Lab Rat

Lab Rat is an Order inquisitor encountered in various parts of the facility, usually seen observing or searching for something. Although it belongs to the Order, it behaves very differently from their frontline soldiers: rather than standing and fighting, it tries to flee when it spots the player, only turning to fight back if cornered. Like other Order personnel, it will defend itself against non-Order enemies.

In combat, Lab Rat is best handled from stealth. Sneaking up behind it and striking hard can end the encounter quickly, since it is prone to running instead of engaging directly. If it does decide to retaliate, it uses a single heavy swipe attack that can deal significant knockback. Fighting it at close range is further complicated by the fact that it emits radiation in a small radius, so radiation protection is worth considering if you plan to kill it up close. When it flees, its radiation particles and the trail of dropped items can be used to track it.

Lab Rat has unusually varied drops, and its loot is influenced by both the way it is killed and the player’s progression.

• On death, it always drops a Rat Scanner.
• It has a 3% chance to drop an Ornate Key.
• If killed by blunt damage while stunned with the Rat Scanner, it uses a different loot table and drops a Rat Pack in addition to the Rat Scanner.
• Blunt weapons with damage-over-time effects can work, but they are less reliable because Lab Rat may die from the fire damage before the blunt damage condition is counted.
• While fleeing, it can leave behind one of several items, and some of these can also appear on death: loot includes small resource items such as Lodestone Fragment, Hexwood, Black Gunk, Digital Ore, Arcane Scrap, and Tactical Scrap, with some additions depending on story progression.
• As a harvestable target, it can yield a Human Skull, has a chance to provide a Human Arm (Military), and very rarely drops a Rat Suit.

Its GATE Compendium entry identifies it as an Order: Inquisitor. The Order uses these inquisitors to assess anomalies and aberrations seized from its enemies, making them one of the organization’s more important but also less trusted elements. They are described as intensely curious, devoted to the Order’s work, and tolerated by decree rather than affection.