Resourceful Rat (Boss)

Resourceful Rat
Statistics and Information
Subtitle:	MASTER THIEF
Health:	1480 (Phase 1) 3515 (Phase 2)
Location:	Resourceful Rat's Lair
Introduced in:
Dialogue:	Resourceful Rat/Dialogue
Ammonomicon Entry
Say cheese and die!
This rat-creature never sought the Gungeon for its treasures, but instead found himself cast here upon the tides of fate. Born in the hold of a trading vessel, he was forced to steal for his family's survival, until a great tragedy befell his mischief. When next the ship docked, he escaped and found himself alone on this planet. Here he wandered, until finally coming upon the Gungeon. Stuck in its time loop, he made a nest and a name for himself while training daily. His martial prowess is undeniable, and in truth he likely possesses the skill to reach the Gun. During his trials, however, he found his calling: being an ass to Gungeoneers. The Gun interests him not; in his eyes, he has no regrets, for he is King.
Alt Ammonomicon Entry
(If the player has only defeated his first phase)
This dashing thief is respected and feared throughout the galaxy, as the most accomplished and wealthy adventurer in the universe, and also the true High King of the Gungeon. His moniker refers to both his cunning and to his near limitless resources, which he earned through countless successful attempts at conquering the Gungeon, though he has no regrets to slay. So mighty is he that pilgrims travel from across the stars to leave offerings to his glory, increasing the magnificence of his great hoard. Many have tried to best him in combat, and all have failed.
Drunkard Dialogue: "Did you visit an old friend, deep beneath the mines? That bothersome rat... He took much from you, I see. Did you repay him in kind? ...I must admit, few will shed a tear for him."

This article is about the Resourceful Rat's boss form. For the Resourceful Rat's NPC form, see Resourceful Rat.

Resourceful Rat is a boss added in the Advanced Gungeons & Draguns Update, found at the end of the maze in the Resourceful Rat's Lair. He is an exceptionally difficult boss, consisting of three different phases, with phase two being a mech he created out of all the items and guns he has stolen.

Phase 1

Upon entering the Rats bossroom, the rat will be found seated upon a throne of stolen items. After briefly speaking to the player, he will descend from his seat and begin the fight.

Attacks

• Throws stationary mousetraps around the arena which will damage the player if they step on them.
  • Using a blank will immediately trigger all of these traps, rendering them harmless.
  • Blasphemys sword slash and the hitbox of Guon Stones can destroy these traps before they land.
• Rapidly fires 2 rings of cheese outwards in a clockwise spiral, starting from the bottom of the room.
• Stands in the center of the room and summons three waves of cheese slices that travel from the edges of the room towards him, combining them into a large cheese wheel above his head, then bursts the cheese wheel, sending another burst of cheese outwards.
  • This is always his first attack used.
  • If the large cheese wheel is destroyed before the Rat can burst it, no projectiles will be sent outwards. This is easy to achieve with Blasphemy or Casey.
• Fires several waves of extremely fast-moving kunai towards the player with small gaps in between.
• Summons a long whip of bullets spanning the entire room and spins it several times.
• Occasionally, poison goop will leak from one of the grates near the corners of the room.

Attack Gallery
Click to view each attack pattern in detail.

• 

  Mousetrap attack

• 

  Cheese spiral attack

• 

  Cheese wheel attack

• 

  Kunai attack

• 

  Whip attack

After the first phase is defeated, a hole will appear in the center of the arena in which the Resourceful Rat will retreat to. The player must fall down the hole after him to reach the second phase.

Phase 2

In this phase, the Resourceful Rat pilots a stationary mech and has a new set of attacks. The two weapon systems on the mech's shoulders can be damaged and destroyed, exchanging some of its attacks for different, easier ones.

Attacks

• Fires four erratically moving non-damaging lasers that leave trails of fire. Bullets spawn periodically from the trails.
• Fires a damaging laser that quickly sweeps across the room and leaves a trail of fire.
• Spawns a large number of Mousers, which chase the player down and attempt to deal contact damage.
  • The base health of Mousers is so low that the player can dodge roll through them to kill them, similarly to Blobulins.
• Fills the room with rings of bullets that continually move in circles. The ring that the player stands in will frequently close in on the player. The gunjurer used to summon this attack will be kicked out afterwards, disappearing when it hits the floor.
• Jumps to spawn three waves of bullets that travel outwards.
• Fires a barrage of missiles that curve towards the player and burst into bullets upon hitting a wall.
  • The Rat cannot use this attack if the mechs drum clip has been destroyed.
• Fires a group of bullets in a cross hair formation that follows the player. After a while, it stops moving, and a large bullet drops onto the crosshair and bursts into a large ring of bullets that travels outwards.
  • The Rat cannot use this attack if the mechs cannon has been destroyed.
  • If the crosshair bullet formation is destroyed, the large bullet will not fall. This is easy to achieve with weapons like Blasphemy.
• Sweeps its foot across the floor in front of it. The resulting scar in the ground will spawn several spreads of bullets outwards.
  • The Rat can only use this attack if either of the mech's weapon systems are destroyed.
• If the player attempts to flank the mech, it will stomp, filling that side of the screen with bullets.

Phase 3

In this phase, the player faces the Resourceful Rat in a game of Punch-Out!!. The Resourceful Rat will drop various pickups, items, and guns whenever successfully hit, which can be picked up after the fight. The Resourceful Rat has three health bars of increasing difficulty that must be depleted in order to defeat him. Bold attacks can be interrupted when the rat flashes yellow in order to charge the player's super attack. If the Rat at any point lands an attack on the player, the player's super attack charge is reset.

In this phase, if the player runs out of health or the timer runs out, the player will lose. The player will not die; the Rat will simply run away and leave a note. Any pickups the Resourceful Rat has dropped can be collected, including Rat keys.

Phase 3A

• A straight punch.
  • Requires either ducking, blocking or dodging to the side of the readying fist. Counter to earn a star.
• A taunt.
  • A star can be obtained by punching when he flashes yellow. Otherwise, vulnerable to any kind of attack.
• An uppercut.
  • Dodged similar to the straight punch but instead of dodging towards the fist the player has to dodge to the opposite side. Can be blocked and ducked.
  • Counter attacking is still possible if the player gets hit.

Phase 3B

• Three straights then an uppercut.
  • One of the easier attacks as it provides 3 opportunities to get a star.
• A spin attack.
  • This attack hits players while ducking. Must be blocked.
  • Punching the Rat as he's about to swing his tail will make him dizzy, but won't grant a star.
  • If super punch is used when he is still in the air after the spin attack, it knocks him out independently of his health. However, that might make getting all the keys impossible.
• Slinging off the back of the mech.
  • A star can be obtained by punching as soon as he slings off the mech.
  • Requires ducking to dodge.
• Healing with cheese.
  • If the player attempts to interrupt this attack, the rat can counter if the player mistimes it. Unlike most attacks, this will not reset the player's super attack charge.
  • The player can hit the cheese away if they punch right at the moment he goes for a bite, granting a star.

Phase 3C

All attacks from 3B but faster, plus:

• A spin attack that hits four times.
  • A star can be obtained from punching during the attack's start-up. Otherwise, must be blocked.
  • Successfully blocking all the attacks will make the Rat dizzy.
• Throwing an ammo box.
  • The box can be ducked under, dodged to the side the rat throws it from, or punched back.
  • Successfully countering the box has a chance of dropping a heart.
• A brass knuckles wind up punch.
  • A star can be obtained on the 3rd Wind-Up cycle of the punch, but this cannot be blocked, or ducked.

Strategy

• Continually punching the Rat while he is blocking is not advised, as this will tire the player over time, leaving them temporarily unable to dodge.
• It is strongly advised to alternate left and right punches whenever possible, as this maximizes how many times the player can hit the Rat before he starts blocking again. Without alternating, the player can only get 3 hits in; with alternating, this increases to 6 (or 10 if performed after he gets dizzy from his 4-hit tailspin attack in the third phase.)
• If the rat is knocked down with a super punch, he'll swing with Casey before the next round begins, this attack must be blocked or dodged.

Rat Keys

During this section of the fight the Resourceful Rat can drop special Rat Keys, which unlock various rewards in his Lair. Up to six Rat Keys can be acquired during the battle. In order to get all six, the player must KO the Rat with a 3-Star Super punch three times.

• One key for starting the fight
• One key for finishing a round with a super attack (3 keys for 3 rounds)
• One key for winning the fight
• One bonus key for finishing all 3 rounds with a 3-Star super punch

Notes

• Defeating the Resourceful Rat in punch out unlocks a golden boxing glove trophy in The Breach.
• If the player dies to the Resourceful Rat, the Ammonomicon page showing their death stats will be vandalised by the Rat, with drawings depicting the Rat, cheese, knives, bombs, and a fat head presumably to represent the Gungeoneer. In addition, instead of correctly stating that the player was killed by the Resourceful Rat, the death page will instead list one of a handful of unique messages either glorifying the rat or insulting the player. These options are;
  • "Your very slow reflexes"
  • "Your sad lack of skill"
  • "Your head not being in the game"
  • "Your lack of commitment"
  • "Your misplaced ambition"
  • "Your hubris"
  • "Your pride"
  • "The Handsomest King"
  • "High Lord Gungeon"
  • "Someone better than you"
  • "The Richest Rat"
• The death message "Your very slot reflexes" is a reference to the message death message "Your own slow reflexes", which is used as a fallback for any death that the game cannot attribute to an existing source, such as dying to a projectile from an enemy which has already died.
• If the player defeats the first phase of the Resourceful Rat, they will unlock his Ammonomicon entry- however it will be an incorrect entry, written in the Rats own self-glorifying words. In order to unlock the true Ammonomicon entry of the Resourceful Rat, the player must defeat the second phase.
• In co-op mode, the second player is unable to participate in the Punch Out. Instead, the Cultist is visible tied up on the rat mech.
• If the player defeats the Rat in all three rounds of Punch-Out, the Rat will give a speech detailing his backstory before dying. His dead body can then be kicked around.
  • If kicked down the hole in the center of the room, his body will appear in the treasure room after the boss, where it can then be kicked all the way to the Baby Dragun, who will eat it.
  • Use of the Super Hot Watch can allow massive amounts of momentum to be build up on the corpse, causing it to ricochet around the room uncontrollably.
• Successfully defeating the rat in all three rounds of Punch-Out will make the Rat unable to steal from the player for the rest of the run, even without the Resourceful Indeed synergy.
• Items dropped by the Resourceful Rat will not be stolen by Bowler in Rainbow Mode, making defeating the rat on rainbow runs extremely lucrative.
  • Despite this, items from Rat Chests will still be replaced with notes.
  • Items dropped by the Resourceful Rat can include items which are normally excluded from Rainbow Mode chest pools.
• If the player is defeated during the punch out, the rat will leave behind a mocking note before disappearing. The possible notes include;
  • "You made it through two rounds, but you couldn't go the distance. Have a consolation prize, Random Insult! -R.R."
  • "What a shame, Character Nickname! Maybe you'll get me next time, but you probably won't. -R.R."
  • "Nothing without your guns, are you, Character Nickname? Try again. -R.R."
• Unlike most bosses, if one player is dead in co-op mode, defeating the Resourceful Rat will not revive them.
• Bug - During rounds 2 and 3 of the Punch out, if the player attempts to punch the rat while he is attempting to eat cheese, he will retaliate, hitting them back. If this attack kills the player, the fight will glitch, restoring the players list and forcing the rest of the fight into slow motion.

Trivia

• An old, unused version of the Resourceful Rat bossfight existed in the games files since release, long before it was officially implemented in the Advanced Gungeons & Draguns Update. This version of the Rat included a different boss splash screen portrait (See #Gallery), different boss behaviours, a different bossroom layout, and a different Ammonomicon Entry which read as follows:
  • This mysterious Gungeon menace styles himself "The Resourceful Rat," and is surely the biggest annoyance the Gungeon has ever seen.
    Living for the spite of Gungeoneers, and thriving by stealing their loot, this rat has accumulated a hoard of Gungeon artifacts.
    Having made a home for himself below the Oubliette, the Resourceful Rat utilized the Gungeon's ever changing layout to construct a maze to frustrate Gungeoneers seeking vengeance.
• As mentioned in the above description, the original Resourceful Rat fight was accessed from a floor below the Oubliette rather than the Black Powder Mine.
• The mech piloted by the Resourceful Rat in the second phase of his boss fight is modeled after Metal Gear REX from Metal Gear Solid. In that game, the protagonist Solid Snake battles his twin Liquid Snake while the latter is piloting Metal Gear REX and the two have a fist fight on top of it afterwards, much like the Punch-Out!! duel in the final phase.
  • The Rat's mech is referred to as 'Metal Gear RAT' in the game files.
  • The Punch-Out!! duel is referred to as 'Liquid Punch-Out' in the game files.
• The ending sentence where the Resourceful Rat requests that you remove your mask to see your face with his own eyes is likely a reference to the death of Darth Vader from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, as well as being an insult towards the players appearance.
• The Ammonomicon quote "Say Cheese And Die!" may be a reference to the Goosebumps horror novel of the same name.
• The boss splash screen subtitle "MASTER THIEF" may be a reference to the character Master Chief from Halo.

Gallery

• 

  An older unused portrait for the Resourceful Rat back when his fight was unused.

• 

  The death page of the Ammonomicon having been vandalised by the Rat