boulder Toss

No Mutant nearby, or sneaking? The ability rips a boulder out of the ground and holds it overhead (free). Press again to throw it, or it goes on its own after 2s: about 25 blocks, and the first survivor in its path takes 2 hearts and knockback.

Unlock quests

• Deal 150 hearts to the Brood Host
• Help kill the Brood Host twice
• Infect 40 survivors

Only survivors can hurt the Brood Host, so the first two are done as a survivor.

750 Spores90 Marrow12 Heartwood

Class skills

• Any Passenger: pick up and throw an infected teammate of any class.
• Shockwave Landing: the crash hits every survivor within 2.2 blocks.
• Fastball: flatter, faster throws for teammates and boulders.

Spore Hounds

A new infected scorestreak. Unlock it in /prestigeshop for 2 prestige tokens (while the event is on) and equip it in /streaks.

• It fires at an infected scorestreak of 3, once per life.
• You get 2 spore-grown hounds with 15 hearts each, for 30 seconds.
• They hunt the nearest survivor within 24 blocks and bite for 1 heart every half-second. Their bites count as yours, so they can infect.
• Their bites hit lower-rank survivors softer than higher-rank ones.
• Hiding won't shake them. If they can't find a survivor for 5 seconds, they teleport to within 15 blocks of the closest one.
• They keep hunting after you die or turn. They end when their 30 seconds run out, when survivors kill them, or when the round ends.
• Works for players up to Rank 18.

The Spore Packs

The Blight you see on the maps is placed by our builders with Spore Packs: 27 ready-made scenes that grow onto a floor, a wall or a ceiling. Here's every one, rendered from the game's own models exactly as it places in game.

Floor

Blight Bloom

A lush meadow: mould paint, a mycelium carpet, glowcaps and puffballs, one tall stalk, a spore haze.

Floor

Fairy Hollow

A fairy ring in a clearing, ringed by tall blightcaps, lichen and glowing nodules.

Floor

Rot Heap

A rotting mound with a giant puffball, a burst pod and a vent puffing spores.

Floor

Blight Grove

A blight tree with giant stalks and saplings around it: a landmark - keep it out of firing lines.

Floor

Spore Garden

The original spore set: patches, sprouts and sacs around a blooming centre.

Wall

Shelf Cascade

Shelf fungi climbing a wall over veins, a drape at the top and growth along the foot.

Wall

Blister Wall

Swollen spore sacs and glowing nodules bursting out of a mould-painted wall.

Wall

Creeping Wall

The original spore set's creep and shelves over painted veins.

Ceiling

Hanging Garden

Strands, tendrils, glowing bulbs and a hanging pod from a mould-painted ceiling.

Ceiling

Drip Nest

Fungal drips and tendrils hanging from a spreading ceiling stain.

Floor

Glow Pool

A pool of glowing spore-milk ringed by spore grass and tufts, glow nodules in the moss, motes drifting above.

Floor

Eruption Site

The floor cracked open by bursting tendrils: root crawlers, a spore vent, burst pods and a spore cloud.

Floor

Spire Nursery

The Origin's offspring taking root: seedling spires, sealed spore pods and cordyceps on a creeping stain.

Floor

Fallen Outpost

An overrun position: sandbags, a burst oil drum, a crate, a helmet and a radio still glowing, all swallowed by mycelium.

Floor

Pumpkin Rot

A Halloween corner: mouldy jack-o-lanterns, an infected skull and a spore lantern among glowcaps.

Floor

Consumed Woods

A dead tree being eaten alive, braided stalks, antler fungus and a mushroom streetlamp: a landmark - keep it out of firing lines.

Floor

Lamp Row

Mushroom streetlamps down both sides of a path (the way you're facing) over a mycelium carpet: lights a dark corridor.

Floor

Geyser Vent

A 6-block spore geyser bursting from cracked ground, with vents, puffballs and drifting haze: a landmark.

Floor

Giant's Clearing

A 6-block mega cap in a ring of glowcaps, puffballs and blightcaps: a landmark.

Floor

Spore Haze

Atmosphere for a big open space: floating spore clouds and motes over a light stain. Nothing underfoot.

Floor

Full Infestation

The densest pack: paint, carpet, clusters, vents, pods, stalks, roots and haze all at once. Where the Blight has won.

Wall

Shelf Terrace

A 3x3 terrace of glowing shelf fungi climbing the wall over veins, with growth along its foot.

Wall

The Watchers

Fungal eye-bulbs that blink at players, set in veins, lichen and mycelium blotches.

Wall

Wall Breach

A torn hole with tendrils pouring out, blisters around it and roots crawling across the floor below.

Wall

Fallen Soldier

An overgrown soldier sitting on the floor with his back to the wall (aim at the wall; he drops to the floor below), his helmet and radio beside him.

Ceiling

Fungal Chandelier

A glowing fungal chandelier with bulbs and strands around it on a veined ceiling: lights a room.

Ceiling

Cocoon Nest

Victims hung up in cocoons under a torn web veil, with tendrils and drips around them.

Hats & the Halloween look

Limited-edition hats

Ten Halloween hats, on sale until 13 November. After that they're vaulted, never to return. Every copy carries a serial number in the order players got it ("Your copy: #014"), and you can try one on in the lobby for 10 seconds.

Also in the store for Halloween: the Hallowed Chroma Set ($14.99). Hallowed Leather fades from pumpkin orange to black and back, and the Hallowed Trim carves a glowing jack-o'-lantern into your armour that stays lit as it goes dark. It's sold until 13 November too, then vaulted with the hats.

Around the map

• Graves: where a survivor falls, a small headstone appears reading RIP and their name. They clear when the round ends.
• Rotting food: survivors' apples, golden apples, melon, chicken and baked potatoes start Rotting a third of the way through the round and are Rotted by the last minute or so. Only the look changes; they heal the same.
• Brainzzzzz, the infected's potato, finally looks like a brain.
• The Web Bomb: a new survivor grenade in the random-grenade rewards from killstreaks. It lays a ball of cobwebs for 3 seconds.
• Orange and black: the sidebar, chat, titles, server list and scorestreak messages all turn Halloween colours, and the lobby sits at midnight.

What you keep after Halloween

Everything you earn is yours to keep, and you keep using it all year. Only earning and buying need the event to be on.