What is the Rubber Duck used for in R.E.P.O.?

If you ever play R.E.P.O. long enough, you’ll go to the store after every level where you can spend your hard-earned cash. While there are a bunch of weapons, items, and upgrades, sometimes the game offers you the weirdest purchase choice of all — a Rubber Duck.

Most players might look past the Rubber Duck as a gag item or something useless to buy over, say, a Shotgun or Energy Crystal to charge your weapons. Or those insanely useful upgrades to your character to increase Stamina and strength.

But don’t let it fool you, the Rubber Duck does have some chaotic uses.

What does the Rubber Duck do in R.E.P.O.?

The Rubber Duck can appear at the Service Station store on top of grenades and other items and definitely sticks out over everything else in there. Its easy to skip it, but for the curious chaos seekers out there, what does it exactly do?

The Rubber Duck is essentially a projectile you can toss down in any room that’ll ricochet off of anything it hits, like walls, enemies, or even other players. It’ll damage everything it hits and will continue to spiral out of control for what appears to be an eternity, making it a very unorthodox weapon that has some practical uses, but is mainly there to cause some mischief. It’ll then explode after a little while to deal massive damage if it comes into contact with a large enemy.

As the item moves around completely randomly, you can’t guarantee where it’ll land and what it’ll hit, but there is a way to make the most of that, too. If you are in a small room, for example, with a monster inside, you can throw the Rubber Duck into the room and hold the door shut to guarantee it’ll do some damage. It can also be a saving grace item against a monster like the Alien, as when you’re lifted into the air, you can throw it at the Alien to hopefully get it to drop you before it slams you down to the ground.

You can also line yourself up to throw the Rubber Duck to explode on larger enemies once you get used to how it works. Just make sure you don’t drop it on the floor without any momentum, or you’ll blow yourself up instead. Also, make sure you don’t drop it next to any valuables or your cart unless you want all your money and effort to go up in smoke.

Personally, I never buy the Rubber Duck on a run with friends because of how chaotic and random it can be, I’d rather save my money to buy actual grenades or weapons as they become available for a more solid defense. But if you want to cause some mischief, hopefully, this helps you get a grasp on how to deal out more destruction.