Survival Tips
Welcome to The Hollow
Nights are darker, the fog is thicker and the dead hit harder. Something else walks the pines after dark. Read the Hollow Wiki (top bar) whenever you are unsure.
Dread
Being alone in the wilds at night builds dread. Footsteps behind you, a twig snapping, whispers, a knock on the door. The higher it climbs, the worse it gets. Company and light keep it down.
The Watcher
If something tall with antlers stands between the trees, watching: do not walk toward it. Look at it and it is gone. Most of the time.
Dread Nights
Some nights the fog rolls in thick and the dread doubles. The Hollow Relay goes quiet. Stay in, bar the door, wait for dawn.
Hollow Relay
The radio carries broadcasts at 21:00 and 02:00, and a warning on blood moon eve. Lore pages you find fill in the rest of the story.
The Wendigo
Keep your eyes on it. Every time you look away it gets closer. Fire drives it off, but it always comes back for you.
Special Infected
From game stage 30 the roots of the Heart start rewriting the dead: Leapers and Spitters first, Bloaters, Shades and Leeches from 60, Juggernauts, Revivers and Frostbound from 100. Each has a tell. Learn it.
The Rift
The Ashgrove dig cut a wound in the world, and it feeds on fear. Statues on the rooftops first, then hunters, packs, fiends and casters as your game stage climbs. The Hollow Wiki has every tell.
Stone Watchers
A gargoyle on a high ledge at night is not decoration. Bullets barely chip it while it sleeps. Crouch past at a distance, and never stand under it.
Bone-Runners
Rift Husks get back up once after you drop them. Fire or a blast keeps them down for good.
The Hunter
Rift Hunters track by sound. Every shot tells them where you are. Walk, crouch, and keep your back to a wall.
Read the Tells
Every demon warns you before its special: a snort, a gurgle, raised fists, a glowing circle under its feet. After the big ones it is exposed for a moment: hit back then.
Kill the Casters First
The robed ones raise the dead, curse you and drain you. Their circles light up before the spell lands. Break line of sight and drop them first.
Rift Fiends
Pyre burns, Rime freezes, Storm calls lightning on a humming ring, Blood frenzies, Shade comes out behind you, Abyss drags you in. Learn which one you are facing.
Stay Out of the Green
A Rot Bloater bursts into a pool that rots you and heals every demon standing in it. Kill it from range.
The Ashen Sovereign
Six Rift pages bind into the Rift Codex. The Codex teaches the altar; level 200 and a mastered class teach the Sigil. From game stage 200 or day 50, the Sovereign answers. Bring everything.
The Leaper
A hiss and a crouch means it is about to jump. Step sideways and it sails right past you.
The Shade
Two pale eyes in the dark and whispering. Put a light on it: lit up, it is just another corpse, and it takes full damage.
The Juggernaut
Shoot the plates off its head and chest before you aim for the head. When it roars, get out of its line, or let it slam into a concrete wall.
The Reviver
If the dead are getting back up, something is singing them awake. Find the purple glow and kill the singer first.
Hollow creatures
The Wendigo, hornets, giant spiders and worse grow stronger as your game stage climbs. Hunt them for Hollow Marks.
Classes
Pick a class on the Skills page. Each has its own tree bought with Hollow Marks, its own pros and cons, and a starter kit. Changing class costs a fortune in Dukes.
Hollow Marks
Earned by killing Hollow creatures, alphas and bosses, and by reading lore pages for the first time. Spend them on your class branch.
Master Tokens
Finish every node of your class tree to master it: you get a Master Token and leaving the class becomes free. Six tokens open LEGENDS.
Slow climb
Levels come slower in The Hollow. Every point counts: read the node before you buy it.
Gun mastery
Every gun and tool counts your kills. Rank it up to unlock camos at the Mastery Bench. Diamond, Supernova and Blood Moon also need mastered classes.
Magazines and Books
The Books button shows every magazine series and book set, your level in each and the next thing it unlocks.
Hunter's Contracts
Traders post bounties on burnt packs, alphas and the Wendigo. Buy a contract in the crafting window, read it, and go find your quarry.
Challenges
The Challenges page has a whole Hollow category. Redeem finished ones for rewards, track the next.
Crop disease
Crops can fall sick and spread it to their neighbours. Herbal remedy cures one, Copper Fungicide a small patch, Ward Tonic the whole field.
Water your crops
Dry crops grow at half speed; watered crops grow 40% faster and get sick half as often. Sprinklers fed by pipes do it for you.
Big farms draw the dead
A field of six or more crops pulls zombies in at night. Wall it in or guard it.
Dew collectors
Dew collectors only fill while it rains. Dry spells pause them; nothing is lost.
Livestock
Feed a male and a female and keep them close: they breed. Cows and goats give milk, hens lay eggs, sheep can be sheared with a knife.
Dogs
Tame a stray by feeding it three times, an hour apart, or raise a puppy from the Kennel. Dogs follow, stay or guard, and level up as they kill. Don't let them go hungry.
Fishing
Hold use to charge your cast, release to throw. When it bites, hit the red zone on the reel bar. Three misses and it is gone.
Rabies
Bat and rat bites can carry rabies. It hides for a day, then turns to fever. Rabies Vaccine cures it up to the Hydrophobia stage; after that it is too late.
Venom
Komodo and spider bites are venomous. Antivenom, brewed from venom glands, cures it and keeps you safe for a while.
Noise
The meter under the minimap shows how loud you are. When it reads HEARD, something is coming.
Hornets
Hollow Hornets smell blood. Bleeding in the burnt forest or the wasteland is asking for a swarm.
Crocodiles and komodos
They lunge from a few metres away. Keep your distance or keep moving.
Drag to build
Holding fences, walls, rails or pipes? Place the first block, keep the button down and drag: the whole run follows your crosshair. Press the mode key for an L-shape.
Solar panels
Solar power follows the sun and the weather, and panels gather dust. Clean them with a Solar Cleaning Kit, or let the rain do it.
Base power grid
Press GRID on any power source to see your whole base: sources, batteries, fuel and dirty panels at a glance.
Minigun Turret
It spins up, it overheats. Give it bursts and it will keep going all night.
Hail
Some rainy spells turn to hail. It chips any vehicle left out in the open. Park under a roof.
Driving extras
Cruise control, nitro, seat switching and passengers who can shoot. The keys show as icons on the driving HUD.
Hollow Skid Loader
Lower the arms and drive into a hill: it cuts a passage and keeps the dirt. The Toothed Bucket chews through ore and concrete.
Raider Bus
Five seats, a ram plough and a machine gun on the roof. Keep 7.62 in the gunner's bag; it eats it fast.
Hollow Chinook
Drive a car up the ramp, close it and fly. Players standing in the bay ride along.
Tin Can Grenade
Cheap, loud, early. Pull the cord, count to four.
Barber Mirror
Change your face, hair and beard at a Barber Mirror; pick your outfit looks at the Wardrobe.
Hollow Settings
Too much dread? No crop disease? Main menu > Play > HOLLOW SETTINGS switches the overhaul systems on and off.
Found a bug?
Report bugs and get help on The Hollow Discord: discord.gg/gZJDgHD7Jw (the card on the main menu opens it).
Blood moon
Every seventh night the horde comes. The Hollow Relay warns you the evening before. Be ready.
Hordes grow with you
Blood moons and wandering hordes climb with your game stage: close to vanilla at first, twice the dead by mid game, three times late. Build the base for the horde you will face, not the one you faced.
Migrations
When the Hollow Relay talks about a migration, believe it. A herd the size of a town is on the move. When you hear it in the distance, get behind walls.
Blood Moon Survivor
Live through a blood moon without dying and the Hollow pays you in Hollow Marks at dawn. The later the game, the bigger the reward.