Showdowner is a bare-knuckle challenge in Decaying Winter that pits you against the Sledge Queen with almost everything stripped away. You fight her using only your fists, a locked perk choice, and a single trait, and success comes down to reading her attack pattern instead of out-gearing her.
Quick answer: Type challenge showdowner in chat to start it, play as Survivalist or Damned with only the Honorable trait, and beat the Sledge Queen with fists. Count her attacks — she throws 4 to 5 hits (5 to 6 in a combo) before a Long Shot — and parry that shot to stay alive.
How to start the Showdowner challenge
The fight runs on a private server. Open the chat and enter challenge showdowner to activate it, which spawns the Sledge Queen for the duel. Because it strips out the wider survival loop, it is widely treated as the most approachable challenge in the game, and even newer players can clear it with practice.
The rules are strict, and the run only counts if you follow all of them. Break certain restrictions and you may instead trigger the separate “Sundowner” variant, which pits you against a bucket-man enemy under completely different rules.
| Restriction | What you can use |
|---|---|
| Perk | Survivalist or Damned only |
| Trait | Honorable only (Damned may also use Aggressive Behavior and Violent Tendencies) |
| Weapon | Fists only |
| Auxiliary equipment | Allowed, but throwing daggers are banned |
| Consumables | No stimulants or buff items |
Note: if you run the Apostle perk, you cannot use its active abilities during this challenge, so it holds no advantage here. Stick to Survivalist or Damned as intended.
Sledge Queen shotgun cells: Long Shot vs Short Shot
The Sledge Queen, also called SQ, uses two shotgun cell attacks. Telling them apart by sound is the single most important skill in the fight, because one is a light poke and the other is the dangerous ranged burst you need to avoid or parry.
| Attack | Behavior | Cooldown | Audio cue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long Shot | Fires when you are at a distance | About 10 seconds | Distinct arbiter sound |
| Short Shot | Acts as a normal light attack | Shorter than the Long Shot | Slight, quieter arbiter sound |
The Long Shot is distance-triggered, so keeping pressure up close reduces how often she reaches for it. When you do hear that louder arbiter cue, treat it as the priority threat and react immediately.
Count her attacks to predict the Long Shot
Her Long Shot is not random. She commits to a set number of moves first, so counting her attacks lets you know almost exactly when it is coming.
Parry her heavy slashes and grapples
Heavy slashes and grapples have a longer wind-up than light attacks, which gives you a wider window to react. When you parry, treat heavy attacks and grapples as the same thing, because they share the same wind-up timing. Grapples cannot be shoved, so parrying is your answer to them.
Since Showdowner limits you to fists, your defense leans heavily on the parry (R) rather than trading favorable weapon reach. Learn the rhythm of her heavy wind-ups and you can turn her biggest attacks into openings.
Manage hunger and thirst during the fight
Close combat with the Sledge Queen is exactly where a depleted hunger or thirst gauge becomes fatal. High satiety raises melee attack power by 20% and defense by 10%, while high hydration raises melee power by 10% and defense by 20%. Let both run empty and you suffer a punishing −30% melee power, −30% defense, and −15% movement speed.
Because your only damage source is your fists, that melee penalty directly lengthens the fight and makes her attacks hit harder. Keep both gauges topped up so your punches keep their bonus. Buff items and stimulants are banned here, so ordinary food and drink are your only edge.
Performance and practice
Reading her sounds and counting her attacks only works if the game runs cleanly, so a stable frame rate and internet connection matter as much as reflexes. Frame drops or lag will hide the audio timing you rely on and throw off your parries.
Everything else is repetition. Memorize her move set, practice the parry timing on her heavy attacks and grapples, and re-run the fight until the 4-to-5 attack count feels automatic.
How to know you cleared it
When you land the killing blow on the Sledge Queen, the game shows a line reading “(Player name) – N use,” where N is how many traits you used, followed by the word “Showdowner” as she dies. That trait count is displayed to confirm you stuck to Honorable and did not slip in extra traits.
To claim the title, submit your recording to the Showdowner submissions thread rather than the general challenge submissions, and check the agency-terminal Showdowner thread for the exact posting rules. After you clear it and request the title, you receive the “Showdowner” title.
Bugs are prohibited across all challenges, and video evidence is required, so record the full fight — including a shot of your traits window afterward — before you send it in.
