What the Candleberry Banquet Project is (and why it’s the fastest path)

The Candleberry Banquet is the Project track tied to the winter Flickering Flames event. It’s split into five stages, and each stage asks you to donate a mix of normal loot items plus a big chunk of Candleberries. The reason this Project matters so much isn’t just the rewards you see on the stage screen—it’s the hidden value: multiple donations give 1,000 Merits each, and Merits are what push your seasonal reward tiers forward. In other words, the Project is a built-in shortcut: finish it efficiently and you save a huge amount of “raw XP grinding.”

This is why the Project should be treated like a speedrun checklist, not like a casual “event side quest.” If you do it early, you unlock more seasonal rewards sooner, which often includes more Candleberries—making later stages easier.

Event timing and the one thing you should not delay

Winter events like this are time-limited. If you leave the Project for the final days, you end up doing the worst possible version of the grind: farming berries under pressure, rushing risky raids, and losing progress to bad extracts.

The fast approach is simple:

• Week 1 mindset: donate all the “easy 1,000 Merit items” immediately.
• Week 2 mindset: finish the Candleberry donations using event reward berries + targeted farming.
• Any time mindset: if you’re carrying berries, play like a courier—not a fighter.

Everything you need in one checklist (full materials + totals)

If you want to complete all five stages, here’s your master shopping list. This is what you should keep when you see it—everything else is optional.

Total Candleberries required: 260

(20 + 50 + 60 + 60 + 70)

Total normal items required (all stages combined):

• Empty Wine Bottle ×1
• Plastic Parts ×25
• Durable Cloth ×5
• Candle Holder ×3
• Light Bulb ×3
• Industrial Battery ×1
• Snap Blast Grenade ×5
• Duct Tape ×10
• Film Reel ×1
• Coffee Pot ×2
• Fireball Burner ×10
• Water Filter ×2
• Mushroom ×7
• Frying Pan ×2
• Music Album ×2

Fast stash rule: create a mental “keep list.” If it’s on the list, it goes into your stash or safe pocket plan. If it’s not on the list, it gets sold/recycled unless you personally need it.

The speedrun order (the best sequence to finish all 5 stages fast)

Most people try to complete stages in order. That’s fine—but the fastest strategy is about donation priority, not stage number.

The “finish fast” donation priority

1. All donations that give 1,000 Merits (because they accelerate everything)
2. All non-berry unique items (because they’re annoying if you realize you’re missing one late)
3. Candleberries in bulk (because you’ll get many “for free” from event rewards and only need to farm the remainder)

Why this works

• Merits gained early unlock more seasonal rewards sooner.
• Seasonal rewards often include Candleberries, reducing how many you must harvest.
• The longer you wait, the more likely you’re forced into risky “berry-only” runs.

Stage 1: Candlelight (1/5) — fastest completion method

Requirements:

• Empty Wine Bottle ×1
• Plastic Parts ×25
• Durable Cloth ×5
• Candleberries ×20

What you get (why you should do it early):

Stage 1 usually includes one “quick utility reward” and two 1,000 Merit donations. This is where your speedrun starts. If you complete Stage 1 early, you’re already accelerating your seasonal tier progress.

How to finish Stage 1 fast

Empty Wine Bottle ×1

Treat this as a “grab it and bank it” item. Don’t delay this. It’s a small requirement that becomes annoying only when you’re missing it at the end.

Plastic Parts ×25

This looks big, but plastic parts are common enough that the real limiter is how many containers you open per minute. Your goal is not a perfect loot route—it’s volume:

• Choose a map and route that keeps you indoors and lets you open lots of drawers/cabinets quickly.
• Avoid long outdoor rotations that slow your container-per-minute rate.

Durable Cloth ×5

Same idea: cloth is often found in general loot containers. You don’t need a “special spawn,” you need a repeatable loop that hits many containers quickly.

Candleberries ×20

This is the easiest Candleberry requirement in the Project. Don’t overthink it. The fastest way to complete it is usually:

• use any berries you already earned from the event reward track, and/or
• harvest a small number from Cold Snap matches and extract immediately.

Stage 1 success rule

Complete Stage 1 as soon as possible, because early Merit spikes are worth more than late Merit spikes.

Stage 2: Decorations (2/5) — the blueprint stage

Requirements:

• Candle Holder ×3
• Light Bulb ×3
• Industrial Battery ×1
• Candleberries ×50

What makes Stage 2 feel slow

Stage 2 is where players often get “stuck” because the Candleberry requirement jumps to 50 and the Industrial Battery can feel rare if you’re not looting consistently.

How to finish Stage 2 fast

Candle Holder ×3 and Light Bulb ×3

These are typical “interior loot” items. The fastest approach is:

• prioritize indoor-heavy routes (lots of rooms, lots of containers)
• minimize combat unless it’s unavoidable
• extract more often instead of trying to do everything in one raid

Industrial Battery ×1

Don’t chase it like a myth. Instead, increase your chances by looting areas and containers that tend to produce general crafting/industrial items. If your route is mostly outdoors and you open few containers, you’ll feel like batteries don’t exist. If your route is indoors and high-volume, they show up naturally.

Candleberries ×50

This is where players make the biggest mistake: they try to farm all 50 from bushes immediately. The faster approach is to combine:

• the Candleberries you unlock from the event reward tiers (which stack up quickly once your Merits rise), plus
• targeted Cold Snap harvesting runs to fill the gap

Stage 2 success rule

Don’t “stall” on Stage 2 because of berries. Finish the item donations and then donate berries gradually as you earn them.

Stage 3: Presents (3/5) — the stage that punishes over-fighting

Requirements:

• Snap Blast Grenade ×5
• Duct Tape ×10
• Film Reel ×1
• Candleberries ×60

Why Stage 3 is a wall for many players

Two reasons:

1. the Candleberry requirement climbs again, and
2. players try to do “combat runs” while carrying event items.

How to finish Stage 3 fast

Snap Blast Grenade ×5

If you already craft or stock grenades, this is free. If you don’t, treat it as a planned purchase/craft goal:

• craft or acquire them deliberately instead of waiting for random drops
• don’t “use them up” while you’re still trying to donate five

Duct Tape ×10

This is a classic “volume loot” requirement. It becomes easy when you open lots of containers on repeatable routes.

Film Reel ×1

This is the kind of item that feels common only after you already found it once. The fastest plan:

• keep the first Film Reel you see, even if you’re not on Stage 3 yet
• never assume you’ll find it again “next raid”

Candleberries ×60

By now, your event tier rewards should be providing a meaningful number of berries. Your goal is to avoid the most expensive error in Cold Snap: dying with berries you meant to donate. That means you should shift into courier mindset: short berry runs, quick extract.

Stage 3 success rule

Stage 3 is not hard because of loot—it’s hard because people refuse to extract early. If you have berries, leave.

Stage 4: Beverages (4/5) — the “bulk items” stage

Requirements:

• Coffee Pot ×2
• Fireball Burner ×10
• Water Filter ×2
• Candleberries ×60

Stage 4 is where the Project turns into a true “shopping list.” The best way to clear it fast is to run consistent, repeatable raids focused on containers, not combat.

How to finish Stage 4 fast

Coffee Pot ×2

Coffee Pots are usually interior loot items. Your fastest plan is to run indoor loops and bank them as soon as you find them.

Fireball Burner ×10

Ten is a lot, so stop expecting luck to do the work. Increase your burner count by increasing your loot volume:

• play routes with many containers per minute
• extract more often so you don’t lose stacks to a single death

Water Filter ×2

Similar approach: treat it as “open enough containers and it appears.” The key is consistency.

Candleberries ×60

If you’re deep into the reward tiers, you’re likely close to having most of your berry requirements covered. If not, Stage 4 is when targeted berry farming becomes necessary—just keep it short and safe.

Stage 4 success rule

Stage 4 is a patience stage: steady container loops beat “high-risk hot drops.”

Stage 5: Meals (5/5) — the finish line (and the easiest to throw)

Requirements:

• Mushroom ×7
• Frying Pan ×2
• Music Album ×2
• Candleberries ×70

Stage 5 is where players lose time because they’re emotionally “almost done” and start making reckless decisions. Don’t do that.

How to finish Stage 5 fast

Mushroom ×7

Mushrooms are nature pickups, which means:

• you’re more exposed while collecting them
• you’re more likely to deal with frostbite pressure in Cold Snap conditions

Fast strategy: treat mushrooms like berries—short loops, fast extract, minimum fights. If you try to gather seven while also doing a long loot run, you’ll either die or burn too many heals.

Frying Pan ×2

This is the classic “kitchen item.” Your best plan is interior looting with lots of room searches. Don’t ignore low-value containers, because these items often come from exactly those.

Music Album ×2

Albums are another interior loot item. Same logic: volume. The best way to find them is to open many containers across multiple raids, not to chase one building forever.

Candleberries ×70

This is the final berry wall. The fastest solution is usually a combination:

• remaining berries from event tiers, plus
• a few dedicated Cold Snap foraging raids to finish the last 20–80 berries you didn’t get “for free.”

Stage 5 success rule

When you’re carrying mushrooms or the last berries you need, don’t take fights you don’t have to take. The Project doesn’t care how many players you eliminated—it only cares if you can donate.

Project rewards (what you get, and why completing all 5 stages is worth it)

The Candleberry Banquet Project pays out rewards per donation along the way (including a blueprint, tools/consumables, and a pile of Merits and tokens). Most importantly, completing the entire Project awards a final completion bundle that typically includes:

• Snowglobe charm
• Bettina III
• Extended Barrel
• Kinetic Converter

Even if you don’t care about cosmetics, the Merits and tokens alone make the Project one of the best “value-per-hour” activities during the event window—especially because it accelerates your 25-tier seasonal track.

The Merit shortcut (how the Project can give ~10,000 Merits)

The fastest way to understand why the Project is so strong is to count the big Merit donations.

Across five stages, there are multiple item donations that each grant 1,000 Merits. When you total them up, the Project can provide roughly 10,000 Merits worth of “instant progress” toward the seasonal reward tiers.

Fast takeaway:

If you donate the Merit items early, you unlock more tier rewards early, and those rewards include Candleberries that help finish the Project. The system is designed to loop back into itself—so the player who donates early finishes faster.

Candleberries fast (how to get 260 without suffering)

You need 260 Candleberries to complete the Project. The mistake is assuming you must harvest all 260 from bushes.

The three practical sources of Candleberries

1. Seasonal reward tiers (Candleberries appear as tier rewards as you earn Merits)
2. Cold Snap harvesting (bushes that appear during Snowfall conditions)
3. Looting while in Cold Snap (because you’ll still find berries through normal play and event-driven rewards)

The “gap” mindset that finishes fast

A realistic fast plan is:

• Let tier rewards cover a big portion of your 260
• Farm bushes only for what you’re missing at the end
• Extract early while carrying berries so you don’t lose them repeatedly

The courier rule (the #1 berry farming rule)

If you have Candleberries in your bag and you still need them for donations, your raid goal changes instantly:

• loot one nearby cluster
• avoid fights
• extract

Short berry raids beat long berry raids because long raids create more chances to die.

Safe pocket strategy (how to stop losing berries and wasting time)

If you’re serious about finishing the Project fast, treat your safe pocket like a bank vault.

Safe pocket rules that save hours:

• If you find Candleberries, move them into your safe pocket as soon as possible.
• If you’re berry farming, don’t fill your backpack with “maybe loot.” Your goal is berries + extraction.
• If your pocket is full, don’t keep pushing—extract and deposit.

Most “slow” players aren’t slow at farming—they’re slow because they lose the same berries three times.

Cold Snap survival rules for Project runs (frostbite makes you rush badly)

Candleberries and mushrooms tend to pull you outdoors in Snowfall conditions, which means frostbite is part of the grind. If you don’t manage it, you’ll waste healing, then panic-rotate, then die.

Winter farming rules that keep you alive:

• Chain shelter: always know the next roof/building you can touch before frostbite becomes a problem.
• Keep outdoor fights short: visibility is worse and time outside is expensive.
• Don’t chase gunfire while carrying event resources.
• Extract earlier than normal: Cold Snap punishes “one more minute” decisions.

Fast farming approach for the non-berry items (stop overthinking spawns)

A lot of Project items are described in guides as being found in common containers like drawers, cabinets, cars, and other lootable storage. That’s a hint: you don’t need a perfect spawn map—you need a repeatable loop that opens lots of containers quickly.

The container-per-minute method

If you want Plastic Parts, Cloth, Duct Tape, Light Bulbs, Coffee Pots, Albums, and similar items:

• pick a route that stays indoors
• open everything fast
• don’t fight unless needed
• extract, deposit, repeat

The “bank it immediately” rule for rare-feeling items

If an item is required in a low quantity (1–2), it’s “rare” for your purposes. That includes:

• Film Reel
• Industrial Battery
• Empty Wine Bottle

The fastest approach is: keep it the moment you see it, even if you’re not on that stage yet.

Inventory management for speed (the Project Box method)

To finish fast, stash organization matters more than most players admit.

Create a “Project Box” in your stash

Mentally (or physically, by placing items together) reserve one stash area for Project donations only. Keep these categories:

• Merit items (the 1,000 Merit donations)
• Unique items (1–2 quantity items)
• Nature items (mushrooms, berries)
• Grenade stack (Snap Blast Grenades you will donate)

Batch donations to avoid mistakes

When you’re ready to donate, donate in batches so you don’t accidentally use items you meant to donate. Example:

• donate all Merit items first
• then donate the unique item
• then donate the Candleberries

This prevents the classic error: using your last Snap Blast Grenade in a fight and realizing you now need five again.

Best “fast completion” weekly plan (works even for casual playtime)

If you want a realistic schedule that doesn’t require nonstop grinding:

Day 1–2: Finish Merit items first

Target all 1,000 Merit donations across stages as fast as possible. This immediately accelerates your tier progress.

Day 3–5: Finish unique items (battery, film reel, wine bottle)

These are the items that cause late-stage frustration. Bank them early.

Day 6–10: Let tier rewards supply Candleberries

Keep playing normally and extracting consistently so the reward tiers feed you berries.

Final stretch: Farm berries only for the missing amount

At this point you should only be missing a manageable number. Do short Cold Snap berry runs and extract early.

This plan avoids the “all berries, all day” trap that burns players out.

Common mistakes that make the Project take 3× longer

Mistake: Trying to farm all 260 Candleberries from bushes

Fix: use tier rewards + Project synergy; bush farm only what you’re missing.

Mistake: Fighting while carrying berries and mushrooms

Fix: courier mindset—short raids, early extract.

Mistake: Not donating early because you’re “saving up”

Fix: donate Merit items as soon as you can; early Merits are worth more.

Mistake: Selling required items by accident

Fix: Project Box organization—anything on the list goes into the same stash zone.

Mistake: Doing one marathon raid and dying late

Fix: multiple short raids with consistent extracts.

Solo, duo, trio strategy (how to finish faster with any squad size)

Solo

• Play like a courier: quiet routes, short raids, early extracts.
• Don’t force combat: your win condition is donation progress.

Duo

• One loots containers while the other watches angles.
• Swap roles often so both stay alert.
• Split tasks: one focuses indoor items, the other focuses nature runs.

Trio

• Assign a “runner” who prioritizes safe pocket resources.
• Keep noise low when farming: loud squads attract third parties and lose berries.

Group play can speed up the grind—but only if it reduces deaths. A loud trio that dies twice is slower than a quiet solo who extracts every run.

BoostRoom: finish all 5 stages fast (without wasting your event window)

If you’re short on time, the fastest way to finish the Candleberry Banquet is to eliminate the two things that waste the most hours:

1. dying with berries you needed, and
2. running inefficient routes that don’t open enough containers.

BoostRoom can help by running optimized Cold Snap routes with safer extraction planning, helping you stack the 1,000 Merit donations early, and guiding targeted berry/mushroom runs so your progress sticks. The goal isn’t just “one good run”—it’s making your Project completion consistent so you get the rewards before the event ends.

FAQ

How many stages are in the Candleberry Banquet Project?

There are 5 stages: Candlelight, Decorations, Presents, Beverages, and Meals.

How many Candleberries do I need total?

You need 260 Candleberries across all five stages.

What’s the fastest way to get Candleberries?

Use Candleberries earned from seasonal reward tiers first, then farm Cold Snap bushes only for what you’re missing. Short raids + early extraction is faster than marathon farming.

Which donation should I prioritize first?

Prioritize the donations that grant 1,000 Merits, because they accelerate your tier progress and indirectly give you more Candleberries through reward tiers.

Why do I keep losing progress while farming berries?

Because berries are often lost on death. Put them in your safe pocket whenever possible and extract earlier while carrying event resources.

Do I need to complete the Project to finish the 25-tier event?

You don’t “need” it, but the Project is one of the fastest ways to gain extra Merits and reduce overall grind.

What do I get for completing all 5 stages?

You receive a final completion reward bundle (including a Snowglobe charm and additional gear/attachments), plus all the per-stage rewards and Merit/token payouts along the way.