The Plaguereaver Rod is unlocked by finishing the Plagued Reaper questline in the Toxic Cave, then paying 13.7 million C$ at the end.
Plaguereaver Rod trigger
The unlock is tied to one four-stage quest from the Plagued Reaper NPC in the Toxic Cave. You do not buy the rod directly at the start. The rod only becomes claimable after every quest condition is cleared and the final C$ payment is made.
| Stage | Required turn-in or action | Key condition |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decayed Venom Maw | Catch it during a toxic boil with the Decayed Rod |
| 2 | Blight Idol | Fish it up in Toxic Grove; it is a secret catch |
| 3 | Noxious Rotbloom | Spawn Rotbloom and catch the Noxious version with Toxinburst rod |
| 4 | Witherbloom | Spawn it with a Blight Idol during the hunt and perfect catch it |
| Final | 13.7 million C$ | Pay after the Witherbloom requirement is accepted |
Plagued Reaper Stage 1 requirement
The first trigger is one Decayed Venom Maw. It appears during a toxic boil event, and the Decayed mutation is tied to the Decayed Rod. If the fish is not Decayed, it will not satisfy the quest.
Step 1: Wait for a toxic boil event in the Toxic Cave area. The event is the moment when the Stage 1 target becomes available.
Step 2: Equip the Decayed Rod before fishing for the Venom Maw. The quest needs the Decayed version, not a normal catch.
Step 3: Turn the fish in to the Plagued Reaper. When it works, the quest advances to the next item and the NPC updates to the Blight Idol requirement.
Plagued Reaper Stage 2 requirement
The second trigger is one Blight Idol. This is a secret catch from the Toxic Grove area, and coal is the preferred bait. Because it is a secret catch, standard luck stacking is not the deciding factor for the catch itself.
Step 1: Fish in Toxic Grove until you pull a Blight Idol. Stay focused on the correct area, since that is where the item is tied.
Step 2: Hand the Blight Idol to the Plagued Reaper. When the turn-in registers, the NPC updates to the Noxious Rotbloom requirement.
Plagued Reaper Stage 3 requirement
The third trigger is one Noxious Rotbloom. This is the stage that blocks most players, because the fish must be the right target and the right mutation.
The usual requirement chain for this stage is to spawn the Rotbloom hunt by interacting with mushrooms in the well area, then fish with the craftable Toxinburst rod. Aurora, a luck potion, and Luminous Larva are commonly used to speed up the mutation chase, but the important hard requirement is the Noxious Rotbloom itself.
Step 1: Craft the Toxinburst rod before attempting this stage. The Noxious Rotbloom catch is tied to using that rod for the turn-in requirement.
Step 2: Start the Rotbloom hunt by interacting with the mushrooms in the well area. That action is what causes the Rotbloom encounter to appear.
Step 3: Catch a Rotbloom with the Noxious mutation while using the Toxinburst rod. When it works, the Plagued Reaper accepts the fish, and the quest moves to the Witherbloom stage.
Plaguereaver Stage 4 requirement
The final quest trigger is a perfect catch on Witherbloom. This is not a separate random fish you wait for in the normal loop. You create it by spawning a Rotbloom hunt and then using a Blight Idol during that hunt.
Step 1: Trigger the hunt again in the same way by interacting with the mushrooms in the well area. You need the hunt active first.
Step 2: Use a Blight Idol during the active hunt. That changes the encounter from Rotbloom into Witherbloom.
Step 3: Catch the Witherbloom and make sure the game counts it as a perfect catch. The quest only clears on a perfect catch result, not on a standard successful reel.
Step 4: Return to the Plagued Reaper and pay 13.7 million C$. After the payment is accepted, the Plaguereaver Rod is awarded.
How to know the Plaguereaver Rod unlock worked
You know the unlock is complete when the Plagued Reaper accepts the Witherbloom requirement, asks for the final payment, and then gives you the rod after the 13.7 million C$ cost is paid. If the quest is still asking for an item, the unlock has not finished.
For the Witherbloom stage in particular, a normal catch is not enough. The game has to register it as a perfect catch for the quest to move forward.
Plaguereaver Rod stats
Once unlocked, the Plaguereaver Rod has a very specific stat profile. Its lure speed is low, but the rest of the package is built around fast progress and strong control.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Lure Speed | 15% |
| Luck | 175% |
| Control | 0.4 |
| Resilience | 0% |
| Max Kg | Infinite |
| Progress Speed | +75% |
| Disturbance | +5 |
| Hunt Focus | Rotbloom Hunt +5 |
Plaguereaver Rod passive result
The rod’s main payoff is not the unlock itself but what happens after. The Plaguereaver Rod applies the Plagued mutation on catches, and that mutation carries a 10x value multiplier. It also has an aggressive progress effect that makes catches move unusually fast once hooked.
The tradeoff is simple. You are buying into huge catch power and a large control bar, while accepting weak base lure speed.
If your only goal is to verify the unlock path, the sequence is fixed: Decayed Venom Maw, Blight Idol, Noxious Rotbloom, perfect-caught Witherbloom, then 13.7 million C$. Once those five checks are done, the Plaguereaver Rod is yours.