Rodent

The rodent's base stats. While the BST is low, they're very adaptable.

The Rodent is a mammal guild that became successful by using a weak but versatile and Intelligence-based Generalist playstyle. Although some of them were quite janky, many of them have stood the test of time to become a mainstay of the current meta. Rodents all have one attribute in common: their signature Incisor Teeth, which, while not very useful in combat, can deal severe damage to structures. Making the most of this ability is a core component of rodent gameplay. Rodents are on the weaker side when it comes to combat, and they most stick to the "Evasive Generalist" strategy, relying on their Intelligence stat and special abilities to remain competitive. Mastering this type of gameplay is difficult, but luckily, their relatively short spawn time helps mitigate this challenge. Even though their bread-and-butter moveset is mostly consistent, there are several unique builds that stand out as particularly viable.

## Rodent Builds

### Lemming

At the bottom is the Lemming. It's a common misconception that Lemmings have such a low Intelligence stat that they group together and end their playthroughs together. The actual lemming playstyle is only slightly more effective though. It revolves entirely around hoping that the Blizzard world event happens and creates the Deep Snow biome. If it happens, Lemmings can use it as cover and build extensive tunnel networks through the snow. But if not, Lemmings have zero defensive options and end up getting bodied left and right. As a result, their playerbase drops hard until the next big snowfall. On top of that, rising global temperatures are making snow biomes disappear across many servers. And so, this already unviable strategy is becoming even less viable

### Capybara

At D Tier lies the Capybara. The Capybara is at an awkward place in the meta, in that it hasn't quite spent enough Evolution Points to get much use out of its bulkiness. This is because, unfortunately, their home server is the Amazon rainforest, which is also the home server of many of the most powerful S tier predators in the game, such as the Harpy Eagle, Caiman and Jaguar, all of which have no problem dealing enough damage to bring down a Capybara. Their main method of defense is hiding underwater, which works against aerial builds like the Harpy Eagle, but is a terrible strategy against the vast majority of predators in the rainforest. Anacondas, Jaguars and Caimans all thrive in the Aquatic biome, and hiding underwater won't help a player against them. To move up in viability, Capybara players must boost their Defense stats further or spend some Evolution Points unlocking at least some type of solid damage-dealing ability. Since there stats aren't so bad and they are tanky for a rodent keeps it from being F tier.

### Naked Mole-Rat

Also in D Tier is the Naked Mole-Rat. The Naked Mole-Rat is unique in that it's the only mammal to ever unlock the Eusocial ability. However, the Naked Mole-Rat uses it quite poorly and doesn't really benefit much from implementing RTS tactics into its gameplay. It is true that Naked Mole-Rats have a queen, workers and drones, just like eusocial Insects. But the only thing that makes Eusociality such an unbelievably strong strategy is that it enables a group of individuals to achieve things that would be impossible alone, like taking down a huge boss, traversing a huge barrier, or surviving a catastrophe. Naked Mole-Rats don't do these things. While other Eusocial creatures live on almost every single terrestrial server, Naked Mole-Rats are confined to just a small area in Africa. They do have the coveted Cancer Resistance ability, but spending Points to unlock an extremely rare ability that benefits the individual  makes no sense when playing as a Eusocial colony. A Eusocial player's abilities should serve the colony, not the colony's units. The one impressive thing they do achieve is creating a large base. But there are other rodents who do this better.

### Beaver

In C tier, there is the Beaver, one of the most well-known Builder builds in the game. This is where the Rodent's teeth become important, as they deal high damage to the environment. Beavers have iron-reinforced teeth that can be used to bring down trees. This isn't optional, by the way.  Like all rodents, their teeth have a passive regeneration ability  that mitigates loss of durability. But, this also means that if they don't continuously use them, they'll eventually become overgrow and deal damage to the user. The resources they gather are used to construct dams in rivers. Once fully completed, they work great, but the strategy does have its drawbacks that keep the Beaver out of the higher tiers. Firstly, Beavers are very vulnerable while their dam is still under construction. They have no good method of defense if they're caught in the open. Even their iron teeth don't deal enough damage to truly deter a predator. And carrying large amounts of mass through the woods makes Stealth very difficult to maintain. Beavers also don't have much recourse if their river their base is located in freezes and becomes uninhabitable, as they only get a Mobility bonus in liquid water.

### Prairie Dog

In B tier, there is the Prairie Dog, the rodent that does Social Play the right way. Like Lemmings, they create elaborate tunnel systems, but unlike Lemmings, they do it in the ground, which is permanent, instead of the snow, which is transitory. They aren't Eusocial: each Prairie Dog is an individual player with free control, but they do all work together to protect each other by keeping watch and using Team Chat to warn each other when a Carnivore player is nearby. They have no other defensive abilities, but somehow this strategy makes the matchup nearly impossible for builds like the Coyote and Hawk to actually catch them. It doesn't do the greatest job against Stealth, though, so Owls and Snakes can still be problematic for them.

### Rat

Also in B Tier, there the ultimate jack-of-all-trades for the low weight class meta: the Rat. Rats don't have any single oppressive moves or abilities, but their high Intelligence stat makes them extremely adaptable and has let them establish a foothold in almost every single server in the game. Their ability to function in a wide variety of diverse situations makes them a nightmare for new players to deal with, and their rodent teeth allow them to bypass barriers that would be impassable for most builds. Rats rose to popularity in the meta because of their ability to stow away on the ships Humans used for fast travel and then wreak havoc on islands that they stopped at. Island metas are always more casual, and the players there tend to have a lot less matchup experience than mainland builds. And so, they are easily defeated by experienced and adaptable invasive builds, like Rats. Rats are a solid choice for any experienced player, because while they have no downright overpowered abilities, their highly versatile playstyle can be a nightmare for other players in the right hands.

### Squirrel

In A tier, there is a build very similar to the Rat but with higher Mobility and better resource-gathering skills: the Squirrel. Squirrels are some of the best Arboreal builds in the game, having the highest Arboreal Mobility bonus of all time. This enables them to evade attacks with ease and  lets them access loot that's normally tough to reach without the Flight ability. They are B tier in the City biome.

### Porcupine

The top tier rodent is unique in that it's one of the only purely Defense-based build ever rated as top tier: the Porcupine, a build with such a high Defense level that even the most powerful predators in the game have terrible matchups against it. The Quill ability deals damage to any player whose attacks make contact. This is extremely effective against builds that rely on the move Bite or Swipe to deal damage. While the initial damage from quills isn't terribly high, every subsequent Bite or Swipe attempt while the quills are still embedded deals higher and higher damage. This means that unless a player has a support class that can remove the quills, they can lead to a game over. They have remarkably high total game times because of this. Porcupine players can do almost whatever they want without worrying about attacks from most other builds. The only things that can really pose a threat to them are disjointed weapons and projectiles. But overall, Porcupines are one of the most well-protected builds of all time.