Special rounds

Every third round plays by different rules. Here is what each one does.

How they work

Every third round is a special round. The other two are normal Infected.

Which one is random. Every special round gets played once before any of them comes back, and you never get the same one twice in a row.

You're told before it starts. It's announced with the map, and again on your screen when the round begins.

Ranked is off. Special rounds never change your ranked rating.

8 players or more. Special rounds only happen when at least 8 players are on. With fewer, every round is normal Infected until more join.

A different game

These three change how the whole round plays.

Sleeper Cell

Some of you are secretly infected. Work out who.

8+ players

About one player in five is a Carrier. Everyone looks the same: the same skin, plain chainmail and no cosmetics. There are no name tags, everyone else shows as "Someone" in Tab, chat doesn't show who's talking, and voice chat is muted.

A red or green bar at the top of your screen tells you which side you're on all round. Carriers can sniff out nearby players with F.

Carriers can see each other and try to kill everyone else. Anyone can hit anyone, so the survivors can fight back. If you kill someone who was clean, you flash red for a second.

When someone dies, everyone is told what they really were. The dead watch until the end.

Survivors win by killing every Carrier or lasting until the timer ends. Carriers win if nobody clean is left.

Patient Zero

One Mother Zombie with 40 hearts. Bring her down.

8+ players

There's only one Mother, and she's a boss. Every 12 seconds she uses another class's ability.

She can appear right next to a survivor, and she can stop knockback for a few seconds.

When she goes down, every survivor heals 3 hearts. Whoever lands the last hit gets 15 cookies.

Role Reversal

Survivors chase. Infected hide.

8+ players

A few players become the Cure. Every Cure gets the same kit: rank 10 armour, a stone sword, a bow with 3 arrows, a sticky grenade and 2 apples. Everyone else turns infected right where they're hiding, with some food.

Every infected the Cure takes out joins the Cure. A Cure who goes down comes back.

Scorestreaks swap sides: the infected earn the survivors' scorestreaks, and the Cure earns the infected's. In the last minute every infected glows, so there's nowhere left to hide.

The Cure wins by clearing the map. The infected win if any of them are still standing when time runs out.

Faster

Sugar Rush

Everyone has Speed II.

8+ players

Survivors and infected alike, all round.

Rush Hour

A 2-minute round, flat out, for double cookies.

8+ players

Only 20 seconds to hide. Everyone has Speed II and is outlined through walls.

There are more Mother Zombies than usual, and abilities recharge 3 times as fast. Survivors get a free grenade every 20 seconds.

Health and damage

Glass Cannon

Sword hits do 50% more damage.

8+ players

Everyone has the normal 10 hearts, but fights end fast. Only melee hits do more: grenades, abilities and bows do their normal damage.

Vampire Hour

Every hit you land heals you.

8+ players

You get back half the damage your sword hits do. Keep swinging to stay alive.

Bleed Out

Survivors slowly lose health. Kills bring it back.

8+ players

Survivors lose half a heart every 4 seconds, down to 1 heart. It can't kill you on its own. Each kill heals 3 hearts. No bosses this round.

Hunger

No food at all.

8+ players

No food and no golden apples. Every kill or infection heals you 2 hearts instead. Every infected's armour only protects half as much as usual, so they go down faster. No bosses this round.

Double Trouble

Every infection powers up the whole horde.

8+ players

Each time someone is infected, every infected gets Speed II and Strength II for 6 seconds. The round is a minute shorter.

Blood Moon

Night falls. The infected get faster.

8+ players

It's dark all round and the infected have extra speed.

Survivors start with their grenades but no food. Instead you get 5 Mystery Chests to open, and one of them always has food in it.

Boom

Infected explode when they die.

8+ players

A second after an infected goes down, it blows up. The blast reaches 3 blocks and does 2 hearts. Step back after a kill.

A different kit

Hardcore

Back to basics. Just fight.

8+ players

Everyone gets the starter kit. You keep your perk items, but not armour perks like Juggernaut. The infected are all plain Zombies, even the first ones: no Mother Zombies. No abilities and no scorestreaks.

Swords Only

No abilities, no grenades, no bows.

8+ players

Survivors keep their own rank's kit, minus the bows and grenades. Nothing but swords on both sides, and the shop is closed.

One in the Chamber

One arrow, and it kills.

8+ players

Survivors get a wooden sword and a bow with a single arrow that takes out any infected in one shot. Every kill gives you the arrow back. Miss, and you're forced to use your wooden sword.

Sword Game

Start with wood. Kill your way up.

8+ players

Everyone starts with a wooden sword. Every 4 kills gets you the next one up: stone, iron, diamond, then netherite.

Grenade Party

Grenades for everyone, some of them silly.

8+ players

Survivors start with 6 grenades, the infected get 3 each time they spawn, and everyone gets another every 15 seconds. You can hold one of each kind.

The silly ones: the Chicken Bomb lets out a flock of chickens, the Whoopee Cushion launches people up, the Party Popper flings them away, and the Switcheroo swaps you with the nearest enemy.

Infected classes

All Access

Play any infected class.

8+ players

Every class is open to you this round, even ones you haven't unlocked.

Roulette

A random class every life.

8+ players

Each time you spawn as infected, the game picks your class for you.

One Strain

Every infected is the same class.

8+ players

One class is picked for the whole horde. Learn how to beat it, fast.

Big and small

Beefcake

Every hit makes you bigger. Survivors too.

8+ players

Every hit an infected lands makes it a bit bigger. Survivors grow too, a little with every sword hit, up to a third bigger, which makes you an easier target. You go back to normal size when you're infected.

Shrink Ray

Hitting an infected shrinks it.

8+ players

Small infected hit softer, but they're harder to hit.

Giants and Ants

Tiny survivors. Huge infected.

8+ players

Survivors are shrunk to about two thirds of their size, and the infected are much bigger than normal. Good luck.

Hard to see

Fog of War

No name tags, and everyone goes blind now and then.

8+ players

Every 15 seconds everyone is blinded for 2 seconds. Listen for footsteps.

Blackout

Survivors are in the dark.

8+ players

Survivors get a torch. Hold it and you can see, but everyone can see you too.