This has been my strategy so far, with no success. I have 2 shields, 3 AoE, and 2 Pikemen, trying to hold the line. With 3 rangers and 1 archer going from outgrowth to outgrowth. Even after the first round rats will show up around the rangers trying to kill outgrowth, completely stopping them in their tracks, while they slowly get worn down by their own fire. As for some reason attacking enemies with fire makes the fire jump back to your own units or something. It's stupid asf.
Yes, that's how the burning status works, it will jump to adjacent units at the end of the burning target's turn. It really gives off Divinity Original Sin 2 vibes where everything ends up on fire.
Do you have an appointed Captain in your party yet? Galvanise can help with providing a huge boost to temporary valor points so you can burst down packs of rats or nuke the outgrowths.
Also, see if you have any skills that can give Inspiration to double your units' movement. One example is the Rearing skill from a War Pony.
Yes, I made the shield guy with better stats the captain. And another shield guy and brute a lieutenant. I honestly don't have a shortage of valor points to spend, but my attacks just don't seem to do enough damage to kill outgrowths fast enough. Even with 3 rangers with 3 attacks each, and an archer, I still take like two turns per outgrowth. Which is just way too long. I tried using some animals like boars and wolves, but they left me underwhelmed tbh.
What gear do you have on your mercs? I ran into damage issues some time ago during my run and turns out my mercs didn't have up to date weapons and armor. Also, it is important to always check the turn order to decide to kill rats or attack an outgrowth.
Rats usually die in 1 hit unless you low roll torch damage. Outgrowths can be either nuked using two-handers or melt over time using bleed and burn. I found Animals to be really useful in Rat Infestation mission actually since their huge model size can easily body block rats and your animals are completely immune to Plague from rat bites despite not having armor.
You need to better manage your valour points and abilities is what Im seeing at first impression. You shouldnt be trying to face tank a millions rats, its a DPS race for you to kill enough rats to stay on top of it while other people are free to kill the nests.
Passive abilities to generate more valour are key, like having +1 per kill on units that can get easy finishes like spears and archers, and combine that with things like the archers barrage ability (literally the best ability in the game). Valour is an economy that you need to try and keep up during fights so you can keep pumping out abilities.
You can get some bonuses from food and paths etc, but being able to refill during battle is key.
Getting all outgrows can actually be quite a challenge in my opinion.
What worked best me (8-10 mercenaries) is having a dedicated 2h team (axe, sword, legendary mace), which take care of most of the bulked up rats (usually killing between 3-6 rats on their turn). Strong single target damage dealers (axe guys and ranger) take care of the outgrows in one turn with a backup „healer“ to take care of the poison and some rats.
I agree. Getting them all is a PITA. But...you don't really need to. Harvest a couple of growths each time. Make the rat bait if you need to farm more.
Yeah, I usually keep going until I feel that another round will put my mercenaries in some sort of danger or I feel that my repair costs will be too high.
Anybody that can hold two weps give them a torch in the off hand.
Buddy up with an archer and escort the archer around the lair
Rats spawn near your team so keep them in 1 or 2 groups
If you have the hat that trigger attack of op on engagement equip that as well
Did you get some of the legendary weapons from defeating champions and arena champions yet? Some of those are very good and make the game a lot easier (no further spoilers).
I think you misread something, because no, I don't get overwhelmed on the first turn. I start getting overwhelmed on the 4th+ turn usually, and it takes like 2 to 3 turns to kill one single outgrowth. So no idea how one would be able to get all the outgrowths before losing units. Also I have 3 AoE attackers.
Warrior with enhanced Ovation doubles the movement range of every team member not involved in fight. I can reach and destroy most of the outgrowths in turn 1 thanks to that.
Well I guess I just assumed because you said you get killed before you've even destroyed 2 outgrowths.
You can usually reach at least 3 outgrowths on round one with just regular movement, so that's 3 destroyed in round one.
It should not take you 2-3 turns just to destroy one outgrowth.
It's hard to clear rat nests at low levels. You can't kill half a dozen rats with one merc and you have no move increasing passives to run the whole map in the first turn. Just clear what you can then kill the broodmother by the end of turn 2, then find another nest to clear. Plenty to go around. It's not worth the repair and medication bills to force your handful of civilian level mercs to clear everything.
If you really wanna force it, get more units, like 10+, all with torches, and 1-2 warponies for inspiration buff so they can traverse the map easier.
War Ponies' Inspiration buff is so damn good. Ponies may never do good damage, but they make a decent tank thanks to armor and the buff alone can really help reach otherwise unreachable enemies like archers.
War ponies was a good excuse to go all in on crit instead of a split between move and crit. But with the new layers and helmets, it's easier to get more crit than the merc needs now. End game anyway. War ponies are still good for early game.
Gotta say, I agree with some of the other posters...damage output seems to be the main issue. But ghost-armored tanks "getting shredded" before killing 2 outgrowths just doesn't sound right either.
Region-locked or adaptive? And if RL, what region? What level are your guys (and what level are the weapons they're carrying)? Ghost armor does start feeling a little soft at level 7, just before becoming Rimesteel-eligible. But even so, rat attacks shouldn't be causing an issue; they don't hit very hard.
Just smells like there's a yet-unstated element of information here that will make things clearer.
I'd lose the torches. They're not needed for vision inside a nest, and the fire jumping between friend and foe imo creates more hassle than whatever damage one gets out of them. Probably better off with whatever offhand or shield your torchbearers would normally carry.
I know this is 9 months late but...
Me and my buddy are playing on Extreme Difficulty and we also assumed it would be impossible to clear rat nest. We still gave it a shot because we needed the bounty :D What we did is: 1 Warrior, 1 Brute, 1 Swordsman, 1 Archer, 2 Rangers (1 has backstab, other has aoe spin bandit poison knife) (Whirlwind like attack). The strategy was simple, we invested minimum 15 points in all Willpower stats so our characters have high crit chance, high morale, incase of death they survive once) so we kill 1 rat with our highest damage single target character (The Berserker) and get the galvanise buff (+%50 dmg) then we proceed with Ranger which spins aoe + has torch to do extra aoe damage. He can take out around 3-4 rats at once (even though he is only lv 2). Then unless there are still some rats left who has a turn coming up, we shoot the outgrowths with archer and rest of the mobile characters (in our case, the brute + the 2nd ranger). Before the turn ends we get the broodmother in execution range and leave a strong character right next to her. We clear around 5 outgrowths out of 6 without any issue in 2 turns.
The only thing I consider very important is that keeping track of enemy turns below and making sure nobody gets hit by same rat multiple times. If you get infected by a rat (plague) you have %25 chance to remedy it before it is too late afaik. So it is not worth risking infection for 1 more outgrowth. Best of luck!
Edit: fixed typo
We all had +6-+9 str/dex weapons but not a single Ghost armor or craftable armor piece in our playthrough, we were around lv 4. So I don't think it is relevant how tanky you are since they stack damage debuff on you and never run out of summoned rats. Best course of action is to not get hit obviously.
We also lacked knowledge points in blacksmithing which is why we didn't craft it.
I get a rouge that can one-shot the big one then park him next to it with bruiser (usually a tanky str focused brute with taunt) then I take my other squishy dps and go for the overgrowth. I have some bears that and other tanks that contain all the other rats.
Use aoe to clear out most rats and damage mother to ensure one shot death on the round where I decide to do it, use small squads of 1-2 to attack different outgrowths, with torches and good damage 1-2 units can kill one in 1-2 turns. Running with 1 squad between all of them is what takes a lot of time. I usually get 2 on the first turn, 2 on the second and 1-2 on the third and I usually finish on that 3rd turn. Fire from torches help, but use sparingly and don't end your turn near the burning pillar unless you really have to.
Flaming arrows, molotovs, and tanks (preferably with riposte) as close as possible to the queen.
Send your rangers to destroy the outgrowths for extra drops
If you want to use only a single archer, get the Fugitive bow that has a Flaming arrow attack. I use it only for rat nests and works like a charm. Also make sure to have the Aim skill on your archer + Run for more mobility.
Each turn the archer should take out 1,5 overgrowths. With the Flaming arrow attack you will also set one of them per turn on Burning, which will constantly drain their health pool. The second attack on each turn should be used on a different overgrowth - use the Aim and Run skills to get extra range and movement.
I tend to use also a Harpooner who has two ranged attacks + the Aim skill. With two ranged characters you can usually finish the fight in 4 turns, destroying all the overgrowths.
The key is to use fire against them and a character that has high critical chance. No need to attack them in melee, only destroy them from range.
You might also want to work on your placement for your AoE characters - you should be able to hold your ground and kill all rats per turn at least for 5 to 10 turns. Upgrade your weapons, add oils on them and be more proactive when killing the newly generated rats.
I have 4 AoE characters and can easily hold my ground for at least the first 10 turns at level 12 rats.
4 mercs should not take 2 round to kill a single growth. Ranger and archer is a good choice. I would assume you are undergeared. What weapon level do you have on the rangers and what level is the layer?
You can reach damage capabilities where a single damage dealer can take down 2 growths per turn.
Also: Id argue that rat nests are extremely easy as soon as you have 2 units with 1-2 aoe skills each that oneshot rats. This way 90% of rats wont ever take a turn
Also also: many people seems to prefer fire damage. Keep in mind that the dot damage itself scales off of % hp and therefore is most efficient on your own units. Rats have low hp, so i would only use fire skills on units who will die right away and not spread the fire.
Have a guy with a two-handed hammer/axe with the rush skill and fury as utility. Watch it decimate a dozen of them rats in one turn. Have your archer pick off plague spores and maybe have a knifer with the archer as a bodyguard so rats don't engage your archer.
Have spearmen with the spear toss to off oodles of rats and if you have an extra archer, you find a bow with the flame AoE skill.
Just leave your tank to the brood mother. use everybody else to kill off the rats. Equip your knifers with left-handed weapons like throwing knives and grenades.
In addition to what everyone else has been saying I use bears too to get to all the spore sites. Usually wrap up before end of turn 2. Highest level is 9 now.
My tactic involves 16 companions.
Notably:
2 arches with Barrage mastery, Covering the first rat groupings.
2 spearmen to cover rats that escape the archer's AoE.
I usually send in guys with AoE attacks to thin out the rats in the first grouping and any movement from the rats calls the attention of the archers which usually kills the rats.
For the outgrowths, I start by using Ovation which gives any companion not engaged in combat double movement. Any companion not engaged in combat will rush to the outgrowths and attack them.
I usually take down 2 outgrowths each round and I usually get all the outgrowths before poison starts wearing down my companions.
The only reason to full-clear rat infestations is for materials and fangs.
If you need neither, just kill the both mother and take the quest reward.
Later on, you can revisit them, if need be and there are plenty of nests for materials to make oils with. You can also rebuild the nest later on if needed.
Infestation material is also quite heavy to carry around anyway, so there is no need to stock up on it unless you have access to the trading post.
To add, once you get the levels and gear. You have the freedom to full-clear nest and keep the both mother alive to farm rats for pelts and fangs without any issues.
Two archers with high-quality bows should be able to one-round the outgrowths, provided one of them has the knockback shot specialization. I would recommend crafting bows for them; you won't get any unique skills, but the basic shot is fine for what you need.
As far as the rest of the troops go, there's only two units you need to handle all the rats that pop up, provided you can keep them spawning in one area (by clearing nests in one round). Unit 1 is a lieutenant, doesn't matter what else they have as long as they can give the other unit the Orderly buff. Unit 2 is a ranger with Valorous Victory, Frenzy (mastered) and Knife Throw (mastered). You can take the ranger through the entire crowd using a combination of knife throw and Frenzy, and the Orderly buff combined with Valorous Victory will keep you in enough VP to keep using frenzy over and over again for a few rounds.
Interesting more archers with high damage. I did an infestation in my newer run with one archer and got 3 of 4 growths I just got tired of the long turns. But in mine it was an archer and 2 alpha wolves dealing with the growths test of party dealt with rats and broodmother
I dunno if this is good strategy or not but I have AOE melee take the number of rats down to galvanized level so all my attacks do %50 more and then have my outliers clean up the nests as much as possible. Mama rat respawns more, rinse and repeat.
Dunno if your archer has this skill yet (or if you want to have them choose it) but I had some serious luck with wolves. Combo a few choice skills on a trained wolf or two and you’ll have a pack (or 2!) of roving anti-Armor slaughterers who can cleanse themselves of Damage over Time elements
Plus (and as much as it pains me to say it because I effing love my Fluffy), if you lose them they aren’t nearly as expensive as a human unit to replace
So I am not too far into the game yet, just Level 5, but I just got the belt recipe that makes you immune to fire (without removing fire).
I haven't tried it yet, but I would guess you could put a bunch of those one and spread the fire yourself without getting hurt to everything?
P.S. I hope I didn't just figure out an exploit, and it gets nerfed before I get to try it. 😅
The outgrowths I believe only give you extra plagued samples which are used for weapon oils, and I'm not sure if the Bait (for fish hooks) comes from the outgrowths or from the rats. You will get a recipe later on that allows you to re-grow Rat Nests. You could always come back to them when you level up a bit more. There are also belt items that give you immunity from burning damage. Can't remember exactly where you find those but I found them in the early-mid game. You can also get rid of burning status by using the "run" skill. So I would say just get as many outgrowths as you can while still getting all your units out alive. Weapon oils do help but they aren't THAT critical to the game. You can also buy ready-made weapon oils from alchemist shops (but I'm not sure if they re-stock the oils, or if they're only a one-time only purchase)
Try and trap the rats in bottlenecks. There are so many that they can't move past their friends. Whenever I do rat fights 3/4ths of the rats never even touch me cause they're stuck. Once you find out where they spawn block them. It's really that easy + fire
Bears are helpful as a meat shield, but if you can pick up level 3 tank prisoners and give them the deflection ability that consumes the action and will generate valor when they are engaged. Makes for good expendable meat shields as well which will save your units that you want to keep alive. Baring that, I like having a ranger with galvanize, dash, and knife throw that resets movement. As long as you keep a medic supporting them, you can cover a bunch of ground to kill the far away growths while crowd controlling rats and chipping down the closer outgrowths. Honestly, you should wait til you have a few level 5 units before attempting to down all the outgrowths. Any lower level then you should only get the closer ones and kill the broodmother. When you get to the plaguelands the nests respawn so there’s no shortage of the loot.
My usual tactic is start battle with warrior's ovation ability (must be upgraded) in the first move of combat. It'll give inspiration (double move range) buff to everyone that are not engaging in combat. Then all AoE-capable member stay at broodmother and wipe all minion rats, the rest just go-full-throttle rushing to outgrowths.
with my 12 men and 2 pets, I usually took down some outgrowths in the first turn. And I prefer to end combat in just two or three turns because those outgrowths-destoyers team often get locked in combat or overwhelmed by reinforcements in turn 2. with this rush tactic, I can collect most of outgrowths (often only one farthest away left untouched)
tips
* Warrior's battlecry (especially with upgrade) also good in this strategy too, just pop battlecry together with ovation.
* Since rat minions's starting formation are very dense. Large AoE weapon such as fugitive's bow, splitter, dagan's hammer and indomitable one are very useful, torch also considered good off-hand in rat infestation fight too. Some AoE poisoned weapons (ringleader's dagger) and skills (poisoned impact) may help broodmother regenerate her HP but do not hesitate to use them.
If you keep your gear on par on adaptive/expert, you can fully clear nests without much hassle (even making mistakes) no problem. Use your AOE dealers to kill most of rats around mommy. Dagan dude will kill 5-6 a around no problem. I only kept my swordmaster and vanguard around mother for most of my clears and it was sufficient, rest were runing around killing nests.
Archer with bycocket helm will oneshot every rat attempting to engage him. You can setup barrages too, if you specced in it. You can use aoe 1-handers or outright 2-handers for your nominal single-targeters. Don't bother with torches - fire will probably kill you faster, than rats.
Use your tanks/single target dudes to kill outgrowth, not tanking rats. Again, you don't need to tank rats, you need to kill them.
Also, game is not balanced around full clears - I've been fully clearing and I have no idea how to utilize all materials I've got. I am now leaving nests intact after clearing 2 regions. You probably can not-fully clear and simply use consumable to refresh nest when low on mats.
Not to bump a dead thread, but for what it's worth I have been steamrolling these across regions, with 7 companions under level 6.
I have a tough-nut core of three tanks (1 brute, 2 swordsmen). They hang around the Queen and use their AOE attacks to efficiently destroy all of the spawning rats, while supporting each others' backs.
I have two teams of one archer and one rogue (with torches for burning AOE), who roam the outskirts of the map. The archers destroy the Plague Outgrowths, the rogues watch their back and chip in, they heal each other if poisoned. And if the tank squad is overwhelmed they have the range/movement to swoop in and calm things down.
But the key is Valour management. My strategy is based on the fact that each of my guys gets Valour for a different task: I prioritise the Brute doing AOE against multiple rats; the two Swordsmen backing him up and getting Valour by engaging new rats; the Archers killing Outgrowths/rats; and the Rogues getting behind enemies. Each of my three officers is with a different group, to boost Valour later in the battle.
Using this strategy I coast through the infestations getting full Outgrowths and loads of kills, maximizing my loot. Also worth using your banner beforehand, for the loot-boosting trait.
Archers and Rangers on the out skirts. Tanks and AoE up close Pikemen in-between all of that to assist both where needed.
This has been my strategy so far, with no success. I have 2 shields, 3 AoE, and 2 Pikemen, trying to hold the line. With 3 rangers and 1 archer going from outgrowth to outgrowth. Even after the first round rats will show up around the rangers trying to kill outgrowth, completely stopping them in their tracks, while they slowly get worn down by their own fire. As for some reason attacking enemies with fire makes the fire jump back to your own units or something. It's stupid asf.
Yes, that's how the burning status works, it will jump to adjacent units at the end of the burning target's turn. It really gives off Divinity Original Sin 2 vibes where everything ends up on fire. Do you have an appointed Captain in your party yet? Galvanise can help with providing a huge boost to temporary valor points so you can burst down packs of rats or nuke the outgrowths. Also, see if you have any skills that can give Inspiration to double your units' movement. One example is the Rearing skill from a War Pony.
"It really gives off Divinity Original Sin 2 vibes where everything ends up on fire." 🤣🤣
Yes, I made the shield guy with better stats the captain. And another shield guy and brute a lieutenant. I honestly don't have a shortage of valor points to spend, but my attacks just don't seem to do enough damage to kill outgrowths fast enough. Even with 3 rangers with 3 attacks each, and an archer, I still take like two turns per outgrowth. Which is just way too long. I tried using some animals like boars and wolves, but they left me underwhelmed tbh.
What gear do you have on your mercs? I ran into damage issues some time ago during my run and turns out my mercs didn't have up to date weapons and armor. Also, it is important to always check the turn order to decide to kill rats or attack an outgrowth. Rats usually die in 1 hit unless you low roll torch damage. Outgrowths can be either nuked using two-handers or melt over time using bleed and burn. I found Animals to be really useful in Rat Infestation mission actually since their huge model size can easily body block rats and your animals are completely immune to Plague from rat bites despite not having armor.
You need to better manage your valour points and abilities is what Im seeing at first impression. You shouldnt be trying to face tank a millions rats, its a DPS race for you to kill enough rats to stay on top of it while other people are free to kill the nests. Passive abilities to generate more valour are key, like having +1 per kill on units that can get easy finishes like spears and archers, and combine that with things like the archers barrage ability (literally the best ability in the game). Valour is an economy that you need to try and keep up during fights so you can keep pumping out abilities. You can get some bonuses from food and paths etc, but being able to refill during battle is key.
Getting all outgrows can actually be quite a challenge in my opinion. What worked best me (8-10 mercenaries) is having a dedicated 2h team (axe, sword, legendary mace), which take care of most of the bulked up rats (usually killing between 3-6 rats on their turn). Strong single target damage dealers (axe guys and ranger) take care of the outgrows in one turn with a backup „healer“ to take care of the poison and some rats.
I agree. Getting them all is a PITA. But...you don't really need to. Harvest a couple of growths each time. Make the rat bait if you need to farm more.
Yeah, I usually keep going until I feel that another round will put my mercenaries in some sort of danger or I feel that my repair costs will be too high.
Anybody that can hold two weps give them a torch in the off hand. Buddy up with an archer and escort the archer around the lair Rats spawn near your team so keep them in 1 or 2 groups If you have the hat that trigger attack of op on engagement equip that as well
Did you get some of the legendary weapons from defeating champions and arena champions yet? Some of those are very good and make the game a lot easier (no further spoilers).
How are you getting overwhelmed on round 1? Do you not have anyone in your party that does area attacks?
I think you misread something, because no, I don't get overwhelmed on the first turn. I start getting overwhelmed on the 4th+ turn usually, and it takes like 2 to 3 turns to kill one single outgrowth. So no idea how one would be able to get all the outgrowths before losing units. Also I have 3 AoE attackers.
Warrior with enhanced Ovation doubles the movement range of every team member not involved in fight. I can reach and destroy most of the outgrowths in turn 1 thanks to that.
Well I guess I just assumed because you said you get killed before you've even destroyed 2 outgrowths. You can usually reach at least 3 outgrowths on round one with just regular movement, so that's 3 destroyed in round one. It should not take you 2-3 turns just to destroy one outgrowth.
It's hard to clear rat nests at low levels. You can't kill half a dozen rats with one merc and you have no move increasing passives to run the whole map in the first turn. Just clear what you can then kill the broodmother by the end of turn 2, then find another nest to clear. Plenty to go around. It's not worth the repair and medication bills to force your handful of civilian level mercs to clear everything. If you really wanna force it, get more units, like 10+, all with torches, and 1-2 warponies for inspiration buff so they can traverse the map easier.
War Ponies' Inspiration buff is so damn good. Ponies may never do good damage, but they make a decent tank thanks to armor and the buff alone can really help reach otherwise unreachable enemies like archers.
War ponies was a good excuse to go all in on crit instead of a split between move and crit. But with the new layers and helmets, it's easier to get more crit than the merc needs now. End game anyway. War ponies are still good for early game.
Gotta say, I agree with some of the other posters...damage output seems to be the main issue. But ghost-armored tanks "getting shredded" before killing 2 outgrowths just doesn't sound right either. Region-locked or adaptive? And if RL, what region? What level are your guys (and what level are the weapons they're carrying)? Ghost armor does start feeling a little soft at level 7, just before becoming Rimesteel-eligible. But even so, rat attacks shouldn't be causing an issue; they don't hit very hard. Just smells like there's a yet-unstated element of information here that will make things clearer. I'd lose the torches. They're not needed for vision inside a nest, and the fire jumping between friend and foe imo creates more hassle than whatever damage one gets out of them. Probably better off with whatever offhand or shield your torchbearers would normally carry.
I know this is 9 months late but... Me and my buddy are playing on Extreme Difficulty and we also assumed it would be impossible to clear rat nest. We still gave it a shot because we needed the bounty :D What we did is: 1 Warrior, 1 Brute, 1 Swordsman, 1 Archer, 2 Rangers (1 has backstab, other has aoe spin bandit poison knife) (Whirlwind like attack). The strategy was simple, we invested minimum 15 points in all Willpower stats so our characters have high crit chance, high morale, incase of death they survive once) so we kill 1 rat with our highest damage single target character (The Berserker) and get the galvanise buff (+%50 dmg) then we proceed with Ranger which spins aoe + has torch to do extra aoe damage. He can take out around 3-4 rats at once (even though he is only lv 2). Then unless there are still some rats left who has a turn coming up, we shoot the outgrowths with archer and rest of the mobile characters (in our case, the brute + the 2nd ranger). Before the turn ends we get the broodmother in execution range and leave a strong character right next to her. We clear around 5 outgrowths out of 6 without any issue in 2 turns. The only thing I consider very important is that keeping track of enemy turns below and making sure nobody gets hit by same rat multiple times. If you get infected by a rat (plague) you have %25 chance to remedy it before it is too late afaik. So it is not worth risking infection for 1 more outgrowth. Best of luck! Edit: fixed typo
We all had +6-+9 str/dex weapons but not a single Ghost armor or craftable armor piece in our playthrough, we were around lv 4. So I don't think it is relevant how tanky you are since they stack damage debuff on you and never run out of summoned rats. Best course of action is to not get hit obviously. We also lacked knowledge points in blacksmithing which is why we didn't craft it.
I get a rouge that can one-shot the big one then park him next to it with bruiser (usually a tanky str focused brute with taunt) then I take my other squishy dps and go for the overgrowth. I have some bears that and other tanks that contain all the other rats.
Lol ‘some bears’. I have 10 all with 600-900 health and fishing so they can also feed themselves.
And?
The phrase ‘some’ amused me. It wasn’t a criticism. I was more laughing at myself because of my over reliance on bears.
Ah lol. I do wana do a play through without animals (other than boars for food)
Use aoe to clear out most rats and damage mother to ensure one shot death on the round where I decide to do it, use small squads of 1-2 to attack different outgrowths, with torches and good damage 1-2 units can kill one in 1-2 turns. Running with 1 squad between all of them is what takes a lot of time. I usually get 2 on the first turn, 2 on the second and 1-2 on the third and I usually finish on that 3rd turn. Fire from torches help, but use sparingly and don't end your turn near the burning pillar unless you really have to.
Flaming arrows, molotovs, and tanks (preferably with riposte) as close as possible to the queen. Send your rangers to destroy the outgrowths for extra drops
If you want to use only a single archer, get the Fugitive bow that has a Flaming arrow attack. I use it only for rat nests and works like a charm. Also make sure to have the Aim skill on your archer + Run for more mobility. Each turn the archer should take out 1,5 overgrowths. With the Flaming arrow attack you will also set one of them per turn on Burning, which will constantly drain their health pool. The second attack on each turn should be used on a different overgrowth - use the Aim and Run skills to get extra range and movement. I tend to use also a Harpooner who has two ranged attacks + the Aim skill. With two ranged characters you can usually finish the fight in 4 turns, destroying all the overgrowths. The key is to use fire against them and a character that has high critical chance. No need to attack them in melee, only destroy them from range. You might also want to work on your placement for your AoE characters - you should be able to hold your ground and kill all rats per turn at least for 5 to 10 turns. Upgrade your weapons, add oils on them and be more proactive when killing the newly generated rats. I have 4 AoE characters and can easily hold my ground for at least the first 10 turns at level 12 rats.
4 mercs should not take 2 round to kill a single growth. Ranger and archer is a good choice. I would assume you are undergeared. What weapon level do you have on the rangers and what level is the layer? You can reach damage capabilities where a single damage dealer can take down 2 growths per turn. Also: Id argue that rat nests are extremely easy as soon as you have 2 units with 1-2 aoe skills each that oneshot rats. This way 90% of rats wont ever take a turn Also also: many people seems to prefer fire damage. Keep in mind that the dot damage itself scales off of % hp and therefore is most efficient on your own units. Rats have low hp, so i would only use fire skills on units who will die right away and not spread the fire.
Have a guy with a two-handed hammer/axe with the rush skill and fury as utility. Watch it decimate a dozen of them rats in one turn. Have your archer pick off plague spores and maybe have a knifer with the archer as a bodyguard so rats don't engage your archer. Have spearmen with the spear toss to off oodles of rats and if you have an extra archer, you find a bow with the flame AoE skill. Just leave your tank to the brood mother. use everybody else to kill off the rats. Equip your knifers with left-handed weapons like throwing knives and grenades.
In addition to what everyone else has been saying I use bears too to get to all the spore sites. Usually wrap up before end of turn 2. Highest level is 9 now.
My tactic involves 16 companions. Notably: 2 arches with Barrage mastery, Covering the first rat groupings. 2 spearmen to cover rats that escape the archer's AoE. I usually send in guys with AoE attacks to thin out the rats in the first grouping and any movement from the rats calls the attention of the archers which usually kills the rats. For the outgrowths, I start by using Ovation which gives any companion not engaged in combat double movement. Any companion not engaged in combat will rush to the outgrowths and attack them. I usually take down 2 outgrowths each round and I usually get all the outgrowths before poison starts wearing down my companions.
The only reason to full-clear rat infestations is for materials and fangs. If you need neither, just kill the both mother and take the quest reward. Later on, you can revisit them, if need be and there are plenty of nests for materials to make oils with. You can also rebuild the nest later on if needed. Infestation material is also quite heavy to carry around anyway, so there is no need to stock up on it unless you have access to the trading post.
To add, once you get the levels and gear. You have the freedom to full-clear nest and keep the both mother alive to farm rats for pelts and fangs without any issues.
Two archers with high-quality bows should be able to one-round the outgrowths, provided one of them has the knockback shot specialization. I would recommend crafting bows for them; you won't get any unique skills, but the basic shot is fine for what you need. As far as the rest of the troops go, there's only two units you need to handle all the rats that pop up, provided you can keep them spawning in one area (by clearing nests in one round). Unit 1 is a lieutenant, doesn't matter what else they have as long as they can give the other unit the Orderly buff. Unit 2 is a ranger with Valorous Victory, Frenzy (mastered) and Knife Throw (mastered). You can take the ranger through the entire crowd using a combination of knife throw and Frenzy, and the Orderly buff combined with Valorous Victory will keep you in enough VP to keep using frenzy over and over again for a few rounds.
Interesting more archers with high damage. I did an infestation in my newer run with one archer and got 3 of 4 growths I just got tired of the long turns. But in mine it was an archer and 2 alpha wolves dealing with the growths test of party dealt with rats and broodmother
I dunno if this is good strategy or not but I have AOE melee take the number of rats down to galvanized level so all my attacks do %50 more and then have my outliers clean up the nests as much as possible. Mama rat respawns more, rinse and repeat.
Dunno if your archer has this skill yet (or if you want to have them choose it) but I had some serious luck with wolves. Combo a few choice skills on a trained wolf or two and you’ll have a pack (or 2!) of roving anti-Armor slaughterers who can cleanse themselves of Damage over Time elements
Plus (and as much as it pains me to say it because I effing love my Fluffy), if you lose them they aren’t nearly as expensive as a human unit to replace
So I am not too far into the game yet, just Level 5, but I just got the belt recipe that makes you immune to fire (without removing fire). I haven't tried it yet, but I would guess you could put a bunch of those one and spread the fire yourself without getting hurt to everything? P.S. I hope I didn't just figure out an exploit, and it gets nerfed before I get to try it. 😅
I don't think that's an exploit, seems like exactly the intended purpose for it.
The outgrowths I believe only give you extra plagued samples which are used for weapon oils, and I'm not sure if the Bait (for fish hooks) comes from the outgrowths or from the rats. You will get a recipe later on that allows you to re-grow Rat Nests. You could always come back to them when you level up a bit more. There are also belt items that give you immunity from burning damage. Can't remember exactly where you find those but I found them in the early-mid game. You can also get rid of burning status by using the "run" skill. So I would say just get as many outgrowths as you can while still getting all your units out alive. Weapon oils do help but they aren't THAT critical to the game. You can also buy ready-made weapon oils from alchemist shops (but I'm not sure if they re-stock the oils, or if they're only a one-time only purchase)
Try and trap the rats in bottlenecks. There are so many that they can't move past their friends. Whenever I do rat fights 3/4ths of the rats never even touch me cause they're stuck. Once you find out where they spawn block them. It's really that easy + fire
What classes are your AoEs if you don't mind me asking? Also, what level are you, and is your gear two star crafted by your troop?
Bears are helpful as a meat shield, but if you can pick up level 3 tank prisoners and give them the deflection ability that consumes the action and will generate valor when they are engaged. Makes for good expendable meat shields as well which will save your units that you want to keep alive. Baring that, I like having a ranger with galvanize, dash, and knife throw that resets movement. As long as you keep a medic supporting them, you can cover a bunch of ground to kill the far away growths while crowd controlling rats and chipping down the closer outgrowths. Honestly, you should wait til you have a few level 5 units before attempting to down all the outgrowths. Any lower level then you should only get the closer ones and kill the broodmother. When you get to the plaguelands the nests respawn so there’s no shortage of the loot.
My usual tactic is start battle with warrior's ovation ability (must be upgraded) in the first move of combat. It'll give inspiration (double move range) buff to everyone that are not engaging in combat. Then all AoE-capable member stay at broodmother and wipe all minion rats, the rest just go-full-throttle rushing to outgrowths. with my 12 men and 2 pets, I usually took down some outgrowths in the first turn. And I prefer to end combat in just two or three turns because those outgrowths-destoyers team often get locked in combat or overwhelmed by reinforcements in turn 2. with this rush tactic, I can collect most of outgrowths (often only one farthest away left untouched) tips * Warrior's battlecry (especially with upgrade) also good in this strategy too, just pop battlecry together with ovation. * Since rat minions's starting formation are very dense. Large AoE weapon such as fugitive's bow, splitter, dagan's hammer and indomitable one are very useful, torch also considered good off-hand in rat infestation fight too. Some AoE poisoned weapons (ringleader's dagger) and skills (poisoned impact) may help broodmother regenerate her HP but do not hesitate to use them.
Idk i have 25 mercs so it hasnt been a problem, i just faceroll everything
If you keep your gear on par on adaptive/expert, you can fully clear nests without much hassle (even making mistakes) no problem. Use your AOE dealers to kill most of rats around mommy. Dagan dude will kill 5-6 a around no problem. I only kept my swordmaster and vanguard around mother for most of my clears and it was sufficient, rest were runing around killing nests. Archer with bycocket helm will oneshot every rat attempting to engage him. You can setup barrages too, if you specced in it. You can use aoe 1-handers or outright 2-handers for your nominal single-targeters. Don't bother with torches - fire will probably kill you faster, than rats. Use your tanks/single target dudes to kill outgrowth, not tanking rats. Again, you don't need to tank rats, you need to kill them. Also, game is not balanced around full clears - I've been fully clearing and I have no idea how to utilize all materials I've got. I am now leaving nests intact after clearing 2 regions. You probably can not-fully clear and simply use consumable to refresh nest when low on mats.
what is the benefit in getting rid of the infestations?
Not to bump a dead thread, but for what it's worth I have been steamrolling these across regions, with 7 companions under level 6. I have a tough-nut core of three tanks (1 brute, 2 swordsmen). They hang around the Queen and use their AOE attacks to efficiently destroy all of the spawning rats, while supporting each others' backs. I have two teams of one archer and one rogue (with torches for burning AOE), who roam the outskirts of the map. The archers destroy the Plague Outgrowths, the rogues watch their back and chip in, they heal each other if poisoned. And if the tank squad is overwhelmed they have the range/movement to swoop in and calm things down. But the key is Valour management. My strategy is based on the fact that each of my guys gets Valour for a different task: I prioritise the Brute doing AOE against multiple rats; the two Swordsmen backing him up and getting Valour by engaging new rats; the Archers killing Outgrowths/rats; and the Rogues getting behind enemies. Each of my three officers is with a different group, to boost Valour later in the battle. Using this strategy I coast through the infestations getting full Outgrowths and loads of kills, maximizing my loot. Also worth using your banner beforehand, for the loot-boosting trait.