PUBG Dawnbreakers of Rondo: How the SLB PvE Mode Works

For the next three weeks on PC, and from 22 October on console, Rondo has a second shift. Update 43.2 brings back Survivors Left Behind, PUBG's co-op mode against the Hungers, and puts it on the map with the neon skyscrapers. KRAFTON's mode announcement calls SLB: Dawnbreakers of Rondo "the fourth Survivors Left Behind," and the runs before it were on Haven, Taego and Miramar.

This is how the Rondo version works, built from that announcement, the Update 43.2 patch notes and KRAFTON's notices for the earlier runs. KRAFTON scheduled it to open on PC after the 14 October maintenance and on console after the 22 October one. Nothing here says how it has played, because it has only just started.

What Dawnbreakers of Rondo is

It is a co-op PvE mode: no other squads, just your team against waves of Hungers. KRAFTON's 2023 launch notice for the original Survivors Left Behind explains what they are: clones made for mass trials that turned into the insatiable Hungers in "the monstrous aftermath of Tythonic's Blue Chip." You enter from Play > Arcade > SLB: Dawnbreakers of Rondo. It's KRAFTON's own mode, not a community one, so don't go looking for it in PUBG: Playgrounds.

The fixed settings, from the announcement:

You can queue alone, invite friends or use Auto-Fill. Once everyone in the lobby is ready, the game starts.

When you can play it

The mode, its paid Event Pass and a free one-match mission each run on their own clock (all times UTC):

The 43.2 patch notes schedule the maintenance for 00:00 to 08:30 UTC on 14 October on PC and 01:00 to 09:00 UTC on 22 October on console. On console, the nameplate mission closes an hour before the mode does, so play your one match before 00:00 UTC on 12 November. The mission comes from KRAFTON's October Special Drops notice. PC and console run on separate dates, and they don't share matches anyway, as the crossplay breakdown covers.

How a stage plays out

Every stage has one end state: escape from Rondo. The announcement walks through how you get there:

1. Arm up at a Vending Machine. At the start of each stage, interacting with one hands you a basic weapon.
2. Follow the cables. The Generator's cables lead to the place where you can send an escape signal.
3. Feed the Generator. Find Gas Cans and use them to refuel it, which powers the Capacitor.
4. Hold the Capacitor. It charges while the Hungers come for it. If they destroy it after you've switched it on, its progress resets.
5. Signal and leave. A fully charged Capacitor sends the escape signal and you're out.

KRAFTON bills a new Defense Phase "that will keep you on edge until the very end." The rules make defending the Capacitor the final objective of each stage, so expect that to be the part of every stage where you have to stand your ground. To earn the stage and difficulty rewards, at least one of you has to survive and the missions have to be complete.

KRAFTON's PC screenshots also show the on-screen objective tracker ("Kill enemies and reach the Generator", "Reach the Safehouse and regroup") and a HUD key list: Deployable on V, Crafting on L, Scoreboard on M and How to Play on N.

Rookie or Veteran, and the six stages

When a session starts, your squad picks a difficulty and a location. Rookie and Veteran change "the composition, number, and stats of Hungers," and Veteran is the one that matters for the rankings (more below). The six locations are named places on Rondo:

• Jao Tin: Opera
• Yu Garden
• Yun Gu: Mall
• Rin Jiang: Docks
• Stadium
• Jadena City

If you know Rondo from battle royale, Rin Jiang, Stadium and Jadena City are covered in the Rondo map guide. Here they're stages, not drops.

The Stage Select screen is also where each stage's rewards are listed, and it's worth reading before you pick. In KRAFTON's screenshot, Jadena City lists an Armored Vest on Rookie and a Combat Vest plus an Affected AUG on Veteran, under the line "Items and chance-based rewards earned after each successful run."

Crafting, soups and unlimited ammo

Two things make this mode play differently from battle royale. A Vending Machine hands you a basic weapon at the start of each stage, and you craft better ones at a Crafting Desk. And, in KRAFTON's words, "Ammo is unlimited."

You collect materials during combat and spend them at Crafting Desks placed around the map on weapons, items, consumables and deployables. KRAFTON says you can craft "an even wider variety of weapons" this time, and warns that the powerful ones need rare resources. It doesn't publish the list. The in-match crafting here has nothing to do with the cosmetic crafting covered in the Workshop guide.

Food is the buff layer. You craft soups and eat them, and you can have up to three different soups active at once. Food comes in two tiers, Regular and Superior, and the higher tier is stronger and lasts longer. All the buffs wear off after a while.

In that screenshot, each soup's recipe pairs Water with one other ingredient: Cabbage for Vegetable Soup, Cured Pork for Pork Stew and Tomato Sauce for Spiced Broth. The same menu lists Burning Acid, Superior Burning Acid and Sluggish Ooze, bottled items the announcement's text never describes.

Deployables and the new mine

Deployables are kit you place in the fight area to help you defend while the Capacitor charges, whether that means holding off a crowd of Hungers or supporting a teammate. KRAFTON's advice is to keep your limited resources and your placement options in mind. Here's the set:

Two rules sit on the weapon crates. A weapon from a crate is destroyed when you discard it, unequip it or run it dry. And Hungers wearing fire-resistant suits are immune to the Flamethrower, so a fire crate is the wrong answer to those.

The announcement also names a new throwable. The Anti-Personnel Mine sticks to any surface and goes off on its own when an enemy comes close.

The three new Hungers

Returning Hungers from earlier runs are back "more dynamic and threatening than ever," says KRAFTON, and three new types join them:

The Shooter Hunger is the one to plan a defensive position around, because it doesn't have to walk into your wire or spikes to hurt you. KRAFTON also says some Hungers put debuffs on players, and a teammate can remove them, so stick together.

Getting a dead teammate back

Death isn't the end here either, and it uses the Blue Chip idea from battle royale with different hardware. Pick up the fallen teammate's Blue Chip from their deathbox, carry it to a Recall Station inside a Safehouse, and recall them there. That's not the Blue Chip Tower from battle royale, which the Recall guide covers.

The Healing Station is the other safety net: it revives downed allies inside its zone. KRAFTON also encourages sharing resources with teammates so they can craft.

What carries over between matches

This is the progression hook, and KRAFTON lays it out in layers:

• Between stages: items that aren't weapons carry over, so stock up.
• Into your next match: First Aid Kits, crafting items and throwables you've collected stay usable.
• Permanently: Stage Rewards go into your inventory for good.
• By chance: completing stage objectives can give you carry-over weapons and equipment, and each one has its own combat effect. The rewards depend on the stage and difficulty, and the Stage Select screen lists each stage's.

The carry-over weapons KRAFTON lists are the MG3, the Mk14, and "Affected" versions of the M249, Groza, O12 and AUG. It doesn't say what makes an Affected gun different. The equipment is spelled out:

Read that as a build menu. An Engineer Helmet goes with a turret-and-traps game plan, and the two soup belts go with a three-soup stack. KRAFTON's own tip is to take on higher difficulties and stages to collect a variety of pieces and build your own loadout.

Rankings, and what doesn't count

The rankings live outside the game, on the Ranking tab of the PUBG Bridge website, and they rank total Hunger kills. The rules are strict:

• Only Veteran clears count. Hunger kills from Rookie don't count, and neither do kills from a Veteran match your squad didn't clear.
• Beginner Training comes first. You can enter the rankings only once you've finished every Beginner Training mission and claimed every reward, or once its mission period is over. Beginner Training is the 14-day mission track Update 42.2 added to the lobby, with a 30-day limit from the day you start, per the 42.2 patch notes.
• The board outlives the mode. Rankings and play records stay viewable after Dawnbreakers ends.

What the mode doesn't touch: it earns no Weapon or Survival Mastery XP, results don't show in your Match History or stats, and replays aren't supported. If you're grinding the Weapon Mastery track, this isn't the place.

How it differs from the first three SLBs

KRAFTON calls this the fourth Survivors Left Behind. These are the runs documented in KRAFTON's notices and patch notes, including the harder Hungers Left Behind variant:

Sources: the Haven launch notice, the Veil of Taego notice, the Update 32.1 notes, the Update 37.2 notes and the Rondo announcement. None of those earlier notices numbers the run it announces, but with Hungers Left Behind counted as a variant, the three earlier maps fit its "fourth."

The 2023 Haven notice is the clearest comparison, because it spelled the old rules out:

The food change didn't arrive all at once. Update 37.2's Miramar run had already made reaching Fullness grant buffs and dropped the severe penalties. The Rondo announcement describes food only as buffs and never mentions the hunger meter.

What KRAFTON hasn't published

These are gaps in KRAFTON's own documents as of 14 October, not things left out here:

• What Rookie and Veteran change, in numbers. KRAFTON says only that the Hungers' "composition, number, and stats" vary.
• What an Affected weapon does. Each carry-over item has "a unique combat effect," and none is described.
• The soup numbers. No buff size and no duration for either tier.
• The full crafting list. The text lists neither the craftable weapons nor any material costs; one screenshot shows part of the menu.
• A recall limit. Haven's version allowed three a match; the Rondo announcement gives no cap.
• Whether Veteran is locked behind Rookie. The Stage Select screenshot shows both slots on every stage, but the text doesn't say whether you need a Rookie clear first.
• What happens to your carry-over inventory when the mode ends. KRAFTON says rankings and play records stay viewable afterwards. It says nothing either way about the items.
• The Event Pass rewards. The announcement gives the price and dates, not a reward list.
• Whether the Hungers scale with squad size. Nothing says a one-player run faces fewer of them.

Quick Action Checklist

• Find it under Play > Arcade > SLB: Dawnbreakers of Rondo: on PC until 4 November 00:00 UTC, on console from the 22 October maintenance to 12 November 01:00 UTC
• Play one match for the free "Nowhere Left to Run" nameplate; on console the mission ends at 00:00 UTC on 12 November, an hour before the mode
• Check each stage's rewards on the Stage Select screen before you choose
• Hit the Vending Machine at the start of every stage for a basic weapon
• Follow the Generator's cables, refuel it with Gas Cans, then guard the Capacitor; if the Hungers destroy it, its charge resets
• Ammo is unlimited, so watch your rare materials instead; the powerful crafted weapons need them
• Stack up to three different soups; Superior-tier food gives stronger, longer buffs
• Don't use the Flamethrower crate on Hungers in fire-resistant suits
• Shoot the Shield Alpha Hunger in the head or from behind
• Grab a dead teammate's Blue Chip and recall them at a Safehouse Recall Station, or revive the downed inside a Healing Station's zone
• Only cleared Veteran matches count toward the PUBG Bridge Hunger-kill rankings, and only after you finish Beginner Training or its mission period ends
• Don't expect Mastery XP, Match History entries or replays from this mode