Grounded combat guide: How to kill spiders

Grounded is an excellent survival game from Xbox Game Studios' Obsidian. Already one of the best games on Xbox Game Pass, Grounded is a tough but accessible adventure where you're shrunk down to the size of a matchstick.

Stuck in a 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids'-style nightmare, naturally, gigantic spooky spiders will make your life in the backyard all the more difficult. With some tips, though, they become a whole lot less scary. Here's how to kill spiders effectively in Grounded.

Related: How to enable arachnophobia mode on Grounded

How to kill spiders in Grounded

Spider slaying in Grounded revolves blocking primarily. There are two types of blocking in Grounded: a passive block, and a "perfect" block. Simply holding down the block button will greatly reduce the amount of incoming damage you take, but you'll still take a hit, which means you could end up poisoned, severely reducing your chance of combat success. Ideally, you'll want to time your blocks close to the moment the spiders strike, which will prevent all damage and also prevent poison procs from occurring.

1. There are two types of spiders in Grounded, an Orb Weaver and a Wolf spider.

2. Orb Weavers have yellow patterned abdomens and skinny legs, Wolf spiders have big hairy legs and brown striped, and are much larger.

   Source: Windows Central

3. Orb Weavers are far easier to kill, dealing less damage and moving more slowly. They open the fight by spitting webs from their abdomen, which you can easily dodge. Wolf spiders attack more quickly, deal poison damage, and also do a dive bomb attack, which can instantly-kill under-geared players.
4. To increase your chance of success, consider getting an Ant Mallet crafted from Soldier Ant mandibles, or at the very least a Sprig Mallet, crafted from needles gathered from a thistle plant. You could also craft some Acorn armor, from acorn parts near the big oak tree.

5. Approach your spider to aggro it. Its eyes will glow red, and it will focus you with hungry, murderous intent. You can also use a bow and arrow to get some hits in first, using a vantage point to avoid getting hit. You'd need a ton of arrows to kill a spider this way, though. It's far more effective to simply beat them down.

   Source: Windows Central

6. Orb weavers start the fight by attempting to web you, simply sidestep when they do this. Wolf spiders may jump up for a dive attack. You can perfect block this or run away out of range. Do not get hit, though, because it deals a crazy amount of damage.
7. Once the spiders have used their cooldown attacks, they will rear up and try to bite you. With some practice, it's easy to get the timing down. See the video above on how to block into a spider lunge. Especially on a Wolf spider, do not try and get more than one attack in after a block, or you won't have enough time to block the next spider lunge.

8. Wolf spiders have a far bigger attack range than Orb Weaver spiders, making blocking a bit more crucial. You can hug Orb Weavers and strafe sideways to simply avoid their bites, but it's better to perfect block. If you fail to perfect block, you may get poisoned.

   Source: Windows Central

9. Hit the spiders in the head as much as possible. Three or four hits with a two-handed weapon like the Ant Mallet will stun them temporarily, allowing for a few free hits or charge up attacks.
10. Repeat this process until the spider is squished. Be wary of the Wolf spider, since it will try to dive-bomb on you again after a few seconds into the fight. Orb Weavers only try to use webs again if you run out of range.

Oh and one more tip: watch your back!

Once you have killed the spiders, you can harvest their parts to make some mighty weapons and armor, so don't forget to loot! Happy hunting, and let me know in the comments if you have any more questions about spider slaying in Grounded!