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Tarkov Halloween Guide: How to Beat Zryachiy and Escape the Cultists (2023 Event)

In Tarkov’s October 2023 Halloween event, killing Zryachiy triggered a beacon-led Cultist ritual. Learn the reported steps, timing differences, and what happened if the ritual finished.
Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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This walkthrough covers Escape from Tarkov’s October 2023 Halloween event, not a confirmed active 2026 event. In the reported encounter, killing Zryachiy starts the ritual phase; follow the sky beacon and kill every ritual Cultist to stop it. If the ritual finishes, Vengeful Zryachiy appears.

What happened in the 2023 Halloween event?

The October 2023 event began with a roaming Zryachiy. According to Insider Gaming’s 2023 guide, Zryachiy was initially friendly unless another player had already triggered him. Killing him started the event’s ritual phase: extractions locked for other players and opened for the player who killed him.

The Escape from Tarkov Wiki’s Halloween 2023 event-history entry adds that the ritual could happen on any map except Factory and The Lab. Finding and killing the roaming Zryachiy closed all but one extraction, increased its timer, shifted the raid to night, and began a ritual involving six Ritual Cultist priests.

How to stop the Cultist ritual

  1. Find Zryachiy. In the 2023 guide’s account, he was initially non-hostile unless another player had already triggered the encounter.
  2. Choose whether to trigger the encounter. Killing him starts the ritual phase and changes extraction access. You could leave after triggering it, or press on to the ritual site.
  3. Follow the beacon. After the ritual begins, use the beacon in the sky to locate the Cultists. Insider Gaming reported a seven-minute window to reach it.
  4. Kill every ritual Cultist. The guide says killing all Cultists at the site stops the ritual and ends the event successfully. The event-history entry describes six Ritual Cultist priests and gives the ritual duration as six minutes and 30 seconds.

The two sources describe timing differently: Insider Gaming’s seven minutes refers to reaching the beacon, while the event-history entry states a 6:30 ritual duration. They should not be treated as one definitive timer.

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Should you extract or continue to the ritual?

After killing Zryachiy, the 2023 guide describes leaving as an option. The choice is a risk trade-off rather than a separate build or loadout recommendation.

  • Extract: Choose this if surviving and keeping what you have matters more than completing the encounter, or your group is not ready to fight through the ritual.
  • Continue: Choose this if you have enough time and your group is prepared to locate and eliminate the ritual Cultists before the event’s timer runs out.

What happens if the ritual finishes?

Insider Gaming reported that if the timer expired, Vengeful Zryachiy spawned with almost 40,000 HP and attacked players across the map. The event-history entry likewise says completing the ritual brought in Vengeful Zryachiy. These are mechanics reported for the 2023 event, not confirmation of how a future Halloween event works.

What the 2023 guide said about preparation

The 2023 guide reported that Perfotoran and xTG-12 stims defended against Cultist poison. It also said Cultists were slightly visible through thermal optics and that their footsteps were not entirely silent. These details describe that event guide’s account; they are not verified as current item effects or AI behavior.

The guide said failing to stop the ritual caused debuffs, including weapon jamming, and reported that weapons with revolving chambers and the PPSh-41 were exempt from that jam effect. Treat those exceptions as historical event-specific claims rather than current equipment advice.

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Are Zryachiy’s followers the same as regular Cultists?

Not necessarily. The Cultists reference describes regular Cultists as stealthy groups active at night, with activity listed from 22:00 to 07:00 and group sizes varying by location. It also notes that Zryachiy’s followers may appear as “Sektant” in the kill list but are not the same AI type as regular Cultists for Cultist-related quests and achievements. The Zryachiy reference identifies him as a Cultist boss at Lighthouse and describes proximity or attacks as possible provocations, as well as consequences involving the DSP transmitter. These are wiki descriptions, and the pages are less authoritative than official patch notes; they do not replace the specific 2023 event sequence above.

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Is this guide current for 2026?

No 2026 Halloween announcement or schedule is established here, so this sequence should not be presented as a live event. The event-history entry separately describes Halloween 2025 changes, including increased Cultist spawn chance and special Cultists on Customs, Woods, and Shoreline. That is a different event record, not evidence that the 2023 ritual mechanics returned.

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Check Battlestate Games’ current event announcements before relying on this walkthrough for a live raid. Until a return is confirmed, use it as a historical guide to the October 2023 encounter.

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