Fenris Creations has announced the 2026 edition of Crimson Harvest, the yearly Halloween-season event of EVE Online. It starts on 6 October and runs until 3 November. This year it ties directly into the Cradle of War storyline: the Blood Raiders want Triglavian blood and are using the recent instabilities in space to push into Pochven.
Here is what we know so far, straight from the official announcement.
The story: two sides, one invasion
According to the announcement, the Blood Raiders are exploiting "recent instabilities in the nature of space" to reach Pochven and carve out a permanent foothold there. The Order of St. Tetrimon is trying to stop them and re-establish the dominance of the faithful in Amarr space, while the Triglavians try to restore stability and repel the invaders.
Capsuleers pick a side, Blood Raiders or the Order of St. Tetrimon, and the points they earn on the seasonal reward track depend on that allegiance. The lore link comes from the New Eden news piece about the Ansiblex changes, which you can read here: Dimensional Shift Forces Ansiblex Updates.
The Akoman: the first pirate attack battlecruiser
The top prize of the seasonal track is a blueprint copy of the Akoman, a new Blood Raider attack battlecruiser. It is described as the first pirate attack battlecruiser, built around battleship-sized weaponry and a "take everything" philosophy: victims get pinned down and have their capacitor drained long before their armor gives out. For now it can only be obtained through Crimson Harvest. No stats have been published yet.
PvP changes: 90% loot drop and implants
For the duration of the event, 90% of the items from ships destroyed in PvP drop as loot outside highsec, and destroyed capsules have a 50% chance to drop their implants. If you fly in lowsec, nullsec or wormholes during October, this changes the risk calculation considerably.
PvE content for every level
Criterion of Fitness sites: Criterion Ciphers recovered in event combat and exploration sites unlock timed, solo, three-wave encounters. Faster wins mean more points and bigger rewards, and strong performers can draw out one of three powerful adversaries.
Crimson Gauntlet and Tetrimon Base: the returning sites can erupt into confrontations with Triglavians, Drifters or Rogue Drones coming through unstable rifts. As last year, even highsec combat sites can escalate.
Hollow Outbreak remnants: found among destroyed Avalanche wrecks in three difficulty levels. Class 1 (highsec, wormholes, Pochven) accepts Tech I frigates; Class 2 (highsec, lowsec, Pochven, wormholes) accepts Tech II frigates and Tech I destroyers; Class 3 "Hollow Origin" (lowsec) accepts Tech III tactical destroyers.
Hacking sites: they return across New Eden, with harder ones in Blood Raider controlled systems in Delve and in the Eugidi, Angils and Essin constellations.
Pochven-style wormholes: new ones appear in traditional Blood Raider lowsec and nullsec regions, defended by Triglavian, Blood Raider or Tetrimon forces whose defenses escalate over time. Event sites also reach wormhole space.
Rewards and daily login
Mutated Blood Sample containers drop throughout the event and can be turned in at item traders for blueprints for new officer modules and existing faction modules, new remote armor repair mutaplasmids, SKINs, SKINR components, boosters and cerebral accelerators.
The daily login rewards include Blood Raider and Order of Tetrimon SKINs for Triglavian ships (Damavik, Vedmak, Drekavac and Leshak for the Blood Raiders; Nergal, Kikimora, Ikitursa and Leshak for the Order), boosters, cerebral accelerators, fireworks crates and a major Skill Point cache on day 21. Login SKINs are soulbound, boosters apply automatically when redeemed, and eligible crates are tradable. Omega pilots can claim both Alpha and Omega rewards, and upgrading to Omega during the event retroactively grants the Omega rewards for every day an Alpha reward was already claimed.
Final week: escalation
The announcement says the event will ramp up as October draws to a close, with the reward track extended. Fenris Creations promises more details as the final week approaches, so keep an eye on the official channels.
What to expect
The announcement does not state the downtime hour, the reward track point thresholds or any store offers, so treat those as unconfirmed for now. What is clear is that the 90% loot rule outside highsec will likely make October a busy month for hunters, and that the Blood Raiders' push into Pochven continues the war-driven narrative of this year's expansions.
Sources
Crimson Harvest: Open the Bloodgates — EVE Online (official news)
EVE Online's Crimson Harvest Returns October 6 With the New Akoman Battlecruiser — MMOHuts
[Image credits: Fenris Creations / EVE Online official news]