Enemy types at a glance
Every fight belongs to one of three groups. Match the group first, then pick the tool:
| Enemy | Group | What works |
|---|---|---|
| Cultists | The Scarlet Church (humans) | Firearms, melee and stealth; they can also be executed from behind |
| Armoured cultists | The Scarlet Church (humans) | Blunt weapons, or shoot the armour off first |
| Runners | The Unworthy | Fast movers — deal with them early rather than at the centre of a wave |
| Bursters | The Unworthy | Volatile — keep them at range |
| Embracers | The Unworthy | Stun, then execute to collect Suffering |
| Pinhead, the Chatterer, Butterball, the Female Cenobite | The Cenobites | Cannot be killed — hide, run and follow the encounter’s rules |
The sources behind this page describe behaviour, not numbers: none publishes enemy health or damage figures, so this page does not either. For where each group sits in the route, see the walkthrough.
The Scarlet Church: cultists and armour
The Scarlet Church is the human cult that worships the Cenobites, led by Marlowe. Its cultists are the baseline human enemy, answered with the game’s standard mix of melee weapons, firearms, dodging and traps.
- Stealth works. Knife stealth kills cost nothing, and cultists can be executed from behind. The Wetwork trophy asks for ten stealth-killed cultists without alerting anyone (trophy list).
- Armoured variants need blunt force or stripped armour. Blunt weapons hurt them, or shoot the armour off and treat what is left like any other cultist. Which plates can come off is not yet verified here.
- Marlowe is not a street enemy. He is a story encounter; the boss notes cover those fights separately.
The Unworthy: Runners, Bursters and Embracers
The Unworthy are the game’s swarm enemy: they arrive in waves, so downing the first group does not clear the room. Three types are reported:
- Runners
- Fast. Give them attention first, because a wave that reaches you at full speed is harder to stagger.
- Bursters
- Volatile. Keep them at range — gunfire or thrown objects — rather than letting them into melee reach.
- Embracers
- The execute target. A stunned or staggered Unworthy flashes blue; execute it with the box to collect Suffering.
That blue flash is the hinge of every wave: executions and combat build Suffering, which powers the box, and Hellchains spends a full meter to kill nearby basic enemies outright. Play a wave as stun → execute → spend. The Suffering and pillars section explains the meter, and the Suffering pillars that raise it sit off the main path (pillar landmarks).
Two trophies ride on the same stagger window: a thrown stone kills a flashing-blue Unworthy (Sticks and Stones), and a blade can behead staggered Unworthy before it breaks (Portable Guillotine). Both are on the missable list.
The Cenobites: encounters you survive, not win
The four featured Cenobites are Pinhead, the Chatterer, Butterball and the Female Cenobite — the same four the collector’s-edition “Pillar of Souls” statue depicts. They cannot be killed, so Cenobite encounters are survived, not won:
- Hide, run, follow the encounter’s rules. The escape the scene wants is the escape that works; damage is not the win condition.
- Expect them around the Labyrinth. The Chatterer chases you through it three times, and each escape is a story trophy, so none can be missed.
- Not every Labyrinth figure is unkillable. The Sister of Mercy is sneaked past first and defeated later as a story boss — read each encounter’s own rules before assuming either outcome.
Dedicated encounter details for Butterball and the Female Cenobite are not yet verified here. For Pinhead’s scenes specifically, see surviving Pinhead; the voices behind the characters are on the characters & cast page.
Weapon matchups: blunt, sharp and durability
Melee in Revival is a matchup question with a durability cost:
| Tool | Best against | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Blunt weapons | Armoured cultists — blunt force, or shot-off armour, is the way in | Durability; every swing spends the weapon |
| Sharp blades | Staggered Unworthy — beheadings and execute set-ups | The same durability cost; a broken blade is discarded |
| Firearms | Range — Bursters, waves, anything you should not stand beside | Ammunition is scavenged and finite |
| The knife | Stealth kills on humans, which cost nothing | A stealth tool, not a wave-clearing one |
The launch guides are blunt about durability: melee weapons break, cannot be repaired once broken and are discarded. The crafting list includes Basic and Advanced Repair Kits; what they repair is not yet verified here, so read the item description in your own game before betting a favourite weapon on either.
For the firearm set and attachment planning, use the weapons checklist; for recipes and materials, the crafting tracker.
Using the Genesis Configuration against each group
The box is a weapon as well as a puzzle tool, and each power has a group it answers:
- Telekinesis
- Throws objects such as saw blades and spikes — a ranged answer for Bursters you do not want near you.
- Pyrokinesis
- Absorbs fire and turns it against enemies and the environment; also the fastest way to stun the boss Charlotte.
- Hellchains
- Needs full Suffering and kills nearby basic enemies outright — a wave-clearer for the Unworthy, not a tool against Cenobites, who cannot be killed.
The loop compounds: executions build Suffering, Suffering powers Hellchains, Hellchains clears the wave that lets you execute survivors. We have not tested an optimal order, and none of the sources claims one. The full power reference is on the Genesis Configuration page.
Enemy FAQ
- Can I kill Pinhead or any Cenobite?
- No. The four featured Cenobites cannot be killed; hide, run and follow the encounter’s rules. See surviving Pinhead.
- What are the armoured cultists weak to?
- Blunt weapons, or having the armour shot off first. Exact weak points are not yet verified here.
- Do the Unworthy stop coming?
- They arrive in waves, so a pause after a kill does not mean the fight is over. Whether each area has a fixed spawn count is not yet verified here.
- Which weapon should I carry?
- A blunt option for armour, a blade for staggered Unworthy and a firearm for range — and treat melee as consumable, because broken weapons are discarded. No weapon ranking is published in the sources we used.
- Is there a boss health table on this page?
- No. The sources behind this page publish no enemy health or damage figures, so there are no stat tables to reproduce.
Sources & review scope
Checked on 10 October 2026. Official announcements and store listings establish the facts identified above; third-party guides and player reports are named where they are the only source. Video and text sources are credited below; platform-specific claims retain their original scope.