While exploring the yard in Grounded, there are numerous special, equippable items to find, obtain, or even craft, known as trinkets. From unusual pendants to curious charms and more, trinkets in Grounded provide different kinds of passive effects when equipped, making them worthwhile objects to seek out. One such trinket is the Entomologist Badge, a Tier 2 trinket that provides attack benefits, but with a caveat. While most trinkets are tricky to get hold of as either rare spawn drops from challenging bugs or tucked away within tough areas of the yard, the Entomologist Badge is perhaps one of the easier trinkets to get, provided you have the right gear. However, given its dangerous location, obtaining the Entomologist Badge is not necessarily as easy as it might seem.
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This handy guide details where to find the Entomologist Badge in Grounded, including its precise location on the map, plus how you can safely retrieve it. It also details what the Entomologist Badge does in Grounded, including its pros and cons.
How To Get the Entomologist Badge in Grounded
Entomologist Badge Location
To get the Entomologist Badge in Grounded, you'll need to head to the BBQ Spill located in the Upper Yard. Here, you can find the Entomologist Badge on the skeletal remains of a scientist just left of the BBQ, as pictured on the map above. However, although it might seem like a trinket that's ripe for the picking, getting hold of the Entomologist Badge isn't necessarily easy, as it requires some preparation. Specifically, you'll need to equip specific gear and adopt certain strategies to survive the sizzling dangers of the BBQ Spill, at least for a short time.
To survive the sizzling heat of the BBQ Spill, it's best to craft and equip at least one or preferably two pieces of the Antlion armor set, a Tier 3 set that helps protect you from sizzle damage. This involves tracking down and defeating deadly Antlion bugs in and around the Sandbox, along with some specific resources from other insects. Although you don't necessarily need to make the full set to get the Entomologist Badge, the table below details what resources you need to make each piece of the Antlion armor set, with the Antlion Poncho and Spurs offering the most sizzle protection:
|
Antlion Armor Piece |
Required Resources |
|
Antlion Wide Brim |
|
|
Antlion Poncho |
|
|
Antlion Spurs |
|
Other ways to help keep cool and beat the heat in Grounded's sizzle-damage areas include:
- Eating Mint Shards
- Equipping the Fresh Defense mutation
While it might be possible to get the Entomologist Badge without protection if you're quick enough, it's best to have as much sizzle protection as possible for the best chances of surviving. However, doing all this combined with wearing Antlion Armor still only gives you a short window to quickly grab the Entomologist Badge from the skeleton and just enough time to quickly press the 'loot all' option before retreating to cool off, as shown in the video below:
In addition to the Entomologist Badge, you can also loot the following items from the skeleton corpse:
- x1 Recon Journal: Entomologist
- Suspicious Snapshot 5
- Suspicious Snapshot 6
When exploring the BBQ Spill, watch out for Wolf Spiders, which typically roam the zone at night. It's usually safer to get the Entomologist Badge during the day when they aren't usually there. However, there are still other dangers to look out for, like Ladybird Larva that favor bursting out of the ground, jump-scare-style.
What does the Entomologist Badge do in Grounded?
After getting the Entomologist Badge in Grounded, the question remains whether it was worth the trouble and what it does. Well, yes and no. On the one hand, the Entomologist Badge can be a handy trinket that increases your overall attack by 15%, enabling you to deal more damage. However, on the flipside, you can no longer perform a perfect block when wearing the Entomologist Badge. Therefore, for some players, the benefits may not be worth the payoff, especially when it is possible to get other types of attack benefits from equipping specific damage-boosting mutations in Grounded, such as Blademaster for sword-type weapons and Sharpshooter for bow weapons.
Additionally, there are other trinkets with other types of attack-boosting effects, so some players might find that other trinkets may be more suitable, depending on their preferences. For instance, these include elemental-style trinkets like the Shiny Salt Crystal trinket that boosts Salty attacks and the Spectacular Spice Shard that increases Spicy attacks. However, if you prefer to use long-ranged weapons rather than blocking or parrying, wearing the Entomologist Badge could offer some benefits temporarily, at least until you track down more useful trinkets across the yard.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
- Released
- September 27, 2022
- ESRB
- Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher(s)
- Xbox Game Studios
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 4
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
