Part of Grounded’s appeal comes from the game’s sense of scale. Common yard features become towering landscapes, and everyday pests become deadly threats.
The scales are tipped against the player, and they’ll need to scrounge for every advantage they can get to survive. But while some of Grounded‘s resources can only be found in dizzyingly high branches, one of the most important resources can be found, fittingly enough, from the ground.
In Grounded, players will need to build forts to protect themselves from wild insects and other environmental hazards, and the easiest foundation to build on is clay. While there are some things that are higher priority, like making one of Grounded‘s axes, Players should start stocking up on clay relatively early in their runs.
Updated April 18th, 2024 by Russ Boswell: Clay is perhaps one of the most important materials in all of Grounded. Not only is the item used in a variety of recipes, but it serves as a low-cost, easy-to-obtain-and-carry building material that will allow players to create ramps and structures all over the Backyard. Thankfully, finding Clay isn’t too difficult if players know where to look and it can be easily harvested using a low-tier shovel. To better show players how to find Clay in Grounded, the following guide has been updated to now include a companion video.
Where to Find Clay
Thankfully, Grounded‘s world is relatively abundant with clay. That being said, the areas with the biggest clay payoffs are Grounded‘s flooded biomes. Players are more likely to find clay near wet areas in general. The areas where clay spawns are listed below:
- Black Anthill
- Dry Grasslands
- Flooded Zone
- Grasslands
- Koi Pond
- Pond Caves
- Pond Depths
- Pond Lab
- Shed Surroundings
- Woodpile
Note that Obsidian is consistently adding more areas to the game, such as the BBQ spill in Grounded‘s most recent update. This list may become incomplete as the game moves closer to a 1.0 version.
Harvesting Clay
Players will find clay deposits in the form of shiny light brown rocks, large enough that players won’t be able to simply pick it up and shove it in their bags. It needs to be broken down into manageable chunks. Each clay node will give six units of clay when broken.
All the player needs to break down clay is an acorn shovel. In-game, the player can find the shovel’s blueprint by simply analyzing any acorn. From there, they can build one with two springs, an acorn shell, and a crude rope, made from Grounded‘s plant fibers.
How to Use Clay
As stated before, clay is mainly used for base building. Aside from that, it can also be used for Grounded‘s decorations and a couple of utility items. Every item that uses clay in its crafting recipe is listed below:
- Armor Dummy
- Clay Foundation
- Clay Ramp
- Pebblet Foundation
- Pebblet Ramp
- Simple Bed
- Spinning Wheel
- Weapon Wall Mount
- Zipline Anchor
- Zipline Wall anchor
One last note: while the clay foundation and the pebblet foundation fulfill similar functions, the latter is more sturdy, and better able to stand up against insect attacks. If players have pebbles to spare, it’s a good investment to fortify their base.
Grounded is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
