Grounded: The Best Weapons, Ranked (2024)

Grounded has many useful weapons that you can craft throughout your journey. Some choices will be mainstays in defending your precious camp throughout your adventure, while other weapons will provide invaluable as you approach the end game and the difficult challenges that await you.

Tools crafted from boss parts, for example, are some of Grounded's best weapons; however, it takes a lot of effort and skill to be able to acquire the necessary materials to craft them. Some of these powerful weapons should serve as an important goal to aim for before you go searching for the strongest enemies that you will encounter. These are the best weapons in Grounded, and what materials you'll need to craft them.

Updated April 26, 2024, by Andrew Scariati: The Fully Yoked update shook up Grounded's best weapons with additional elemental options and new weapon types. This influx of choices puts the title of Grounded's best weapon up for grabs, with several contenders vying for the crown.

Since certain added weapons share the exact stats of other "twin" weapons, they are grouped in their own combined entries.

17 Black Ox Hammer

If you're looking for a powerful hammer, then you can look no further after finding the Black Ox Hammer because it packs quite the punch for any animal or insect hit by it. Additionally, it has a powerful stun effect that can mean the difference between winning or losing a battle.

It even doubles as a useful bashing tool that will help you break down Quartzite and Marble deposits throughout the world. However, it's a slow weapon compared to many others, so remember that it won't be a prudent choice against several bugs at once.

16 Antlion Greatsword

The Antlion Greatsword is another powerful sword that you can obtain in Grounded. It's a greatsword, so it's a slow weapon in general, but upon hitting an enemy, it deals massive damage that can rival many other weapons in the game.

If you want to craft the Antlion Greatsword, then you need to collect the materials above, which is quite the task. Even so, it's a worthwhile investment if you want to create a powerful sword that you can use to fight even the strongest bugs.

15 Club Of The Mother Demon

The Club Of The Mother Demon doesn't just have a fantastic name; it's also one of the strongest weapons or tools in the Backyard. To obtain it, you'll have to defeat the Hedge Broodmother boss, who is one of the strongest enemies in the game, and also has a powerful set of attacks that you should know about before attempting this challenge.

If you're using a melee weapon while fighting this powerful spider boss, then you should be prepared to block its attacks, because otherwise, you'll be defeated quickly. The Broodmother moves quickly while jumping occasionally, and it's important to note that you can't leave the boss room until the spider is defeated, or you die, so make sure to come prepared.

14 Tick Macuahuitl

The Tick Macuahuitl is an excellent weapon blessed with the Life Steal effect and a very quick swing speed. Despite their low amount of HP-sapping per hit, Life Steal weapons are able to attack quicker than other weapons, giving them a bit of an edge when it comes to Damage Per Second (DPS).

As long as you are connecting with your slashes, these hits will quickly add up, restoring your health by the chunk with every few seconds of furious slicing. As a slashing weapon, the Scimitar offers decent range, but rewards being up close and personal with your target due to the sword's somewhat fickle hitbox.

13 Black Ox Crossbow

The Black Ox Crossbow stands alone as the best bow weapon in Grounded. It is a straight upgrade to the Crow Crossbow and deals more damage, but does not possess any other special effects or elemental damage.

All of its required items can be found in mid-to-late game areas, particularly around the toolbox, but be careful venturing near it, as a dangerous Black Widow Spider lurks in a cave nearby. Black Ox Beetles are also no joke to deal with on your own, so prepare plenty of health-restoring items and your best shield to block most of the damage while you're harvesting parts.

12 Toenail Scimitar

Grounded weapons can get quite goofy, and this sword's design is living proof. The Toenail Scimitar boasts a powerful Infection effect. Enemies afflicted by infection will have their attack speed and damage reduced by ten percent with each hit.

With the Toenail Scimitar's quick swing speed, you'll be sure to inflict Infection quickly, and easily reapply it when needed. Its overall swing damage leaves something to be desired, but luckily, this weapon's DPS doesn't detract from its overall usability.

11 Elemental Staves

The elemental staves are quite fun weapons to use and offer an alternative projectile weapon if you aren't a big fan of bows or crossbows. While you may have a particular preference for staff based on its damage type, visual effects, or a desired enemy to use it against, each one is fairly even in performance.

However, in general, the Spicy Staff provides the most benefits as it can launch Spicy Blobs which explode and damage enemies over time, plus can cook them due to its intrinsic Spicy damage. The Mint and Sour Staves are best used on enemies that are weak to each type. Every staff provides a fun way to mix things up, so give them all a try to choose a favorite.

10 Tiger Mosquito Rapier

The Tiger Mosquito Rapier is among the best weapons in Grounded if you aren't able to stack up healing items in your inventory for a long journey. This rapier possesses the Life Steal special effect, which will heal you for six percent of the damage you deal with each hit.

Unfortunately, Tiger Mosquitos are somewhat difficult to find as they inhabit late-game areas, so you'll have to progress through the story a bit to access the materials you'll need. That aside, once you get your hands on this, keep it close, as many of the more difficult enemies will require you to stay healthy in the face of their highly-damaging attacks.

9 The Elemental Katanas

The elemental katanas are excellent options if you like swords, and some of Grounded's best weapons to use for style and function. These swords not only offer high damage, but each weapon has a unique glow when you equip it, which is a fun visual effect.

If you want a strong sword that you can acquire fairly easily in your first playthrough, you can't go wrong using the Spicy Coaltana. However, the Sour Katagna only becomes available in New Game Plus, while the Fresh Coldtana unlocks in the third New Game Plus.

8 Widow Dagger

The Widow Dagger is highly sought-after for its deadly Poison-inflicting effect. As a Dagger, this weapon benefits from the Assassin mutation which will inflict the Bleed effect on your target, stacking nicely with the Poison effect for massive damage.

However, the materials needed to craft this weapon are exceptionally rare – Super Spider Venom can only be acquired by killing Black Widow Spiders, but they only have a small chance to drop with each kill.

Build up plenty of Black Widow Fangs, so you can eventually make multiple copies for you and your friends because you'll likely be hunting that Super Spider Venom for quite a while.

7 Sour Battle-axe

This weapon will take a great deal of time and effort to craft as you will need to find the Ominent Data Chip, which drops from Grounded's main boss. Similarly to the Mint Mace, this weapon has a very slow swing speed but deals massive damage with a good chance to stun.

While it clocks in at lower maximum damage than the Mint Mace (135 vs 150), the Sour Battle-axe does boast a slightly better chance to stun enemies (36 vs 16). This weapon will do a better job against the stronger bugs that are weak to Sour damage, but the Mint Mace and other clubs are better for general bug battling and overall DPS.

6 Elemental Clubs & Hammer

These excellent blunt weapons will play a key role in helping you defeat bosses and defend MIX.R Modules from pesky bugs like Ladybird Larvae.

The crafting requirements for the Mint Mace aren't bad, as Tough Gunk can be acquired from most bugs and Flower Petals are easily picked up off the ground around tall flowers without much issue.

The Wallopeno is the only weapon, aside from the Mint Mace, you can get without too much of a headache; it unlocks in New Game Plus. The Pucker Thumper unlocks in the second New Game Plus, while the Sizzle Striker and Picklemaul are unlocked in the third cycle.

5 Breathslayer/Tingle Tongue

The Breathslayer and Tingle Tongue are some of the best weapons Grounded has to offer, particularly among swords. These two-handed swords offer decent attack speed and great damage, but won't be as reliable as stunning weapons.

Each sword functions best as a brawling weapon against hoards of lesser enemies like ants and can be helpful when defending the MIX.R since you can quickly move from one enemy to the next.

The Breathslayer becomes available in New Game Plus, while you must wait until your second New Game Plus run for the Tingle Tongue.

4 Salt Morning Star

The Salt Morning Star offers two effects, but it doesn't deal a lot of base damage compared to other similar weapons, like the Mint Mace. It contains both the Salty augment and a good chance to stun enemies hit by it – this can be done as often as the Mint Mace given this weapon's high attack speed, allowing you to get multiple hits in a short time.

Even if you don't initially like the look of this weapon due to its low base damage, the Salt Morning Star is actually quite a powerful choice, especially if you find it early. It is very fun to swing and can be wielded in tandem with a shield, making it one of the best weapons you can add to your arsenal in Grounded.

3 Rusty Spear

The Rusty Spear, much like the Tiger Mosquito Rapier, provides an excellent source of Stabbing damage against bugs, but the real prize is the Infection effect.

This status is extremely useful when fighting the Black Widow Spider and other highly dangerous boss enemies that threaten to deplete your health bar.

The Black Widow is resistant to 50 percent of every damage type except for Stabbing, which it only resists by 25 percent. Using the Rusty Spear seems like the intended way to beat a Black Widow, so take advantage of that.

2 Scythe Of Blossoms

The Scythe of Blossoms might be one of the best weapons Grounded has seen, with an equally daunting crafting requirement. Luckily, by the time you are ready to face the Mantis boss, you should have most of these items lying around in your camp storage to combine once you have the requisite Mantis Claws and Parts.

After acquiring your bounty of riches from the defeated Mantis, craft this beautiful scythe and get to swinging. The Scythe Of Blossoms has the unique Yoked Blows effect which increases your critical hit damage by 100 percent.

The quick attack speed and a chance to deal immense critical damage make this weapon incredibly powerful for enemies that won't go down in a single hit. Equip the Assassin mutation, which works very well with this weapon, even though it doesn't appear as a dagger.

1 Frosted Flake/Pepper Flake

The Frosted Flake and Pepper Flake are Grounded's best weapons, primarily due to their unrivaled combination of attack speed, damage, and stunning. These greataxes can inflict incredible amounts of damage on most enemies, and leave them reeling from the pain.

These weapons boast better stunning abilities than club weapons, similar damage to clubs, but with similar attack speed to the Katanas, creating one of the deadliest weapons in the game.

The Frosted Flake unlocks in New Game Plus while the Pepper Flake becomes available in the second New Game Plus cycle.