Overview
This guide will teach you how to play, counter, and main each rat in this highly complex and addicting MOBA masterpiece…
Rocket Rat
One of the most popular rats in the game, Rocket Rat is a pretty decent pick for the game. His “Q” launches him towards enemies, proving to be a useful rat that chases enemies in the meta right now. Rocket Rat’s “W” launches a rocket that takes 3 seconds to detonate after it is placed in it’s location, which can be used as a mine or for a really helpful teamfighting tactic. His “E” is a passive that should be upgraded early in the game, since it provides a helpful boost in speed and damage, which of course can be combined with certain items in the shop. The real reason he is used, in my opinion, is his ultimate, which causes his rocket to become a nuke with an AoE of 2,000. However, this needs to be timed perfectly, since it warns enemies of it’s prescence and it has a very lengthy cooldown. Overall, this is a good hero to pick if you like to get involved in team fighting.
Bomber Rat
Bomber Rat is really a difficult rat to play after his nerf. He used to be able to instantly suicide bomb and place mines right next to each other, but now he can’t do that. So, his “Q” was replaced with a passive that makes him move faster whenever upgraded. His “W” is a mine that does minuscule damage, thus it should be placed in areas that would kill any stragglers fleeing from teamfights or to kill enemy creep waves. His “E” is a sign that does absolutely nothing, it’s just there to annoy the other team. However, his ult is EXTREMELY useful if it is conducted properly, since it permanently charges damage towards a timed suicide bomb every time an enemy is killed by anyone on your team, including yourself. The method to successful use of this is to play a support role for teamfights to gain kills towards the ultimate. Once it reaches 15 charges, you can switch from the support to carry role, since you can now one hit large groups of enemies. However, this is countered easily by stunning attacks (Archer Rat, for example) and by killing him swiftly before his vest detonates, since his health cap is VERY low. Bomber Rat is a good pick when your team is well coordinated with kills and teamfighting, since you benefit from their plays to strengthen yourself as well.
Archer Rat
Archer Rat is probably the best choice for roamers in the current meta. His “Q” allows him to charge an arrow that has more range and damage the longer it is charged. Of course, his “W” is more useful for roamers, as it allows him to switch his default arrow to stun bomb arrows, which is an AoE that gets larger as it is upgraded. His “E” is a passive ability that lets him see enemies he has hit with an arrow for a limited amount of time, which increases when it is upgraded. Archer Rat’s ultimate, while not useful on it’s own, allows him to shoot arrows into the air and hit every enemy player on the map. That being said, this ultimate should be used at the right time in order to kill any enemies that are about to escape something with low hp. Overall, roamers and supports usually pick this rat to use him efficiently.
Batter Rat
Batter Rat is really good for jungling, since he can clear out camps with only a few hits early in the game. His “Q” hits an explosive baseball at a target, which is best against creeps. His “W” is a passive that increases the attack power of his melee attacks, which should be increased early on to have maximum efficiency and gold-per-minute. His “E” triggers his hat, which allows him to temporarily not be targeted by an enemy rat’s spells. His ultimate largely boosts his attack, health, and speed for about 20 seconds, so this should be used for team fighting or to resist getting ganked by other players. However, his ult cannot be combined with his “E”, so he can be countered with stuns if he is using it. Overall, this is an excellent melee strength hero to play.
Recruit Rat
Recruit Rat has access to all the base operator’s guns and can use any specific device or explosive on offense or defense. The only downsides to playing as this rat are the lack of a gadget and also the possession of only one reinforcement. This rat is given in the base game as a given and is a good way for new players to learn or for pro players to get really sweaty. There can also be more than one Recruit Rat in the round, which is a common tactic for Strat Roulette. However, it’s usually just better to pick a different operator, unless Castle Rat is taken into consideration. Castle Rat is just more harmful to the team than he is helpful, since he traps your team in the objective room.
Fat Rat
Fat Rat is a really good offlaner or mid pick, since he is a tank with abilities that harass enemies in a ridiculous manner. His “Q” makes him slam on the ground, stunning enemies nearby him. The AoE and duration for this ability increases whenever it is upgraded by level. His “E” is a passive that lets him roll a little faster whenever a nearby enemy is low on health. His “Q” lets him sniff out certain enemies that are low on health (He is a hungry rat, after all). His ultimate allows him to steal a random healing item from any enemy player anywhere on the map, and their quantity increases as the ultimate’s level increases. If none of the enemy players have possession of any healing items, he is granted a bottle(s) that heals 500 hp for all of his team mates instantly. Because of this, his ultimate is countered by picking a rat that heals with abilities rather than items, and also purchasing weak healing items so that he only steals weak items rather than stealing something important or worse; gaining access to the bottle(s). For some reason, Fat Rat is actually faster than Tractor Rat, because Valve does not test their own games. Jokes aside, this is probably because Fat Rat uses rat minions to roll him towards where he wants to go, thus the lower his health, the slower he moves. That being said, the Heart of Tarrats is an essential item for the best build.
Tractor Rat
Tractor Rat is a good pick for safe-lane, since his health is extremely high. His “Q” makes him speed up and charge towards a target and through anything in his way for a little bit, stunning anything in his path. His “W” is a passive that upgrades his strength. The “E” key is an AoE around Tractor Rat that produces a cloud of smoke for a few seconds that poisons enemies nearby him. His ultimate is a passive ability that lets him push creep waves slightly faster with his bulldozer, which makes him useful as a ratter for lanes the enemies aren’t focused on defending. He is countered by swift enemies like Rocket Rat, since he has the slowest base speed out of all the heroes in the game (as of February 25, 2018, updates may change this).
Balloon Rat
Balloon Rat is a really good support pick. His “Q” allows him to attach a healing balloon to a team mate, which heals that rat slowly until they are hit, since the balloon gets instantly destroyed on hit (only one balloon is allowed to be deployed at a time, so this should be used on the carry rat). His “Q” can also be used to slowly damage an enemy, which is only good for a solo enemy since their only way to destroy it is to get a team mate to hit it. The “W” key places balloons with cameras attached, so the small area around it is revealed on the minimap. However, thid shouldn’t always be used in substitution for observer wards, since the balloons are not invisible to enemies. His “E” is a passive ability that causes Balloon Rat to not be hit by any ground traps, thus making him a good counter for Bomber Rat. His ultimate causes all of his balloons to detach from himself and attach to everyone else in the map, healing team mates and damaging enemies. Balloon Rat in this state becomes a regular rat with no abilities, and has the same health as a creep rat. If he dies, his respawn cooldown and gold lost doubles, and he eventually respawns as Balloon Rat. If he doesn’t, there is a 60s cooldown on the “Q” button, and when it is finished, the key causes his balloons to regenerate and thus Balloon Rat is back to normal. His ultimate takes another 180s to cool down, but all his other abilities are ready for use. That being said, his ultimate should not be used often. Balloon Rat is countered by sticking with team mates and taking advantage of his balloon cooldown after his ult is used.
Roddy Rat
Roddy is the protagonist of DreamWorks Animation’s “Flushed Away” (2006), which in my opinion was a pretty good movie. Roddy, a previously pampered society mouse, must fight his way back to the comforts of Kensington after he is sent spiraling into an underground world filled with scavenger rats and villainous toads in a fun-filled family adventure. The story, while childish at times, was actually pretty decent and engaging. Roddy (Hugh Jackman) was living the high life when he first met Sid the sewer rat (Shane Richie), but that’s all about to change when Sid decides to send the hapless mouse down the pipes and stealthily take his place in the lap of luxury. Though the bustling sewer city of Ratropolis isn’t without its fair share of kind citizens, it is certainly no place for a pampered mouse with a taste for life’s finer things. Upon making the acquaintance of scavenger rat Rita (Kate Winslet), Roddy is certain that the pair can navigate their way back to the surface in Rita’s trusty boat, the Jammy Dodger, but Rita’s help doesn’t come cheap, and the nefarious Toad (McKellen) is determined to rid Ratropolis of all things rodent. When Toad’s hapless hench-rats Spike (Andy Serkis) and Whitey (Bill ♥♥♥♥♥) fail to achieve acceptable results, the green meanie is forced to call in the cavalry in the form of legendary French mercenary Le Frog (Jean Reno) to get the job done, 7/10.
Cannon Rat
This rat is pretty good for new players to get into the game, but also for skilled players to carry mid or offlane. Cannon Rat’s “Q” is a passive that decreases the cooldown of each attack, which is why this is a good early game ability to have. “W” targets a specific area to launch an AoE cannonball that stuns. His “E” changes his default attack to a larger cannonball, but the attack is slower and it uses mana for each use. The ultimate is very important, since it launces rats that explode on impact and deal a large amount of damage, which is why he is very good for teamfighting and carrying. He isn’t really heavily countered by anything specific, which makes him a good pick for really any situation.
Invoker Rat
Invoker rat is the strongest rat in the game. However, this potential is covered by his difficulty to play. Invoker rat is the hardest rat to master but with his 10 spells, he is always useful. Invoker Rat’s spells are different from every other hero in the fact that he has to create his spells. His first ability and by far the best is his q or quan gives him health regen on summon allowing him to have the best lane sustain. His w or welch gives him more attack speed which allows him to stun lock his enemys with his cool crackle spell or kill weak enemies fast. Lastly, his e or endort gives him pure damage which is best maxed early game for easy kills. The spells will now be listed for a deeper understanding of this amazing rat.
Sun Blast-EEE
This spell can be used anywhere on the map and does 100-500 damage based on your endort level. It has a 1.7 cast delay so timing is everything. Also be aware the damage is spread equally to all foes in the Blast, make sure your new friend is not in a creep wave or standing on top of his team.
Chaotic Asteroid-EEW
This is your bread and butter nuke’m spell. Combo this with either Whirlwind and or Cool Crackle and watch as your giant asteroid smashes its target.
Summon Rat-EEQ
This is a strong spell for pushing and getting CS. You can use this in the early game just make sure you dont let the enemies kill it for gold. Your summoned rat gives a -2 armour per attack and it stacks. late game you want to summon 2 and send them into a lane
Cool Crackle-QQQ
This is the one spell that Invoker rat is known for. Cool Crackle stuns your enemy any time they take damage while this effect is applied to them. This spell is extremely powerfull early game allowing an easy lane or turn a gnak in your favor. Combine this with your summoned rat, asteroid, Strengthen, and Whirlwind to make for high damaging stun locks.
Spirit Run-QQW
Spirit Run is a get out of jail free card. Make sure you learn how to cast this spell really frickin’ fast because it allows you to go invisible and run like a black man chasing a Joey Salads Supporter. Right before you cast this, you can put up your Welch orbs to give yourself the highest movespeed in the game. Also if you were getting dunked on and got this spell off, put up your quan orbs for quick heals to get back into the fight. YOU CAN ALSO USE THIS SPELL WHILE TP’ING, SO WHY THE HELL AREN’T YOU DOING THAT?
Frozen Wall-QQE
Frozen Wall is Invoker Rat’s most underrated spell even though it needs a nerf. The spell places trumps wall of frozen mexicans in a line parallel to the direction you happen to have looked while casting it. Your enemies can barely move in it so using something like Sun Blast or Mana Steal can consistently nuke your enraged foe. The best use of this is to follow with a Whirlwind into a Frozen Wall. While they are stuck in your cold dead mexicans, freestyle it and lead with a spell that helps you and your team the most. Example – Mana Steal if you are low on Mana, Blasting Wave to force them to walk through it again for more escape, Sun Blast for a single target nuke, Asteroid for multiple enemies.
Strengthen-WWE
This is the greatest push and farm tool you have, make use of it. Use it on siege creeps to 5 hit enemy buildings. You may be thinking, 5 hits???? YES 5 HITS. Stop casting it on yourself when pushing you greedy ♥♥♥♥♥♥, be a team player, THIS IS FÛCKING BAD RATS! The damage and attack speed buff also allows you to stun lock a Cool Crackled player. Strengthen is also good to clear jungle creeps fast
Whirlwind-WWQ
This Spell tilts people.Not you,but the other team and maybe even your teammates because you spam it you 1k ♥♥♥♥♥♥. It is a great 2.9 second disable and a strong spell to combo into almost anything. I could list all the combos for it, but you should know them quite well if you are playing this hero. Almost any spell but Summon Rat and Strengthen are useful with this. This Spell also removes enemy buffs on hit targets. For example, a well timed and placed Whirlwind can remove the healing buffs given by Fat Rat to his team if the Whirlwind connects.
Mana Steal-WWW
It does what it says, takes that Stuff and gives that to you. it has a big AOE but has a huge cast delay of 3 seconds. This spell is quite simple – use in on a group of enemies to frack their mana bar. You get more mana in return, it’s a solid spell. Using it with Whirlwind or Frozen Wall almost ignore the cast delay. Use this more than you would think you need to.
Blasting Wave-QWE
Ah yes, the final spell, the one most known for making heroes like Batter Rat and Roddy Rat entirely pointless for a few seconds. It pushes foes hit by it back and disarms then for a long time. This is very powerful for stopping a good Batter Rat from wiping your team with his ult . Batter Rat’s E makes him spell immune meaning he isn’t going to be pushed or damaged by the wave, but the disarm still applies to a spell immune rat. Combo this with Sun Blast and Asteroid by pushing them into harms way. Be creative, this spell can push a rat onto high ground or even low allowing for a “mini force staff” escape.
Vacuum Rat
Vacuum Rat is a support that counters other supports like Bomber Rat and Balloon Rat, since his “Q” sucks up and destroys any traps or wards placed in the nearby area, even though it uses up a bunch of mana. His “W” blows an enemy away from him if he is facing the target, which can be used to push that enemy towards a trap. The “E” key is used as an AoE around him and it stuns enemies within this small AoE for a very small amount of time, countering melee heroes like Batter Rat. His ultimate is a passive that greatly increases the strength and range of his abilities. Overall, Vacuum Rat is a good pick when there are multiple supports on the other team.
I want to die
