Complete Beginner’s Guide to Grounded 2

Grounded 2 hit live Early Access 29th July 2025. As a result, many players both new to Grounded and old are venturing forth into the shrunk-down world. If you’re looking for a helping hand or a refresher on what’s different from Grounded 1 – you’re in the right place! Welcome to our complete beginner’s guide to Grounded 2, where we’ll cover the basics and core of Obsidian Entertainment’s new entry.

Getting Started

Starting off our beginner’s guide for Grounded 2, you’ll be met with familiar (if you’ve played the first Grounded) characters. Nothing here has really changed as of yet in Early Access – as a result, your character choice is mainly preference!

The introduction of the Omni-Tool!

The Omni-Tool is a brand-new quality of life addition to Grounded 2. In Obsidian’s first installment “Grounded”, each player had to craft and carry multiple “Tiers” of tools at all times. As you can imagine, this can be cumbersome and a pain to manage. However, this problem no longer exists due to the introduction of the Omni-Tool.

Instead of carrying multiple tools and taking up inventory space, it’s now all in one place! For example, you no longer equip the tool for each gatherable you wish to collect. Now, you simply walk up to the gatherable type of your choice and automatically you can interact and harvest – no tool selection needed! This is especially helpful due to previously mentioned reasons such as inventory space and general smooth gameplay.

With the Omni-Tool, you’ll be able to:

• CHOP grass, stems etc
• BUST upgrade materials, stones, Acorns etc
• DIG clay, treasure chests etc
• REPAIR your gear!

You can see your Omni-Tool status in any Ranger Station. Here, you can upgrade every type of tool to a higher tier – all in one convenient place!

To grab your Omni-Tool, worry not, as you’ll come across it very early on during the Story Quests (specifically “One Tool to Rule Them All”). It’ll be hanging on a wall to your right as you enter an Ominent Station.

Finding yourself a Buggy

Buggy’s come as a brand new feature in Grounded 2, completely changing the game (and in a positive way!). A Buggy is essentially both a Pet AND a Mount in the game. As a result, as soon as you have a Buggy, you’ll be gaining a lot of traversal and help in various ways.

You’ll come across your first Buggy during the Story Quest “Egg Hunt”. To hatch your Ant Soldier, simply build a Hatchery, gather the materials needed and wait 12 hours (you can also sleep to pass time!). Extra inventory space is also a nice benefit from owning a Buggy. Finally, you can use certain Buggy’s to bite through roots, often blocking secret passageways! Keep an eye out for some extra rewards and exploration.

It’s important to note that your Buggy can fight with you (or you can even fight mounted!), however, it can be knocked out – requiring a revive. Additionally, you can store and withdraw your Buggy at (in the case of the Ant Soldier) a crafted Ant Nest.

Quick Crafting

Quick crafting is a great in-the-moment feature in Grounded 2. To utilize this menu, simply press and hold “Z” on the keyboard and use your cursor to hover the item you wish to craft. Items that have various tiers or alternate options, you can cycle through with “F” and “R”. Make sure to use this menu for crucial moments such as crafting bandages in a pinch.

Character Builds

In Grounded 2, there is a harder push into RPG-styled builds and customization options for a player. For example, the idea of “tank”, “DPS” and “support” (also known as the trinity) is largely present in the game. As a result, we recommend checking gear as you progress through the game, and see what build combinations benefit you the most. A good early starting point – and an option we’re personally using, is a DPS combination of:

• Red Ant 3-set armor
• Weaver Daggers
• Astonishing Acid (trinket)

This is a simple yet effective build example that utilizes the “Finale Damage” passive from the Astonishing Acid trinket, and the “Rogue Armor” 3-set bonus. As a result, the build hits very hard on the 3rd-hit of each combo – and the Weaver Daggers attack incredibly fast. However, there is many builds to explore in the game, so go experiment!

Ranger Stations

The Ranger Station is your main hub for buying and unlocking various items with “Raw Science” as the currency, the place to check your challenges, but also (as previously mentioned) where you upgrade your Omni-Tool.

Early Important Resources and Items

Whether you’re a newcomer or a veteran from “Grounded”, there is some resources early on that even older players won’t be familiar with. However, they’re important to find early on to advance your game.

Grass Seeds

So where do you find Grass Seeds? The easiest way to notice their location immediately is to look up! Unlike normal blades of grass, right at the tip of certain blades of grass are blossomed with multiple buds. These are the blades of grass you’ll want to chop down with your Omni-Tool. Once the Grass is chopped down, a varying amount of Grass Seeds drop too! Keep an eye on these early – you’ll want them for sure. You’ll notice the blade is called a “Grass Flower” instead.

Water and Food

Water and Food are the primary sources of survival in Grounded 2. As a result, be on the look out to keep your survival rate high. You’ll find water gathering at the top of blades of grass throughout the map (and later, you’ll be able to capture and store it through crafted stations).

As for Food, you can find things to eat such as Mushrooms all over the map growing from the ground. Alternatively, you’ll be able to cook certain insects or even find leftover food parts from Hot Dogs and other products.

Storage Chests

We highly recommend creating Storage as soon as possible when you’ve found a spot to settle down in a bit. This is due to resources quickly becoming stacked – additionally you’ll be able to keep your inventory clean. Another neat feature is being able to hot deposit items and use them for crafting while they’re in the Storage!

To craft a Storage Chest or Basket, simply press “B” and head to the 2nd page of the construction wheel.

Milk Molars

Milk Molars and Mega Milk Molars make a return to Grounded 2, you’ll find teeth scattered throughout the map that you can BUST with your Omni-Tool. Once obtained, your character can gain increased benefits such as Maximum Health, less Hunger/Thirst and more.

As we progress through the game, we’ll update our complete beginner’s guide to Grounded 2 with even more helpful information and tips. For more Grounded 2 content or perhaps even Grounded, check out our main pages for the game!