Hunting
Hunting is a repeatable combat activity where you fight increasingly powerful Zeds for Hunting skill XP, Zed Juice and location-specific loot.
The important part of Hunting is that every hunting location has its own normal NPC, boss NPC and progression. Progress at one location does not affect another location.
How a hunting location works
Each location follows the same cycle:
- Select Hunt to fight the location's normal NPC.
- Defeat the normal NPC to advance that location's progress by one fight.
- The next NPC at that location becomes stronger.
- After ten normal victories, the location's boss becomes available.
- Select Hunt Boss and defeat the boss to complete the cycle.
- The ten-fight progress bar resets, but the NPC scaling remains.
The cycle is therefore ten normal fights followed by one boss fight, then it begins again with stronger enemies. Losing or leaving a fight does not advance the progress bar.
Normal NPCs and boss NPCs
Every location has two versions of its enemy:
- The normal NPC appears during the ten regular fights.
- The boss NPC appears after the tenth normal fight has been won.
The boss is a separate, more powerful NPC for that location. When a boss is ready, the final step of the progress bar is marked Boss and the green Hunt button changes to Hunt Boss. The boss receives the location's accumulated scaling and an additional ten NPC levels.
Defeating the boss resets only the ten-fight boss progress. It does not return the enemies to their original strength. Another sequence of ten normal fights then leads to the next boss.
NPC scaling and Mutations
NPCs at a location scale upward as you successfully hunt there. Each defeated normal NPC adds one Mutation and one level to that location's later NPCs. Their Health, Strength, Defense, Speed and Agility increase with their level.
For example:
- The first normal hunt uses the NPC's starting level.
- After one normal victory, the next normal NPC has +1 level.
- After ten normal victories, the normal NPC has accumulated +10 levels and the boss becomes available.
- The boss uses that accumulated +10 scaling and receives a further +10 boss levels.
- After the boss is defeated, the next normal NPC still has the accumulated +10 levels.
- After another ten normal victories, normal NPCs have accumulated +20 levels and the next boss is stronger again.
Boss victories are not counted as extra Mutations. The Mutations ×N value on a location card shows the permanent level increase built up through its normal victories.
Select the NPC names on a hunting card to open the stats panel. It compares the NPC's original level and stats with its current mutated level and stats, making it possible to judge the next fight before paying its cost.
Starting a hunt
A location card shows the hunt's Radiation cost and any required access or consumable items. Starting the hunt pays the displayed cost, reduces Morale by 4–5 and opens a turn-based fight.
Before hunting:
- Equip suitable weapons and armour in your Inventory.
- Check your health and carry medical items when hunting repeatedly.
- Open the NPC stats panel and compare the mutated stats with your own.
- Prepare for the NPC's attacks and weapon weakness.
The NPC continues to scale even when your equipment does not, so a location that was once easy can eventually become dangerous.
Rewards
Starting a hunt awards character XP and part of the hunt's Hunting skill XP. Defeating the NPC awards the remaining Hunting skill XP, advances the location and rolls its loot. A loss does not award the victory portion, progression or loot.
Every successful hunt awards Zed Juice. Its base payout starts from the location's Radiation cost and gradually increases with the location's Mutation count. The Hunting skill bonus shown on the card increases that payout. There is also an independent 10% chance for an additional Zed Juice drop.
Boss fights provide increased rewards:
- Three times the location's normal Hunting skill XP.
- Double the mutation-scaled Zed Juice payout.
- The location's additional boss reward pool, which can contain Boss Tokens and special resistance armour.
The Zed Juice meter shows the current mutation-scaled payout, Hunting skill bonus, progress toward the next payout increase and the boss multiplier when a boss is ready.
If you lose
Losing a fight does not remove Mutations, reset the boss progress or erase other character progress. The hunt's starting costs are not returned, and your health may need to recover before another attempt. The same normal NPC or boss remains next in that location's cycle.
Current hunting locations
The following list comes directly from the current game definitions. Open a location to see its current costs, normal NPC, rewards and access requirements.
Tips
- Treat each location as a separate difficulty ladder.
- Check NPC stats regularly because they increase after every normal victory.
- Prepare for the sharp difficulty increase after the tenth fight, when the boss replaces the normal NPC.
- Improving equipment and combat stats is essential because Mutation scaling is permanent.
- Higher-cost locations award more Hunting XP and start with a larger Zed Juice payout, but risk more resources per attempt.
- Use the current values shown in-game if they differ from this guide, as balance values can change.