Quick Answer: A Fallout 76 Head Hunt is a public bounty event in Burning Springs that you start by placing a premium Bounty Poster (players call them Wanted Posters) on the bounty board outside the Last Resort saloon in Highway Town. Since the final Slasher phase, "Blood Will Have Blood", went live on October 20, 2026 (per Bethesda's official Slasher calendar), killing the Head Hunt target has a chance to spawn the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher, a four-star legendary uninvited guest. He is the only source of the four random Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor paint plans (arm, leg, torso, jetpack) and the Super Slasher unique auto axe. The fifth piece, the helmet paint, comes from completing Blood Will Have Blood. Per datamine, the poster user is eligible for a 5% Super Slasher roll per kill. Applies to The Slasher update / Season 26 "Beware the Blood Moon!", as of October 23, 2026.
What Is a Head Hunt in Fallout 76?
Head Hunts are not new to The Slasher. They arrived with the Burning Springs bounty hunting system, and Bethesda's own release notes describe them as "an extra challenging bounty hunt in the form of a public event."
The loop is simple. Regular Grunt Hunts are small solo bounties. Head Hunts are the big version: a named target, a posse, and the whole server invited to help. Bethesda spells out the rules in the official Burning Springs release notes:
"Just place your poster on the bounty board outside of the saloon to send the word wide. All players on the server will be alerted to show up to your aid when you do. Only one Head Hunt can be active at a time, though, so be sure to join in any actives ones before trying to start your own."
Three hard numbers from that same official source frame every fight:
- 1 Head Hunt can run per server at a time.
- Every Head Hunt target is a 3-star legendary enemy.
- Each target is flanked by 2 two-star posse members.
Bethesda also notes there are "dozens of unique Head Hunt targets across a handful of locations," each with its own loadout. That variety matters, because some targets hit far harder than others, and a slow kill is what usually ruins a Slasher spawn (more on that below).
| Feature | Grunt Hunt | Head Hunt |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Solo bounty | Server-wide public event |
| Target rank | Starts at 1-star, scales to 2 and 3-star | Always 3-star |
| Escorts | Varies | Two 2-star posse members |
| How to start | Take a bounty | Place a premium Bounty Poster at the saloon board |
| Reborn Slasher chance | No | Yes (after Blood Will Have Blood) |
When Did the Slasher Head Hunts Start?
The Slasher is a multi-week storyline that Bethesda rolls out through "Breaking News" radio broadcasts rather than one big patch. The September 15, 2026 release notes say the content will "unfold over the course of the weeks following the update", and on the same day Bethesda's official Fallout account posted a dated official Slasher calendar.
Here is what we can confirm:
- The Slasher update and Season 26 launched on September 15, 2026 (official release notes, update version 1.7.26.13).
- The final quest, "The Slasher: Blood Will Have Blood", is the last of the four main Slasher quests. It is the one that adds the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher to Head Hunts.
- October 20, 2026 is the official start of "Head Hunts: The Slasher Sighted" on that calendar, which also runs the overall Slasher event from September 15 to December 1, 2026. The same day's patch was update version 1.7.27.11.
One warning: some fan sites still show an older pre-release calendar that placed Head Hunts in November. That schedule was built from Public Test Server data and is out of date. Bethesda has not announced a separate cutoff for the Reborn Slasher itself.
How Do You Unlock the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher?
You cannot skip straight to the finale. Some players on r/fo76 report the Slasher only dropped his loot for them after they completed the earlier phases of the questline. This is a community report, not confirmed by Bethesda, but finishing the backlog first costs nothing.
The good news is that the earlier quests are still live. Check the Main or Seasonal tab of your Pip-Boy for the Slasher quest chain and work through it in order:
| Quest | What you do | Quest reward plan |
|---|---|---|
| The Slasher: Masked Truth | Find masked corpses, collect Pint-Sized Slasher masks and notes | Pint-Sized Phantom Outfit |
| The Slasher: Secrets to the Grave | Use Pint-Sized Phantom Maps to dig up Disturbed Graves | Pint-Sized Slasher Gravestone |
| The Slasher: Out of the Shadows | Follow the cult's trail (third phase) | Pint-Sized Slasher Photo Frame |
| The Slasher: Blood Will Have Blood | Listen to the warning broadcast, then beat the Reborn Slasher via Head Hunts | Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Helmet Paint |
Quest reward plans are as listed by the falloutbuilds datamine. If you are still on Secrets to the Grave, our Season 26 Beware the Blood Moon guide covers the earlier weeks.
Once you are on Blood Will Have Blood, the step that matters is simple: join or start Head Hunts. After the bounty target dies, there is a chance the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher crashes the event as a four-star legendary uninvited guest. Kill him and the quest completes, granting the helmet paint plan.
How Do You Get Wanted Posters for Head Hunts?
"Wanted Poster" is the name most players use. In Bethesda's patch notes, the item that starts a Head Hunt is called a premium Bounty Poster. There are two official ways to get one:
- Grunt Hunt quest rewards. Bethesda says a Grunt Hunt target "might drop a premium Bounty Poster", and clarifies: "these are granted through the Quest Rewards and not found on the body itself." So do not waste time looting the corpse. Check your rewards after the bounty completes.
- Buy one from The Ghoul. The official notes say The Ghoul "would be more than happy to part with a premium poster... for the right price." Bring caps if you plan to buy in bulk.
Do not confuse these with the Pint-Sized Slasher Wanted Poster 1 and 2 plans. Those are C.A.M.P. decorations that dropped from the Uninvited Pint-Sized Phantom party crasher during Mischief Night. They are wall art, not event starters. Bethesda's October 20 patch even "fixed placement issues that could occur when building the Pint-Sized Slasher Wanted Posters", which confirms they are buildable decor.
Does using your own poster matter? Yes, for one item. The falloutbuilds datamine lists the Super Slasher's 5% chance specifically "for the player who used the Wanted Poster." In other words, per the datamine, only the poster user is eligible for the weapon roll, while everyone who fights the Reborn Slasher can roll the paint plans and the legendary. Treat this as datamined and unconfirmed by Bethesda, but it is a good reason to stock posters instead of only joining other people's hunts.
What Does the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher Drop?
This is the part everyone is farming for. The Reborn Slasher's loot pool, per the falloutbuilds datamine:
| Reward | Type | Reported chance |
|---|---|---|
| Super Slasher | Unique auto axe (Bleed Damage unique effect) | About 5% (poster user) |
| Plan: Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Arm Paint | Rare plan | 20% shared rare pool per falloutbuilds (about 4% each) |
| Plan: Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Leg Paint | Rare plan | Same pool |
| Plan: Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Torso Paint | Rare plan | Same pool |
| Plan: Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Jetpack Paint | Rare plan | Same pool |
| Plan: Super Slasher Auto Axe Paint | Rare plan (fifth pool entry, not Power Armor) | Same pool |
| Random 4-star legendary item | Additional reward | Can roll the new Severing mod |
| Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Helmet Paint | Quest reward | Granted by completing Blood Will Have Blood |
The Super Slasher itself is official. Bethesda's Slasher release notes list "Super Slasher" with a Bleed Damage unique effect among the unique weapons that support the new Unique Item Crafting system. That means you can change its legendary mods once you have one.
The drop chances are not official. Bethesda has not published rates for the Reborn Slasher, and the weighting inside the 20% plan pool has not been independently confirmed. Use the numbers as expectations, not promises.
Players on r/fo76 report real drops, including multiple paint plans across a few evenings of Head Hunts. Treat individual luck stories as anecdotes, not rates.
The Phantom Pack below is general seasonal Slasher loot from the wider event, not the Head Hunt reward container.
How Many Head Hunts Will It Take?
Here is the honest math, using community and datamined numbers only.
- Slasher spawn chance: players on r/fo76 report roughly a 33% chance (about 1 in 3) that the Reborn Slasher appears after the Head Hunt boss dies. Not confirmed by Bethesda.
- Super Slasher chance: about 5% per Slasher kill, poster user only (per the falloutbuilds datamine).
Put together, a single Head Hunt gives you roughly a 1 in 60 shot at the Super Slasher if you started it yourself (33% times 5%). Expect dozens of Head Hunts, not a handful. For the four random Power Armor paints, duplicates are likely, so plan on a long grind unless you trade for missing pieces.
| Goal | Rough Head Hunts needed (community odds) |
|---|---|
| See the Reborn Slasher once | About 3 |
| Complete Blood Will Have Blood (helmet paint) | About 3 (one Slasher kill) |
| Any one of the four Power Armor paints | Roughly 20 |
| One specific Power Armor paint (equal-weight assumption) | Roughly 76 |
| Super Slasher (as poster user) | Roughly 60 on average |
These are averages, and Bethesda can change rates in any patch.
How Do You Farm Head Hunts Efficiently?
Kill the Slasher, ignore the adds. Some players report the Reborn Slasher can despawn if the fight drags on (community report, unconfirmed). Burst him first, clean up later.
Bring real damage. He is a four-star legendary with a crowd of helpers. Bleed and Severing builds fit the theme nicely, and anything from our legendary farming guide setups will shorten the fight. Power Armor players can tank the posse while others focus the boss.
Join before you start. Only one Head Hunt runs per server. If someone else has one going, hop in first, then place your own poster after it ends. That gives you two Slasher rolls for one poster.
Chain hunts on a busy server. Right now servers often run Head Hunts back to back. That is the fastest farm in the game for these drops. Some players skip the leftover posse mobs to reach the next hunt faster. Per Bethesda, the posse is two 2-star members; the 3-star loot comes from the main bounty target, so make sure that one dies. If your server is quiet, our server hop guide explains how to find a more active one.
Watch your scrip cap. Head Hunts throw out a lot of legendary items. Several players say they are hitting the scrip limit and spending it on Legendary Modules at 100 scrip each. Modules feed Unique Item Crafting. Bethesda's release notes list 65 Legendary Modules plus 80 Vault Steel to craft a 4-star unique item; the exact cost to modify an existing Super Slasher has not been confirmed. See our unique item crafting guide for the full cost breakdown.
Finish every earlier phase now. If the Slasher spawns and you have not completed Masked Truth, Secrets to the Grave and Out of the Shadows, some players report missing his loot. Do the backlog before you spend posters.
Is the Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor Worth Chasing?
It is a cosmetic paint, not a stat upgrade. Its value is rarity: it only comes from a limited-time seasonal event, and seasonal paints usually do not return quickly, if at all. If you collect Power Armor looks, this is the one to get during Season 26.
The Super Slasher is the more practical prize. It is a unique auto axe with built-in Bleed Damage, and Unique Item Crafting lets you reroll its legendary mods. Pair it with the new Severing 4-star mod (+50% damage against Bleeding targets, added in The Slasher update) and you get a melee weapon that feeds its own bonus.
FAQ
How do you start a Head Hunt in Fallout 76? Place a premium Bounty Poster (the "Wanted Poster") on the bounty board outside the Last Resort saloon in Highway Town, Burning Springs. Everyone on the server is alerted, and only one Head Hunt can run at a time, per Bethesda's Burning Springs release notes.
Where do you get the Pint-Sized Slasher Power Armor helmet? The helmet paint plan is the quest reward for The Slasher: Blood Will Have Blood. You complete it by defeating the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher after a Head Hunt. The four other Power Armor paints (arm, leg, torso, jetpack) are random drops from the Slasher himself.
What is the Reborn Pint-Sized Slasher drop rate? Bethesda has not published one. Datamined numbers put the Super Slasher at about 5% per kill, poster user only, and players report the Slasher spawns after roughly one in three Head Hunts.
Are the Pint-Sized Slasher Wanted Posters the same as Head Hunt posters? No. The Pint-Sized Slasher Wanted Poster 1 and 2 plans are C.A.M.P. decorations from the Mischief Night party crasher. Head Hunts need a premium Bounty Poster from Grunt Hunt rewards or The Ghoul.
Why didn't the Reborn Slasher drop anything for me? The most common community explanation is not finishing the earlier Slasher phases first. The other is letting him time out while the team fights the posse.
How long will Head Hunt Slasher drops be available? Bethesda's official calendar runs The Slasher event from September 15 to December 1, 2026. No separate cutoff for the Reborn Slasher has been announced, so farm it while the event is live.
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