Warzone Haunted Hollow Guide: Secrets, Eldritch Gate, Giant Infected & Season 06 Rewards

Haunted Hollow is Season 06's Warzone centerpiece: a nighttime, eldritch takeover of Haven's Hollow packed with map events, Easter eggs, and the Giant Infected LTM. If you only came for one reward, the animated Crimson Crawler camo from the Eldritch Gate ritual is the one most players miss because it never appears as a normal challenge tracker. This guide covers the map changes, the Eldritch Gate route, Giant Infected rules and rewards, Ghost Train / Ray Gun loops, and the broader Season 06 reward track around The Haunting.

Official framing comes from Activision's PlayStation Blog Season 06 / The Haunting overview. Secret routes below synthesize solved community explainers such as The Click's Crimson Crawler guide, Giant Infected rules, and Ghost Train / Ray Gun writeups that match the official Ghost Train teaser.

What Haunted Hollow is

Haunted Hollow is a terrifying nighttime variant of Haven's Hollow. Occult and supernatural activity spreads across the region, landmarks get haunted reworks, and map-exclusive events sit on top of the normal Resurgence / Haunting playlists. Confirmed launch set pieces from the official blog:

• Ghost Train: a spectral train moving through the map; phase it back into reality to loot what is on board
• Trick or Treat Pumpkins: interactibles around shops that can grant valuable loot or punish you with a trick
• Ruins / drained pond: the pond is drained, exposing ruins beneath, with unusual light activity around the mansion

Community clears since September 17 also locked in the Eldritch Gate ritual (Crimson Crawler camo), Research Center Mangler transformation routes, Jackalope cooking for Lucky Rabbit's Foot variants, and Mystery Box access to the Ray Gun once the Ghost Train is solidified.

Treat Haunted Hollow as a seasonal map layer, not a permanent forever rewrite. Secrets and LTMs can rotate or disable during the season. Raven has already had to re-enable the Eldritch Gate after a temporary disable, so if a ritual fails, check patch notes before assuming you are doing it wrong.

Eldritch Gate ritual: unlock Crimson Crawler

Crimson Crawler is an animated weapon camo earned by completing a hidden Easter egg on Haunted Hollow. There is no standard challenge menu entry pointing you at it. You do not need to win the match after the ritual finishes. Completing the gateway charge unlocks the camo account-wide.

Step-by-step

• Load into any Haunted Hollow playlist that includes the map (Resurgence / Operation Grave Rot / Giant Infected, depending on what is live).
• Find the glowing sword. Only one spawn is active per match.
• Carry the sword to the Floating Ruins above the drained pond / ruins area.
• Use the nearby Jump Pad to reach the elevated ruins.
• Place the sword on the podium.
• Kill the zombies that spawn around the ritual site to charge the Eldritch Gateway.
• Keep clearing until the gateway hits full charge.
• Claim the Crimson Crawler unlock notification. No extraction step is required.

Sword spawn locations

| Location | Where to look | | --- | --- | | Mansion | Top of the light beam / gravity vortex inside the Mansion | | Lumbermill | Inside the Furnace at the burning Lumbermill | | Riverboat | On the Slot Machine aboard the Riverboat |

Split the search in a squad. One player checks Mansion, one checks Lumbermill, one checks Riverboat. As soon as someone has the sword, regroup and rotate to the Floating Ruins. The ritual is one continuous attempt: if your squad wipes before the gateway finishes charging, you restart in a new match.

Ritual combat tips

• Bring a high clear-rate SMG or AR. Volume of zombie kills matters more than a fancy finisher.
• Assign one player to watch for enemy Operators. Floating Ruins become loud once zombies spawn.
• Do not leave the podium area mid-charge hoping to loot elsewhere. Progress is per attempt.
• You can complete the egg during Giant Infected as well as standard Haunted Hollow playlists, which lets you double-dip mode rewards and the camo in one session type.

Giant Infected LTM: rules, win conditions, rewards

Giant Infected is the Haunted Hollow-exclusive Limited-Time Mode called out in the Season 06 announcement.

Match structure

• 64 players total
• 8 Infected assigned at the start
• Everyone else starts as a Survivor
• Survivors collect DNA samples, construct and arm a DNA Bomb, then defend it through detonation to win
• Infected grow the horde by turning Survivors and can shut the bomb down after it is armed

Survivors spawn with a fixed loadout that upgrades as they earn score from surviving, kills, DNA collection, and activities. A downed Survivor who is not revived in time joins the Infected. Infected get aggressive movement tools (unlimited sprint, special melee, fast mantling, wall jumps, no fall damage) and grow stronger over time with more health, speed, and eventually a super jump.

How Survivors should play

• Bank DNA immediately. Dying with uncashed samples wastes progress.
• Front-load score in the first minutes so loadout upgrades come online before the tipping point.
• Hold interiors with limited approaches (Mansion, Lumbermill corridors, Riverboat choke points) instead of open fields.
• Revive teammates aggressively. Every failed revive grows the horde.
• When the bomb arms, collapse on the site as a group. Detonation is the only Survivor win condition.

How Infected should play

• Swarm in pairs or trios. Solo melees into upgraded Survivors lose.
• Hunt stragglers rotating between DNA nodes rather than only hard-charging stacked buildings.
• Deny sample areas to delay the bomb.
• Once the bomb sequence starts, abandon side chases and rush the device together.

Giant Infected rewards

Mode-tied free cosmetics reported from Season 06 play:

| Reward | Type | Unlock path | | --- | --- | --- | | DNA Charm | Weapon Charm | Hit the DNA sample collection threshold | | Survivor Calling Card | Calling Card | Complete 15 objectives as a Survivor | | Infected Spray | Spray | Turn or kill 10 Survivors as Infected |

Crimson Crawler is not part of that three-piece mode set. It is the separate Eldritch Gate Easter egg. Play Giant Infected for the mode cosmetics and XP, then finish the sword ritual in the same playlist when the lobby allows it.

Ghost Train, Ray Gun, and Mystery Box loop

Officially: find a way to phase the Ghost Train back into reality, then loot what is aboard. Solved route:

• Watch the train path on the map / sky.
• Reach a signal lever beside the tracks before the train passes.
• Pull the lever as the train approaches to solidify it.
• Board the rear carriages.
• Loot Supply Boxes, Ammo Cache, Buy Station access, and the Mystery Box.
• Spin the Mystery Box for Legendary weapons; the Ray Gun is a rare Wonder Weapon result.
• Melee-reject unwanted rolls to spin again while the train remains solid.
• When the train ghosts out again, follow it to the next lever and repeat.

The Ray Gun uses splash damage with a slower fire rate and starts with a large reserve (community guides commonly cite 100 reserve rounds) that can be resupplied during the match. The sky beam / Tac Map icon on an active Mystery Box gives your position away, so one player should spin while others hold train ends.

Some community routes also combine Jackalope cooking rewards (Lucky / Luckier Rabbit's Foot) with Mystery Box behavior for improved Ray Gun odds. Treat those as optional advanced loops; the core train stop and box spin is the reliable baseline.

Other Haunted Hollow secrets worth your time

Trick or Treat Pumpkins

Interact with festive pumpkins around shops. Outcomes swing between useful loot and hostile tricks. Clear the immediate area before interacting if the lobby is hot. Pumpkins are low commitment compared with the Eldritch Gate, so grab them on rotations rather than making them a primary objective.

Research Center Mangler route

Players can complete a ghost / EMF-style hunt around the Research Center to earn a Mutant Injection and temporarily become a Mangler. This is a match-only power spike, not a permanent cosmetic unlock like Crimson Crawler. Use it for chaotic mid-match pressure, then return to normal Operator play when it expires.

Jackalope cooking

A separate cooking Easter egg around vegetable patches / tents can produce Lucky Rabbit's Foot variants. The upgraded recipe path is the one players combine with Ghost Train Mystery Box routing. If you are only chasing Crimson Crawler, skip this until the camo is unlocked.

Landmark combat notes

• Mansion: gravity vortex / light beam verticality; also a sword spawn
• Lumbermill: burning Furnace sword spawn and strong interior holds for Giant Infected
• Riverboat: Slot Machine sword spawn and tight corridors
• Floating Ruins: Eldritch Gate podium site above the drained pond
• Research Center: Mangler / locked room style secrets and high loot density

Season 06 reward track around The Haunting

Haunted Hollow sits inside a larger Season 06 package that launched September 17, 2026.

Warzone-facing rewards and modes:

• Haunted Hollow map events and secrets
• Giant Infected LTM
• New Victory Streak / Winstreak Challenges for Universal Weapon Camos
• Next season of Resurgence Ranked Play

Battle Pass / Store / Events:

• Season 06 Battle Pass weapon blueprints and Operator skins
• BlackCell extras including the Revenant Operator and a Mastercraft blueprint with challenge variants
• Doom Event Pass and the Tracer Pack: Doom Demonic Essence Bundle plus other Haunting-themed bundles
• Battle Pass weapons: VMP SMG and TR51 Para Assault Rifle
• Event / weekly unlocks: Arcblade melee, Roc 20mm Special, and new attachments

Black Ops 7 side of the season (useful if you bounce between titles): Quantum and Bloodstead maps, Hordepoint and T.E.D.D. Trials LTMs, Tenshu Survival Zombies map, Rogue Run pedestal rewards, and pumpkin zombie seasonal dressing. You do not need those for Haunted Hollow specifically, but the Battle Pass and Doom tracks are shared progression goals.

Season 06 is a shortened late-cycle season before the next major Call of Duty handoff window later in the fall. Treat Haunted Hollow cosmetics, Giant Infected unlocks, Doom Event Pass progress, and winstreak camos as time-sensitive. Finish the Eldritch Gate early so you are not racing a disabled playlist in the final week.

Efficient farm order for one play session

• Queue Haunted Hollow / Giant Infected.
• First circle: split for the glowing sword while looting normally.
• If the sword is found, finish Eldritch Gate before contesting mid-map chaos.
• If the sword is contested or missing, pivot to DNA samples (Giant Infected) or Ghost Train levers.
• After camo unlock, spend remaining games cleaning DNA Charm / Calling Card / Spray challenges.
• Use leftover lobbies for weapon leveling toward Season 06 camo and winstreak progress.

That order prevents the common failure mode: grinding Infected for an hour, then realizing Crimson Crawler still is not unlocked because nobody carried a sword.

Loadout notes for Haunted Hollow

• Close-range SMG + mid AR covers zombie clears at the Gate and Operator fights in Mansion / Riverboat.
• Carry Tacticals that buy revive time in Giant Infected; every save denies the horde a body.
• A movement field upgrade helps sword carries across open ground to the Jump Pad.
• Keep a launcher or high splash option only if your squad specifically wants Ray Gun / train defense utility; most lobbies are won with ordinary guns plus ritual discipline.

If you buy, sell, or transfer Warzone-ready accounts during Season 06, verify BlackCell status, Battle Pass tier, and whether Crimson Crawler / Giant Infected cosmetics already sit on the account. Seasonal unlocks are easy to assume and annoying to rediscover after a handoff.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Haunted Hollow launch?

Season 06: The Haunting launched September 17, 2026 across Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone, with Haunted Hollow as the Warzone map headline.

How do I unlock Crimson Crawler?

Find the glowing sword at Mansion, Lumbermill, or Riverboat, carry it to the Floating Ruins podium, and kill zombies until the Eldritch Gateway fully charges. The camo unlocks immediately with no match-win requirement.

Is Giant Infected only on Haunted Hollow?

Yes. It is a 64-player Haunted Hollow-exclusive LTM with eight starting Infected and a DNA Bomb objective for Survivors.

Do I need to win the match after the Eldritch Gate ritual?

No. Once the gateway completes and the unlock appears, the camo is earned even if you die afterward.

How do I get the Ray Gun?

Stop the Ghost Train with a signal lever, board it, and spin the Mystery Box on the rear carriages. The Ray Gun is a rare Wonder Weapon roll, not a guaranteed drop.

What rewards does Giant Infected give?

A DNA Charm for sample collection, a Calling Card for completing 15 Survivor objectives, and a Spray for turning or killing 10 Survivors as Infected. Crimson Crawler is separate.

Is the Eldritch Gate always enabled?

It has been temporarily disabled and re-enabled during Season 06. If the podium interaction fails, check current patch notes or playlist status before repeating the full route for an hour.

Haunted Hollow is Season 06's best "one map, many objectives" checklist: sword ritual for Crimson Crawler, DNA Bomb chaos for Giant Infected cosmetics, Ghost Train spins for Ray Gun luck, and pumpkins / Mangler routes for optional power spikes. Clear the Eldritch Gate first, then farm the LTM rewards while the Haunting playlist is still the center of Warzone.