As you may already know, Grounded’s new update brought in a bunch of new cool additions that will take the game to a whole new level. One of those new, game-changing additions was the Mutations/Perks feature, which you must locate and collect around the garden before you can use them.
Now, if you don’t know where to find all mutations in Grounded, in today’s blog, we will guide you through each one and tell you where it is located. After that, we will tell you how to use each of the perks and give you our opinion on the best combination of perks you can use.
What Are the Different Mutations?
There are a total of 13 mutations available in Grounded. Some of them, you will unlock straight after finding the chip on the ground, while others can be purchased from the BURG.L robot once you obtain the chips. The ones we are talking about are Buff Lungs and Grass Master. Some of the mutations have different tiers that could be unlocked which will make them a lot more powerful in whatever nature they serve.
Now that you know the basics, let’s break down each mutation in more detail.
1) Buff Lungs Mutation
First on the list is the Buff Lungs mutation. You can find the chip deep in the anthills cave; the very same cave that you entered when you had to capture an ant’s head from a soldier ant for making your gas mask when you were getting ready to complete the marker at Weed Killer Peak.
Once you obtain the chip, you will not unlock this mutation right away. You must go to the BURG.L robot and purchase it in exchange for 7,000 Raw Science.
Note: If you still fear the ants in that particular region, find out how to get past Soldier Ants and explore Ant Hills safely, and you can easily collect the chip without having to fight a single ant.
2) Grass Master Mutation
Coming in second place, the Grass Master is a perk that will be especially useful to those who are planning on building a large base and require a lot of materials. In order to obtain this mutation, you must chop down plenty of grass stems. There are three tiers to this perk, each making your ability to chop down grass even faster.
Tier 1: To unlock tier one of this mutation, you must chop down 50 blades of grass.
Tier 2: To unlock tier two, you must chop down 200 blades of grass.
Tier 3: To unlock the final tier, axe down 500 blades of grass.
The full completion of this mutation takes around 8-10 minutes.
3) Rock Cracker Mutation
The Rock Cracker Buff, just like the Grass Master, is a three-tiered perk that requires you to crack down rocks in order to unlock the mutation. Again, if you are looking to obtain some materials at a much faster pace, this is definitely a perk that you should have.
Tier 1: To unlock the first tier, you must smash 25 rocks.
Tier 2: To unlock the second tier, you need to break 60 rocks.
Tier 3: Finally, to unlock the third tier, you must crack down 105 rocks.
The entire process takes around 10-12 minutes.
4) Ant-Nihilator Mutation
If you want to show the ants in the yard who the boss is, then this is definitely a perk that you should aim to unlock. You will quite simply need to kill ants to unlock each of the three tiers of the Ant-Nihilator perk.
Tier 1: To unlock this tier, you must kill 15 ants, which will increase the damage you deal to ants.
Tier 2: To unlock tier two, you must eliminate 45 ants. This tier will further increase the damage you deal to ants.
Tier 3: You must defeat 100 ants in order to unlock the final tier. This time, however, instead of increasing the damage you deal to ants, it will reduce the damage that ants can deal to you.
Note: Since you need to kill a large number of ants, going over to the Ant Hills is probably a good idea. Be careful though as if you take on too many ants at a time, you could end up in danger. Perhaps, you could craft up some smoothies that will help you deal more damage our heal during the fight if things get too overwhelming.
5) Lil Fist Mutation
This is perhaps one of the mutations that you could have just because. All you need to do is kill any 50 creatures in Grounded with your bare fist. As it is a single-tier perk, once you successfully complete it, you will basically be able to deal double damage to any bug in Grounded when you are using your fists.
Note: When completing trying to unlock this mutation, you could either go the easy route and attack less difficult bugs such as Gnats or if you desire to make it challenging, you could try to do it with Ladybugs or even Spiders.
6) Coup de Grass Mutation
Upon unlocking this single-tier mutation, you will be able to deal critical damage to bugs on a random basis. In order to unlock this perk, you must discover the four-leaf clover. It can be found in the underwater cave just northwest of the Fallen Oak Branch marker.
Note: If you are unable to locate the tunnel, take a look at the image above for reference. We would also recommend that you don’t use a torch with you as it will allow you to easily spot the Clover that you need to discover. It will be glowing in very bright green.
7) Juicy Mutation
The Juicy mutation will most likely take you the most time than all of the other 12 perks. Upon its successful completion, you will basically get the buff that the Clover armor set gives you. That means that when you have enabled this perk, you will be a lot less hungry and a lot less thirsty. In order to unlock this perk, you will need to find all of the 5 Punch-O boxes that are spread out quite far away from each other around the yard.
Tropicop Punch-O: First on the list, this landmark is located in the Grassland area, very close to the Mysterious Machine.
Lemon Crime Punch-O: This particular juice box is located in the Grasslands right next to the wooden stumps. It is located quite north on the map, and south of the Armed Raspberry Punch-O.
Armed Raspberry Punch-O: This landmark is located in the Flower Bed zone, in the North of the yard.
Peach Fuzz Punch-O: The Peach Fuzz container box is disposed of in close proximity, just west of the giant rake. Since it’s located in the Haze, or more well known as the poisoned area, you might need to bring a gas mask with you, although you could probably run in and run out just in time before you suffocate.
Apricop Punch-O: Finally, the Apricop Punch-O is located along the connecting branches in close proximity to the Field Station in the Hedge Zone.
Note: Feel free to take with you some Green Machine smoothies with you to drink as well as a parachute so that you can cover the area faster and safer.
8) Natural Explorer Mutation
This perk too is one of those ones that will take quite some time to fully unlock. It has three different tiers, each one giving you more movement speed.
Tier 1: To unlock the first tier, you must explore 5 landmarks in the backyard.
Tier 2: For tier 2, you will need to discover 20 landmarks.
Tier 3: Finally, to unlock the complete buff from this perk, you must explore all 50 landmarks on the map.
Note: The different landmarks are located all over the map, so finding the first few shouldn’t be a difficult job.
9) Cardio Fan Mutation
This particular perk will provide you with a buff to your stamina. Don’t focus on completing this perk on it’s own as it will take you a while, but rather, it will automatically complete itself if you keep it in mind while you are completing all of the other perks. Essentially, you need to tire yourself or run out of stamina a number of times to unlock all three tiers.
Tier 1: To unlock the first tier, you must run out of stamina 100 times.
Tier 2: To unlock tier two, you must run out of stamina 250 times.
Tier 3: Finally, to unlock the third tier, you must exhaust your tiny body 500 times.
10) Reliable Friend Mutation
This perk can only be used and unlocked further when you play multiplayer with your friends and revive them. It will take you a while to unlock all three tiers, but with each, your reviving ability will get much faster.
Tier 1: You must revive your friends 5 times.
Tier 2: To unlock tier two, you must revive your friends 15 times.
Tier 3: To unlock the final third tier, you must revive your friends 30 times. The only difference with the third tier is that your revival ability will moderately increase as compared to increasing just slightly with the first two tiers.
11) Sharpshooter Mutation
If hunting creatures with a bow is your thing, then this is definitely a perk that you must master. Upon unlocking each tier of the perk, the damage you deal to bugs with your bow and arrow will increase.
Tier 1: To unlock the first tier of the Sharpshooter mutation, you must kill any 40 creatures with your bow.
Tier 2: For tier 2, you must eliminate 100 bugs with your bow.
Tier 3: For tier 3, you need to kill 200 bugs with your bow and arrow.
Note: You can significantly increase this process by either picking on bugs that are basically one-shot or taking your time and completing the perk as you play the game.
12) Meat Shield Mutation
The easiest mutation to unlock is Meat Shield. However, that is provided you have 7,000 spare Raw Science that you can give to the BURG.L robot. This mutation will increase your maximum health. So, if you are going to be taking on the bigger and more dangerous bugs, it’s definitely a perk that you must have to make your fights easier.
13) Fresh Defense Mutation
To unlock this mutation, you must search the yard for a single mint. This buff will give you some additional protection in the Haze area. It doesn’t sound like much but you never know when you are going to need it.
How to Use the Mutations
You can use a maximum of three mutations at any given time. So, making use of the ones that would be most beneficial in specific situations will prove vital. For example, if you are going to farm for materials, you should make use of the Rock Cracker, Grass Master, and Cardio Fan if you want to speed up your material farming process.
The mutations are very easy to use. Simply, click on the mutations that you’d like to use at any given time, and their buff will automatically be added to your character.
Best Perk Combination
Now that you know how to unlock all of the mutations in Grounded, you are probably asking yourself what the best perk combinations are. To give you a quick idea, we will propose two pretty great combinations that work greatly to complement each other.
Farming Perk Combination: If you are looking to farm up some serious materials in a quick amount of time, we would recommend that you work mainly on your Grass Master and Rock Cracker mutations. The 3rd one can be whatever you feel can help you the most. If you are in dangerous territory, perhaps an increase of health with the Meat Shield perk or an increase of stamina with the Cardio Fan perk would be beneficial.
Fighting Perk Combination: If you are looking to fight some bugs from distance with your bow and arrow, working on your Sharpshooter perk while supplementing it with the Cardio Fan, and Meat Shield could prove beneficial.