7 Days to Die Blood Moon: Horde Night Guide (2026)

The Blood Moon horde hits every seven in-game days from 22:00 to 04:00, and every zombie in the world pathfinds straight to you while it lasts. Difficulty scales with your game stage — roughly your level plus days alive — so a Day 7 horde is a speed bump and a Day 49 horde is a war. This guide covers the exact mechanics (waves, timers, spawn caps), the preparation checklist that decides whether you live, how to adjust the event in settings, and — because it shares the name — the separate 7 Days Blood Moons game: The Fun Pimps' 4v1 early-access spin-off, out now at $9.99.

Official resources: Steam store page · 7 Days Blood Moons on Steam · Official 1.0 launch announcement · Official wiki: Blood Moon Horde · Official wiki: Game Stage

When the Blood Moon Hits: Schedule and Timing

The Blood Moon arrives every 7th day by default — Day 7, 14, 21, 28, and so on — at 22:00 (10 PM), and the horde stops targeting you at 04:00 (4 AM). During those six hours:

• Every zombie on the map pathfinds directly to your position. They dig around obstacles, climb, stack on each other, and target structural weak points rather than bashing blindly.
• Hordes arrive in waves with defined timers — the night keeps spawning until dawn or until every wave is cleared.
• If you die, the current wave stops targeting you and you respawn (with the standard death penalties); the horde can resume if you re-engage.
• There is no hiding: blood-moon zombies know where you are at all times. Your options are fight or outrun (a vehicle at 22:00 on day 7 is a real strategy, just a spicy one).

How Difficulty Scales: Game Stage and Waves

The horde's size and strength come from Game Stage, a hidden value calculated roughly as Days Alive + (Player Level × 1.2), minus a day per death. The in-game Players tab shows your current game stage. Game stage drives four things:

At high game stage you meet the roster's endgame: irradiated zombies, feral wights, and the demolisher — a hulking enemy with an explosive backpack that levels walls in seconds. Pop its backpack from range before it reaches your base line.

Per the official wiki's Blood Moon Horde page, the event settings — frequency, time, and the number of blood-moon zombies — are all configurable in the world's Advanced options, which is the official answer to "can I turn this off" (see below).

The Preparation Checklist (Days 1–6)

Horde night is won before dusk on Day 7. The six-day build-up:

1. Position — decide where you fight. The base designs guide has the full layouts; minimum viable is a raised position with a single choke point and a fallback escape route.
2. Ammo — craft until the reserve feels "uncomfortably large," then double it. Day-7 solo can run 500+ arrows; later hordes eat thousands of rounds. The survival guide's weapons section explains why one committed ammo type beats three partial ones.
3. Traps — spikes around your perimeter from day 2; blade traps, dart traps and electric fences once you have power. Traps don't give XP for kills in some cases, but they save your ammo — a fair trade.
4. Repairs — upgrade to cobblestone at minimum, concrete by day 14, and fix everything the day before. A wall that fails at 02:00 ends the run.
5. Survival bag — food, water, bandages, splints, antibiotics in a stash near your fighting position. You cannot leave to fetch them mid-horde.
6. Game stage control — dying repeatedly raises your next horde's difficulty per the death formula (days alive minus deaths), so avoid stupid deaths in the days before the moon. Ironically, the game punishes death with harder hordes.

Adjusting the Blood Moon: Settings and the Off Switch

Every horde parameter is editable. In the world creation Advanced options (or the in-game settings on most dedicated servers):

• Blood Moon Frequency — the day interval (every 7, 14, 21 days, or a random range). Setting it high doesn't remove the event; it spaces it out.
• Blood Moon Zombies — how many can be alive at once (6–64). Lower = easier; 64 is the chaos mode.
• Blood Moon Range — randomizes which night it hits within a range, for players who want the uncertainty.
• You can also turn horde night effectively off by setting frequency very high, or skip individual nights via the admin console — the creative mode guide covers settime and admin tools for testing hordes on demand.

7 Days Blood Moons: The 4v1 Spin-Off Game

Searching "7 Days to Die blood moon price" often actually means the other Blood Moon: 7 Days Blood Moons, a standalone game in the 7 Days Universe, developed by iLLOGIKA and published by The Fun Pimps. Key facts (verified against its Steam page):

It shares the 7 Days to Die brand and survival-fortification fantasy, but it's a different game — a faster, round-based 4v1 rather than the open-world survival RPG. The "7 Days Universe" bundle (7 Days to Die + 7 Days Blood Moons) is where most players meet it; if you already own 7 Days to Die, the bundle discount is the cheapest way in. And yes, "blood moon early access price" gets you $9.99 — the game is early access, and that's the launch price.

Per the official Steam listing: 7 Days Blood Moons is "a 4v1 fight to the death. Survivors fortify bases and scavenge for materials while the Zombie Master commands and possesses the horde to crush them" — playable solo or with friends.

FAQ

When does the Blood Moon happen in 7 Days to Die?

Every 7th in-game day by default (Day 7, 14, 21...), starting at 22:00 and ending at 04:00. The interval is configurable in the world's Advanced options, including random ranges.

How long does horde night last?

Six in-game hours, 22:00–04:00, but it ends early if you kill all waves. Waves have timers — 1 hour each at low game stage, up to 2+2+7 hours at high stage — and the night stops spawning when the timer for the final wave expires or everything is dead.

How does Blood Moon difficulty scale?

Through game stage, calculated roughly as days alive plus level × 1.2, minus a day per death. Higher game stage = more waves (up to 3), stronger zombies (irradiated, ferals, demolishers), and a higher cap on simultaneous zombies (up to 64 if the Blood Moon Zombies setting allows).

What is 7 Days Blood Moons and how much does it cost?

It's a separate 4v1 game (4 Survivors vs a Zombie Master) in the 7 Days Universe, by iLLOGIKA, in Early Access since November 4, 2025. It costs $9.99, with the "7 Days Universe" bundle discount available if you own 7 Days to Die.

Can I turn off or change the Blood Moon?

Yes. Blood Moon Frequency, Blood Moon Zombies (alive cap) and Blood Moon Range are all Advanced world options. Setting frequency very high effectively disables the event; admins can also skip or trigger hordes with console commands.

Related guides: 7 Days to Die Base Designs — horde-proof bases · 7 Days to Die Singleplayer: How to Survive · 7 Days to Die Creative Mode — commands · Games Like 7 Days to Die · 7 Days to Die Review (2026)

Last updated: August 13, 2026.

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