City Never Sleeps · Map economy · Build 6722
City Never Sleeps:
the city’s resource clock
When to farm, what comes back, and how far the new Haunts will follow you.
Haunts, boxes, permanent buffs, snacks, cover and late-game stock: this is the resource map for Valve’s new Cursed Apple. Start with the clock; each section explains the exceptions.
01 The timer sheet
Normal-map settings from build 6722. These are not Sandbox or Explore NYC timings.
| Resource | First spawn | Return / cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Small camp | 2:00 | 1:25 after a full clear |
| Medium camp | 5:00 | 4:50 after a full clear |
| Large camp | 8:00 | 5:35 after a full clear |
| Sinner’s Sacrifice | 8:00 | 5:00 after a full clear |
| Crates, Tough Crates & buff containers | Mostly 3:00; some 5:00 / 10:00 | 3:00 after breaking |
| Healing Snacks | 3:00 | 3:00 configured respawn |
| Bridge powerups | 5:00 | 5:00 spawn interval |
| Unstable Rift | 11:00–13:00 default window | 7:00 scheduled cadence; ±1:00 window |
| Midboss | Usable first appearance unverified | 7:00 → 6:00 → 5:00 minimum |
| Broker exchange stock | About 30:00; default 28:00–32:00 | 15:00 scheduled cadence; ±2:00 jitter |
| Lane Trooper waves | Match-start / mode controlled | 30s; 25s after 20m; 20s after 35m, default branch |
Haunt, crate, snack and bridge numbers are authored game data; the full-clear and crate-reset clocks are also server-reconstructed. Rift, Broker and wave cadence are default server branches, not guaranteed settings in every match.
A camp timer starts when the camp is empty
The inspected camp manager checks whether any linked creature is still alive. It only queues the next spawn once that check is false. Leaving one creep behind does not start the ordinary full-camp respawn clock.
Example: finish a normal small camp at 4:10 and its 85-second interval points to roughly 5:35, not the next whole minute. Scheduling ticks can add a small delay.
Three authored exceptions
A creature’s size does not set its camp timer. These map controllers explicitly override the usual tier settings:
| Location | First | Return |
|---|---|---|
| Bodega upstairs | 2:00 | 5:00 |
| Theater upstairs · NE | 2:00 | 5:00 |
| Plaza rink · 01 | 2:00 | 5:00 |
Use the new in-world camp respawn timer when close to a cleared Haunt. Valve also added a Midboss topbar timer. The authored ordinary-camp display distance is 15m; that is a UI distance, not a creep’s chase range.
Testing modes: the official notes change first crate/neutral spawns from 30s to 5s in Sandbox and Explore NYC. Their map toggles and force-spawn tools are not normal-match timing evidence.
02 Boxes, Tough Crates & golden-statue buffs
Ordinary crates: opportunistic Souls
The wooden-crate definition accepts bullets, abilities, melee, dodge contact and slides. It configures a 60% loot-drop chance and the small Soul pickup. Its authored amount starts at 23, with a +2 per-minute scaling input.
That scaling input is not a guarantee of an identical rounded payout at every instant. Nor does a configured roll chance guarantee loot from your next crate.
Tough Crates: one committed heavy melee
Official: Heavy Melee is required and the crate rewards extra Souls. Game data: one heavy hit, no melee cleave, no bullets, abilities, slides or dodge-contact break. The drop chance is 100%, using the large pickup: 46 base, +4 per-minute scaling input.
The larger reward does not create a shorter timer: a map-placed Tough Crate still uses its assigned spawn group.
Not every loot location appears at 3:00
The map assigns a spawn group to each breakable. The first-spawn resolver reads that group, rather than blindly using the crate subclass’s own 3-minute default. All four groups have a 3-minute return interval after destruction.
| First / return | Crates | Buffs | Tough |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 0: 3:00 / 3:00 | 338 | 148 | 59 |
| Group 1: 3:00 / 3:00 | 77 | 4 | 0 |
| Group 2: 10:00 / 3:00 | 2 | 8 | 6 |
| Group 3: 5:00 / 3:00 | 6 | 6 | 8 |
The first-spawn code staggers entities across a default 0.5-second performance window. A scheduled 3:00 is not a promise that every object appears on the same frame. Some creatures also author breakables on death; those drops are not additional fixed map-spawn slots.
Buff containers: ten possible permanent bonuses
Valve’s revamped golden statues—now Buff Containers—add Bullet Resist, Spirit Resist, ability range and move speed to the older pool. The container definition configures a 50% drop chance. The loot table has stronger tiers beginning at 10:00 and 30:00.
| Stat | Before 10m | 10m tier | 30m tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Power | +2 | +3 | +4 |
| Fire rate | +1.5% | +2% | +2.5% |
| Ammo capacity | +3% | +5% | +7% |
| Max health | +15 | +20 | +30 |
| Cooldown reduction | +0.5% | +0.75% | +1% |
| Weapon damage | +3% | +4% | +6% |
| Bullet Resist | +0.5% | +0.75% | +1% |
| Spirit Resist | +0.5% | +0.75% | +1% |
| Ability range | +0.25% | +0.5% | +0.75% |
| Move speed | +0.1 m/s | +0.2 m/s | +0.3 m/s |
These are stat additions, not equal percentage gains in final damage, EHP or healing. The early ability-range definition additionally authors +0.25% radius; later definitions only list range. See the stacking and resistance guide for the distinction.
Loot weights, pickup lifetime & permanent-buff tracking
The ten categories are not equally weighted: max health has weight 2; ability range and move speed each have weight 0.5; the other seven have weight 1. Those are selection weights, not independent percentages. The authored loot deck size is 3; this inspection does not establish a simple independent-roll probability for every next pickup.
Permanent-buff pickup objects have a configured 30-second ground lifetime; the small and large Soul pickups configure 300 seconds. A pickup’s lifetime is separate from the container’s respawn interval and the duration of an acquired permanent bonus.
The update displays the pickup type above your hero and adds a postgame graph for permanent buffs. Use that to track what you actually collected, not what a broken container might have rolled.
03 Meet the Haunts: the dangerous part of the route
The official names below are matched to the new NPC and modifier definitions. The camp controller governs respawn; the creature variant governs attacks. A mixed camp can contain more than one size. These are authored attack timings and base effects, not measured final damage or a universal rotation.
- SpecimenTimes Square / blue lane
- Death explosion. Medium and strong variants carry an on-death blast: 75 / 150 base damage, with a 3-second debuff. Small variants do not list that modifier. Give the final hit some space.
- Past DuesUmbria University / green lane
- Books & sleep. The book attack has a 1-second wind-up and a 3-second sleep modifier on its explosion. Its configured cooldown is 20 seconds; an AI chance to cast is not a promise of an attack every 20 seconds.
- Gutter GhoulsFactory / street camps
- Sludge puddles. Medium and strong variants throw sludge after a 1.15-second wind-up. The puddle debuff slows movement and damages over time. Their data also enables breakables on death.
- Barrel MimicsSeaport / dock camps
- Timed self-bomb. Wood and metal variants have a 3.5-second bomb modifier and a 15-second ability cooldown. They are enemies, not ordinary loot barrels; respect the detonation warning.
- Stage HandsTheater district
- Sweeping beam & trail. The beam has a 1-second charge, then a 2.5 / 3-second channel for medium / strong variants. Ground effects are configured to linger for 10 seconds. Step away from the trail, not just the creature.
- Festival SpiritChinatown district
- Curved projectiles. Lantern variants use a curved-projectile attack with a 1-second wind-up and a 20-second configured cooldown. Moving around a corner is not the same as outrunning a straight bullet.
- Crabbage PotsChinatown district
- Close-range melee area. Medium and strong plant variants author a 1.4-second melee-area modifier and a 15-second cooldown. Back out of its area rather than assuming every special attack is a ranged spell.
- ShroomsHaunted Lot district
- Spores & anti-healing. The spore attack has a 1.3-second wind-up. Its debuff lasts 5 seconds and authors −50% receiving-heal and regen amplification, plus a slow. That is a modifier input, not proof that every final heal is exactly halved.
- UnderhandsPlaza district
- Beam & lingering ground. The beam charges for 1 second and channels for 1.7 / 2 seconds for medium / strong variants. Its ground aura lasts 10 seconds. Clear the telegraph before settling into a firing position.
Small variants generally use the ordinary melee definition rather than the medium/strong special-attack list. Do not treat the 15- or 20-second ability cooldowns above as guaranteed periodic casts: the AI also has chance, target and state checks.
04 How far do creeps follow?
There is no single map-wide follow range. The ordinary NPC fallback tether is 300 world units ≈ 7.62m, but the map overrides many camps. That measures distance from the creature’s stored spawn reference—not simply the distance between you and it.
| Camp / fallback | Units | Metres |
|---|---|---|
| Plaza corner | 200 | 5.08m |
| Department store / Oracle | 220 | 5.59m |
| Default NPC tether | 300 | 7.62m |
| Bodega upstairs | 400 | 10.16m |
| Plaza rink / Theater upstairs 01 | 600 | 15.24m |
Positive camp overrides in the extracted map range from 130 to 650 units (about 3.30–16.51m). The NPC helper prefers a positive runtime override; otherwise it falls back to its VData radius.
The boundary has a conditional window
Past the base tether, the inspected attacking-condition path can still select a different state within an extra 120 units ≈ 3.05m, if its additional checks pass. Beyond that window it selects the maximum-tether condition. This is not a universal “add 3m and keep chasing” rule.
Target validity, AI state, paths, height and attack choice matter. Returning toward spawn and going back to sleep are also different transitions. The registered aggro and sleep time defaults are both 5 seconds; they do not prove an unconditional 10-second reset.
Three numbers not to confuse with leash range
- 15m: nearby camp-timer display distance.
- 1,500 units ≈ 38.1m: ordinary authored sight range, not a promise to chase that far.
- 20 / 30 / 50m: separate tiered player-range settings used in camp geometry paths—not the NPC tether comparison above.
Practical takeaway: test your pull at that particular camp. Use corners and space for safe attacks, but do not budget a cross-district pull from the sight-range number.
05 Snacks, cover, hotspots & timed stock
Healing Snacks
Official: hidden map pickups let you heal in a pinch. Game data: the floating-health spawner has a 180-second first delay and 180-second respawn setting; all 36 extracted map placements explicitly set that first delay.
The pickup authors 10% max-health regeneration over 4 seconds for heroes. That is a heal-over-time definition, not an instant 10% missing-health heal. Its world pickup does not configure ground expiration. The precise respawn trigger and live healing interactions still need runtime verification.
Steam Vents
Official: standing on a vent provides invisibility and a small amount of regeneration. Treat it as a cover position, not a consumable camp with a respawn clock.
Valve does not give a numeric regen rate here. This guide does not assign an exact reveal grace period, combat exception or cooldown from a similarly named modifier without proving which map volume applies it.
Sunken Plaza
Official: descending into the Plaza’s depths reduces the outside sound and your stamina. The map includes two Sinner’s Sacrifice controllers in the pit, both on the vault timer class.
Budget an exit before committing to a clear: the room’s stamina cost can turn an otherwise short farm detour into a vulnerable escape. The exact stamina drain and sound boundary are not established here.
Bell Tower & Sinner’s Sacrifice
Official: this Chinatown Soul hotspot rings loudly while you collect. The extracted tower vault’s damage output is wired to a bell input—taking the reward advertises your presence.
Nearby Tough Crates and Buff Containers are also wired to ring the bell when destroyed; those authored slots use the 5:00 first / 3:00 return breakable group.
The vault class starts at 8:00 and returns 5:00 after a full clear. The new bonus minigame has variable timing: authored base time 3s, a 0.5s hit-window setting, and a faster variant with speed factor 1.65 and chance setting 0.4. Watch the cue instead of trusting an old fixed rhythm.
Midboss: return timer ≠ first usable appearance
The inspected interval helper uses 420s, then 360s, then a 300s floor for successive returns under the default camp settings. The new in-world and topbar timers are the useful in-match readouts.
The authored initial-delay field is 0 and the override is −1. That alone does not establish when the objective first becomes visible or usable in an ordinary live match. This guide deliberately leaves that first-appearance claim unverified instead of importing an older patch’s number.
Bridge powerups & Unstable Rift
The two authored bridge spawners use 5:00 first / 5:00 interval and a pool of gun, survival, casting and movement pickups.
The default Rift branch centres its first spawn on 12:00 ±1:00 and advances its schedule by 7 minutes. Existing-objective checks can delay a spawn; this is not simply “seven minutes after capture.” For rewards and capture rules, read the comeback & Rift guide.
The Broker: a late-game schedule with jitter
Official: the first shipment is stocked around 30 minutes; further Corrupted Items become available on average every 15 minutes. The inspected default scheduler uses 30:00 + n × 15:00, with a fresh offset bounded by ±2:00. That gives default windows of 28–32m, 43–47m, 58–62m—not a precise 15-minute countdown from the previous actual restock.
A server-supplied first-stock value can override that default. The restock grants additional exchange allowance; do not assume the Broker rerolls everyone’s items at each window. Valve says the positive/negative variations are shared by all players in the match.
This is a limited-time feature: Valve says the Broker leaves when the first new hero arrives. The update lists the first hero release for October 2. Do not treat these opening-week stock rules as permanent map infrastructure. Street Brawl has a separate rule: a Corrupted Item is granted after the item draft in Round 5.
06 Turn the timers into a route
- Start with the local clock. Small camps normally open at 2:00; most breakables and snacks at 3:00. Check the early map exceptions before treating a medium-looking camp as a 5-minute opening.
- Finish the camp. A partial clear is not a fresh respawn cycle. Remember the last kill, not the time you started shooting.
- Collect, don’t just break. A container may roll nothing, and a dropped permanent buff has its own lifetime. Use heavy melee for Tough Crates only when committing to the animation is safe.
- Save movement for the actual hazard. Sleep, bombs, beam trails, spores and the Sunken Plaza’s stamina cost are reasons to keep an exit—not reasons to invent a longer leash.
- Let the HUD resolve live uncertainty. Nearby camp timers, Midboss’s topbar timer and the newly pingable bridge buffs and Rift are better than assuming your static schedule survived every override.
07 Sources & what remains unverified
The entire official City Never Sleeps update was read, including its additional notes. Numerical additions here use the September 29 installed build, client/server version 6722, source revision 11057808, with hashed server, script and map inputs.
Official means Valve’s description. Game data means authored settings. Server reconstruction means the inspected timing or AI path—not a live-match test. This guide covers map resources; hero death timers and ability cooldown catalogs are outside its scope.
Research method, anchors & remaining questions
The full update also introduces six upcoming heroes and lobby voting, new health bars, shop and build improvements, expanded pings, accessibility options, reporting changes and testing tools. The four off-lane districts—Theater, Chinatown, Haunted Lot and Plaza—have new creatures and hazards; this article focuses on routing through those resources rather than reproducing every interface change.
Script definitions and the map’s entity lumps were extracted read-only. Selected server paths were inspected in a new private Ghidra project bound to the frozen DLL’s hash. No game or server was run for this study; there is no claimed replay or live-match validation.
Still unverified: Midboss’s first usable appearance, snack respawn-trigger details, exact vent regen/reveal rules, the Sunken Plaza’s numeric stamina drain, every camp’s path-dependent reset behavior, server overrides and next-patch changes. The table labels deliberately distinguish authored configuration from observed play.
Build-6722 evidence note: fields, source hashes and server anchors ↗. Only selected facts and normalized explanations are publication material; raw game extracts and decompiler output are not included.