The October 16, 2026 Team Fortress 2 update changes how cp_holyhell handles stalemates and strengthens several zombie abilities. The update applies automatically when you restart the game, according to the official announcement.
On Holyhell, rare spells that respawn rapidly replace the draw triggered five minutes after a team captures the central point. The zombie changes include a shorter Spit cooldown for the Sniper and increased melee damage for the Pyro.
Holyhell gives the team that loses center access to spells
The central control point determines where spells become available on cp_holyhell. When a team loses the point, spells activate and continually respawn on its side. Either team can benefit from this rule: access follows the loss of center, regardless of team color.
The round timer is reduced to five minutes. Five minutes after a team captures the central point, spells become rare variants and respawn very quickly instead of triggering a draw. Capturing a point during this stalemate state restores normal spells.
That creates 2 distinct spell conditions to watch during a round. Losing center enables spells on the losing team’s side; the later stalemate state changes the spells to rare variants with faster respawns. A point capture ends that rare-spell state, making the objective the way back to normal spell rules.
Respawn wave times are also reduced, and gargoyles now spawn only near the central point. A visual fix addresses the sky on the BLU side, which was not displaying when HDR was enabled.
Sniper and Pyro abilities change across six zombie maps
The announcement groups the following adjustments under zi_atoll, zi_blazehattan, zi_devastation_final1, zi_murky, zi_sanitarium and zi_woods.
The Zombie Sniper’s Spit cooldown drops from nine to six seconds, allowing the ability to be used more frequently. The Zombie Pyro’s melee damage rises from 45 to 65, increasing the damage of each melee hit.
The Pyro’s Sticky Spew applies a 20% movement slowdown, and standing in its puddles applies an additional 20% slowdown. The notes do not explain how those effects combine, so the 2 figures should not be read as a confirmed total slowdown of 40%.
The Zombie Pyro’s death explosion now deals 50 damage and applies afterburn. Its threat therefore extends beyond its melee attacks and Sticky Spew: killing it also triggers a damaging explosion with a lingering burn effect.
The Zombie Engineer’s beacon placement becomes more forgiving in cramped spaces. A beacon placed somewhere too narrow now relocates to the nearest valid position instead of immediately breaking. The same group of map notes also includes a fix for invisible player models in dx8.
The update also corrects inaccurate playtime tracking on some maps. Restart Team Fortress 2 to apply it; on Holyhell, the key change to account for is that the five-minute stalemate trigger now brings rare spells into play, with a point capture restoring their normal state.
See also our Team Fortress 2 game page, our article on Team Fortress 2: the October 12 patch fixes a and our article on Team Fortress 2: Operation’s War Paint winners.
