How Ground Pickups and Timed Power-ups Work

Use the short pickup rule

1. Identify the source. Four systems place ambient pickups on their own schedules; experience, Cash, and Item effects use other paths.
2. Check the map cap and the pickup’s special conditions before reading a timer.
3. Treat the displayed interval as the next attempt window, not a guaranteed appearance time.
4. If an ambient attempt fails, use its shorter retry window. The retry ignores spawn-rate and luck modifiers.
5. Collect timed power-ups within 90 seconds. The other 7 pickup types remain until collected.

This order answers most cases where a Healthpak, Magnet, Military Training Point, or timed power-up seems late. A timer cannot override a full map cap, a mode restriction, or a pickup-specific condition.

Separate the ten ground pickups

The current ground set contains 10 types. MagnetMagnetPicking this power-up will attract every single experience gem and cash currently on the level, so you will automatically pick them all. Other types of pick-ups will not be attracted and will remain where they were before the magnet was collected.Map cap 5 · Stays until collected, HealthpakHealthpakPicking this power-up will restore at least 200 of your Health Points. The amount scales with your Healing Bonus stat. If your HP is full, you can't use this power-up (unless certain gameplay modifiers apply).Map cap 3 · Stays until collected, and Military Training PointMilitary Training PointPicking this power-up adds one point to your Military Training progression bar, displayed under the main experience bar. Once you've accumulated four points, you'll be able to select a Military Training option to boost your team's stats.Map cap 6 · Stays until collected each have a dedicated ambient spawner. The three timed power-ups share one spawner. Cash and all three experience-gem tiers arrive from enemy drops or other effects instead of a dedicated ambient schedule.

Only experience gems and Cash have the global-magnet flag. Picking up MagnetMagnetPicking this power-up will attract every single experience gem and cash currently on the level, so you will automatically pick them all. Other types of pick-ups will not be attracted and will remain where they were before the magnet was collected.Map cap 5 · Stays until collected collects those types across the level. It does not collect Healthpaks, Military Training Points, or timed power-ups.

The map cap is checked before another ambient instance appears. A cap is not a lifetime and not a per-run total. Once you collect an ambient pickup and free one slot, its spawner can pass the cap check again on a later attempt.

Read an ambient spawn attempt

Each ambient spawner starts with a base interval and a random variation range. A successful schedule uses this formula:

next attempt = base interval × random variation × spawn-rate multiplier × luck factor

The stored spawn-rate multiplier is bounded from 0.1× to 2×. For player-reachable Team Luck, each schedule starts at 1× with zero Luck and falls toward 0.5× at a spawner-specific rate. Team Luck cannot fall below zero, so it never produces a factor above 1×.

The Luck guide shows the exact schedule formula and breakpoints. The four caps differ: Healthpak reaches the floor first at 143 Luck, Military Training Point and timed power-ups at 200, and Magnet at 334.

If an attempt fails, the spawner does not wait through the same modified interval. It uses:

failed retry = base interval × random variation × 0.35

That retry path leaves out the spawn-rate multiplier and luck factor. This creates the exact unmodified windows below.

Distance is also part of placement. Timed power-ups use the close band from 5 to 15. Military Training Points use 15 to 25. Magnet and Healthpak use the far band with a minimum distance of 25 and 25, with no stored maximum in those two spawners.

These are attempt schedules. If the chosen location or a pickup condition fails, no collectible appears and the shorter retry begins.

Diagnose a missing Magnet

MagnetMagnetPicking this power-up will attract every single experience gem and cash currently on the level, so you will automatically pick them all. Other types of pick-ups will not be attracted and will remain where they were before the magnet was collected.Map cap 5 · Stays until collected has three hard ambient checks beyond its map cap of 5:

1. More than 15 other collectibles must already be active. Exactly 15 is not enough.
2. A global Magnet effect must not already be active.
3. Fewer than 5 Magnets can be present on the map.

When those checks pass, the ordinary unmodified attempt window is 188 to 258.5 seconds. Heavy MetalHeavy MetalMagnet power-ups spawn twice as often.Starting Item · Item Pool weight 10 applies a 0.5× spawn-rate multiplier to a successful schedule, reducing that before-luck range to 94 to 129.25 seconds. It does not halve the failed retry, which remains 65.8 to 90.475 seconds.

The other Magnet Items do different jobs. Chick MagnetChick MagnetCollecting a Magnet power-up grants a 45s bonus of +30% Ability Cooldown Reduction. +30% Pickup RangeUnlock: My Savior! · Item Pool weight 10, AccumulatorAccumulatorCollecting Magnet power-up causes all enemies to receive at least 8,000 Electric type damage, with additional chance to stun. When equipped with Electric Personality: Basic enemies you come into contact with will get stunned.Unlock: This Was A Triumph · Item Pool weight 10, and Nuclear FusionNuclear FusionWhen taking this item: Kills all existing enemies and activates a Magnet power-up. Swapping this item is a free action, granting you additional item choice.Unlock: Magic of Science · Item Pool weight 10 can create or react to Magnet effects, but they do not rewrite Heavy Metal’s dedicated ambient interval rule. Keep each Item’s effect separate from the ambient spawner.

Handle Healthpaks at full health

HealthpakHealthpakPicking this power-up will restore at least 200 of your Health Points. The amount scales with your Healing Bonus stat. If your HP is full, you can't use this power-up (unless certain gameplay modifiers apply).Map cap 3 · Stays until collected starts from 200 HP and then scales with Healing Bonuses. Its ambient spawner uses a base interval of 85 seconds, an unmodified attempt window of 76.5 to 93.5 seconds, and a map cap of 3. The health and revive guide shows how the requested amount is clamped at Max HP.

One Hit blocks Healthpak spawning. In other modes, full health does not block the ambient spawn itself. It blocks collection unless you carry PillsPillsYou are now able to collect healthpak pickups when at max health. Healthpaks collected this way boosts your damage by +100% for 30s.Unlock: Bring 'Em On! · Item Pool weight 10. This distinction explains why a Healthpak can sit on the ground while the character cannot take it.

An AppleAn AppleIncreases Healthpak spawn rate by +50%. +20% Healing BonusesStarting Item · Item Pool weight 10 applies the 0.5× spawn-rate multiplier to successful Healthpak schedules. The before-luck window becomes 38.25 to 46.75 seconds. A failed attempt still retries after 26.775 to 32.725 seconds.

Health Potion, MedKit, and other healing Items can alter the recovery outcome or react to healing, but they do not replace the ambient spawn conditions above.

Time the three power-ups

The timed spawner chooses among three eligible types:

• Killing FrenzyKilling FrenzyPicking up this power-up grants you a +50% bonus to your Weapon Attack Speed and Weapon Cooldown Reduction stats for 10 seconds. This power-up will disappear if it is not picked up from the ground for a period of time.Map cap 2 · 90 seconds on the ground grants +50% Weapon Attack Speed and +50% Weapon Cooldown Reduction for 10 seconds.
• Super SpeedSuper SpeedPicking up this power-up grants you a +25% bonus to your Movement Speed stat for 10 seconds. This power-up will disappear if it is not picked up from the ground for a period of time.Map cap 2 · 90 seconds on the ground grants +25% Movement Speed for 10 seconds.
• Stone SkinStone SkinPicking up this power-up grants you total invincibility for 5 seconds. This power-up will disappear if it is not picked up from the ground for a period of time.Map cap 2 · 90 seconds on the ground grants invincibility for 5 seconds.

Each type has its own map cap of 2. All three disappear after 90 seconds on the ground. Stone Skin is removed from the eligible candidate set in One Hit; Killing Frenzy and Super Speed remain eligible there.

After those checks, candidate selection is uniform among the eligible timed types. The stored entry weights do not drive that current selection path. Do not turn old or configured weight fields into percentages. With all three types eligible, the selector treats three candidates equally; with Stone Skin blocked in One Hit, it chooses between the remaining two.

Read timed power-up Items carefully

Pickup PickPickup PickGaining any Timed Power-up also gives you a random Timed Power-up of another type. +20% Pickup RangeStarting Item · Item Pool weight 10 gives a second timed power-up from one of the other two types when you collect one. The extra result uses its base effect duration and does not recursively trigger another Pickup Pick result.

The WordThe WordCompletely stops the movement of all enemies, except Elite and Bosses, every 20s for 3s. When equipped with Pocket Watch: Timed Power-ups timers stop as well.Unlock: Still Alive · Item Pool weight 10 can pause the active countdown during its freeze interaction when Pocket Watch is present. Sugar RushSugar RushDefeating a Boss enemy activates a Killing Frenzy Timed Power-up.Starting Item · Item Pool weight 10 and Quick BuckQuick BuckReceiving Cash from any source activates a Super Speed Timed Power-up. +10% Cash modifierStarting Item · Item Pool weight 10 react to specific timed effects rather than changing the shared ambient selector.

The current normal ground-collection path uses each timed power-up’s base duration, and the ground lifetime starts from the base 90 seconds. The duration statistic advertised by the Team upgrade, up to +50%, and Pocket WatchPocket WatchDoubles Timed Power-up duration and lifetime.Starting Item · Item Pool weight 10, +100%, is not read on those two normal paths. Plan around the base 10, 10, and 5 second effects until the implementation changes. This boundary does not erase separate Item-specific interactions such as Pickup Pick or The Word.

Calculate experience-gem value

The regular Experience GemExperience GemPicking this power-up will grant you 11 experience points. This amount of points can be changed by the XP Modifier stat. Experience points fill the yellow main experience bar at the top of the screen. Filling it to 100% grants you a level-up.Map cap 512 · Stays until collected starts at 11 XP before XP Modifier. Blue multiplies the regular value by 5, producing 55 base XP. Red multiplies it by 35, producing 385 base XP.

Apply XP Modifier after choosing the tier:

awarded XP = 11 × gem-tier multiplier × XP Modifier

Luck changes the repeated XP drop pool and also adds a separate regular-to-Blue roll. That second roll rises by 0.000185 per Luck and caps at 0.04, but it is only one part of the combined Blue result. Red has no matching second Luck roll. See how Luck works for the full pool weights and composition. Red gems still have their separate 180-second effect-driven spawn cooldown.

Understand gem compaction

The regular-gem record allows up to 512 entries, but the physical pickup manager caps active pickups at 384. The game preserves value by merging and compacting instead of requiring one visible object for every drop.

Nearby regular gems can merge within 0.75 distance units in groups of 5. A larger compaction pass groups 20. When physical pressure reaches the cap, overflow can be absorbed within 5 distance units. The manager processes between 16 and 32 pickup rolls per frame.

This is why the number of visible gems is not a reliable XP counter. A compacted gem can represent value from several earlier drops. The Magnet collects the resulting experience objects and Cash, including their accumulated value.

Use map caps and effect cooldowns

Caps apply per pickup type. The complete set ranges from 2 timed power-ups of each type to 512 configured regular experience gems. Cash caps at 25, Blue Experience Gems at 55, Red Experience Gems at 3, Military Training Points at 6, Magnets at 5, and Healthpaks at 3.

Cash and the non-regular experience tiers also expose effect-driven spawn cooldowns: Cash uses 15 seconds, Blue Experience Gem uses 30 seconds, and Red Experience Gem uses 180 seconds. The regular gem’s active cooldown is 0. These cooldowns belong to effects that try to create those pickups. They are not the four ambient interval schedules and should not be added to them.

Military Training PointMilitary Training PointPicking this power-up adds one point to your Military Training progression bar, displayed under the main experience bar. Once you've accumulated four points, you'll be able to select a Military Training option to boost your team's stats.Map cap 6 · Stays until collected needs the Military Training Team node before its ambient spawner can succeed. 4 collected points grant a choice, or 3 with Gold MedalGold MedalMilitary Training now requires only 3 points. XP required to level-up increased by 10%.Unlock: Death is Approaching · Item Pool weight 10. The map can hold up to 6. The spawner itself attempts on the 40 to 55 second unmodified window after the unlock condition passes. The Military Training guide continues from the completed orange bar into card allocation and result formulas.

FAQ

How many ground pickup types are there?

There are 10: three experience tiers, Cash, Magnet, Healthpak, Military Training Point, and three timed power-ups.

Does the Magnet collect every pickup?

No. It collects experience gems and Cash. Healthpaks, Military Training Points, Magnets, and timed power-ups stay where they are.

Why did a pickup not appear when its timer ended?

The schedule starts an attempt, not a guarantee. A map cap, mode block, missing Team unlock, Magnet population rule, active global Magnet, or placement failure can reject the attempt and start the shorter retry.

How long do timed power-ups stay on the ground?

All three use a 90-second ground lifetime. Their effects last 10, 10, and 5 seconds after collection.

Are timed power-up weights different?

No live configured weight drives the current timed candidate selector. It chooses uniformly among the types whose conditions pass.

Does An Apple halve every Healthpak retry?

No. It applies a 0.5× multiplier to the successful schedule path. The failed retry stays at 26.775 to 32.725 seconds.

Why can I see fewer than 512 regular XP gems?

The physical pickup manager caps active objects at 384 and preserves XP through merging, compaction, and overflow absorption. Visible object count is not stored XP value.

Can I pick up a Healthpak at full HP?

Not normally. PillsPillsYou are now able to collect healthpak pickups when at max health. Healthpaks collected this way boosts your damage by +100% for 30s.Unlock: Bring 'Em On! · Item Pool weight 10 allows the full-health collection path. Full health does not itself prevent a Healthpak from sitting on the ground.