Grounded Guide: How to access the Koi Pond secret lab

Grounded, the massive survival adventure game from Obsidian that shrinks the player to the size of an ant, has finally launched out of early access. A series of updates have brought along plenty of new enemies, materials, a whole underwater biome which serves as the campaign’s third secret lab. The two previous labs are the one in the Oak Tree where you meet “BURG.L,” and the other can be found over in the hedge bush. Additional labs were added throughout the early access period, as well.

The journey to the secret lab in the hedge isn’t all too dangerous, as long as you keep your balance. The secret lab in the koi pond is a bit of a different story, though. Here is the best way to go about accessing the underwater lab, as well as grabbing the Koi Pond “BURG.L” chip.

Grounded — Where is the Koi Pond?

For those unfamiliar with Grounded and the landscape layout, there is one easy way to keep track of where the Koi Pond is and where to find it. Look to the horizon and gaze at the Oak Tree, as the koi pond is behind the tree. Setting up a base camp somewhere between the oak tree and koi pond can allow you to craft necessary equipment and store precious resources you collect in the area. 

Once past the Oak tree, head to the North edge of the pond and look for the “Frankenline” toy that is the ground. It’s a giant, green, Frankenstein looking drawing contraption reminiscent of an old school etch-a-sketch. This is a great area that can provide enough materials to get you established and ready to tackle the koi pond but be wary of dangers like bombardier beetles and orb weavers. There are many spiders along the inner edge of the pond, specifically on the oak tree side along the fence line. Thankfully, we have a handy guide on how to kill the spiders in Grounded that can help you out here.

Preparing for the dive

While you can freely collect lily pad wax with no issue, you will need a few other items you will want to discover and craft before you leave in order to make your dive to the underwater lab a bit easier. These items and the materials needed to craft them include: 

• Pebblet Dagger: Pebblet x2, Crude Rope x2, Lilypad Wax x2.
• Fin Flops: Water boatman fin x4, Eelgrass Strand x4, Lilypad Wax x2.
• Gill Tube: Lilypad Wax x2, Eelgrass x4, Silk Rope x2 – Eighty seconds of oxygen.

Once you gather your first lily pad wax and analyze it at a field station for Raw Science, it will unlock the recipes for a pebble knife and fin flops, both of which are both essential for dealing with the koi pond. You will also need the tier one rebreather, called a Gill Tube, to breathe longer underwater. It is important to note that you only have thirty seconds of oxygen without any help from additional equipment. Use your time wisely and move quickly. 

Between the two new recipes you’ve just learned, you will have to craft the pebble knife first. This tool is key to progressing further into the koi pond. In order to make the fin flops needed to progress further into the pond depths, you will have to hunt down four water boatman bugs and attack them with the pebble knife to harvest their fins. They are large, swimming insects that have two large legs propelling them through the water. They primarily swim around a little under the surface of the water. The bugs are tough and swim quickly, but they do not retaliate or attack. You will need to still be mindful of your oxygen level while you are hunting them. Not all of the Grounded creatures under the water are as tolerant of your antics as the water boatman, however, so you’ll want to keep an eye out for the aggressive diving bell spiders as well as the rumblings of the massive one-eyed koi fish that can take you out in one fell swoop. 

Once a pebble knife is in your possession, you can collect another underwater resource called Eel Grass. This is found at the bottom of the pond and essentially looks like long strands of seaweed. Hacking at the eel grass with the pebble knife will cause it to collapse into little curly bundles of grass chunks much like chopping at normal grass does. Once you’ve gathered at least a single stack of ten, you will be able to make those fin flops and swim around the pond faster. Don’t forget to analyze the eel grass at the field station, as well, in order to unlock two additional recipes for the Gill Tube and the Slime Lantern.