Where to find potato bugs in Grounded 2

Finding Grounded 2‘s potato bugs is something you’ll want to do fairly quickly once you arrive in the Veggie Garden. While you only get a few recipes from scanning the potato bug’s remains, they’re highly useful for bolstering your defense and ailment resistance. You also need some potato bug bits to upgrade one of your Omni-Tool’s functions, so make sure to track a few down when you have a spare moment.

Below, we explain where to find potato bugs in Grounded 2 and how to take them out quickly.

Where to find potato bug locations in Grounded 2

You’ll run across several potato bugs in Grounded 2‘s Veggie Garden map, roughly nine or 10. Most of them are in the central part of the region, west of the chard patch where you can find ladybug eggs and near the Hammer point of interest.

Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon

We also found two potato bugs in the greenhouse area, one to the east of the structure and one to the south, as you approach the bags of dirt.

Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon

And there’s another potato bug at the western edge of the pumpkin patch, lumbering around the vegetables alongside some spiders and larvae.

Potato bug weaknesses and drops

Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon

Potato bugs behave almost identically to ladybugs. Their primary attack is a big lunging tackle, which covers a lot of ground and, if it hits, takes a big chunk out of your health. You can block with a weapon or shield to take some of the sting out of the hit or just dodge it entirely.

They’ll frequently tuck their legs in and defend themselves against attacks, which drastically reduces the damage you can deal. However, it also gives you space to relocate and heal if necessary.

Potato bugs are weak to smashing and fresh damage, and if you have a slashing weapon, you can aim at their legs (their sole weak point) to deal additional damage. Your best bet is to use a bow with mint arrows or the Glacial Sting staff to fling fresh damage at the potato bug from afar. It’ll eventually freeze after enough hits, and you can either keep attacking at a distance or rush in to hit it with a two-handed club when that happens.

Like with all enemies in Grounded 2, there’s no guarantee you’ll get the parts you want when you defeat a potato bug. We had to hunt down three before we got a single head, for example. However, it’s worth the fuss. Scanning a potato bug head unlocks tier-three gear recipes with defense only rivaled by snail shell armor. And you need the head to upgrade your hammer tool, which you can then use to start harvesting late-game items, including snail shells and pinecones.