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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 January 27th, 2023 by Jerrad Wyche: The team over at Obsidian Entertainment are committed to providing players of Grounded with additional updates, with the latest major one coming in December of 2022, with many more to follow. Grounded saw its official release in 2022, and since that point, features such as increased backpack inventory, quality-of-life improvements, and traversal upgrades have made their way into the game. There is always something new to explore, and it’s helpful to have a collection of mutations that aid in various aspects of both the survival and crafting aspects of the game.
12 Corporate Kickback
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 play style. When an incoming attack is effectively blocked with the Corporate Kickback mutation active, it opens up a five percent 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
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.
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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 single percent 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.
10 Reliable Friend
Now, everyone who plays Grounded does so in their own way, which means that multiplayer-centric mutations may be useless to some but invaluable to others. The Reliable Friend mutation falls into the camp of being useful for those who play Grounded with other players.
By going out of one’s way to revive others when they’re downed, a player can upgrade the Reliable Friend mutation to a point in which their revive speed is increased to 75%. That may not sound that useful, but in the heat of battle, it can often mean the difference between an entire crew of players being wiped or narrowly escaping or overcoming whatever threat stands in the way of reward and/or discovery.
9 Merteen
On the surface, Grounded presents itself as a standard survival sandbox strongly inspired by films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The truth is that it offers a playground where players can explore and discover to their heart’s content. Those who may have fears related to water may not enjoy swimming in the backyard, but for those who love water, there’s a mutation that can help them continue to dive into the mysterious hidden underwater.
The Merteen mutation provides a 10 percent increase in oxygen time and a 15 percent increase in overall swim speed. By discovering a total of five landmarks inside the Koi Pond, players will gain access to the Merteen mutation in Grounded and upgrade their swimming skills to the next level.
8 Fresh Defense
Sure, the handful of Grounded mutations that improve the usefulness of certain weapons could have made the list, but weapon types are all preferential. Every player needs resistance toward the dangers of Grounded, so something like Fresh Defense will generally be more useful to the average player.
This mutation reduces the sizzling rate and also increases resistance to both gas and burning damage. Mint shards can be found by the player, and by consuming them, players will unlock stages of the Fresh Defense mutation. The first phase requires the consumption of one shard, the second needs five eaten, and the last stage has the player consuming ten in total.
7 Mithridatism
Mithridatism may sound like a weird, playful word Obsidian Entertainment made up for one of their mutations in Grounded, but it’s actually in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It is said to describe the tolerance to poison by slowly intaking small but progressively increasing doses of said substance. So, micro-dosing to make it simpler to understand.
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Sure this mutation increases the player’s resistance to poison up to 75%, but it doesn’t come easy. Players will need to kill ten Wolf Spiders to reach the full effect, which is a rather difficult feat. For those looking to simply hit the first phase, which grants a 25% resistance, it’ll still require the killing of a single Wolf Spider in Grounded.
6 Natural Explorer
Running around the backyard in Grounded is as exciting as it is fear-inducing. For every interesting location of interest, there’s often a violent and volatile creature looking to attach the player at any opportunity. Sprinting comes in handy in both situations as it makes it easier for the player to run from danger, but also makes it quicker for them to run towards something that catches their eye.
The Natural Explorer mutation increases the player’s sprint speed at three different stages and amounts. It is all unlocked by simply discovering a certain amount of landmarks located around the map.
5 Buff Lungs
Stamina in games is an interesting mechanic. It adds a layer of difficulty and resource management that makes gameplay more interesting, but at the same time, it can really upset players who feel like it’s hampering the experience. Thankfully there’s a way to reduce this strain in Grounded by simply looking to invest in the Buff Lungs mutation.
As its name would suggest, Buff Lungs increases player stamina by 50 points and costs 3,000 research points to acquire. In addition to the money, players will also need to find the Red Anthill BURG.L chip in order to unlock this mutation for purchase.
4 Coup de Grass
Coup De Grass is a mutation that is a named reference to the term coup de grâce, which represents the killing blow on something. The mutation in Grounded increases the chance of the player landing a critical hit on an enemy, which can often serve as a coup de grâce.
The first stage of this mutation increases the critical hit chance by 10% and the second stage does so by 25%. In order to unlock both stages, the player will first need to find the 4-Leaf Clover Landmark, and the second stage is a bit more involved. That will have the player traveling to Minotaur Maze’s End and rolling a 20 with the 20-sided die located in this location.
3 Juicy
Grounded quickly captures the attention of players as their desire to explore and figure out what’s going on in the world comes into focus. They then get hit by the reality of the game is both a crafting and exploration experience but also has survival elements.
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Making sure the player character is hydrated can become a nuisance, but the Juicy mutation aids in this as it makes the thirst bar deplete 50% slower than normal. Unlocking the Juicy mutation is rather straightforward as all it requires is for the player to discover all five juice boxes located around the backyard.
2 Parry Master
Some of the best perks in games are the ones that reward players for high-skill maneuvers. It’s nice to invest in learning how to do something consistently and getting a prize for dedication. The Parry Master mutation refunds stamina to the player provided they execute a perfect block.
The amount returned increases and is a reflection of hitting each upgrade phase. The first phase is unlocked after the player perfectly parries 20 attacks, the second with 60 perfect parries, and the third and final phase for those who execute 100 perfectly timed parry blocks.
1 Meat Shield
Health is the literal lifeblood in Grounded, and protecting it in the game makes the difference between a successful journey and a literal failure. The Meat Shield mutation increases player health by 30 points, which in addition to armor can really dictate the outcomes of engagements with volatile creatures around the backyard.
In order to snag this mutation, players will need to purchase it from the kind robot named BURG.L, who resides at the Oak Lab inside the giant oak tree. It costs a staggering 3,000 research points, so come prepared.
Grounded is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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