Upgrading gear in Grounded 2 becomes necessary not long after you finish the Art of War mission. Enemy difficulty starts to scale up, and gear drops remain limited in the early game. This guide explains how gear upgrades work, where to find essential materials, and how to unlock the systems required to start improving your equipment.
How To Upgrade Gear In Grounded 2
You can only upgrade gear in Grounded 2 by bringing weapons and armor to the Smithing Station. This is the only place where you can enhance equipment, improving stats like durability, defense, and damage.
To make this work, you’ll need to unlock the Smithing Station and gather key materials like brittle quartzite and brittle marble shards. These are crafted into whetstones and plating, which serve as the core resources for upgrading. Because these materials are limited early on, knowing where to find them and how to use them efficiently becomes essential for long-term progression.
How To Unlock The Smithing Station
Once you’re done with Art of War, head to any Ranger Station and pick up the Smithing Station blueprint, it costs 500 Science. You’ll need a few materials to build it: two sap, one brittle whetstone, one brittle plating, and four crude ropes.
Once you’ve built the station, that’s where you start upgrading your items. Both weapons and armor can be enhanced there, which gives them better damage, defense, and durability. Still, you won’t be able to do any of that unless you get the right upgrade materials, and that’s a big part of early progression.
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Where to find and Crafting Brittle Materials
To get those materials, brittle whetstones and plating, you have to collect brittle quartzite shards and brittle marble shards first. Then, you craft them at the workbench. These shards aren’t easy to find early on, and your scanner won’t be much help until after you finish the A Strange Warning mission.
You’ll usually find these shards in a few spots. Try around the big tree in the Entrance area, near the Picnic Table, or in the garden beds close to the Statue. The Toxic Anthill cave is easily one of the best places to go. Look under the checkered picnic blanket on the east side to get in. It’s dark in there, so bring torches, and if you ride an ant mount, the ants won’t attack you while you explore.
Once you’ve picked up enough shards, bring them to a workbench and craft brittle whetstones and plating. After that, just use them at the Smithing Station to upgrade your gear.
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How to Upgrade Gear Efficiently
Weapons use brittle whetstones. To hit level one, you’ll need five. Then ten for level two, and fifteen for level three. Damage and durability both go up. Armor works the same, but with brittle plating instead, two for the first level, then four, then six. Each level gives better defense and longer durability. As of now, level three is the highest upgrade level you can reach.
To avoid relying too much on shard farming, you can unlock alternate recipes for making whetstones and plating. Grab the Optical Disk from the Ice Cream Cart area and bring it to a Ranger Station. After that, you’ll be able to craft those materials using sap and other items, like larva spikes for whetstones or grub hides for plating. Each recipe costs 1,000 Science but makes your upgrade path way more manageable over time.
Most players shouldn’t bother upgrading early-game gear. Instead, it’s better to save your brittle materials for weapons like the Stinger Spear, Insect Axe, or Koi armor. You’ll need a lot of them later, and they’re pretty limited at the beginning anyway.
