Wiki Viruses Rival Viruses Other viruses want this host too. Rivals unlock at level 9. After you clear a fight, a rival can burst in. Beat it for a rich bounty, or let it flee and it comes back stronger.
On this page 11 Rhinovirus Norovirus Adenovirus When rivals appear Fleeing and the chase Returning stronger Rival bounty Rival Pheromone Cruise Ship Cluster Ruby Princess Docks Rival challenges The common cold: a small, fast blue icosahedron that darts around you firing spreads of tiny virions.
Moves at 150 and keeps a distance of about 140 to 230, circling when in range Fires a fan of 4 + generation shots, every 1.65 s at generation 1, getting faster each generation (down to 0.9 s) Smallest rival (radius 16); spins fast Flees at 1.6x speed, faster than you can run From the Codex The main cause of the common cold: a tiny, non-enveloped RNA virus with over 160 known types.
Fun fact: It replicates best at 33°C, the cooler temperature inside your nose, which is why it rarely goes deeper.
Rhinovirus in the Codex The winter vomiting bug: a slow, cup-dimpled yellow-green sphere that lumbers after you, splattering sticky pools and rings of slowing droplets.
Moves at 95 straight toward you Every 2.4 s at generation 1 (down to 1.4 s) it leaves a sticky clot pool where it stands (it lasts 7 s and slows you heavily while you stand in it) Fires a full ring of 8 + 2x generation slowing droplets each time The Plasminogen Activator gene stops its clot pools slowing you From the Codex A calicivirus behind most outbreaks of stomach flu, famous for spreading on cruise ships.
Fun fact: As few as 18 virus particles can be enough to infect someone.
Norovirus in the Codex The armoured icosahedron: a slow purple shell bristling with 12 fibers, firing rotating crosses of them.
Moves at 70; the biggest rival (radius 24) with the hardest contact hit Has an armor bar worth 50% of its health to break first (explosive damage cracks it faster) Fires 4 + generation fibers in a cross that rotates each volley, every 1.88 s at generation 1 (down to 1.1 s) From the Codex A large DNA virus with a 20-sided protein shell and long fibers sticking from each corner, causing colds and pink eye.
Fun fact: Modified adenoviruses are used as delivery vehicles in some vaccines and gene therapies.
Adenovirus in the Codex After you clear a combat room there's a 6% chance a rival shows up, at a random tier.
Tier odds: Common 35%, Uncommon 30%, Rare 23%, Epic 9%, Legendary 3%The first rival you ever meet is a Common, generation 1 It appears at least 300 away from you, and its health shows in the top bar as RIVAL · NAME · TIER Only one rival is active per run at a time Health: 365, scaled by organ, tier (x1 up to x6) and +70% per generation it has survivedFrom the Codex Other viruses competing for the same host.
Fun fact: Rivals don't lock the doors, so running is always an option.
Rival Viruses in the Codex Sometimes, and once when badly hurt, a rival stops attacking and makes a run for the nearest door ("FLEEING!").
It always breaks once below 40% health; otherwise every 12 s there's a 25% chance It flees for up to 6 s at 1.6x speed If it gets through a door it hides in the next room: follow it in within 6 s, or it runs one room deeper Catch up and it's cornered at the far side of the room ("CAUGHT UP!"), still carrying its wounds Once a room lies between you, or you leave its room while it lives, it escapes From the Codex Other viruses competing for the same host.
Fun fact: Rivals don't lock the doors, so running is always an option.
Rival Viruses in the Codex An escaped rival replicates somewhere else in the host and can come back after a later cleared fight.
30% chance after each later cleared fight Returns one tier higher (up to Prismatic) and one generation stronger: "It escaped and mutated (gen N)" Each generation: +70% health, about 8% bigger, +15% contact damage, more and faster shots, and one more rotating haloThe bounty grows with every generation From the Codex Other viruses competing for the same host.
Fun fact: Rivals don't lock the doors, so running is always an option.
Rival Viruses in the Codex Defeating a rival claims its share of the host: nucleotides, materials, gear and more, scaled by tier and generation.
Nucleotides: 10 + 8 per generation, times the tier's loot multiplier (x1 Common up to x10 Prismatic) and the organ's reward scalePolymerase Shards: 4 + 4 per generation. Chaperone Proteins: half of 1 per generation, plus more at higher tiersRibozyme Cores at Epic tier or generation 3+ (in Endless Game Mode; elsewhere they condense into extra Chaperones) Gear whose rarity starts at the rival's tier and rises one per extra generation (within the organ's cap); generation 3+ also drops a second piece RNA chance 10.5% + 4.2% per generation (RNA only in Pandemic Game Mode; elsewhere it breaks down into nucleotides) Dormant Virion (extra life) chance: 6%, +10% per extra generationFrom the Codex The enzyme that copies a virus's genome. RNA viruses carry their own RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which cells don't have.
Fun fact: Because cells lack this enzyme, it's a prime drug target: remdesivir and favipiravir both jam viral polymerases.
Viral Polymerase in the Codex A loot run modifier: rival viruses show up twice as often, but cells hit 10% harder.
Combined with Scavenger it forms Hunting Season: gear drops another 50% more often From the Codex Consumables crafted between runs that change the next run.
Fun fact: A loaded modifier stays loaded until you run out of it.
Run Modifiers in the Codex Pandemic city · Singapore A Singapore policy in Pandemic Game Mode: a Norovirus rival in every organ, and rivals can't flee.
Loot as normal when beaten From the Codex In 2003 Singapore fought SARS with temperature screening, a single designated hospital and strict home quarantine, and the WHO declared it SARS-free that May.
Fun fact: Singapore · population 5.9 million · Asia
Singapore in the Codex A Sydney policy in Pandemic Game Mode: rival viruses are twice as common and one tier rarer, for better loot.
Doubles the appearance chance and shifts rolled tiers up by one From the Codex In 1900 bubonic plague broke out around The Rocks in Sydney. Over a hundred people died, and the city paid a bounty for every rat caught.
Fun fact: Australia · population 5.3 million · Oceania
Sydney in the Codex Challenges for hunting rivals.
Competition, Apex Strain, Only One Survives: defeat 1, 5 and 25 rivalsRhinovirus, Norovirus and Adenovirus Rival (defeat 1) and Nemesis (defeat 5) for each species Evolved Rival and Ancient Rival: defeat a generation 3 or a generation 5 rival in a runFrom the Codex Goals that pay rewards.
Fun fact: Collect finished challenges from the menu; during a run you can only view them.
Challenges in the Codex 
