The Last of Us 2: How to Beat the Rat King (The Easy Way)

The Last of Us 2 has gained a reputation for being brutal, but Naughty Dog has upped their game with the boss, The Rat King. The Rat King is by far, one of the scariest infected to date. With one hit to kill Abby, players can easily get frustrated in this fight. This boss fight, however, is not unbeatable.

In the first game, Ellie and Joel were introduced to hordes of runners, clickers, and the occasional bloater. Within the second game, we discover an even more horrific version of the infected, a shambler. Shamblers, much like bloaters, are big and throw spores at their enemies, but these great beasts are slow and are covered in pustules filled with acid that will kill any character in two hits. However, the Rat King is by far the most fearsome of all the infected. He is a mixture of all the previous infected. A bloater with shambler pustules and several clickers attached to him via cordyceps.

How To Kill The Rat King in The Last of Us 2

Before any fight, preparation is required. Whether playing at the highest or lowest difficulty, having as many supplies on you as possible before engaging with this freak of nature will be the biggest task. Abby should be equipped with a flamethrower, a combat shotgun, and a semi-automatic rifle. Keeping her as stocked with ammo as possible is a good first step. After that, crafting pipe bombs is the best secondary weapon against the Rat King. The Rat King is too quick for Abby to be setting out mines to trap him in, so focus on faster and more distant attacks.

With the Rat King being able to charge like a bloater and kill in one hit, the best tactic, in the beginning, is to focus on staying as far away from him as possible. Plunge through cracks in the walls, and charge through doors. Keeping him at a distance will lessen his ability to strike, but not keep him at bay forever.

Abby can be cornered and forced up into the air by him. In this instance, having an axe, upgraded bat or hammer will be very helpful. Luckily, these encounters will not kill Abby instantly, but instead, let her struggle free while taking away a portion of her health.

Once Abby has gained enough distance, hit the Rat King with the hardest hitting weapons she has. Don’t let her stand and shoot several times in a row unless there is a good opportunity that will give her enough time to run. This can be tedious and terrifying but will get the job done.

One of the Rat King’s several occupants will start to come out of him when his health is getting low. Looking like conjoined twins, this will give Abby more targets to hit for a decent amount of damage. Finally, when the Rat King is hit enough times he will fall through the floorboards, giving Abby a false sense of hope. Little does she know, down below, the conjoined clicker is escaping the Rat King’s corpse.

While Abby is crawling between levels, she is attacked by the advanced clicker. This attack causes her and the clicker to fall into the level below them. It acts much like the stalkers from the first game’s infected. This clicker is fast, covered in pustules, and tougher than the average. It will try hard to stay down and in the shadows, so be careful and stay on the lookout. This beast takes nearly 20 shots to down while chasing it through the dark level.

The Last of Us 2 is available on PlayStation 4.

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