V Rising Putrid Rat location and boss fight

V Rising Putrid Rat boss rat form
(Image credit: Stunlock Studios)

The V Rising Putrid Rat and its location are one of the biggest points of confusion at the moment, as the boss is one of the hardest to find in all of V Rising - and the Blood Altar is no help. By finding and killing the Putrid Rat, players can unlock the sneaky Rat Form power, a great advantage for stealth and safe exploration. But finding the Putrid Rat in V Rising is actually done by completing a puzzle back at your castle, which we'll explain in greater detail below, as well as how to beat the following boss fight.

How to find the Putrid Rat in V Rising

(Image: © Stunlock Studios)

To find the Putrid Rat boss in V Rising, players need to go through these simple steps:

1. Build the Vermin Nest at your Castle

2. Supply the summon recipe for the Putrid Rat

3. Beat the ensuing boss fight for the Rat Form power

It's a pretty simple process, but it's the first point that clearly is going to throw people, as the Putrid Rat is the only boss - or "V Blood Carrier" - that has to be summoned in this way rather than finding it on the V Rising map, and the game isn't quick to explain this strange exception. Fortunately, once you know about it, things become fairly simple, but to expedite the process, we'll lay it all out clearly below.

Building the Vermin Nest

V Rising Putrid Rat boss rat form

(Image credit: Stunlock Studios)

To build the Vermin Nest in V Rising, players first will unlock it automatically by levelling up their Castle Heart, as it'll appear in the Refinement section of the Build menu - a large tank attached to two grates in the ground filled with green liquid. To build it, you'll need:

  • Stone (x360)
  • Bone (x120)

Clearly these are fairly easy ingredients that vampires of any level can get without issue. Set it up somewhere with space - there's going to be a boss fight here later, after all - and check inside to see the various "recipes" for summoning different types of rodent. There's some recipes you don't have yet, but luckily, you're able to summon the Putrid Rat straight away. Problem is, there's a few tricky requirements.

Summoning the Putrid Rat

V Rising Putrid Rat boss rat form

(Image credit: Stunlock Studios)

The Putrid Rat will only spawn here if you provide the Vermin Nest with the following resources:

  • Twilight Snapper (x1)
  • Fish Bone (x4)
  • Grave Dust (x8)
V Rising Scrolls

V Rising Scrolls

(Image credit: Stunlock Studios)

Find V Rising Scrolls for research in our guide here!

Clearly the Snapper is the trickiest one, but you can get that and the Fish Bone by checking out our V Rising Fish guide, where we've laid out how to get the Fishing Pole and catch your own marine life for the sake of rendering into resources.

Likewise, you can get the Twilight Snapper this way. However, as we understand it, the Twilight Snapper can be caught at any fishing spot and is not limited to specific areas. It's also not limited to any time of day, which is surprising but convenient considering its name. The problem is that it's a pretty rare catch despite all these elements - you'll be lucky if you catch one out of every ten fish. Basically, just keep fishing - eventually you should get one, and you'll get other fish along the way for the Fish Bones. Just put the spare fish in the Devourer you unlock for killing Lidia the Chaos Archer, and you can keep the Snapper for the Putrid Rat.

There's also the V Rising Grave Dust. This is a more combat-based resource that players need to get, but we've put together a guide on how you can get enough without ever having to leave the Farbane Woods. Once you have all the ingredients, head back to the Vermin Nest and get ready for a fight.

Putrid Rat Boss Fight

V Rising Putrid Rat boss rat form

(Image credit: Stunlock Studios)

The Putrid Rat boss fight begins thirty seconds after you put all the resources above into the Vermin Nest. Make sure you're ready - the Rat is level 30 and you want to be able to match this, or at least come close with your own Gear Level. Make sure you've got some V Rising best weapons equipped, and all the best abilities you think you can use.

The Putrid Rat boss will spawn in on the Vermin Nest and immediately aggro as you get close. It's primarily a close-range fighter who does bite attacks, but will occasionally vanish for short periods of time and bring in large amounts of Giant Rats as minions. As a rule, you want to save your melee and targeted ranged attacks for the Putrid Rat, then use your AOE attacks and Blood Rite counter to quickly clear out the Giant Rats as much as possible before their leader can come back. Don't be afraid to duck out and heal if need be, and make sure you're not going to get caught off-guard by a sudden sunrise!

Eventually you should topple the Putrid Rat, at which point any remaining Giant Rats will despawn. Drink the Putrid Rat's blood (ew) to get the Rat Form power, which is exactly what it sounds like - the ability to turn into a small rat that enemies don't pay attention to, a very useful power for stealth and getting around stronger enemies without antagonising them.

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Joel Franey
Guides Writer

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and raconteur with a Masters from Sussex University, none of which has actually equipped him for anything in real life. As a result he chooses to spend most of his time playing video games, reading old books and ingesting chemically-risky levels of caffeine. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at USgamer, Gfinity, Eurogamer and more besides.