The open-world sandbox of Grounded is bursting with hidden, secret locations and objects for players to uncover, from long-lost BURG.L chips to destroyed labs and beyond. Discovery is all part of its charm and appeal, as many players become eager to find more. In Grounded, the Pinch Whacker is one of the best and most unique weapons to locate, and it's not too tricky to get.
The Pinch Whacker might look and sound like a futuristic fly swatter in the making with its robotic arm and pinch-like grip. However, it's a top-notch item that's a robotic tier 3 weapon with devastating, bug-zapping effects. Players need their wits and building skills to reach it, plus the ability to compile an explosive concoction to access its hidden, secret location along with a treasure trove of other rewards for their efforts.
Updated on April 19th, 2024 by Russ Boswell: The Pinch Whacker is one of the best early-game weapons that players can get their hands on in Grounded, but finding it requires players to first build a Bratburst explosive bomb, which will help them access a hidden door somewhere in the Backyard. Once players have secured the explosive, they can head to an area that's fairly-well-hidden in the side of the garden wall to claim their prize. To better help players with how to get the Pinch Whacker in Grounded, the following guide has been updated with a companion video.
Where To Find The Pinch Whacker And Building A Grass Staircase
The Pinch Whacker is located inside a hidden nook in the wallclose to the Hedge Lab behind a cracked doorway, so it's easy to miss even for the most eagle-eyed players. From the Hedge lab door in the bottom-right corner of the map, players need to follow the wall until they see a milk carton next to some large rocks. Watch out for stinkbugs loitering near the milk carton and mosquitos hovering around the water's edge, and try to avoid them if possible.
By the milk carton, look up to see a small crack in the wall about halfway up. Close by, players can climb up the top and glide down to the entrance using a dandelion tuft, but this can be tricky to traverse. Alternatively, players that love to build can make grass floors and sets of grass ladder stairs using grass planks and weed stems to reach the wall.
There's plenty of grass nearby to chop, but players may need to backtrack to the dry grass areas to retrieve dandelion weed stems using a chopping tool like the pebblet axe. One set of grass stairs needs 4 grass planks and 1 weed stem. One complete grass floor needs 4 grass planks. Once across, players will see a damaged door that requires explosives to open, but it doesn't specify what kind.
How To Get Explosives & Blasting the Door
The next step is to craft explosives to open the doorway. Although the Splatburst can be more accurate with its sticky abilities, the quickest type of explosive to get that still does the job is the Bratburst explosive, crafted from 2 fungal growths, 1 red ant egg, and 5 pieces of sap. To unlock this recipe, players need to find and analyze fungal growth, obtainable from many of the infected insects found near the Haze area of the backyard.
How To Get Fungal Growth
There's no need to venture into the dangerous foggy mists of the Haze though, as players can head up the rock where the top of the rake sits, located above the giant gorge in the dry grass area to the west of the Mysterious Machine. Here, players can often find infected bugs like ladybirds and larvae pacing around in their oozy state. Killing an infected ladybird isn't too different from a normal one, except it spits out explosive drops of gunk to dodge. Fungal growth can also make the delectable soup Funguspacho.
How To Get Ant Eggs And Sap
If players don't already possess a red ant egg, they can find some deep inside the anthill to the West. Sap is easily obtainable from fallen twigs dotted about the backyard, tree trunks surrounding the giant Oak Tree, or a Sap Catcher if players have crafted one.
How To Use The Bratburst Explosive
Once players have sourced all the necessary ingredients and crafted the Bratburst using a workbench, it's time to head back to the damaged door. To prevent wasting the explosive, it's best to stand right in front of the door and gently drop it before stepping back to avoid the blast. Once inside, players find a gruesome scene of burst berries splattered up the walls inside a lost lab area.
The Pinch Whacker is located inside a trash can next to the computer consoles, and players can simply take it. There's also a metal storage container with more goodies inside to take, including Sturdy Plating, Supreme Plating, Study Whetstone, and Supreme Whetstone.
What To Do With The Pinch Whacker
Now players have the Pinch Whacker it's time to have some fun and try it out. Players can use it as a powerful weapon to fight enemies, as it can shoot a small bolt of electricity within a small AoE for a quick, bug-zapping demise.
If the Pinch Whacker becomes damaged, players can repair it using repair glue. Its damage stats aren't as high as the slower Red Ant Club, but it's much more balanced in strength and speed. That's about as much as the Pinch Whacker does. Unfortunately, it's not a chopping or busting tool, but it's a great weapon to have on hand, especially when going up against bigger bugs.
Grounded is available to play on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and is free to play on Xbox Game Pass.
