Dungeon Settlers How to Beat the Red Monster Rat

The first named wall in Dungeon Settlers is the Red Monster Rat, the Main7 beat of the Crawling Doom story. It is an elite rat with about 4,500 total HP, 144 physical attack, Bloody Scratch, and a Rat Swarm call. Players lose this fight by treating it like the grey rats from day one. This page is the how-to-beat guide. Warm up with getting started, combat, and a functioning settlement.

Quest order so you do not feel bugged

After you build the Research Station (Main6), the game wants two units at level 2+ (Main8) before the rat kill (Main7). That internal order is authored. If Main8 pops first, your save is fine. Do the prayers, then walk into the fight.

Killing the rat ends the tutorial story. It does not automatically unlock the next region. Region gates are a separate derived chain — details on dungeon expeditions. Celebrate, then read the map.

Gear and level check

Bring a full squad of level-2+ settlers in Bone or Carapace tier if you can craft it. Cloth is a prayer. Include:

• A shield-user to guard (Lizardman shield aptitude helps — see the race tier list).
• A physical striker who is not on 5% durability.
• A bow or caster standing behind the guard.
• Healing items (ointments, aid kits) and extra food for the racial diets on mood and food.

If two people are still level 1, go home and pray with lesser mana stones. The leveling page explains offerings; Least is acceptable if stones are short, Plentiful is greed before an elite.

What the rat actually does

144 physical attack means cloth armor is paper. Bloody Scratch is a bleed-style punish for standing still in melee without a guard. Rat Swarm adds bodies; if you have no choke, the extra rats wrap your caster. Pause the moment the swarm animation starts and retarget: guard holds the elite, splash or bow clears adds, nobody chases a runner into the next room.

HP at ~4,500 is a stamina check. If your damage is low, the fight becomes a durability check too. Repair before you enter. Pack a backup weapon. Auto-pickup off means you will stare at a bone pile you forgot to grab yesterday — turn it on.

Pull script

1. Clear the approach. Do not start the elite with a patrol on your back.
2. Pause at line of sight. Place the guard in a doorway or against a wall so the rat cannot surround.
3. Open with provoke or a stun if you have one.
4. Keep the bow and caster outside swipe range.
5. When Rat Swarm hits, pause, peel adds, then return to the elite.
6. If the guard drops below a third, walk the party back to a previous hallway rather than panic-popping every cooldown in a bad position.
7. When the rat dies, loot, then portal. Do not “use the rest of the floor” unless depletion and mood still look healthy.

Party examples

These are Early Access-friendly, not eternal gospel. Check party compositions after patches.

• Safe: Lizardman shield, Human sword, Elf bow (if rank 2), Human fire. Mixed kitchen required.
• No Elf yet: Two Humans (sword + bow), Lizardman guard, flexible fourth as blunt or water.
• Glass: Double caster without a guard. Possible on Easy combat, foolish on Hard. See difficulty.

Inscriptions that help: anything that adds physical defense on the guard, or extra damage if mood is stable. Skip Gloom on a settler who is already hungry.

After the kill

Spend the loot on beds and research, not on a vanity statue. Start rotating floors so Veil of Silence does not go depleted. Recruit a spare in case the next elite respects permadeath more than this one did. Follow remaining content on the roadmap and Early Access notes.

The Red Monster Rat is a tutorial final exam: pause, pack, and do not send Luciana in with twigs for torches and nothing for a shield. Pass it, and the rest of the wiki — weapons, inscriptions, expeditions — starts to matter.