Do fireflies help in Lullwood?

Fireflies do not help you survive in Lullwood. They make you easier to see. Standing inside a firefly cluster raises how far predators can spot you by up to 30%, strongest at the cluster's center and fading to nothing 45 units out. They only appear if your device clock says between 5 pm and 4 am.

How much do fireflies raise your detection?

Each cluster has a 45-unit radius. Your exposure to it is 1 at the center, falls in a straight line, and reaches 0 at the edge. A predator's sight range is multiplied by 1 plus 0.3 times that exposure.

• At the center: sight × 1.3. On base sight, before difficulty, time of day and run length, a wolf's 42 units becomes about 55, a bear's 30 becomes 39 and a lion's 48 becomes about 62.
• Halfway out, about 22 units: sight × 1.15. Half the penalty for half the walk.
• At the edge, 45 units out: no change.
• Clusters do not stack. If two overlap you take the stronger one, never the sum.

The glow is one more factor in the same product as the difficulty tier and the mist veil, so the percentage is the same everywhere, whatever the other factors shrink or grow the base sight to.

When do fireflies appear in Lullwood?

Lullwood reads your device clock once, when the run loads. From 5 pm to 8 pm the forest counts as evening, and from 8 pm to 4 am as night. In both, six clusters are switched on. At any other hour there are none, so there is no glow and no penalty. The clock is not read again during the run.

• Night already helps you a little. From 8 pm to 4 am predators see 20% less far (× 0.8). At a cluster's center that is 0.8 × 1.3 = 1.04, so the glow hands the whole night discount back. Evening has no discount to lose.
• Phones draw four of six, and all six count. A phone renders only the first four clusters to save work, but the detection penalty applies to all six. You can be exposed standing in a glow you cannot see.

Where are the fireflies?

The six clusters are fixed and sit in the same places every run. You start in the middle of the 480-unit map; the nearest cluster is about 100 units from your start and the farthest about 260. The lights brighten as you close in and fade to nothing at 45 units, using the same falloff as the penalty. In dry weather, brighter lights mean a bigger penalty, and the game has a caption for it: “the brighter you glow, the easier predators spot you.”

Does rain make fireflies safer?

No. Rain dims the lights, to 20% of their dry brightness at full rainfall, but it does not touch the penalty. The detection bonus is worked out from where you stand and nothing else. A cluster that looks faint in the rain is exactly as dangerous as a bright one, so do not read a dim glow as permission to rest in it.

Do the fireflies warn you when a predator is near?

Only loosely. When a predator gets close to a cluster, the lights flare. The alarm starts when the predator is within a set range of the cluster (120 units for a wolf, 150 for a bear, 100 for a lion) and ramps up to 40% brighter as it reaches the center. The game captions it “they sense danger nearby and brighten” and plays a short sting the first time in a run.

• It measures predator to cluster, not predator to you. The alarm can be on while the predator is far from you.
• Any of the six clusters counts. With several predators out, which is how Blackout starts, the alarm can already be on early in a run.
• Brighter lights do not raise the penalty. The flare is only the picture; the detection bonus stays the same.

Read the flare as “a predator is near this glade”, not as a distance gauge. For distance, use the sight and scent rules in the Lullwood survival guide.

How to play around fireflies

• Do not stop in a cluster. Resting or waiting where the lights are brightest is where predators see you farthest.
• Cross at the edge, not the center. Forty-five units out costs nothing and halfway costs 15%.
• Know where they sit. The lights fade in from nothing at the 45-unit edge, so you cannot see a cluster coming. The six positions are fixed, so learn them before you need them.

For how a predator hunts once it has spotted you, start with the wolf guide. Short answers on price, phones and controls are in the Lullwood FAQ.