Once cancer unlocks, most organs grow a tumor. It runs on a timer: it grows, spreads into other rooms, and follows you into the next organ if you leave it alive. Destroying one pays out big, because a virus feasts on rapidly dividing cells.
Cancer unlocks for your whole save the first time any virus reaches skill-tree level 7. It's introduced with its own briefing card at the start of an organ in your next run, and that organ is guaranteed a tumor.
In-game intro: most organs now grow a tumor that gets bigger, spreads to other rooms over time and sends assassins after you
The Oncolytic Payload trait, the Oncolytic Strain and Carcinogen Exposure modifiers, the Strong p53 and BRCA host traits and the Metastatic Cancer condition only show up once cancer is unlocked
Tumors appear in Infect Game Mode and Pandemic Game Mode
No tumors in Endless Game Mode: they never grow, spread or send assassins there
The first time you meet each cancer or assassin, a briefing card marked CANCER explains it
From the Codex
Cancer growing in the host while you're there, and what happens if you leave it.
Fun fact: Kill tumors early: they only get worse, and they follow you if you don't.
The room where an organ's cancer grows. Its doors never lock, so you can always walk away mid-fight and come back later.
After unlock, each organ has a 70% chance to grow one tumor room
A tumor room is guaranteed after a metastasis, and with some modifiers, host conditions and city policies
Shown in pink on the minimap
Bigger than a normal room, and it swells 12% with every growth stage (up to 70% bigger)
Entering shows the cancer's name and a one-line hint, and a boss-style health bar with the cancer's name and stage
Destroy the core (or Leukemia's stem cell) and the whole tumor collapses
From the Codex
Cancer is the host's own cells dividing out of control after mutations break their brakes. Some viruses (HPV, Epstein-Barr, hepatitis B) can help cause it.
Fun fact: Oncolytic viruses are engineered to infect and burst cancer cells; T-VEC, a modified herpes virus, is approved for melanoma.
While a tumor lives, a countdown at the bottom left shows when it will next grow or spread. Each tick it does one or the other, taking turns, growth first.
Every growth tick makes the cancer a stage bigger: tougher, more crowded with satellite cells, and faster to attack.
Maximum stage: Nasal Passage 3, Lungs 4, Bloodstream 5, Lymph Node 6, Gut 7, Liver 8, Bone Marrow 9, Brain 10
Each stage: +30% health for the core and its starting cells
Each stage: more satellites (nodules, blasts, clones, polyps, lobes or glial nodes)
Each stage: attack timers 18% shorter (down to 30% of normal) and shots 12% faster
Each stage: +25% payout when destroyed
Announced as THE TUMOR GREW · STAGE N, and the health bar reads · STAGE N
From the Codex
A mass of the body's own cells dividing out of control. Some viruses, like Epstein-Barr (linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma) and HPV, can help trigger cancers.
Fun fact: Oncolytic viruses are engineered to infect and burst cancer cells; one (T-VEC, a modified herpes virus) is approved to treat melanoma.
Instead of growing, a tick can spread the cancer: it takes over an unexplored fight room or grows a whole new tumor room onto the map.
Maximum spreads: Nasal Passage 1, Lungs 2, Bloodstream 3, Lymph Node and deeper 4
Invading: an unvisited fight room becomes a tumor room, and its immune cells stay, all attacking at once around the tumor
New room: the tissue buds a brand-new tumor room next to an existing room (never beside the boss)
Each spread is another tumor you must destroy to fully clear the cancer
Announced as THE TUMOR SPREAD
From the Codex
Cancer is the host's own cells dividing out of control after mutations break their brakes. Some viruses (HPV, Epstein-Barr, hepatitis B) can help cause it.
Fun fact: Oncolytic viruses are engineered to infect and burst cancer cells; T-VEC, a modified herpes virus, is approved for melanoma.
Walk out of a tumor fight and your progress is kept: satellite cells you destroyed stay dead and the core keeps its damage.
Destroyed nodules, leukemic blasts, lymphoma clones, polyps and glial nodes stay dead when you return
The core comes back with the health it had when you left
Liver lobes always grow back
Growth while you're away still adds new satellite cells
Pools, lesions and tendrils disappear when you leave
From the Codex
Cancer is the host's own cells dividing out of control after mutations break their brakes. Some viruses (HPV, Epstein-Barr, hepatitis B) can help cause it.
Fun fact: Oncolytic viruses are engineered to infect and burst cancer cells; T-VEC, a modified herpes virus, is approved for melanoma.
Cancer cells play by their own rules: they never become elites, never lose track of you and never adapt to your build.
Tumor cells never roll elite tiers or affixes
Once alerted they never lose sight of you
Killing tumor cells does not raise Detection
They never turn into adapted Cytokine Storm cells
CRISPR: tumor cores and the leukemic stem cell take 4x your damage per touch (up to twice a second) instead of being cut apart; other tumor cells are cut apart instantly
From the Codex
A mass of the body's own cells dividing out of control. Some viruses, like Epstein-Barr (linked to nasopharyngeal carcinoma) and HPV, can help trigger cancers.
Fun fact: Oncolytic viruses are engineered to infect and burst cancer cells; one (T-VEC, a modified herpes virus) is approved to treat melanoma.
