How to Unlock the Water Biome Boss in Grimoire Groves

Progression in Grimoire Groves is mostly left up to the player to decide. You can expand your spells, upgrade your charms, or populate the forest with new plants to grow! These are all fairly simple endeavors; collect the right materials, and put them in the right places. Yet, when it comes to making big unlocks- such as new boss fights or biomes- the steps required aren’t as clear. There’s a few moments in every playthrough where progress plateaus, and players may find themselves stuck on how to proceed. One of these is unlocking the boss fight for the second biome in the game. If you’re at a loss on how to unlock the water biome boss in Grimoire Groves, this guide has you covered.

How to Unlock the Water Biome Boss in Grimoire Groves

Everything in Grimoire Groves is unlocked by harvesting plants and feeding those resources into different spots in your garden. Boss fights are no different. They do, however, require a few extra steps. If you’ve reached the end of any given biome, you might have noticed an area blocked off by an impassable bramble. You might have also noticed that there’s usually a specific NPC always hanging around next to it. The boss fight arena is right on the opposite side of this bramble. In order to clear the bramble, you’ll need to talk to and complete a quest for the NPC standing next to it. Completing this quest will spruce up the area, removing the debris impeding your progress.

In the case of the water biome, you need to help Irene with rebuilding her home in the forest. Most of the items she needs are fairly common. The 10 Beanemone are dropped by Beanies, a very common enemy you can find on every floor of the dungeon. The five clods of dirt are found on the ground in the dungeons. Harvest points for dirt glow purple, and will sometimes drop two clods when interacted with. That purple glow is harder to see in the water biome, so be on the lookout!

The essential items here are the Pristine Bubbles that drop from the Bubbcorn plant. Bubbcorn isn’t a default enemy; in order to encounter enough of them during your runs, you’ll have to first run into one in the forest, defeat it to collect the seed it drops, and then fully grow it in your garden. Afterwards, Bubbcorn can be regularly found in the water biome, and you can consistently collect enough Pristine Bubbles before you reach Irene.

Collecting materials for Irene’s quest isn’t the same as collecting them for garden upgrades. You need to have all the materials necessary to complete the quest, and turn them in all at the same time. This means, by the time you reach Irene, you need to have everything. A great way to ensure this happens is by running through the earth biome first, beating its boss, and then continuing your run by entering the blue door to the water biome. There’s a greater chance of failing the run, but it also improves the chances of finding enough materials. Once you’ve completed this first quest for Irene, the path to the boss will be cleared forever. You won’t have to redo the quest in order to fight the boss.

If you’re ever in doubt on how to access a new boss, you can always apply the same strategies you learned here. Focus on NPC quests, find out how to get the materials you need to complete them, and work backwards until you find a step you can complete.

Oftentimes, the solution will usually be to unlock something else. Those longer dungeon runs for guaranteed materials can be grueling if you haven’t upgraded your loadout. They’re much easier if you know where to heal in Grimoire Groves.

Grimoire Groves is available now on Steam.