So! You have beaten your first Slobberer and left Monarch Studio. Now there is a gang of college kids who desperately need your help. Here is how to complete the Rav-Ages of Caustic-X in Dead Island 2.
How to Complete the Rav-Ages of Caustic-X Side Quest in Dead Island 2
Thos UCLA, whoops, I mean, VCLA kids sure get into a lot of shenanigans. Which almost always winds up with them being surrounded by zombies and in dire need of being rescued. But this particular VCLA student has something to offer, unique weaponry. So, let us get to helping.
- Find your way back to the Halperin Hotel
You can opt to head to the Halperin Hotel any which way you like. If you have just completed Monarch Studio, it is likely you are still hoofing it around LA. But if you wait until later in the game (about three to five hours), you will eventually be at a point where you can fast travel the major destinations you have been to before.
Either way, get to the Halperin Hotel.
- Look for Rav in the hotel’s ballroom
Once you have arrived in the Halperin Hotel, you will get a staticky message from Rav. It looks like he is in the ballroom, and he needs help. Head to the ballroom, which will have its doors thrown wide open. You will remember it as the room you tackled with beefcake Becki the Bride all those hours ago.
Once you get inside, look up. Rav will be on the balcony that Becki leapt from.
- Talk to Rav in the ballroom
The easiest step on the list. Look up at Rav then interact with him. He will tell you he is here for one reason: data. The army transported a bunch of vats of something in an ambulance. He wants you to find that ambulance.
- Look for an ambulance in the hotel parking lots
Welp, looks like we are headed back outside. Exit through the front of the hotel, straight up the cement stairs and past the open fenced gates. You will then follow the road as it slopes down into a ramp, leading into an open parking lot with an overturned bus.
At the far end of the lot will be an ambulance, which is surrounded by caustic barrels. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, there is also a caustic spitting slobberer nearby too. This is the Ambulance Driver, and you will need to defeat him.
Do not get too cozy in the fight, a Crusher will also spawn to add a little steroid-induced chaos.
Once that fight is done, we can move onto the next step.
- Search around the ambulance: did it transport “stuff to fuck up zombies”?
Approach the ambulance and you will see there is an open truck nearby. Jump into the truck to grab the water jerrycans. You can chuck these at the green ooze on the street to clear up the caustic stain. Once you have a clear path, approach the note on the biohazard container.
- Go back to the ballroom to drop the beat and cause a distraction
Head back to the ballroom, and bring a few jerrycans of gasoline or water you see along the way if you would like to add a bit of an elemental element to the mob fight that you are about to take part in.
You will notice that around the ballroom there are plenty of Medkits, protein bars, and energy drinks. As well as a battery and some jerry cans on the stage. Rav’s set you up for success! When you are ready to go, interact with the DJ booth to drop the beat.
A mob of zombies will fall from the balcony. There are no Apex zombies to worry about, but you will have plenty of Grenadier zombies, so when you see the flashing red triangle, make distance. Or use them strategically in order to blow up the mob.
- Head to the Halperin swimming pool and get ready to melt some zombies
Welp! Looks like Rav’s got some important data… which is that Caustic-X can melt down bodies. We could have told him that if he asked! But now he wants you to melt some more in his presence, so he can take notes.
To get to the pool, head out the ballroom door that leads immediately outside. Go left, and you will be on a red stone pathway. Follow the stairs down, and you will soon be at the pool. Which is naturally swarming with zombies.
- Experiment poolside with fun new caustic ways to kill zombies
Rav will ask you to kick 14 zombies into the pool, so that they will melt. You could kick the zombies into the pool, or you could run like a madwoman around it, so that the mobs of perpetually spawning zombies stumble into the murky green waters and dissolve in an effort to get to you.
This will save you the pains of tediously kicking a zombie off the ledge while getting mobbed by the undead hoards that desperately want to chomp open your arteries.
Either way, once you dissolve 14 zombies, we are off to our next step.
- Return back inside in triumph and meet Rav in the ballroom
Head up the pool stairs and you will be back in the Halperin Hotel’s lobby. Rav will be waiting for you on the balcony, where he was before.
Speak to him and he will give you a new curve ball, the Caustic-X Bomb. This curve ball is like a pipe bomb or Molotov… but it inflicts Caustic damage instead, which is capable of melting zombies! Neat. You will also get the Rare Melee Liquidator Mod, which will convert your weapon, so it inflicts Caustic Damage and gives a moderate damage boost.
You will also get 2,500 XP.
But there are more spoils to grab in LA. Check out our guide on how to get a rare and fantastic early game weapon here: How to Complete “My Mailman Was a Zombie!” in Dead Island 2.
