Dead Roots in Grounded 2 are one of the natural progression blockers you’ll find around the map. Typically, these roots will open up optional areas, leading to loot like Molars, creatures to farm, or things like Quarts and Marble and much more. Here’s how to destroy the Dead Roots in Grounded 2.

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This guide teaches you how to crunch through Dead Root in Grounded 2. Image via Gamer Guides / Obsidian.

How to Crunch Dead Roots¶

To crunch through the Dead Roots, you need to do the following:

1. Unlock the Hatchery main story quest
2. Build a Hatchery
3. Acquire a Red Soldier Ant Egg
4. Incubate it for 12 hours in-game time.
5. Hatch it
6. Ride the ant and then chomp any dead roots you come across.

To break down Dead Roots, you will need to complete the Hatchery Quest. The Hatchery Quest is important for players as they will unlock the ability to tame various animals like the Red Soldier Ant and Weaver Orb Spiders. When you create a Hatchery in your base, you can then go looking for the eggs of these creatures, and then place them in the Hatchery, where they will hatch. When they hatch,they become your friends and can be used as a mount, storage unit, and combat ally.

While riding a Red Soldier Ant buggy, you can approach these Dead Roots and use them to crunch through the roots. The tier 1 roots typically take 2 hits to break down, or one fully charged attack to destroy.

When you’re through, you can find various objects hidden away. There’s quite a few of these inside the caves and ant hills around the starting area. As you explore into the Garden regions and beyond, you can find these blocking entrances to caves and more. So, it is always best to bring a Buggy with you and you can chomp through and start exploring those regions.

These typically lead to a variety of rewards like collectibles and Molars, raw science, new enemies to fight, and even find things like Marble and Quartz, alongside those Spicy and Minty destroyables for weapon crafting. So, if you want to maximize your progression, breaking down these Dead Roots are well worth it while you’re exploring. But do be careful not to get your Buggy killed though, as it can go down but not out in combat, especially if you accidentally explore into an area that is harder than your current gear.