Summary
- Essential mutations like Cardio Fan and Meat Shield in Grounded help boost stamina and increase health for all player types.
- The Juicy mutation slows thirst depletion, making it easier for players to explore and craft.
- Parry Master is a defensive perk rewarding perfect blocks with stamina refunds, encouraging high-skill combat tactics.
Grounded, Xbox Game Studios' take on Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, saw its full release thanks to the hard work of developer Obsidian Entertainment. The game sees players thrive and survive in a backyard filled with adventure and danger at every turn. As an open world, players have the freedom to tackle Grounded as they see fit.
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They can both purchase or earn unique perks called mutations that enhance and dynamically change the gameplay experience. Whether crafting games or survival experiences are what catches the player's eye to check out this title, it's important to know which are the best mutations in Grounded.
Updated May 14, 2024 by Andrew McLarney: Mutations act as perks and stat-boosters in Grounded to give players an advantage during certain situations. From simple health enhancements and damage boosters to unique ally-spawning abilities, there is a wide variety of mutations for players to choose from.
There are currently 40 available mutations for players to unlock in total, with several coming post-release as part of the game's various updates. In addition to new mutations, the existing order has been updated to better reflect the stat changes and o verall utility in-game.
20 Spicy Safety
A Useful Early-Game Mutation For Newer Players
- Effect: Reduces damage taken from slashing and stabbing attacks
Spicy Safety is a simple but effective mutation for players to acquire, particularly during the early game. When active, it will reduce damage from slashing or stabbing attacks by 25% and can be upgraded to reduce damage by a further 50%.
While this may not be the most effective defense against some of the game's tougher bosses, the vast majority of early enemies will rely on either smashing or stabbing attacks. With Spicy Safety acquired, players can rest slightly easier when facing against some of the lower and mid-tier enemies during their adventures.
19 Apex Predator
Provides A Variety Of Powerful Bonuses, But Only For Specific Weapons
- Effect: Unlocks special effects for the Club of the Mother Demon, Scythe of Blossoms, Bard's Bow, and Blaster of the Moldy Matriarch
Apex Predator is a very powerful mutation that affects the use of certain weapons crafted from defeating bosses. These special weapons include the Club of the Mother Demon, Scythe of Blossoms, Bard's Bow, and Blaster of the Moldy Matriarch.
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With the Club of the Mother Demon equipped, the weapon will bypass all poison defenses along with a 20% chance to deploy venom. The Scythe of Blossoms will have a 20% chance of increasing its attack speed by 25%. The Bard's Bow will have a 20% chance of spawning a friendly Wasp combatant, while the Blaster of the Mouldy Matriarch will have a 20% chance of spawning an infected puddle.
18 Mom Genes
A Useful Combat Mutation That Enables The Summoning Of Allies
- Effect: Increases Poison attack damage by 50% and 10% chance to spawn a blue spiderling after an attack/perfect block
Mom Genes is another useful ally-spawning mutation that gives players a chance to spawn allied spiderlings whenever a perfect block or attack is executed. However, this is best reserved for ranged builds as the allied spiderlings can still inadvertently cause damage to the player.
In addition to this, the mutation will also grant players 50% additional damage whenever using poison attacks. The downside of the perk is that players will have to defeat the Hedge Broodmother to obtain it.
17 Truffle Tussle
A Useful Mutation When It Comes To Weapon Maintenance
- Effect: Unarmed attacks have a 10% chance of creating a fungal explosion
While Grounded's world is filled with some of the weirdest villains in survival games, there are also powerful mutations that will help players defeat these enemies with ease or get away from them faster. One of these is the Truffle Tussle mutation that's especially useful for beginner players who need help with combat and are still upgrading their weapons.
What makes Truffle Tussle one of the most useful mutations in Grounded is that it can be used without the need for weapon maintenance, and it has a high explosion damage as well and players can even pair it with other mutations to further increase the damage. Thanks to Truffle Tussle, players can easily break cracked rocks and pass roadblocks during their adventures.
16 Cardio Fan
A Basic But Essential Mutation For Boosting Stamina
- Effect: Increases Stamina Regen and decreases Exhaustion time
Cardio Fan is another great Grounded mutation that's especially useful for casual and beginner players who want to significantly increase their stamina regeneration as well as decrease their exhaustion time. It can be also useful for those players who want to avoid combat as long as they can while exploring Grounded's fun but dangerous world.
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This A-rank mutation can help players get away from danger faster by allowing them to run longer without getting tired. Players can unlock Cardio Fan by exhausting their character a couple of times and in different phases too.
15 Sharpshooter
An Essential Mutation For Any Ranged Builds In The Game
- Effect: Successfully landing bow/crossbow attacks increases critical hit chance and unlocks special effects for Candy arrows
The sharpshooter mutation will help players defeat their enemies more easily by allowing them to focus with more clarity while also increasing their damage with all bow types. It's one of the best mutations in Grounded that'll be useful for players of all types during their adventures.
Players can also level up sharpshooter mutation by killing more creatures with their ranged weapons. This mutation can also be combined with armor sets as well as other mutations to make it more powerful especially when it comes to ranged combat. Beginner players can also check out useful tips and guides to the best damage types for weapons in Grounded.
14 Rock Cracker
A Highly Useful Mutation For All Player Types
- Effect: Increases Busting efficiency
Rock Cracker is a mutation that all players need since it will help them increase their efficiency in busting rocks and will help them mine for stones much more easily. To acquire this mutation players just have to keep breaking rocks and as they mine it'll get easier for them to upgrade to the next level.
Rock Cracker is an important farming mutation in Grounded since mining stone is crucial in the game because it helps players survive during their journey. Players can use it to craft vital tools and weapons, gather other resources, as well as improve their base.
13 Trapper PEEP.R
Helps To Boost Damage When Critical Hits Are Landed
- Effect: Increases critical hit damage
Trapper PEEP.R may seem like a relatively basic mutation, but it is useful for all build types and particularly deadly when upgraded to Phase 3. This perk will grant players an additional 20% damage whenever a critical hit is landed, and this can be upgraded to 40% and 60% respectively with further phase iterations.
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The Spider Hat, Razor Claw, and Scope Lense can all help to increase the chances of landing a critical hit, and with Trapper PEEP.R equipped, the damage will be significantly more effective.
12 Corporate Kickback
A Powerful Mutation With Healing Benefits
- Effect: Blocked attacks have a 5% chance to restore the player's health equal to the amount of melee damage dealt
Though blocking incoming attacks is often seen as a safe and effective way to deal with enemies, Grounded offers a mutation that rewards the player even further when engaging in combat with this particular playstyle. When an incoming attack is effectively blocked with the Corporate Kickback mutation active, it opens up a trigger opportunity where all incoming melee attacks provide the player with life, acting as lifesteal in that sense.
When/if it is triggered, the effect will last for a total of five seconds. To acquire this mutation, players in Grounded will need to face off with and defeat Director Schmector.
11 Mantsterious Stranger
A Very Powerful Ally-Spawning Mutation
- Effect: Attacks have a 2% chance to spawn a Mant ally
The developers of Grounded, Obsidian Entertainment, love to make callbacks to their previous projects. Anyone who played their spinoff title Fallout: New Vegas knows about the Mysterious Stranger perk in the Fallout series that makes it so a random stranger appears out of nowhere and helps the player in combat.
That exact thing made its way over to Grounded by way of a mutation called Mantsterious Stranger. When the Mant is defeated during the game's campaign, this specific mutation will be unlocked. During combat, players receive a small percentage chance to spawn a friendly Mant beast that fights alongside the player, but it will eventually die after a set amount of time or damage taken.