Hunters,
We're excited to welcome you to Garden of the Witch, our first in-game Event of 2025, live now and running until May 5th, 2025. It comes along with Update 2.3, which kicks off a year of focus on improvements, quality of life, and bug fixes.
The story behind Garden of the Witch sees cursed nature and Corrupted metal clash. New Hunters join the fray with the Bruja duo seeing their healing plants being cursed and their cures fail as Corruption takes over the soil. The Welders feel their minds being altered and bent by the blood-soaked metal being brought their way. The Event follows these teams fight against the Corruption with their own strengths—the Brujas with organic mysticism, and the Welders with industrial occult practices and fire.
The blog below focuses on Garden of the Witch. For all of the details about our quality of life, bug fixes, and other improvements, check out our Patch Notes here. We also have more details about the balance changes coming to the game with this update, which you can read about here.
Gameplay
Players can earn Event Points and Pledge Marks like in previous Events, but instead of vowing your Hunter to a Pact or Troupe, Garden of the Witch introduces three Event-exclusive Sealed Trait Rewards, which have been selected from past Events. These Traits include the following and will only be available during Garden of the Witch:
Blademancer – If you use Dark Sight, you'll be able to quickly retrieve launched projectiles in front of you. Keep in mind they no longer cause extra damage to enemies when retrieved.
Corpse Seer – With this Trait you'll receive a second of Dark Sight Boost when you're looting Hunters, even without carrying a Bounty Token.
Gunrunner – This Trait allows your Hunter to equip two large guns at the same time.
Rare Supply
In this Event there will be the all-new Rare Supply in addition to normal Supply Points. The Rare Supply will always spawn at a random location on the map, and you'll be able to find it via a unique map icon. The Rare Supply is where you can always find one of the three Event-exclusive Sealed Traits, Sealed Envelopes, and Sealed Cash Registers.
The following Sealed Rewards can be found at the Rare Supply:
• Sealed Bounty Token (for certain Missions only)
• Master Clue
• Full Restoration Kit
• 1 Random Event-Exclusive Sealed Scarce Trait
The Rare Supply will also always feature the following Sealed Rewards, all of which can also be found randomly across regular Supply Points, arsenals, and watch towers:
• Four Shot Boon
• Experience Boon
• Dark Sight Boon
• Sealed Cash Register
• Sealed Ammo Box and Tools
Pledge Marks
In this Event, you'll be able to carry up to 6 Pledge Marks at a time. Check out the different ways you can earn Pledge Marks below:
• 1 PM is granted for every 25 Event Points you collect
• 2 PMs for Banishing the Boss Target in Bounty Clash
• 3 PMs for becoming the Soul Survivor
Stealing Mechanics:
When looting a Hunter, you'll be able to steal their Pledge Marks up to a maximum of 6. The looted Hunter loses any Pledge Marks stolen, but can retain some if you, the looting Hunter, already have all 6 Pledge Mark slots filled up.
Rewards
Progressing through the Event and Battle Pass, players can unlock new Hunters—the Brujas and the Welders—which come with two awesome variants each.
We've also got some awesome equipment Skin sets, including the Mystic Occult Mexican Set, the Night Tyrant Set, and the Iron Fury Set.
Check out the new weapon variants and Custom Ammo below:
New Weapon Variant: 1865 Carbine Silencer
This variant is a Specter Arms-made repeating rifle and features a well-balanced design with fast reloads, making it effective at medium range.
New Weapon Variant: Mosin Obrez Match
This is a Russian-made bolt-action rifle, the shortened Mosin-Nagant, and offers players powerful performance but with slightly reduced power and range. It is modified with enhanced sights, barrel, and stock.
New Weapon Variant: Mosin Obrez Sharpeye
The Mosin Obrez Sharpeye delivers powerful performance with slightly reduced power and range. It is modified with an extended barrel, stock, and a mid-range scope.
Custom Ammo: 1865 Carbine Subsonic Ammo
A new Custom Ammo, 1865 Carbine Subsonic Ammo, is being added to this Event. This new Custom Ammo is smaller and uses less gunpowder, meaning bullets will travel slower than the speed of sound and result in quieter gunshots—perfect for sneakier gameplay.
We look forward to seeing you in Garden of the Witch! While the Event is scaled back, we are committed to continuing to focus on quality of life, bug fixes, and performance with this update and going forward. As always, keep an eye out on our socials for more info, and let us know your feedback.
Your Hunt: Showdown 1896 Team