Sora Tanka
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Published: October 30, 2026 | 9 min read | Last updated: October 30, 2026
Tarkov has a virus problem again, and this time it brought a scythe. Battlestate Games dropped patch 1.3.0.0 on October 29, 2026, and with it came the biggest zombie outbreak the game has seen since 2024. This Tarkov Halloween zombies walkthrough covers every confirmed quest step. You'll learn where to find the dead scientist, how to open the secret Infected Lab exits, which infected will try to eat your face, and which loadout keeps you breathing. I jumped into the event maps on day one, so you also get the mistakes I made and can skip them. Grab a loaded mag (or six) and let's go.
⚡ Quick Answer
To start the Tarkov Halloween zombies event, accept Skier's quest Halloween: Rumors, switch to the event map tab, and kill 10 infected on Infected Factory. That unlocks The Best Defense on Infected Lab (kill 10 infected, find Car keys or Collector map to extract) and Therapist's Follow-Up Examination (blood sample from a dead scientist). Insurance is disabled on both maps.
What Is the Tarkov Halloween Zombies Event in 2026?
The setup is simple: a virus broke loose across Tarkov and turned a lot of people into very angry, very hungry problems. Battlestate Games placed the outbreak's epicenters on two brand new event maps, Infected Lab and Infected Factory. Both sit in their own tab on the map selection screen.
These are not your usual Lab and Factory runs. Only small groups can queue into them, and insurance is switched off. Whatever you carry in, you either carry out or donate to the undead.
The questline gives you a choice of risk. You can help enforce the quarantine on standard maps, where the danger is moderate. Or you can dive straight into the outbreak zones to hunt for vaccine components. Completing the story and killing infected earns commemorative achievements, an exclusive event poster, and valuable in-game resources.
The patch also shifted the in-game season to fall and made currency and valuables easier to pick up. PvE players get tougher PMC bots on high-level maps. The Unity 6 engine upgrade got pushed to a mid November patch, 1.3.5.0. Over in Arena, a melee-only 5v5 slasher mode called Bloodlust hands out double XP and a 1.5x Battle Pass bonus.
📊 Key Stat: Installing patch 1.3.0.0 took the servers offline for an estimated 5 to 7 hours. For comparison, the last zombie event in 2024 shipped with 23 limited-time quests. The 2026 chain is shorter and far more focused on the two infected maps.
How Do You Start the Tarkov Halloween Zombies Questline?
Good news for fresh accounts: every confirmed event quest needs only level 1. Here's the order that works:
- Accept Halloween: Rumors from Skier: This is the gate. Nothing else opens until it's done.
- Switch to event locations: On the map select screen, flip the toggle in the top right corner to show the event maps.
- Clear Rumors on Infected Factory: Kill 10 infected and hand it in.
- Pick up the next two quests: Rumors unlocks The Best Defense (Skier) and Follow-Up Examination (Therapist). Accept both before your next raid.
- Push into Infected Lab: Stack both quests in the same raid where you can.
- Continue the vaccine story: The chain moves on through Therapist toward Halloween: A New Vaccine.
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| Quest | Trader | Map | Objective | Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halloween: Rumors | Skier | Infected Factory | Enter the map, kill 10 infected | 26,000 XP, €1,800, AA-12 Gen 2 TerraGroup Labs shotgun, 3 drum mags, 4 packs of SuperFormance slugs |
| Halloween: The Best Defense | Skier | Infected Lab | Enter, find the secret exit item, survive and extract, kill 10 infected | 36,000 XP, €2,700, QBZ-191 rifle, 3 mags, 4 packs of DBX95 ammo |
| Halloween: Follow-Up Examination | Therapist | Infected Lab or Infected Factory | Find the dead scientist, use Medical tools, extract the blood sample, hand it over | 40,000 XP, €2,700, 2 Labs keycards, 2 Adrenaline, 2 Trimadol |
| Halloween: A New Vaccine | Therapist | Infected Lab and/or Infected Factory | Survive and extract (path depends on your earlier choice) | Still being confirmed by players |
Halloween: Rumors Walkthrough on Infected Factory
Infected Factory is the same cramped Factory you already know, now dressed up in Halloween decorations. The difference is that everything wants you dead immediately. Zombies spawn across the map and sprint toward you on their own, so you won't need to hunt them. You'll need to survive the welcome party.
Fight from a spot with one or two entry points, like a stairwell or a corner office. Aim for heads. A few hits drop most infected, while body shots just make them mildly annoyed. Count your kills, grab the tenth, and leave.
Watch out for Infected Tagilla. He roams this map with a scythe instead of his usual hammer, and he is exactly as unreasonable as that sounds.
💡 Pro Tip: Rumors pays out an AA-12 Gen 2 with three 20-round drums and slug ammo. That is basically a zombie leaf blower. Do Rumors first and carry that shotgun straight into Infected Lab for the next quest.
How Do You Extract From Infected Lab in The Best Defense?
This is the quest that eats the most PMCs. Infected Lab looks like the regular Lab with a Halloween makeover. Current guides indicate the TerraGroup Labs access keycard is still required to get in, so pack one.
The real trap is the exit. On Infected Lab you can only leave through the Parking Gate or the Sewage Conduit. Both need a special item to open. That item is the "clue for the secret extraction" in your quest log. Grab one of these:
- Car keys: inside the round conference room in the Recreation Area.
- Collector map: on a dead PMC in the server room, or in the same round conference room.
Get the item before you start farming kills. If you rack up 10 infected first and then can't find the keys, you've built a very expensive zombie buffet with no exit.
Where Is the Dead Scientist for Follow-Up Examination?
Therapist wants blood. Not yours, ideally. You need to find a dead scientist in a hazmat suit and open the body with Medical tools, which get used up. Bring a spare, because forgetting them wastes the whole raid. The blood sample only appears while the quest is active, and you lose it if you die. Known spots:
Infected Lab
- At the intersection near the Blue keycard room
- Inside the tunnel leading to the Sewage Conduit exit
- In the middle of the working area
Infected Factory
- Outside the medical labs
- Next to the pumping station, on top of the tanks
Here's the efficiency trick most players miss. Rumors unlocks Follow-Up Examination and The Best Defense at the same time. So one Infected Lab raid can cover the scientist, the exit item, and your 10 kills. The scientist in the Sewage Conduit tunnel sits right on your way out, which makes that exit the smart pick. The reward includes two Labs keycards, so the quest pays for your next entries.
Quarantine or Vaccine: What Comes After?
After the scientist, the story continues through Therapist with Halloween: Unexpected Help. Further along sit Halloween: Initial Examination and, after a 15 minute wait, Halloween: A New Vaccine. Your earlier choices change what the final step asks for:
- Skier route: survive and extract from both Infected Factory and Infected Lab, and hand over 2,000 USD.
- Therapist route: survive and extract from either infected map.
The Therapist route is clearly the gentler one. If you play solo or your nerves are already shot, lean toward it.
⚠️ Important: The event is two days old. Players are still mapping the later quests and Battlestate often adjusts events mid run, as it did in 2024 when it cut the number of infected in The Lab by 25%. I'll update this guide as the chain is fully confirmed.
What Tarkov Zombies Will You Face in Halloween 2026?
Fast, Slow and Ranged Infected
The three classic types are back with sharper behavior. Runners close distance fast, shamblers soak up your attention while runners flank, and ranged infected still remember how pistols work. Battlestate also added surprise attacks, so check corners like a zombie is crouched behind every door. Sometimes one actually is.
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Infected Tagilla
Tagilla returns infected and swinging a scythe. Don't try to melee him. Back off, dump a drum of slugs into his head, and thank whatever you believe in.
Infected Black Division Operatives
These are new, and they're armored zombies. Your cheap buckshot will bounce off them, so bring something with real penetration for these encounters.
The Virus Effect and Night Cultists
Getting hit up close can give you the Virus effect. It briefly kills your hearing and drains hydration, and it only clears when you extract or die. Night raids also bring more Cultist activity, so a night quarantine run on a regular map can turn into a two-front war.
Best Loadout for the Tarkov Halloween Zombies Walkthrough
My first Infected Factory raid was a lesson in humility. I loaded in with a scoped rifle and a couple of mags because I wanted to "play it clean." Within minutes I was backpedaling down a hallway, reloading by hand while three runners closed in. The game punishes slow reloads harder than bad aim here. On my next run I took a high-capacity shotgun, six pre-loaded mags, and two waters. Everything changed: I held one doorway, popped heads as they came through, and finished Rumors without ever feeling rushed. My takeaway is that magazine count matters more than gun quality on these maps.
- Primary: a semi-auto or full-auto shotgun with 8+ shells per mag, or the AA-12 from Rumors.
- Backup: a rifle with armor-piercing rounds for Black Division infected and Tagilla.
- Mags: pre-load everything. Reloading mid-horde is how you join the horde.
- Gear: a solid helmet but mid-tier everything else. Insurance is off, so don't bring your best kit.
- Utility: Medical tools, a Labs keycard, extra water for the Virus drain, and painkillers.
"Its pretty big and has a surprise for you guys."
How Is Halloween 2026 Different From the 2024 Zombie Event?
If you're working from a 2024 guide, stop. The rules changed a lot, and an old guide can get you killed:
| Feature | Halloween 2024 | Halloween 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Start date | October 31 | October 29 |
| Main battleground | Infection spread across regular maps from The Lab | Separate Infected Lab and Infected Factory, plus quarantine tasks on regular maps |
| Lab keycard | Not needed | Reportedly still needed for Infected Lab |
| Insurance | Normal | Disabled on event maps |
| Squad size | Normal | Small groups only on event maps |
| Event quests | 23 | Shorter, story-driven chain (still being mapped) |
| New enemies | Infected civilians, lab techs, PMCs, scythe Tagilla | All of those plus infected Black Division operatives and surprise attacks |
My read is that 2024 was a server-wide party where everyone got a free Lab ticket. 2026 is a controlled outbreak: tighter maps, real stakes, no insurance safety net. It's tougher, but it's also much easier to plan around, because you always know where the danger is.
Is the Tarkov Halloween Event Worth Grinding?
For low-level accounts, absolutely. Three level-1 quests hand out 102,000 XP combined, plus an AA-12, a QBZ-191, and two Labs keycards. That's a huge early wipe boost. Veterans will care more about the achievements and the exclusive poster, which disappear once the event ends. No end date has been announced, and the Unity 6 patch is planned for mid November, so I wouldn't wait.
Want to jump in? You can get Escape from Tarkov on Steam and be scared out of your mind within the hour.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does the Tarkov Halloween 2026 event end?
Battlestate Games has not announced an end date. The event launched with patch 1.3.0.0 on October 29, 2026. Event quests, achievements and the exclusive poster vanish once it closes, and the Unity 6 update is planned for mid November, so finishing the chain early is the safest move.
Do you need a keycard for Infected Lab?
Current guides indicate the TerraGroup Labs access keycard is still required for Infected Lab, unlike 2024 when Lab entry was free. Bring one to be safe. Completing Follow-Up Examination for Therapist rewards two Labs keycards, which covers your next couple of event runs.
How do you extract from Infected Lab?
You can only leave through the Parking Gate or the Sewage Conduit, and both need a special item. Grab the Car keys from the round conference room in the Recreation Area, or the Collector map from a PMC body in the server room or that same conference room.
Where is the dead scientist on Infected Factory?
On Infected Factory, the hazmat-suited scientist can appear outside the medical labs or next to the pumping station on top of the tanks. Bring Medical tools to open the body, since they are consumed. The blood sample only spawns while Follow-Up Examination is active.
Is insurance disabled during the Tarkov zombie event?
Yes, on the two event maps. Infected Lab and Infected Factory have insurance switched off and only allow small groups. Regular maps keep normal insurance during the quarantine tasks. Bring gear you can afford to lose whenever you queue into an infected location.
Final Thoughts: Survive First, Loot Second
Here is the fastest way through this year's Tarkov Halloween zombies walkthrough. Clear Rumors for the AA-12, grab the exit item before anything else on Infected Lab, and stack the scientist and your kills into one raid. Respect the scythe, pre-load your mags, and never bring gear you'd cry about. The outbreak won't last forever, so go get infected while you still can.
📚 Sources & References
- Escape from Tarkov Celebrates Halloween (Battlestate Games press release), Games Press, October 29, 2026
- Escape From Tarkov Halloween Event Brings Zombies Back To Tarkov, Forbes, October 29, 2026
- Halloween 2026 Event Overview, TarkovHead, 2026
- Halloween: Rumors Quest, TarkovHead, 2026
- Halloween: The Best Defense Quest, TarkovHead, 2026
- Halloween: Follow-Up Examination Quest, TarkovHead, 2026
- Halloween: A New Vaccine, The Official Escape from Tarkov Wiki, 2026
- Changelog: Patch 1.3.0.0 and 0.15.5.1, The Official Escape from Tarkov Wiki
- Events: Halloween 2024 and 2026, The Official Escape from Tarkov Wiki
- Tarkov Zombies Event Teased as Nikita Promises It's Pretty Big, Insider Gaming, October 2026
- Tarkov's Big Halloween Update Is Here, But The Unity Upgrade Has Been Delayed, Insider Gaming, October 29, 2026
