With the fresh DLC that dropped, the Brotato Primal Dread Evolution system was introduced. This new system essentially lets you turn your weapons into heavily upgraded killing machines or mutate items for some ridiculous stat bonuses. What’s the catch? The enemies evolve with you, and their Evolution type depends on your Evolution type. The Jungle becomes way more dangerous overall.
Evolution has two paths, Mecha and Mutation, each with its own upgrades and enemies. Mecha has positive Evolution points, while Mutation has negative Evolution points. You need the blue pickups for Mecha and yellow-green pickups for Mutation. Here’s how both work, how to trigger them, and which one makes more sense for your build.
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How Does Evolution Work in Brotato Primal Dread?
Evolution is a new stat, but it isn’t your run-of-the-mill stat. Unlike most Brotato stats, which increase or decrease a specific attribute, Evolution has two available paths and influences the game’s mechanics during your run. Positive Evolution leads toward Mecha, while negative Evolution leads toward Mutation. Mecha buffs the bonuses on your weapons. You collect parts, mechanize your weapons, and pick extra stats to improve their performance. Mutation is different; it allows you to randomly copy item effects and potentially turn normal item combinations into much stronger builds.
However, this power comes with a price. As your Evolution progresses, dinosaurs on the battlefield begin evolving too. Going Mecha means dealing with laser attacks and slowing oil puddles. Mutation introduces enemies that spread damaging acid. You’re basically choosing which poison cup is more fun to drink.
How to Get Mecha or Mutation Evolution
You change your Evolution by collecting special drops during combat waves. These pickups you get move the stat in opposite directions, allowing you to somewhat choose which upgrades and evolved enemies appear.
| Path | Evolution Stat | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Mecha | +3 Evolution | Mechanized weapons become available in the shop, alongside Mecha enemies |
| Mutation | -3 Evolution | Mutated items and consumables become available in the shop, alongside Mutant enemies |
Unlike other materials, uncollected Evolution pickups do not automatically move to your character when a wave ends. This gave me some control over how I wanted my run to go. If you’re aiming for Mecha, focus on the BLUE pickups and if you want Mutation, go for the YELLOW-GREEN pickups.
Mecha Evolution: How to Upgrade Weapons
The Mecha Evolution path lets you reinforce weapons with additional stats through a process called mechanization. You’ll need Mecha parts, which can be obtained through combat drops. You can also acquire more by dismantling mechanized weapons in the shop.
How Weapon Mechanization Works
As I said, you use Mecha parts to mechanize your equipped weapons. Rather than simply increasing their rarity, mechanization adds another layer of bonuses to the intended weapon. The upgrades can improve offensive stats such as Attack Speed, Melee Damage, Crit Chance, or Life Steal. They can increase defensive stats like Armor and HP Regeneration as well.
Mechanization isn’t limited to one upgrade per weapon. You can keep on reinforcing the same weapon, although the amount of Mecha parts required increases as you continue upgrading it. The costs start with two parts and increase to three (and then more) for subsequent upgrades. I suggest you start mechanizing when you’ve already settled on a weapon you intend to keep for the rest of the run. Instead of spending your resources improving weapons you’ll eventually replace, you can put them on equipment that fits your build.
How to Get More Mecha Parts
Your main source of obtaining Mecha Parts is collecting them from enemy combat waves. You can also dismantle already-mechanized weapons or weapons you’d previously mechanized yourself, but I don’t recommend this method that much because the outcome amount isn’t that much.
Mutation Evolution: How Item Copying Works
Mutation deals with items instead of weapons. Rather than selecting precise weapon upgrades, Mutation gives you a chance to copy existing item effects, so these bonuses can stack and produce much larger stat increases than the original items would provide on their own.
For example, copying an item that improves Harvesting could strengthen your economy. Duplicating effects that increase projectiles or other damage bonuses can make an offensive build OP. But you got to remember: Mutation is less predictable than Mecha. The item selected for mutation and the resulting effect bring randomness into the process.
Mutating and Duplicating Items
Once I got Mutation unlocked, mutated items and consumables received upgrade options. Mutations can copy existing item effects, transform items, or replace them with mutated versions of a higher rarity. This is where Mutation becomes a fantastic viable option for builds that depend on several powerful passive items rather than a single weapon. As Mutations stack, a “Tumor” tracks and aggregates copied item passives and stat bonuses across rounds. These stacking interactions give Mutation considerable potential during extended runs.
But there is a downside worth considering.
Some Mutations can transform or replace items that form an important part of your build. Losing a valuable economy item or defensive bonus can be a problem, especially when your strategy depends on it. That’s why Mutation is all about flexibility, baby. You’re not getting specific results, you’re rolling the dice.
Mecha vs Mutation: Which Evolution Is Better?
You probably guessed it: it depends on your build. Both are equally powerful in their own rights.
| Feature | Mecha Evolution | Mutation Evolution |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | Positive (+) | Negative (-) |
| Main benefit | Reinforce weapons | Copy item effects |
| Upgrade style | Select weapon bonuses | Random item bonuses |
| Main resource | Mecha parts | Mutation pickups and items |
| Scaling | Repeated weapon upgrades | Stacking item effects |
| Enemy type | Mecha dinosaurs | Mutant dinosaurs |
| Main hazard | Lasers and slowing oil | Damaging acid |
| Dedicated character | Droid | Variant |
When Should You Choose Mecha?
When you want to create an optimized build, especially centered on a weapon you really favor. You’ll be sticking with that weapon and continuously upgrading it into a handheld nuke. This also makes Mecha appealing when you want to make sure of a specific attribute. A weapon that scales with HP Regeneration, for example, can use the bonuses to improve both its performance and your chances of surviving longer.
When Should You Choose Mutation?
When you focus on a run centered on gathering optimized items with unpredictable bonuses. The ability to copy effects means an otherwise ordinary item can become far more valuable when its bonus effects are multiplied. Item-centered builds have some nice opportunities here, especially when the duplicated effects influence economy, damage, or health. You sacrifice some control over the exact outcome, but the potential for unusually strong combos makes Mutation worth playing around with.
How Evolution Changes Enemies and Hazards
The game keeps track of which upgrades you’re picking for your Evolution and it throws enemies at you that follow your upgrade pattern.
Mecha Dinosaurs: Lasers and Oil Puddles
As Mecha Evolution increases, mechanized dinosaurs start appearing in the Jungle. Some use laser attacks (with visible warnings) with enough chance to move out of their firing paths. However, lasers aren’t the only obstacle of your Brotatoing experience. Mecha enemies can also leave blue oil puddles that reduce your movement speed. Getting slowed while dodging a laser or escaping a charging dinosaur can quickly become dangerous. Your positioning matters even more when the battlefield starts filling with these hazards.
Mutant Dinosaurs: Acid and Aggressive Attacks
The problem here is mostly the acid. Mutant dinosaurs come in different looks from the mecha dinosaurs, and they have different attacks too, including aggressively fast moves and projectiles. Their most distinctive hazard is acid, which damages your health when you come into contact with it. Mutant enemies generally come with faster charges and wider projectile spreads. That makes maintaining enough space to maneuver important, especially during crowded waves later on.
Best Items, Weapons, and Characters for Evolution
The Primal Dread DLC adds some cool weapons and items with effects that go perfectly with your chosen Evolution path. Some help you deal with evolved enemies, while others offer additional ways to increase your stats.
Best Items
| Item | Effect |
|---|---|
| Plastic Boots | Protects against ground hazards, including Mecha oil and Mutant acid puddles. |
| Jamming Backpack | Provides +5 Mecha Evolution and applies a 50% slowdown to Mecha enemies on hit. |
| Virus | Gives a 25% chance to charm evolved enemies below 50% HP. |
| Fossil Items | Provide bonuses that become stronger as you collect more fossils. |
| Dino Egg | Can hatch into an allied dinosaur pet after being protected for three waves. |
| Hungry Hungry Dinosaur | Consumes healing fruits to gain stacking damage bonuses. |
Plastic Boots was incredibly useful to me because I used it to avoid all the environmental hazards that came with both Evolution paths. In my Mecha run, I also picked The Jamming Backpack to slow mechanized enemies. Virus is another good one; Instead of simply dealing more damage to evolved dinosaurs, it can potentially turn weakened enemies into allies. Cute dino friends.
Fossil Items and Evolution Synergies
Fossils were a whole new world to me. They are a new group of unique items. Their bonuses improve as you collect more members of the set. You can collect Fossil Left Leg, Fossil Tooth, Fossil Jaw, and Fossil Spine, with bonuses that increase Movement Speed, Max HP, Life Steal, and HP Regeneration. I found these Fossils to be extra useful for my Evolution runs because honestly? They saved my butt more than a few times by helping me avoid those pesky acid hazards.
Best Weapons
| Weapon | What it does |
|---|---|
| Meat Tenderizer | Scales with HP Regeneration and offers defensive-stat synergy. |
| Heavy Machine Gun | Fires rapidly using a large magazine before reloading. |
| Sticky Grenade | Attaches to targets and explodes after a short delay. |
| Tranq Rifle | Benefits from Range and slows targets. |
| Molotov Cocktail | Creates persistent burning areas. |
| Pan Flute | Uses Luck-based ranged damage and multiple projectiles. |
| Crowbar | Can create defensive turrets after reaching kill milestones. |
| Shovel | Has a chance to produce item crates from enemy kills. |
The Meat Tenderizer is my favorite simply because of the HP Regeneration. It’s the best weapon to mechanize, in my opinion. The Heavy Machine Gun is another great weapon for repeated upgrades, especially when the additional stats might improve its sustained firepower. The Shovel’s unique mechanic (generating crates) also has potential value for builds that want access to more items.
Best Characters for Evolution
The two new characters are optimal for the Evolution system, actually.
Droid is great for a Mecha run because they receive free Mecha parts when leveling up. In exchange, normal level-up stat choices are disabled, and enemies receive an additional damage increase as the character progresses. This means you got to manage your materials very carefully. Spend too much on shop upgrades, and the Droid might just die on the next wave.
Variant is essentially built around Mutation. They automatically trigger a mutation at the end of each wave, so use them for item-based scaling. The character comes with a 25% XP gain penalty, sadly. There is, however, a 50% chance for Variant to have certain mutated-item replacements result in a higher-rarity version.
