The thicket of flower petals, dandelion tufts, and grass seeds in Grounded 2 can be a pain to sift through, but fortunately, thistle needles aren't too hard to spot once you know what to look for. They're handy materials to hoard too, as I'd easily blow through stacks of thistle needles while crafting arrows [[link]] and fences en masse. You can never really gather too many, so get your storage bins sorted early.
The only bummer is having to pick thistle needles up one by one. They grow on weed stalks, so to gather a healthy supply, you'll need to carefully climb up and hop along leaves to strip plant stems clean.
Where to get thistle needles in Grounded 2
Thistle needles are available in Grounded 2's first location, Snackbar Front, and I easily spotted some from Ranger Outpost: Snackbar. Identify them by looking up [[link]] along the park's skyline for one of the pink flowers with spiky leaves—those are Thistles.
I found my first just northeast of the Snackbar outpost, plus a few more nearby. I've highlighted that in red in the screenshot above, but if you zoom in on your map while exploring, you'll notice little pink dots scattered about the surrounding zones. Those small markers should yield more thistle needles.
When you've got your sights set on a weed, use 'E' to pick up one thistle needle at a time. Once the bottom of the stem is picked clean, hop along the prickly leaves to climb higher and collect more needles. It's not a difficult chore, but it's tedious, so I wound up making a basket and filling it with thistle needles early on.
How to use thistle needles in Grounded 2
After my early game collecting spree, I didn't run out of thistle needles often, but did use them quite a bit. For reference, you'll need the extra raw materials for quite a few crafts in Grounded 2:
- Spike strips, used in The Art of War quest
- Arrows, reusable ammo that's not always easy to find after taking a shot
- The Nifty Needle, a trinket that adds extra bow damage
