Explore Hunt: Showdown 1896 Blood Testament and Update 2.9, including the Make Them Bleed Community Event, Blood Wells, Siphon and Chupacabra Traits, Blood Moon, Burgess shotgun, combat changes, hidden map information, and other confirmed new content.
Blood Testament is the next major in-game Event for Hunt: Showdown 1896 and launches alongside Update 2.9 on September 8, 2026.
Unlike a normal event where every feature is simply available from the beginning, Blood Testament introduces a community-driven system called Make Them Bleed.
Players collectively contribute Community Event Points by completing certain actions during Missions. As the global community reaches shared milestones, additional gameplay content becomes available.
Crytek has confirmed three major community progression stages.
The rewards currently revealed include:
the new Blood Moon Time of Day;
the Chupacabra Burn Trait;
an intentionally undisclosed final “new nightmare.”
The third reward has deliberately not been identified publicly, so any specific claims about what it will be should currently be treated as speculation rather than confirmed Blood Testament content.
Important: As of September 4, Blood Testament and Update 2.9 are not yet live. The mechanics in this guide are based on Crytek's confirmed pre-release information and may still receive small balancing adjustments when the final Update 2.9 patch notes are published.
Make Them Bleed is one of the defining systems of Blood Testament.
Instead of progression being entirely individual, the Hunt community contributes toward shared objectives.
Community Event Points can be earned by:
killing monsters;
killing Targets;
interacting with Blood Wells.
Those contributions collectively advance Make Them Bleed and unlock major additions to the Event.
This changes the normal event formula considerably.
Every regular Bounty Hunt can contribute toward the larger community objective simply through activities players are already performing.
However, Blood Wells introduce an additional gameplay decision that is unique to Blood Testament.
Blood Wells are new interactable objects appearing throughout Hunt during Make Them Bleed.
Crytek says there will be one Blood Well per compound.
Like a Clue, each Blood Well can be interacted with once by each team.
Using one requires the Hunter to sacrifice a small portion of Health.
In exchange, the Hunter receives the new Siphon Burn Trait.
This introduces an interesting risk-versus-reward choice.
Normally, interacting with a world objective does not deliberately weaken your Hunter.
Blood Wells do.
You are trading immediate survivability for the possibility of obtaining one of the Event's strongest Trait-related advantages.
Probably not automatically.
The value depends heavily on what is happening around you.
A Blood Well may be worth using when:
the compound appears safe;
your team has healing available;
you want Siphon for a later PvP encounter;
you are already moving through the compound naturally.
It may be less attractive when:
enemies are nearby;
you are already missing Health;
you have limited healing;
interacting would expose you;
a PvP fight is about to begin.
Even a small Health sacrifice matters in Hunt.
Entering a rifle fight already damaged can change whether the next body shot kills you.
The strongest approach should therefore be to treat Blood Wells as tactical opportunities rather than mandatory buttons.
Siphon is one of the major new Traits introduced with Blood Testament.
You acquire it by interacting with a Blood Well.
Siphon allows you to loot a Scarce Trait from a dead enemy Hunter.
When that happens, Siphon is left behind on the defeated Hunter in exchange.
That creates a very unusual new reward for winning PvP.
Previously, finding powerful Scarce Traits relied heavily on world systems and luck.
With Siphon, killing another Hunter who possesses a desirable Scarce Trait can potentially let you take that power for yourself.
Scarce Traits include effects that cannot simply be purchased whenever you want them.
That means their value is substantially different from regular Traits.
Siphon turns defeated Hunters into potential Trait resources.
After winning a fight, checking enemy bodies may therefore become more important than before.
You are no longer only asking:
What weapon did they bring?
You may also be asking:
What Trait can I take?
Siphon creates another reason to loot bodies.
That does not mean you should loot immediately.
Third parties remain dangerous.
A Hunter corpse containing a valuable Scarce Trait is still not worth dying over because you began looting while their teammate was watching.
Secure the area first.
Use Siphon second.
Crytek has specifically stated that Blood Wells will be present during Make Them Bleed through the first two community stages.
Do not assume they are becoming a permanent map feature unless Crytek later announces that separately.
The second newly announced Blood Testament Trait is Chupacabra.
Once unlocked through community progression, Chupacabra can be purchased for 2 Upgrade Points.
It allows Hunters to interact with animals to restore one Health Chunk.
That is an unusually powerful form of Health recovery.
Losing a Health Chunk can significantly weaken a Hunter.
Reduced maximum Health changes many weapon damage breakpoints and makes future fights more dangerous.
Normally, restoring lost Chunks requires specific Restoration effects.
Chupacabra introduces another method.
Imagine surviving a compound fight but losing a Health Chunk.
Your team wins.
The Boss is already gone.
Under normal circumstances, you may be forced to continue the Mission with reduced maximum Health.
With Chupacabra available, interacting with an appropriate animal provides another opportunity to restore that lost Chunk.
That could significantly change how willing players are to continue fighting after suffering burn or revive damage.
Crytek describes Chupacabra as restoring one Health Chunk.
That is different from simply regenerating ordinary missing Health.
Its value is specifically tied to recovering maximum Health capacity that has been lost.
Blood Testament introduces a new dynamic Time of Day called the Blood Moon.
This is more than a visual effect.
The Blood Moon changes both visibility and AI behavior during the Mission.
It contains two different phases:
Intense Blood Moon
Dark Blood Moon
The environment changes dynamically between them.
During the Intense Blood Moon, crimson light breaks through the clouds.
The environment becomes more strongly illuminated by the red glow.
More importantly, monsters become:
more aggressive;
faster in their attacks.
This means AI becomes a larger tactical consideration during PvP.
Normally, experienced players can dispatch or avoid AI without much difficulty.
More aggressive monsters may make careless movement significantly more dangerous.
Consider a team rotating around a compound while another squad is holding the building.
If the outside team triggers several monsters during an Intense Blood Moon, those enemies may create:
extra sound;
extra damage;
Bleeding or Poison pressure;
movement restrictions;
opportunities for the defending team to attack.
This should make AI management more important than usual.
Do not automatically shoot every monster, however.
Gunfire creates even more information.
Sometimes quietly changing your route will remain the stronger choice.
During the Dark Blood Moon, clouds cover the red light.
Visibility decreases.
At the same time, monsters return to their normal behavior.
That creates a completely different PvP environment from the Intense phase.
The threat from AI decreases.
The information available through vision decreases as well.
Reduced visibility increases the value of:
sound;
close positioning;
movement awareness;
muzzle flashes;
environmental knowledge.
Long-range players may find targets harder to identify.
Shotgun and close-range teams may gain more opportunities to rotate unseen.
That does not automatically make close-range weapons stronger in every situation, but it should make visual information less reliable.
Listen carefully.
Hunt's audio system becomes even more important when sight lines deteriorate.
Blood Testament also introduces a completely new weapon family: the Burgess.
The standard Burgess is a foldable slide-action shotgun with:
a long barrel;
a six-round magazine;
Size 3 Weapon Capacity.
Its unusual folding design comes with a significant balancing mechanic:
equipping and unequipping the weapon takes longer than normal.
This means weapon-switch timing becomes particularly important.
Under Hunt's current inventory system, Hunters normally have five Weapon Capacity.
A Size 3 shotgun leaves room for a Size 2 secondary without requiring Quartermaster.
That gives the Burgess potentially excellent loadout flexibility.
You could build around:
Burgess for close-range pressure
plus
a Size 2 secondary for ranged coverage.
However, the long deployment animation means it may be much less effective as an emergency weapon that you switch to after already being surprised.
Plan your engagement before the enemy reaches you.
The Burgess works with the Bulletgrubber Trait.
Bulletgrubber allows the Hunter to recover live shells that would otherwise be ejected during certain reload actions.
This could become particularly valuable when ammunition is limited.
Whether Bulletgrubber becomes essential for competitive Burgess builds will depend on the final live weapon economy and exact reload behavior after Update 2.9 releases.
For now, it should be viewed as a confirmed compatible Trait rather than a mandatory choice.
The Burgess Bayonet adds a blade to the shotgun.
The trade-off is an even longer deployment time.
The Bayonet gives the weapon another close-range option after its shells are exhausted or when melee is preferable.
However, the longer equip time reinforces the Burgess family's biggest limitation.
Do not wait until an enemy is already entering the room before attempting to draw it.
The Burgess Trauma uses a reinforced stock.
Its heavy melee attack becomes a hammer-style strike.
That gives the variant access to Blunt melee damage.
Blunt damage is useful against several AI threats and can reduce the need to dedicate another equipment option exclusively to that role.
The practical value of the Trauma compared with the standard Burgess will become clearer once players can test the final live statistics.
During Blood Testament, the Burgess variants are unlocked through the Battle Pass.
Once unlocked, they remain unlocked through Prestige.
After Blood Testament concludes, Crytek says the weapon family will move into normal weapon progression.
That means the Burgess is not intended to disappear permanently when the Event ends.
The Battle Pass is simply its initial unlock route during Blood Testament.
Update 2.9 includes an important Hunting Bow balance adjustment.
Crytek has confirmed reductions to:
the Bow's one-hit-kill range;
reserve ammunition.
This directly reduces two of the weapon's biggest strengths.
The Bow currently provides strong silent pressure while carrying enough ammunition to function as both a PvP and PvE weapon.
Reducing reserve ammunition means missed shots and unnecessary AI kills should become more costly.
Reducing one-hit-kill range means players may need to close distance more aggressively before relying on lethal body shots.
After Update 2.9:
avoid wasting arrows on low-value targets;
be more selective with PvP shots;
understand the revised kill distance;
prioritize recoverable arrows where practical;
carry a secondary capable of finishing damaged Hunters.
The exact final numerical range should be verified from the live Update 2.9 patch notes before treating any specific meter value as definitive.
The Terminus is moving in the opposite direction.
Update 2.9 increases its damage and tightens its shotgun spread.
Both changes directly improve close-range consistency.
Tighter spread should make pellet concentration more reliable.
Higher damage increases the punishment when those pellets connect.
The Terminus was already capable of strong close-range pressure when built correctly.
Update 2.9 should make it a weapon worth reevaluating rather than dismissing based on older tier lists.
Crytek has also confirmed that Slugs will become cheaper across multiple weapons.
Slugs allow shotguns to trade normal pellet spread for a single precise projectile.
The result rewards accurate aiming but punishes misses more severely.
Lower prices could increase their usage.
However, price alone does not determine whether Slugs are optimal.
Buckshot remains attractive for aggressive close-range players because it is more forgiving when rapidly clearing rooms.
Choose ammunition according to the fights you want to take.
Update 2.9 adds High Velocity Ammo for the LeMat family.
High Velocity ammunition generally reduces the amount of lead required against moving targets at distance.
That may improve the LeMat's ability to support shotgun or short-range primary builds where the secondary needs to handle longer sight lines.
As always, the final ammunition statistics should be checked once the live Update 2.9 values are available.
The Heavy Knife is also receiving an adjustment.
Crytek says its swing melee hit detection is being heightened to improve the chance of attacks connecting.
This is primarily a consistency improvement.
Players who previously experienced swings appearing visually close to targets but failing to register may notice more reliable melee behavior.
Update 2.9 also adjusts prices across Tools and Consumables.
Crytek's initial preview does not provide the complete final price table.
Therefore, players should avoid rebuilding their entire economy strategy around unofficial pre-release price lists.
The important confirmed point is that loadout economics are being adjusted.
Once final patch notes are live, budget builds may need to be reevaluated accordingly.
One of the most useful quality-of-life changes in Update 2.9 is the ability to include Traits inside saved Loadouts.
Players can save between 0 and 15 Traits per build.
Using those Trait setups involves both:
Hunt Dollars;
Upgrade Points.
This should make rebuilding specialized Hunters considerably faster.
For example, a rifle Loadout could contain:
Iron Eye;
Doctor;
Physician;
movement Traits.
A Bow Loadout could instead prioritize Bow-specific Traits.
A Quartermaster build could automatically include the Trait necessary to support its weapon combination.
Saved Traits make building faster.
They do not make Upgrade Points unlimited.
Before applying a full saved build, check which Traits the Hunter already has and whether the planned weapons actually require every Trait in the preset.
Convenience should not replace deliberate Hunter building.
Update 2.9 expands the maximum potential Hunter Slots from 75 to 100.
This primarily benefits players who maintain large rosters of developed Hunters.
More space allows you to preserve:
specialized weapon builds;
high-level Hunters;
Hunters with valuable Scarce Traits;
different team and solo setups.
Combined with saved Trait Loadouts, roster management should become considerably more flexible.
One of Update 2.9's most important Bounty Hunt changes affects map information.
Extraction Points, Supply Points, and Scout Towers will now begin hidden.
They must be discovered through gameplay rather than being fully known immediately.
This changes early-Mission decision-making significantly.
Previously, knowing extraction positions from the beginning could influence which Boss objective or side of the map players preferred.
Now, some of that information must be earned.
Interacting with a Clue reveals two Extraction Points.
That gives Clues additional strategic importance.
A Clue no longer only helps identify the Boss location.
It also improves your knowledge of how you may eventually leave the Mission.
Imagine finding the Boss unusually early.
You could immediately begin attacking it.
But collecting another Clue may reveal additional extraction information that becomes valuable after securing the Bounty.
The decision becomes:
Do we rush the objective?
or
Do we collect more map information first?
That is exactly the type of risk-versus-information trade-off Hunt is built around.
Supply Points are also hidden initially.
Crytek says Scouting Maps can appear at Supply Points, providing another way to uncover information.
This should make Supply Points more strategically valuable than simple resupply locations.
Teams may choose to investigate them not because they desperately need ammunition, but because they need additional map knowledge.
The Spyglass retains the ability to reveal hidden compass icons under the new system.
That gives a previously niche Tool another practical role.
Information itself has value.
If a Spyglass lets your team identify an objective or useful map feature before another team can, the Tool has provided tactical value without firing a shot.
Whether this makes the Spyglass common in competitive builds remains to be seen.
But Update 2.9 clearly gives it more purpose.
The new system should reward teams that actively gather information.
Instead of entering the Mission knowing every extraction location immediately, players will need to build their understanding as the Hunt develops.
That creates several practical consequences.
Clues now provide information about:
the Boss search area;
extraction possibilities.
Skipping every early Clue to rush gunfire may therefore sacrifice more strategic information than before.
If you reach the Boss quickly, do not assume you already know the optimal extraction.
Confirm what your team has revealed.
After collecting the Bounty, Dark Sight tells you where Hunters are.
It does not automatically solve poor route planning.
If different teams have revealed different amounts of information, they may make different route decisions.
That could create less predictable movement across the map.
Listen carefully and avoid assuming every enemy team is moving toward the same obvious extraction.
Update 2.9 introduces MMR Decay for returning players.
After a sufficiently long absence, a temporary matchmaking modifier reduces the difficulty of their initial matchups.
That modifier gradually decreases as they return to normal play.
The idea is to account for skill rust.
Someone who previously played at a high MMR but has not touched Hunt for a long period may not immediately perform at their historical level.
The system gives that player an adjustment period rather than treating their previous rating as perfectly representative from the first Mission back.
New Hunters are receiving a similar matchmaking philosophy.
The previous system used a flatter reduction that ended at a particular Bloodline Rank.
Update 2.9 replaces it with a smoother modifier that gradually transitions new players toward standard matchmaking.
This should reduce the sudden difficulty spike newer players could experience when leaving the previous protected period.
It does not mean new players will never encounter difficult opponents.
The goal is a smoother progression into Hunt's normal matchmaking environment.
Update 2.9 also introduces the first version of a more visible reimbursement and reporting system.
If a Hunter is killed by a player who is later confirmed as cheating, Crytek says the affected player will automatically receive a flat Hunt Dollar reimbursement.
Crytek has not publicly specified the exact reimbursement amount in its initial announcement.
Players whose reports contribute to action against a cheater will also receive confirmation that action was taken.
Both types of notifications appear when the player logs in after the case is resolved.
This does not restore the exact lost Hunter or equipment.
It is a Hunt Dollar compensation system.
Blood Testament introduces several systems that should change normal Bounty Hunt decisions.
You do not need an elaborate progression plan.
You do need to understand what is valuable.
A Blood Well is not merely an Event Point object.
It grants Siphon.
That means compounds containing accessible Blood Wells may create additional player traffic and interaction.
Listen before using one.
Using a Blood Well costs Health.
Do not deliberately enter the next fight damaged if you have a safe opportunity to restore that Health first.
Siphon gives enemy corpses additional value.
After confirming the fight is actually over, check whether a useful Scarce Trait can strengthen your Hunter.
When the Intense Blood Moon is active, monsters become more aggressive.
Avoid casually triggering several enemies while another team controls your position.
Do not rely entirely on your old habit of checking every extraction immediately at Mission start.
Update 2.9 turns extraction knowledge into information your team needs to uncover.
Because Blood Testament has not launched at the time of writing, several things should not be treated as final.
Crytek has intentionally described the last Make Them Bleed reward only as the “true new nightmare.”
The official announcement does not identify exactly what it is.
Any specific creature, Target, Boss, or mechanic claimed elsewhere is not something we should present as confirmed until Crytek reveals it.
Crytek has confirmed the direction of the Bow, Terminus, Slug, LeMat, and Heavy Knife changes.
The preview does not provide every final numerical value.
Wait for the live patch notes before treating pre-release numbers as permanent.
Systems such as Blood Wells, Siphon, Chupacabra, and Blood Moon may receive balancing adjustments during Blood Testament.
A live-service event can change after launch.
This guide will therefore remain focused on confirmed mechanics rather than promising that every pre-release tuning value will remain untouched.
Blood Testament and Update 2.9 are officially scheduled to launch on September 8, 2026.
Make Them Bleed is a community-wide Event where players contribute points by killing monsters and Targets and by interacting with Blood Wells.
Shared community progression unlocks new Blood Testament content.
Blood Wells are new compound interactables.
There is one per compound, and each team can interact with a Blood Well once.
Using one sacrifices a small amount of Health and grants the Siphon Burn Trait.
Siphon allows a Hunter to loot a Scarce Trait from a defeated enemy Hunter.
Siphon is left on the corpse in exchange.
Chupacabra allows Hunters to interact with animals to restore one lost Health Chunk.
Once unlocked, it can be purchased for 2 Upgrade Points.
Blood Moon is a dynamic Time of Day with two states.
The Intense Blood Moon increases monster aggression and attack speed.
The Dark Blood Moon lowers visibility while monster behavior returns to normal.
The new weapon family is the Burgess shotgun.
It is a Size 3, six-round, slide-action shotgun with a folding design and longer equip and unequip animations.
Bayonet and Trauma variants will also be available.
Its initial unlock comes through the Blood Testament Battle Pass.
Unlocked Burgess variants remain unlocked through Prestige.
After the Event, Crytek plans to place the weapon family into normal weapon progression.
Yes.
Crytek has confirmed reductions to both its one-hit-kill range and reserve ammunition.
Exact final live values should be verified when Update 2.9 releases.
Yes.
Update 2.9 increases Terminus damage and gives it tighter spread.
Yes.
Extraction Points, Supply Points, and Scout Towers start hidden by default.
Interacting with a Clue reveals two Extraction Points.
Update 2.9 allows between 0 and 15 Traits to be included in saved Loadouts, with Hunt Dollar and Upgrade Point costs involved when applying the build.
Crytek has not revealed it.
The official announcement only says the final community reward will unleash a new nightmare.
Anything more specific should currently be considered unconfirmed.
Blood Testament is shaping up to be more than a cosmetic Hunt event.
The most important additions directly alter Bounty Hunt decision-making.
Blood Wells create a new risk-versus-reward interaction inside compounds.
Siphon makes defeated Hunters potential sources of Scarce Traits.
Chupacabra introduces another way to restore lost Health Chunks.
The Blood Moon changes AI pressure and visibility during the same Mission.
The Burgess creates new Size 3 shotgun possibilities.
And Update 2.9's hidden Extraction Points, Supply Points, and Scout Towers make information itself more valuable.
Meanwhile, weapon balance, saved Trait Loadouts, expanded Hunter Slots, MMR Decay, onboarding changes, and Fair Play improvements affect the game beyond Blood Testament.
The most important thing before launch is separating confirmed information from speculation.
Crytek has revealed a substantial amount about Blood Testament.
It has not revealed everything.
The final Make Them Bleed mystery should remain exactly that until the developers officially identify it.
Once Update 2.9 is live, the biggest questions will no longer be what these systems are.
They will be how players use them against each other.
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