In the world of Mudborne, you’ll encounter a variety of unique mushrooms as you explore different locations. If you’re savvy about the right conditions and external temperatures, the possibilities are endless. But what if you could take these genetically-modified mushrooms to the next level? What transformations could you achieve?
Once you advance through the Kindergarten map, you’ll unlock the ability to grow hybrid mushrooms. This new species can inherit traits from both parent mushrooms, opening up countless combinations for your magical mud recipes.
Unlock Spore Cultivating Machines and Create New Mushrooms
Access Spore Hybridization
As you continue to explore the various regions beyond the Central Junction in Mudborne, you’ll gather plenty of mushrooms and hone your skills in adjusting temperature and moisture around your cultivators to create advanced mushroom species. If your goal is to modify the most traits at once during your next breeding project, you’ll want to start integrating hybrid mushrooms sooner rather than later.
To get started, you’ll need to unlock the Kindergarten map, located east of the Central Junction. Here, you’ll meet Ribbert, who will assign you tasks related to the area. Your main objective is to reach the Seal Maker on the northernmost island and craft one of three seals necessary to reactivate the statue at Central Junction. However, Ribbert will also have a task for you involving mushroom hybridization.
To find the Spore Hybridization building, head north of the stagnant water pools at the lower left and right of the Gateway Nexus portal. Unfortunately, this building is locked in the waking world. Ribbert asks you to retrieve research from within, but to do this, you’ll have to access it through the dream world.
You can activate a few Reflection Pools in the Kindergarten map for easier travel between the Kindergarten and Future Farms maps. Alternatively, if you’ve already activated portals in the Gateway Nexus, you can enter the Future Farms without using one of the Reflection Pools on the Kindergarten map.
A good strategy for this is to activate the portals on the roof of the Carpenter’s Shop in the Spawning Pools and one of the portals on the Kindergarten map. If you enter the dream world from the Spawning Pools map and utilize the Gateway Nexus to travel to the Kindergarten, you’ll arrive at the Future Farms map instead.
Once you reach the Future Farms, navigate to the unlocked Spore Hybridization Building. You’ll need to clear the algae bloom blocking your path, as your frog can’t cross the greenery. Please remember to bring along a Filter and a high-Edacity frog.
Upon entering, check the chest inside to collect the information Ribbert requested. You can return this data to him in either the waking world or the dream world. Once you deliver the research back to Ribbert, he will be able to trade you necessary items for creating hybrid mushrooms in Mudborne.
These items include:
- A Spore Net, provided by Ribbert in exchange for one Dracofly. This net can capture critters like your regular net and also allows you to collect mushroom spores before they develop into full-sized mushrooms if you prefer harvesting spores for breeding.
- Spore Paper, designed to press spores to cultivate hybrid mushrooms. Ribbert gives you five sheets for one Flat Stinkhorn.
- A Spore Printer, which you can obtain from Ribbert for one Stout Funnel, five Logs, and five Reeds. This critical machine prints special paper embedded with mushroom spores necessary for planting hybrid mushrooms in Mudborne.
- A Spore Cultivator, which is essential for hybrid mushroom growth. Combine any compost recipe with Spore Paper featuring mushroom spores, and you’ll receive three Spore Cultivators from Ribbert in exchange for one Bothersome Fungus, one Log, and one Waterproof Coating.
With these tools at your disposal, you’re ready to set up the perfect workspace to start creating hybrid mushrooms.
Print Spores on Spore Paper and Cultivate Them
Once you’ve collected the necessary items from Ribbert, you’ll be able to utilize any mushroom spores in the printer along with special sheets of paper to create hybrid mushrooms. Be aware that regular mushrooms and mushroom powder are different items; specifically, you need mushroom spores for this project. Use your spore net on the mushrooms you want to hybridize and catch the spores before they fully grow.
When creating spore paper, you have two slots for spores that will carry over to the hybrid mushroom process. The way you organize these slots is key. Hybrid mushrooms will adopt the trait changes from both parent mushrooms. If you use spores from different species, you’ll get a hybrid mushroom with traits from both. However, if you use two spores of the same species, you’ll just grow a regular mushroom, so use your paper wisely!
For example, if the Compendium asks for a hybrid mushroom made from Stout Funnel (which boosts Amplitude by one) and Flat Stinkhorn (which increases both Nobility and Odour by one), the resulting hybrid mushroom will raise Amplitude, Nobility, and Odour by one with just one mushroom.
When you’ve prepared the spore paper with the right spores, place it into a Spore Cultivator positioned where the mushroom can thrive. Keep in mind that one parent mushroom will dominate, and the resulting mushroom will be marked with “hybrid.” For instance, using the previous example from the Compendium, the mushroom you produce will be called the Stout Funnel Hybrid.
When placing your Spore Cultivator, consider the dominant mushroom type as hybrids will develop in an environment suitable for the more dominant species. For example, the Stout Funnel Hybrid’s spores will grow optimally in a Balmy and Drenched area when the Spore Cultivator is situated in water.
Make sure the conditions stay consistent while the hybrid mushroom grows; otherwise, their development may stall until conditions return to normal. Various compost recipes can help mitigate the impacts of weather changes, with some recipes specifically countering snow and rain.
Your mushrooms won’t die if conditions change during their growth. They will simply pause their development until things improve again, as long as there’s compost in the Spore Cultivator the entire time. Like standard cultivators, hybrid mushrooms will perish if you run out of compost.
Utilize a Grinder to turn any hybrid mushroom you’ve cultivated into mushroom powder. When using this powder for your next magic mud recipe, you’ll have the ability to modify multiple traits at once with one mushroom powder. This is particularly useful for creating some of the rarest frog variations documented in the Encyclopedia, as fewer mushrooms lead to greater efficiency in your breeding efforts.
As you start breeding more advanced frogs and uncover their unique variants, you will find that some require changes to more traits than what regular magic mud can provide, even with the upgrades available from Annura in the Climate Control area. With a variety of spores at hand, the end-game frog breeding process becomes much more manageable, allowing you to modify several traits significantly within a single generation.
Utilize Projectors to Predict Hybrid Mushroom Results
One valuable blueprint is for a Projector, which allows you to foresee the outcome of hybridizing any two mushrooms. While you can estimate the effects based on the A.N.O.U.R.E.S. changes from both parent mushrooms, this tool ensures you have the correct spores before starting the cultivation process, helping you conserve resources!
