In Grounded 2, the vast outdoor world presents more dangers than ever, with various insect types eager to challenge your survival skills. To enhance your chances of thriving in Brookhollow Park, you can acquire Mutations – unique sets of abilities unlocked by completing specific in-game challenges. This comprehensive guide details each available Mutation, explains the requirements for earning them, and offers insights into their strategic application.
What Are Mutations in Grounded 2?
Mutations are powerful buffs designed to improve your combat effectiveness, stamina management, and even resistance to various environmental hazards. All acquired Mutations can be found and managed within the `Mutations` tab of your inventory. It`s highly recommended to start working on unlocking these abilities early in your campaign to maximize their benefits and significantly boost your survival rate.
Mutations are categorized into four main types:
- Fighting Styles
- Combat Abilities
- Exploration
- Survival
Each Mutation is unlocked by completing specific challenges, as outlined below. Most Mutations feature three distinct levels, with each subsequent level providing a more potent effect upon completion of its challenge tier. Initially, you can equip two Mutations simultaneously. This capacity can be increased to a maximum of four active Mutations by strategically utilizing Milk Molars found throughout the game world.
How to Unlock All Mutations in Grounded 2
Fighting Style Mutations
Lil Fist
- Kill 40 creatures with fists
- Kill 100 creatures with fists
- Kill 200 creatures with fists
Unlocking the Lil Fist Mutation empowers your unarmed attacks, allowing you to deliver powerful strikes with your bare hands. While perhaps not the most conventional combat method, it can be a fun alternative. To swiftly progress through this challenge, focus on dispatching smaller, weaker enemies like grubs using your fists.
Smasher
- Kill 40 creatures with clubs
- Kill 100 creatures with clubs
- Kill 200 creatures with clubs
This Mutation grants a beneficial stun effect when you use clubs. It proves particularly useful for incapacitating larger adversaries such as roaches, stink bugs, and the formidable praying mantis, giving you a tactical advantage.
Javelineer
- Kill 40 creatures with spears
- Kill 100 creatures with spears
- Kill 200 creatures with spears
To level up this Mutation, focus on using spears for combat. Javelineer provides increased damage when throwing spears, and a portion of the damage you sustain is reflected back to your attacker, adding a defensive element to your offensive strategy.
Assassin
- Kill 40 creatures with daggers
- Kill 100 creatures with daggers
- Kill 200 creatures with daggers
The Assassin Mutation significantly increases your critical hit chance with dash strikes. Additionally, when wielding dual daggers and sickles, critical hits deal even greater damage. This is a highly effective Fighting Style Mutation, especially for engaging in close combat with creatures like scorpions, spiders, and roaches.
Sharpshooter
- Kill 40 creatures with bows
- Kill 100 creatures with bows
- Kill 200 creatures with bows
This Mutation is tailored for players who prefer ranged combat. Sharpshooter boosts the critical hit chance of fully charged bow shots, making your arrow volleys more devastating against enemies.
Blademaster
- Kill 40 creatures with swords
- Kill 100 creatures with swords
- Kill 200 creatures with swords
The Blademaster Mutation causes your sword attacks to temporarily reduce the damage inflicted by enemies. Furthermore, attacking creatures with swords briefly removes stamina consumption. This is an indispensable Mutation for any player who favors wielding swords in Grounded 2.
Whittle Wizard
- Kill 40 creatures with staves
- Kill 100 creatures with staves
- Kill 200 creatures with staves
With the Whittle Wizard Mutation, your staff attacks are enhanced with elemental effects. Sizzle applies a more intense burn to enemies, and frozen creatures that shatter take increased damage. Moreover, your critical hit chance with staff attacks is significantly improved against frozen and burning enemies that have reached maximum elemental buildup.
Combat Mutations
Parry Master
- Perform 30 perfect parry blocks
- Perform 80 perfect parry blocks
- Perform 150 perfect parry blocks
Parry Master rewards precise defensive play. With this Mutation, successfully executing perfect blocks will restore a portion of your stamina, allowing for more sustained combat engagements.
Ambush
- Land 30 ambush attacks
- Land 80 ambush attacks
- Land 150 ambush attacks
Ambush focuses on stealthy combat. This Mutation ensures critical hits against creatures that are unaware of your presence. When using daggers for ambush attacks, the critical hit damage is substantially increased, making it ideal for players who prefer to initiate combat from the shadows.
Frenzy
- Defeat the mysterious stranger
Frenzy is a powerful Mutation that becomes available only after you have completed the main story objectives and successfully defeated the mysterious stranger. When active, your melee attacks trigger a rage state, granting you increased damage output and health regeneration. However, a trade-off is that you cannot time your blocks while enraged.
Guard Dog
- Complete 1 MIX.R event
- Complete 4 MIX.R event
- Complete 9 MIX.R event
Guard Dog increases the damage you deal to creatures that are actively attacking your `turf,` which typically refers to your constructed base during MIX.R defense events. This Mutation is highly valuable for protecting your fortifications.
Exploration Mutations
Natural Explorer
- Discover 20 points of interest
- Discover 50 points of interest
- Discover 80 points of interest
Simply by exploring the map and uncovering various points of interest (POIs), you can unlock the Natural Explorer Mutation. This ability provides a temporary speed boost, helping you traverse the environment more quickly. The speed enhancement is briefly reduced if you enter combat or take damage from a creature.
Trapper Peep.r
- Collect 25 gold cards
- Collect 50 gold cards
- Collect 75 gold cards
Trapper Peep.r increases the damage multiplier of your critical hits. This Mutation is highly beneficial for players aiming to maximize their burst damage output in combat encounters.
Survival Mutations
Cardio Fan
- Deplete stamina 100 times
- Deplete stamina 250 times
- Deplete stamina 500 times
The Cardio Fan Mutation allows you to regain stamina faster and significantly reduces the duration of exhaustion after your stamina meter is fully depleted. This is an easy and incredibly helpful Mutation to unlock early in the game, proving invaluable for escaping enemies, especially when you don`t have a buggy or if yours becomes incapacitated.
Reliable Fan
- Revive 5 allies
- Revive 15 allies
- Revive 30 allies
Reliable Fan enables you to revive your downed friends more quickly, which is crucial for cooperative play. If you are playing solo, you can still unlock this Mutation by reviving your buggy when it is incapacitated.
Fresh Defense
- Eat 1 mint shard
- Eat 5 mint shards
- Eat 10 mint shards
This Mutation provides a robust defense against elemental effects. It slows the rate at which sizzle burns you, reduces the damage taken from sizzle, and lessens the damage received from poison gas. Mint Shards, which resemble large mint candies, are found throughout the world. You will need the Omni-Hammer level II upgrade to harvest these shards.
Spicy Safety
- Eat 1 spicy shard
- Eat 5 spicy shards
- Eat 10 spicy shards
Consuming spicy shards will unlock Spicy Safety, a crucial Mutation for exploring the frigid areas around the Ice Cream Cart. This ability provides significant chill reduction, greater freeze resistance, and reduces shatter damage when you are hit while frozen. It is highly recommended to combine this Mutation with cold-resistant gear and smoothies designed to combat the cold. Spicy shards are obtained from pepper-shaped spicy candy items.
Mithridatism
- Kill 5 venomous creatures
- Kill 50 venomous creatures
- Kill 150 venomous creatures
The Mithridatism Mutation effectively slows the rate at which venom seeps through your body and significantly reduces damage taken from venom. This provides vital protection against poisonous adversaries, allowing you to endure venomous attacks more effectively.