Escape from Tarkov Halloween 2026 Event Guide

Escape From Tarkov Halloween Event Quick Overview:

• Start date: October 29, 2026
• Two maps with zombies: Infected Factory and Infected Labs
• New Infected types: Infected Black Division, fast and slow ones
• Quests: The event questline comes from Skier and Therapist
• Rewards include: achievements, themed posters, loot containers, weapons, medical items, and currency

Would you like to enjoy the Halloween 2026 exclusive rewards and gear without having to risk your gear completing the quests on your own? Buy EFT Halloween Event Boost at Skycoach and  get all of the rewards, including the difficult achievements! Our professional gamers will do every task - just pick any quest or all of them!

 

 

 

 

Escape From Tarkov Halloween Event Explained

This year’s Halloween event goes full-on zombie apocalypse. The event was introduced with Patch 1.3.0.0, which also brought the fall season back to Tarkov. Some fans say that something like this has no place in a serious, realistic survival extraction shooter, but if you think about it, what do you think TerraGroup was working on in their isolated and highly secured underground lab complexes?

In any case, this year, we’re dealing with a full-scale zombie outbreak. By the way, the undead in the Tarkov universe are called “infected”. Which is as realistic a term as it can possibly be. Our goal as a PMC is to investigate the outbreak and make a choice between helping enforce the quarantine or helping develop a vaccine. The event’s questline has a branching narrative where you have to take a side and embark on different quests based on the side chosen. Here’s everything you’ll see in this event:

Feature	What's new
Zombie outbreak	Infected enemies appear across Tarkov, with the largest concentrations in dedicated event maps
Two event maps	Infected Factory and Infected Lab
New zombie behaviors	Slow, fast, ranged, and ambushing infected
Infected Tagilla	Returns with a scythe instead of his regular hammer
Black Division infected	Dangerous new infected operatives
Cultist activity	Higher Cultist presence during nighttime raids
Branching quests	Choices involving Skier and Therapist determine your progression
Special equipment	Experimental gas grenades, vaccine prototypes, and outbreak-related quest items
Exclusive rewards	Achievements, themed posters, valuable containers, weapons, medical supplies, and currency

There are two locations that are now overrun with the Infected: Factory and Labs. These two maps are very different, namely by the fact that both feature a bunch of dismantled and gory dead bodies and body parts. Both locations are also confirmed as the main outbreak zones in Battlestate Games' official Halloween announcement.

These two maps are accessible in the new event tab where you can’t insure your gear. Another thing worth mentioning is the infected enemies. Besides the “regular” infected scavs and PMCs, you’ll encounter way more aggressive Black Division infected operatives who are way more difficult to kill due to them wearing very good armor. By the way, none of the killed infected are lootable.

The maps on the regular tab are also slightly infected, and there are chances of you encountering Infected on any map, although not in the quantities as you will see on the special maps.

There’s also an infected boss, Tagilla, who is now running around with a scythe instead of his trusty hammer.

Unique Event Equipment

I’d like to highlight the new and unique items available during the event that you can and likely will use. Here’s the list:

Item	What it does
RDE-68 experimental gas grenade	Used to affect infected enemies during the First Results quest
RDE-78 experimental gas grenade	A later grenade variant used during Final Push
RDA-78 vaccine	Special vaccine rewarded by the Therapist ending
TG-Vi-24 vaccine prototype	Outbreak-related item used in the Prototyping quest and awarded during Final Push
TG-VI-26 vaccine batch	Important quest item recovered from Lighthouse
Infected Tissue Sample	Required for Therapist's research missions
Medical tools	Used to perform an autopsy and collect a blood sample

 

While some of these are quest items with no use, experimental gas grenades are very much usable. On top of that, if you take a look at the quest rewards, you’ll see that the AA-12 shotguns have once more become more accessible. And that’s great news, because it’s hard for me to think of a better weapon for dealing with hordes of infected.

EFT Halloween Event Quests

The quests for this event start out kind of easy but quickly spiral into a bloodbath. Depending on how good a player you are, they might seem easy enough for you. But I think an average Tarkov player will struggle a lot. Most of the difficulty doesn’t come from quest objectives themselves as much as from where you’re doing these quests. Those special, event-type map variants are overrun with infected, and you need a lot of ammo to kill them. Headshots don’t always do the trick, and you always get cornered when your ammo runs out. There’s almost never a quiet moment, as the Infected seem to find you anywhere. So, to do these quests, you need to act quickly. You can start by completing Halloween: Rumors for Skier, which requires visiting Infected Factory and eliminating 10 infected. Here's the full list of event quests, their objectives, and rewards.

Skier Halloween Quests

Quest	Objectives	Rewards
1. Halloween: Rumors	Visit Infected Factory; kill 10 infected there	26,000 XP; €2,200; MPS AA-12 Gen 2 shotgun; 3× 20-round drum mags; 4× SuperFormance ammo packs
2. Halloween: The Best Defense	Visit Infected Lab; kill 10 infected. Optional: survive and extract; find the secret-exit clue	36,000 XP; €3,300; QBZ-191 assault rifle; DBX95 ammo packs
3. Halloween: Unexpected Help (Choice)	Retrieve the vaccine batch from Lighthouse Water Treatment Plant; plant it in room 105 of the two-story dormitory on Customs	38,000 XP; €3,100; Ammunition case
4. Halloween: Tightening the Quarantine (Choice)	Hand over 7 found-in-raid first-aid kits that stop heavy bleeding, 3 healing ointments, and 3 surgical kits	48,000 XP; €3,100; Money case
5. Halloween: Danger Zone	Kill 15 targets in each of four map groups: Ground Zero/Customs, Woods/Interchange, Streets/Shoreline, and Lighthouse/Reserve	Not verified
6. Halloween: Coincidence?	Find the evidence folder in Building 2 at Lighthouse Water Treatment Plant; extract and hand it over	Not verified
7. Halloween: Prototyping	Obtain and hand over 2 TG-Vi-24 vaccine prototypes (B.1.2 strain)	Not verified
8. Halloween: Enemy of My Enemy	Arrange the transfer of the evidence folder to Therapist through the companion quest	Not verified
9. Halloween: For the Common Goal. The Deal	Receive the infection data from Therapist and hand it over to Skier	18,000 XP; €2,100; infected tissue samples
10. Halloween: Blind the Enemy (Achievement)	Hand over the required vaccine; find and destroy surveillance cameras on Woods, Customs, Lighthouse, Reserve, and Shoreline	Shields Up! achievement; remaining rewards not verified

Skier and Therapist quests are mixed, so if you can’t find the next event quest in a long list of quests, check either of these traders. Each event quest starts with “Halloween:” in its name.

 

 

Therapist Halloween Quests

The first Therapist quest was the third quest after the two Skier quests. It could be different for you. After you’ve completed the Follow-Up Examination from Therapist, you’re going to have to pick which trader to take the quests from.

Quest	Objectives	Rewards
1. Halloween: Follow-Up Examination	Locate a dead scientist in a hazmat suit on Infected Lab or Infected Factory; open the body using Medical instruments; obtain the blood sample; hand it over	40,000 XP; ₽316,500; 2× Labs access keycards; 2× Adrenaline; 2× Trimadol
2. Halloween: Initial Check (Choice)	Retrieve the vaccine batch from Lighthouse Water Treatment Plant; hand it over to Therapist	38,000 XP; ₽230,000; Documents case
3. Halloween: A New Vaccine (Choice)	Survive and extract from Infected Factory or Infected Lab	41,000 XP; ₽175,000; 2× Labs keycards; 2× Surv12 kits
4. Halloween: High-Risk, High-Reward	Kill 30 infected on Infected Factory or Infected Lab	44,000 XP; ₽350,000; 3× Propital
5. Halloween: First Results	Kill 25 infected affected by RDE-68 experimental gas grenades; obtaining the grenade is optional	42,000 XP; ₽350,000; 5× Grizzly medical kits
6. Halloween: Studying the Enemy	Hand over 2 Infected Tissue Samples	34,000 XP; ₽175,000
7. Halloween: For the Common Goal	Obtain the infection data and arrange its delivery to Skier through his companion quest	24,000 XP; ₽175,000; 4× Labs keycards; 2× Ibuprofen; 2× Augmentin
8. Halloween: Enemy of My Enemy - An Agreement	Obtain the evidence folder provided by Skier and hand it over to Therapist	Not verified
9. Halloween: Final Push (Achievement)	Kill 30 infected affected by RDE-78 experimental gas grenades; kill Infected Tagilla. Obtaining RDE-78 is optional	60,000 XP; ₽520,000; Item case; RDA-78 vaccine; TG-Vi-24 vaccine prototype; Triumph of Science achievement

Important: Some quests are mutually exclusive. You can initially choose between Skier and Therapist, and there's another choice later in the storyline. The tables include both routes, not just quests that can be completed in a single playthrough.

Escape from Tarkov Halloween Event 2026 Rewards

Besides the quest rewards, which are pretty epic in my opinion, the main reason to do this quest, besides enjoying a little zombie apocalypse, is the exclusive rewards, which will be gone once the event has concluded. So, let’s check out the full list of rewards for Halloween 2026.

One of the main reasons to do this event is the three commemorative achievements:

1. Shields Up! - Earned by completing Skier's Halloween 2026 event questline, which ends with Halloween: Blind the Enemy. This route focuses on quarantine operations, vaccine handling, and eliminating surveillance equipment. 
2. Triumph of Science - Earned by completing Therapist's storyline, culminating in Halloween: Final Push. The final quest requires 30 infected kills while enemies are affected by RDE-78 gas and the elimination of Infected Tagilla.
3. Groovy - Eliminate as many infected as possible during the Halloween 2026 event questline

A fair warning: you can only get 2 of these, as the questline-related achievements are mutually exclusive. For Groovy, you need to kill 300 infected.

The other thing you’ll get is the unique poster, which is styled as a made-up movie poster releasing on October 31st. It’s nothing special, but it's unique.

Besides the unique items that you get for quests like the RDA-78 Vaccine (Replicative DNA Attenuator) and TG-Vi-24 Vaccine Prototype (B.1.2 Strain), you’ll get some unique and time-limited trade offers that will definitely come in handy when trying to complete the quests:

Equipment	Type
FLIR RS-32 thermal riflescope	Thermal optic
RShG-2 72.5mm rocket launcher	Heavy weapon
DevTac Ronin ballistic helmet	Helmet
SIG MCX SPEAR 6.8×51 assault rifle	Assault rifle

Besides that, you’ll also be finding Pumpkins all around maps in Tarkov. These are collectible loot boxes that you can only open when you’re back in your stash. These Pumpkins usually contain food and some crafting materials. If you’re lucky, some of those will be quite expensive on the flea market.

 

 

EFT Halloween 2026 Tips and Tricks

I’m sure most players will struggle to complete these event quests, whether you’re playing on PvP or PvE servers. As I continue to progress through the questline myself, I have discovered a few things that will help everyone as well.

1. Stock up on Medical Tools - this is an expensive item that you’ll need to bring with you for a Follow-Up Examination. Its price jumps between 90k-200k rubles.
2. The easiest way to find the right dead body is to go to the Infected factory. The dead body is found at the top of the metal tanks near the Gate 3 exit.
3. Bring lots of ammo and big mags - Infected don’t die easily. Sometimes even a headshot doesn’t do the trick. Reloading can also lead to a quick death, so I would use round magazines and any LMG you can get your hands on.
4. Bring Night Vision to the labs - the Infected Labs are pitch black, and no flashlight is going to help you, especially if you don’t know your way around the map.
5. Avoid Infected Tagilla - make sure you’re always moving because sooner or later the infected will catch you with your pants down. As if that wasn’t enough, the Infected Tagilla spawns in 100% of runs on this version of the map, and he will chase you!

Get ready to die a lot, especially if you’re not yet familiar with how zombies work in this event. I wouldn’t recommend bringing the best gear you have with you to a raid on infected maps, but you definitely need to have the right equipment. I would go as far as to recommend going on a few “naked” runs with nothing more than a pistol just to see what it takes to kill Infected, how fast they are, etc. By the way, some of them have a handgun in their hands, and it goes off!

Fun fact - there is no Scav karma penalty for killing Scavs as a player Scav during the Halloween 2026 event.

Check out other Escape from Tarkov Guides:

• All Battle Pass Documents Locations
• Best Modifiers for Season 1
• Season 1 Kord Breach Guide
• When is the Next Wipe?

F.A.Q.