R.E.P.O. | Monster guide: Rugrat

The Rugrat is a Level 2 monster in R.E.P.O. that looks absurd but plays dangerously smart. It roams the map minding its own business until it spots a player, at which point it grabs the nearest valuable and tries to bean you with it.

What makes the Rugrat genuinely threatening is not its own stats but your inventory. The heavier the item it picks up, the more damage it deals, and at the extreme end a well-aimed throw with a Cube of Knowledge hits for 225 damage in a single shot, the highest single-hit damage of any monster in the game.

Behavior

The Rugrat wanders aimlessly until it spots a semibot through line of sight or proximity. Once it does, it hunts down the nearest valuable, grabs it, and then chases the player it spotted in order to throw the item at them. It cannot throw immediately after picking something up, there is a roughly 3-second delay before it can release. It also needs line of sight with its target and will back up if it is too close to throw. After a throw or a failed throw, the Rugrat cannot aggro again for about 15 seconds. If it picked up a large enough item, the throw can damage the Rugrat itself. The Rugrat can see and hear players and will also detect them by touch, and it will attack crouching players, though crouching does significantly slow how quickly it can spot you while it is roaming.

Hidden usefulness

Because the Rugrat picks up and throws valuables with genuine physics force, any item it throws can damage other monsters caught in the impact, just as if a player had thrown it. This means a well-timed encounter can let the Rugrat chip away at or even finish off other enemies nearby, using your loot as an unintended weapon against the rest of the room.

The Rugrat also becomes far less dangerous as the level is looted out. With fewer valuables on the floor for it to grab, it loses most of its threat in the later stages of a run, particularly during final extraction when items are mostly already secured.

Weaknesses

At 150 HP, the Rugrat is not especially durable. Its real weakness is the cooldown after each throw: once it launches or fails a throw, it cannot aggro for about 15 seconds, giving you a clean window to act. It can also be stunned by hitting it with a valuable, and while stunned its strength breakpoint drops to 0, meaning anyone can pick it up regardless of their strength stat. Crouching also significantly delays how quickly it can spot you, making stealth a reliable way to avoid triggering it in the first place.

Strategy

• Crouch when moving near a Rugrat that has not spotted you yet. It takes much longer to notice crouching players, giving you time to slip past.
• Keep cheap or durable valuables within reach rather than leaving high-damage items on the floor where the Rugrat can grab them.
• If the Rugrat has already grabbed a valuable, pick up any item and hold it above your head while sprinting toward it. The Rugrat will keep backing up and cannot throw as long as you maintain the angle, and the 10-second timer will eventually force it to drop the item.
• Holding an item above your head also prevents the Rugrat from grabbing that specific item for a long time, useful for protecting something you cannot afford to lose.
• Bait the Rugrat toward a pit by dangling a valuable over the edge. It will jump for the item and fall in, netting you its orb without any real fight.
• Late in a level when most items are extracted, the Rugrat can often be ignored entirely since it has little left to throw.

How to kill

The fastest and most cost-effective way to kill a Rugrat is to hit it directly with a valuable by scrolling the mouse wheel to swing it. Each hit deals damage and stuns the Rugrat for 2 seconds. A single cheap, durable valuable usually has enough durability to absorb all the hits needed to bring it from 150 HP to zero. Aim for repeated hits during the stun window: hit, stun, close distance, hit again. After the Crescent Moon Phase at level 5, small valuables stop working for stuns, so switch to a medium-sized valuable or larger to keep the stun chain going. If the Rugrat is holding something when you stun it, it will drop the item, though the drop may damage the valuable. Alternatively, use the pit bait method: hold a valuable over a pit edge to make the Rugrat jump for it, sending it to its death with no damage traded at all.