Welcome to the KOTOR Rancor Guide! If you’re a fan of the popular role-playing game, Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), you know that battling rancors is a crucial part of the game.
Often times new players in KOTOR find the Rancor you encounter in the sewers on Taris hard to get by. The Rancor is one of the first mini-bosses you encounter and can often stump players but it is actually rather easy to defeat!
There are three main ways to defeat the Rancor in KOTOR and we will go over all of them.
The Rancor in Kotor
The Rancor is one of the toughest enemies in the game with high damage and a one-hit kill on successful melee attacks due to the “on-hit: Instant Death DC 100” buff. It also has 100% immunity to energy, fire, and ion damage, making it nearly impossible to defeat with blasters. However, ranged attacks with disruptor pistols and rifles or sonic pistols and rifles are effective against it.
While it is challenging to defeat the Rancor in melee combat, players can potentially stun it to prevent attacks. The Rancor’s hide gives it damage immunity, but players can shoot it from the safety of the grating after completing the search for Bastila and killing the Sith Governor. Additionally, players can retreat into the previous room for safety.
| Attribute | Value | Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | 45 | +17 |
| Dexterity | 8 | -1 |
| Constitution | 10 | 0 |
| Intelligence | 3 | -4 |
| Wisdom | 6 | -2 |
| Charisma | 4 | -3 |
| Skill | Value |
|---|---|
| Awareness | 18 |
| Combat Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Vitality | 90 |
| Force | – |
| Defense | 26 |
| Fortitude | 12 |
| Reflex | 5 |
| Will | 4 |
Players can buy one Sonic Pistol from Larrim in the south apartments for 220 credits, and they can potentially acquire a Disruptor Pistol and two Disruptor Rifles before escaping Taris. However, they cannot do so until they are beyond the Rancor. Overall, there are three main ways to kill the Rancor and gain access to the Black Vulkar Base.
Using the Synthesized Odor
At one point in the sewers, you will discover a severed arm lying on the floor. When you pick it up you’ll get some synthesize odor and a Bek Datapad. If you read the datapad it will talk about how the Hidden Bek tried to get into the Black Vulkar base.
We have synthesized a substance with an odor that resembles a favorite prey of rancors. If we place the bait properly, we can lure the rancor into eating something lethal enough to kill it.
Bek Datapad
Now go back to the Rancor lair. There will be a corpse pile in the room. Switch from ‘take item’ to ‘give item’ and put the synthesized odor along with any grenade into the corpse pile. A short cut scene will play where the Rancor sniffs the air, goes over to the corpse pile, eats the grenade, and dies. Congrats! You killed the Rancor!
Using Grenades to Kill the Rancor
Grenades can be used to kill the Rancor and will probably be one of the first things you try if you haven’t found the odor you use to lure it. Killing the Rancor this way also gives you more experience than using the odor!
To start, you will need anywhere from 5-9 frag grenades. We suggest bringing 10 just in case. You can use poison grenades or sonic grenades as well if you have them! Now take one of your party members and go into solo mode. Ideally, they have a high stealth skill to combat the Rancor’s high awareness.
Take your character and run to the safety of the grate on the other side of the lair. From here, chuck your grenades at the Rancor until it’s dead. Pretty simple right?
If you can’t seem to get past the Rancor to the grate no matter how hard you try – that’s ok! You can throw grenades from the entrance to its lair, but just know that you will have to run back to the safety of the tunnel after each throw.
Using Mines to Kill the Rancor
You can also use mines to kill the Rancor. This will give the same EXP as using frag grenades of course since you are killing it in combat. Simply bring approximately 5-10 frag mines to the lair and set them up using one of your party members in solo mode.
After having set them all up, lure the Rancor into them by attacking it with a blaster or a grenade of some sort.
Now you know the three main ways to kill the Rancor in KOTOR! These are the fastest, quickest, and easiest ways to deal with this behemoth of an enemy.
While using the synthesized odor is the easiest and least costly way in terms of explosives, you miss out on a ton of experience by going that route. We suggest that if you have the credits and explosives that you kill the Rancor yourself. Every bit of EXP matters!
If you liked this post about KOTOR, check out our other posts on KOTOR 2 such as the best planet order and our guide to lightsaber crystals!