Grounded has a difficult combat system to master if you’re not prepared going in. Fortunately, it’s nothing too complicated and mainly relies on a mixture of ranged and melee combat. Take a look below for my tips on tough enemies including Wolf Spiders and Bombardier Beetles.
Updated on 8/4/2021
Table of Contents |
| General Grounded Combat Tips |
| How to Fight Orb Weaver Spiders |
| How to Fight Wolf Spiders |
| How to Fight Bombardier Beetles |
General Grounded Combat Tips
Craft Fiber Bandages
Before we get into fighting any specific insect in Grounded, there are a few tips you should know. First, make some Fiber Bandages so you have a way to heal during a fight. These will completely heal you, but it will take some time. Fiber Bandages are a great way to combat the Wolf Spider venom or the gas of a Stink Beetle.
Combat Revolves Around Melee
Second tip, a large part of the combat in Grounded revolves around melee if you want to deal strong damage. Otherwise, you’re left shooting arrows at an enemy while hiding on top of a branch. While it gets the job done, it’s not exactly fun and can take a long time. Until you get the tier 2 Insect Bow, your arrows don’t deal a lot of damage either.
Blocking and Parrying is How You Stay Alive
Third, anytime you get into a fight, Grounded loves to spam you with tips to block and get perfect parries against enemies. While it might be annoying to see that message so frequently, it’s an important point. Blocking enemy attacks is superior to armor because it mitigates damage significantly more.
If you’re not sure how blocking works, by holding your block button, you’ll prevent a good chunk of damage from getting through. However, if you block too many hits over a short period of time, I assume it won’t work. The orange bar shown while blocking represents how many hits you’ve taken before needing to stop.
Certain set bonuses like the Ladybug Armor Set will increase how many hits you can take. Also, if you block right before an enemy attack, you’ll see sparks representing a perfect parry. You’ll take even less damage and get a short moment to hit back.
Try Not to Fight Groups of Enemies
You can use a bow to lure an enemy away from a pack sometimes, so you’re not stuck fighting multiple enemies. This is good to be aware of because insects often travel together. You don’t want to fight multiple spiders at once I can guarantee you.
Full Hunger Provides Slow Health Regeneration
This is a great way to keep your health regenerating when you take a hit from any enemy really. It’s not much, but it’s something on top of a Fiber Bandage healing you back to full.
How to Fight Orb Weaver Spiders
If you’re creative enough, you can use a variety of tricks like Gas Arrows and even getting insects to fight each other.
Orb Weaver spiders have a yellow pattern on their back and are easier than the more difficult brown Wolf Spiders. I recommend becoming comfortable with fighting Orb Weavers before you start taking on the Wolf Spiders. The tier 2 Ant Club weapon is a great upgrade from the tier 1 Spear once you can make that jump. However, the tier 3 Mint Mallet is what you really want for destroying enemies. It has the ability to stun an Orb Weaver in three hits and kill it in seven.
The first attack you’ll need to dodge when engaging an Orb Weaver is the web ball it spits at you. Then, it will crawl toward you and prepare for a short charge attack after getting close enough. I recommend blocking this and following up immediately with a three combo attack for the stun (if you have a Mint Mallet).
If you’ve stunned the spider, reposition behind it and regain your stamina. This gives you time to get your stamina back for another round of hits. Be careful, since you’ll likely need to block again or strafe out of an attack.
By this point, the Orb Weaver is likely dead already. If you’re using a weaker weapon, you’ll need to integrate more blocks and simply more strafing. If you’re struggling at melee combat, you can always try to weaken it with some arrows first. But be careful, if it runs away, it’ll completely heal itself.
Side note, the tier 2 Insect Bow destroys Orb Weaver spiders.
How to Fight Wolf Spiders
Wolf Spiders have brown bodies instead of the yellow pattern visible on Orb Weavers.
Wolf Spiders are one of the toughest enemies you’ll come across in Grounded. They have a jump attack and a venom one that will poison you immediately. I haven’t figured out the trick yet to avoid its’ poison, so I’m open to tips in the comments.
However, my method of killing Wolf Spiders is a good combination of arrows with a melee follow-up. Before you can get the tier 2 Insect Bow, you unfortunately need to kill a Wolf Spider. That doesn’t mean you can’t try using fancy Gas Arrows made from Stink Bugs.
They don’t deal a lot of damage, but it’s a small amount over time before moving up close. Similar to Orb Weavers, you’ll still want to block attacks or strafe out of the way. The main issue with Wolf Spiders aside from their poison is that they’re extremely quick.
If you don’t have an escape plan, there’s no going back. The best way to counter their poison so long as you don’t get hit again is to use a Fiber Bandage. You can hop on top of something nearby out of reach for the spider while tapping it with arrows to prevent it from healing.
I recommend waiting until you have Acorn Armor or the Rotten Bee Armor from the Anthill. Wolf Spiders are no joke and you really want to be prepared. Once again, you’ll also want the tier 3 Mint Mallet to deal maximum damage. And don’t forget that all arrows are recoverable, even including special ones like the Gas Arrows.
If you want an easy Wolf Spider to kill, the current state of Grounded often has them get stuck in the Oak Tree. I’ve had multiple bug along the bottom of the tree leaving for an easy kill by whacking at their legs. In spite of that, I’ve also had Orb Weavers jump out of the Oak Tree instead.
How to Fight Bombardier Beetles
Bombardier Beetles are bound to frustrate you with their powerful acid attacks. (Photo Courtesy of Obsidian Entertainment)
Bombardier Beetles are more frustrating than anything because they have an extremely powerful ranged attack. Hence their name, they like to shoot essentially bombs at you that leave an acidic pool behind. If you get caught off-guard by this attack and stay there too long, you’ll lose almost all of your health immediately.
Try to strafe around the Bombardier Beetle you’re fighting before getting up close. You’ll want to dodge a couple of its attacks before getting a window to move in. As usual, you can always mix in some ranged attacks from your bow regardless of whether it’s tier 1 or 2. As you’d expect, the tier 2 Insect Bow is significantly stronger.
I hope this Grounded guide helps you deal with those pesky spiders. If you’re looking for more guides, be sure to check out our guide on every armor set bonus or this one on finding every insect and material you could need.
Grounded is available in Early Access/Xbox Game Preview as of July 28, on Xbox One and PC. It’s also on the Xbox Game Pass at the time of publishing this article for both Xbox One and PC. Eventually Grounded will be available on the Xbox Series X too.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.