As an experienced Cookie Clicker player, you’ve likely wondered at some point whether you should start the Grandmapocalypse by popping your first wrinkler. This fateful decision can significantly impact your cookie production, unlock powerful upgrades, and fundamentally change the way you play the game. Before taking the plunge, it’s important to weigh the potential risks and rewards. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you decide if starting the Grandmapocalypse is right for your particular Cookie Clicking strategy.
What is the Grandmapocalypse?
The Grandmapocalypse is a late-game Cookie Clicker feature that dramatically alters gameplay once unlocked. It begins when you purchase the “One mind” upgrade, which requires having at least 1 of every grandma type. This causes your grandmas to become sentient, opening a portal and unleashing wrinklers which will suck away your cookies.
The Grandmapocalypse has 3 stages of increasing intensity. Each stage unlocks new cookie production modifiers, upgrades, and minigames. However, they also increase the frequency of negative effects like dropping your cookie production rate or wrath cookie storms.
Stage 1: Awoken
The initial stage occurs immediately after purchasing One mind. Your grandmas take on a creepy sentient appearance. Wrinklers will begin to spawn frequently, attaching themselves to your cookie total and draining 5% of your CpS per wrinkler. To counterbalance this, you gain access to 2 new upgrades:
- Elder Pact – Reduces wrinkler spawn rate by 50%.
- Sacrificial rolling pins – Clicking a wrinkler bursts it, releasing 3x the cookies it had swallowed.
You’ll also unlock wrinkler-related heavenly upgrades to increase the cookies released and CpS penalty when bursting them. The elder pledge auras are also now available, which completely prevent wrinklers from spawning for 30 minutes at the cost of some cookies.
Stage 2: Displeased
Entering stage 2 requires purchasing the “Communal brainsweep” upgrade, which turns your grandmas even more sinister. They begin having an occasional negative effect on your CpS. Every few seconds, you have a chance of a clot decreasing your output or an elder frenzy dramatically increasing it for a short time.
To offset this, you gain access to 3 new upgrades:
- Unholy bait – Spawns 1 wrinkler per second for 1 minute when purchased.
- Wrinklerspawn – Doubles your wrinkler limit to a maximum of 12.
- Sacrilegious corruption – Gives wrinklers a 2% chance to drop an object when bursting them.
You can also unlock the shiny wrinklers upgrade to make all wrinklers golden for a CpS boost. Additionally, wrath cookie effects become available, bringing both beneficial and harmful outcomes.
Stage 3: Angered
Purchasing “Elder Pact” initiates the final and most powerful grandmapocalypse stage. Your grandmas become so mutated and twisted that they are an abomination to behold. CpS clots and elder frenzies occur much more frequently.
However, you also gain these new features:
- Spontaneous edifice – A rare building that appears for 20-60 seconds, granting a big CpS boost.
- Wrinklers suck up 6% of CpS instead of 5%.
- Wrath cookie storms can spawn up to 3 wrath cookies every 10 seconds.
In the angered stage, you truly feel the full impact of the grandmapocalypse. Careful planning and pledge/covenant tactical use is crucial to thriving and overcoming the increased wrath effects.
Pros of Starting the Grandmapocalypse
Beginning the Grandmapocalypse brings some extremely powerful boosts to CpS and cookie production. Here are some of the major upsides:
More Cookie Production from Wrinklers
Wrinklers provide a significant CpS increase once you learn how to properly utilize them. Each wrinkler sucks up 5-6% of your current CpS, but when popped releases 3x the cookies it swallowed. With full grandmapocalypse upgrades, you can have up to 12 wrinklers on screen, meaning they could potentially give over 300% of your baking output per minute when bursted simultaneously.
You’ll need to pledge frequently to keep wrinklers from draining your supply for too long. But timed properly, wrinklers are an unparalleled cookie multiplier.
Powerful Upgrades and Abilities
The grandmapocalypse upgrades provide major CpS boosts that vastly outclass anything you can access prior. Communal Brainsweep and Elder Pact give +60% CpS each. Unholy bait and Wrinklerspawn allow you to build a huge wrinkler army. Shiny wrinklers add another upgrade layer.
Elder Frenzy gives a massive 7x cookie multiplier for 13 seconds, while clots halve production for 66 seconds. When comboed with Frenzy lucky effects, the output can be insane. Wrath cookies and spontaneous edifices add unpredictability and huge rewards.
New Minigames and Content
The grandmapocalypse lets you access 2 new minigames:
- Wrinkler dice – Guess which wrinkler ate the most cookies for a cookies reward.
- Wrath cookie slamming – Clicking wrath cookies before they disappear. Speed and accuracy determines the payout.
These optional minigames add fresh gameplay elements and a new way to earn cookies without buying buildings. There’s also new grandma transformation animations, sounds, and visuals that make gameplay more varied and exciting.
Achievements and Heavenly Upgrades
Starting the grandmapocalypse unlocks a sizeable new batch of Shadow Achievements, including:
- What’s in a name? – Own 666 of every grandma type
- Third-party – Burst the rare brown wrinkler variant
- Moistburster – Pop a wrinkler with 1,000,000,000 cookies inside
- A still more glorious dawn – Get to 1 septendecillion cookies baked with no ascensions
These provide fun new challenges that award you with heavenly chips to permanently boost your CpS. There’s also shadow-themed cookie production and wrinkler achievements.
Cons of Starting the Grandmapocalypse
Of course, embracing the corrupted grandmas doesn’t come without its downsides. Here are some potential negatives to consider:
CPS Drains from Wrinklers
If you’re not actively hunting and bursting wrinklers, they’ll happily keep draining your CpS over time. An unattended full swarm of 12 can cut your production to just 30% in minutes. Regular pledging is needed to clear them off when cookie totals are getting low.
Negative Effects from Clots & Elders
The unpredictable clots and spontaneous elder frenzy effects can be a blessing or a curse. Clots especially can cripple your production at inopportune times if you’re unlucky. You have no control over when these occur.
More Cookie Loss from Wrath Cookies
Wrath cookies bring downsides like ruining your buildings, cursing your CpS, or forcibly harvesting all your cookie banks. Early on, they may do more harm than good until you unlock more wrath cookie frequency and control.
Less Predictable Gameplay
The randomly occurring elders, clots, wraths, and wrinkler spawns make cookie production a lot more dynamic and chaotic. Your CpS can skyrocket or plummet rapidly at any moment. This unpredictable gameplay may be frustrating for those who prefer steady idling progression.
Repeated Pledging Gets Tedious
Battling the constant wrinkler hordes and wrath effects takes work. You’ll be pledging every 30-60 minutes to clear wrinklers and avoid cookie loss. Some players may find the extra micro-managing tedious.
Is Starting the Grandmapocalypse Right for You?
There’s valid arguments on both sides for embracing or avoiding the corrupted grandmas. Here are a few key factors to consider when deciding:
Your Preferred Playstyle
The grandmapocalypse benefits active players more than passive idlers early on. You need to be actively hunting wrinklers, timing elder frenzies well, and managing wrath effects to maximize gains. If you strongly prefer idle play with minimal effort, avoiding it may suit you better.
Your Progress Stage
In the very early game, wrinklers and wrath cookies are usually too detrimental. But once you have a solid cookie bank and CpS, their potential positives start to far outweigh the risks. Around the mid-late “Decillion” stage is ideal for most players.
Your Patience Level
Controlling the grandmapocalypse adds plenty of new micro-tasks and hands-on gameplay elements. If you don’t enjoy or don’t have the time for increased active play, the repeated pledging and minigames might become a nuisance.
Your Fondness of Risk
The unpredictable wrinkler spawns, elder effects, and wrath cookies add excitement via risk vs. reward. If you find gambling and volatility fun, you’ll likely enjoy the grandmapocalypse more. The random highs and lows lead to a more dynamic experience.
Tips for Managing the Grandmapocalypse
If you do decide to unleash the grandmapocalypse, here are some tips to handle all the new mechanics:
- Use an auto-clicker for bursting wrinklers and wrath cookie clicking.
- Keep at least 1 golden cookie effect active for combos with Elder Frenzy.
- Wait until you have a large cookie bank before popping a full set of wrinklers.
- Unlock all shimmering veil upgrades to maximize wrinkler output.
- Save sugar lumps for the Elder Covenant if you dislike wrath cookies.
- Prioritize the Communal Brainsweep and Elder Pact upgrades first.
- Learn which minigames you find most profitable and focus on those.
- Use different pledges situationally – Elder for idling, Revoke for clot blocking, and Covenant for long AFK periods.
Conclusion
The grandmapocalypse can be both a blessing and a curse. Ultimately, it significantly speeds up cookie production and CpS for players willing to put in some extra active play and wrinkler management. The unpredictable but powerful wrath effects and minigames also make gameplay more exciting once mastered.
However, if you favor fully AFK idle play with minimal effort, the early game negatives and constant micromanaging required might not be worth it. There’s no definitively “right” choice – it depends entirely on your personal preferences and playstyle.
Overall the grandmas offer tremendous late-game power, but require some adaptation. If you want to embrace the darkness and don’t mind the extra effort, starting the Grandmapocalypse will reward players willing to wield its potential effectively.
