Mistfall Hunter Underlord Speed Challenge
[!note] Status: not live as of September 20, 2026. The Underlord Speed Challenge was announced in the August 5, 2026 Season 1 roadmap as an upcoming activity. Underlords themselves are already live in Hallowgrove Chaos, but the Speed Challenge variant has not shipped, and no date, scoring rule, or reward list has been published. This page separates the live system from the announced one.
Quick answer: The Underlord Speed Challenge is an announced Mistfall Hunter activity in which you swiftly slay Underlords to earn bonus rewards from Fern the Woodling, per the official Season 1 roadmap. It builds on a system that already exists: Underlords are live Corroded mini-bosses on Hallowgrove Chaos that seal their arena behind a barrier and run a timed challenge for a bonus chest. As of September 20, 2026 the Speed Challenge is not in the game, and no timing thresholds, reward table, or leaderboard rules have been published.
What Is the Underlord Speed Challenge?Permalink to this section
The full official description is one bullet:
Underlord Speed Challenge. Swiftly slay the Underlords to earn bonus rewards from Fern the Woodling. Official Season 1 roadmap post (August 5, 2026)
Two words carry the meaning:
- “Speed” / “swiftly” — the measure is time, not just completion. That distinguishes it from the existing Underlord encounter, where finishing inside the timer gets you the arena bonus chest.
- “Bonus rewards” — the payout is framed as extra on top of what Underlords already drop, delivered by a named Woodling NPC, Fern the Woodling.
What Underlords Are Today (The Part That Is Live)Permalink to this section
The Speed Challenge is easier to picture once you know the shipped encounter, which is already a timed format. Underlords are Corroded mini-bosses that guard the red zones of the Hallowgrove Chaos map:
- Entering combat seals the arena behind a barrier.
- A timed challenge starts; clearing it inside the limit awards a bonus chest.
- Their defeat counts toward in-match shared objectives, and the side quest Where’s Stinky I sends you to kill Underlords for Drífa.
- Fights are loud and slow you down in place, which pulls third-party squads toward you.
Full mechanics, spawn behaviour, and fight tips are on the Underlord guide and How to Beat Bosses.
An announced speed challenge layered on top of an already-timed encounter is therefore a natural extension — but it is not the same feature, and Bellring has not said whether it reuses the same arenas, adds a new mode, or becomes a seasonal task line.
What Is Confirmed (And What Is Not)Permalink to this section
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Existence and name | Announced (official, August 5, 2026) |
| Objective | Swiftly slay Underlords (official) |
| Reward giver | Fern the Woodling (official) |
| Base encounter | Underlords already live on Hallowgrove Chaos with a timed arena (live) |
| Reward type | “Bonus rewards” — no item list (official wording, unpublished detail) |
| Time thresholds / scoring | Not published |
| Where it runs | Not published — not confirmed as a queueable mode |
| Leaderboard or ranking | Not published |
| Release date | Not published |
| Solo support | Not published |
Unlike the Ancestor Tree, which the roadmap explicitly calls a “Random Match Event,” the Speed Challenge has no such label. Whether it is a seasonal task, an in-match objective, or a separate activity has not been said.
Who Is Fern the Woodling?Permalink to this section
Fern appears in exactly one official context: as the Woodling who hands out the Speed Challenge’s bonus rewards. No NPC page, shop, or dialogue for Fern has been published by Bellring, and Fern does not appear in the playable build as a challenge vendor as of September 20, 2026.
The name fits the established Woodling cast — Returner Woodling gates extraction, Richie the Merchant trades Soul Cocoons in-match, and Twig runs the Scavenger Squad — but treat “Fern” as a named-but-undetailed NPC until a patch note adds them.
When Will It Arrive?Permalink to this section
No date. It belongs to the same unshipped Season 1 backlog as the Golden Woodling, the Ancestor Tree, and the Blackarrow Javelin. For calibration, the roadmap item with the clearest timing — Brandrgarde Solo Mode, promised for “the middle of Season 1 in September” — arrived on September 3, 2026. Every other item carries a phase label rather than a window.
Because it is a challenge built on existing content, it could ship inside a small live update without a headline announcement. The reliable signal is the patch notes and the update timeline.
How to Get ReadyPermalink to this section
The preparation that transfers is simply getting good at the live Underlord encounter, because a speed variant will be measured on the same fight:
- Run Hallowgrove Chaos. That is where Underlords spawn, in the red zones — see the Hallowgrove map guide.
- Learn the timer, not just the boss. The arena bonus depends on beating the clock, and knowing which damage windows open the fastest is exactly what a speed challenge would reward. The Underlord guide breaks the encounter down.
- Bring a squad that can burst. The tier list and best class pages cover which classes output fastest, and the multiplayer guide covers role composition.
- Plan the area around the arena. A sealed fight plus a timer is the loudest possible invitation for rival hunters; keep a Soul of Return and an extraction route ready.
Frequently Asked QuestionsPermalink to this section
Is the Underlord Speed Challenge live in Mistfall Hunter? No. It was announced on August 5, 2026 and had not shipped as of September 20, 2026. Underlords themselves are live on Hallowgrove Chaos — the Speed Challenge variant is the part still pending.
What are the rewards? Unpublished. The official wording is “bonus rewards from Fern the Woodling” with no item, currency, or rarity list attached.
Who is Fern the Woodling? A Woodling named only in the roadmap as the Speed Challenge’s reward-giver. Bellring has published no NPC details, location, or shop for Fern.
Where does the Underlord Speed Challenge take place? Not published. It is tied to Underlords, which currently spawn on Hallowgrove Chaos, but Bellring has not said whether the challenge reuses those arenas or becomes a separate activity.
Do you need a squad for it? Unknown. No solo or squad requirement has been published. The live Underlord fights are designed around coordinated play, which is the closest available indication.
Is it part of Season 1 or Season 2? It is listed in the Season 1 roadmap block published on August 5, 2026. Season 1 has no announced end date, so that grouping is not a release window.
SourcesPermalink to this section
- Roadmap and Launch Rewards: Wave 3 — August 5, 2026 (Steam news) — the official Underlord Speed Challenge bullet and Fern the Woodling
- Steam news hub — Mistfall Hunter (app 3282300) — the live-update feed that will announce it
- Underlord guide — the live encounter’s barrier, timer, and bonus chest
- Mistfall Hunter Roadmap — the full announced content list
Related GuidesPermalink to this section
- Underlord — the live Hallowgrove Chaos mini-boss
- Mistfall Hunter Roadmap — the announced Season 1 content plan
- Hallowgrove — the map the challenge is tied to
- How to Beat Bosses — boss patterns and preparation
- Golden Woodling — the other announced monster
- Ancestor Tree — the announced Hallowgrove random event
- Patch Notes — where the challenge will first appear