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 overall 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.

10 Reliable Friend

A Very Useful Co-Op Focused Mutation

• Effect: Increases player Revive speed

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.

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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

A Useful Mutation For Underwater Exploration

• Effect: Increases underwater oxygen time by 10% and swim speed by 15%

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% increase in oxygen time and a 15% 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

A Helpful Mutation For The Game's Tougher Enemies

• Effect: Increases resistance to gas/burning damage and provides a sizzle rate reduction

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

A Powerful Mutation For Poison Resistance

• Effect: Increases Poison resistance

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 Coup De Grass

A Powerful Mutation To Increase Critical Hit Chance

• Effect: Increases critical hit chance

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%. 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.

5 Juicy

A Helpful Mutation For Combating The Game's Survival Mechanics

• Effects: Thirst decreases 50% slower

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.

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.

4 Parry Master

A Highly Useful Defensive Perk For Combat

• Effect: Perfect blocks have a 100% chance to refund a certain amount of stamina

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.

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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.

3 Natural Explorer

An Essential Mutation To Increase Movement Speed

• Effect: Increases movement speed

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 attack 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.

2 Buff Lungs

A Vital Mutation To Increase Stamina And Enhance Exploration

• Effect: Increases max stamina by 50

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 to unlock this mutation for purchase.

1 Meat Shield

A Vital Mutation For Increasing The Player's Overall Health

• Effect: Increases max health by 50

Health is the literal lifeblood of 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 dictate the outcomes of engagements with volatile creatures around the backyard.

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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

Platform(s)

PS5 , Xbox Series X|S , Nintendo Switch , PS4 , Xbox One , PC

Released

September 27, 2022

Developer(s)

Obsidian Entertainment

Genre(s)

Survival Horror , RPG