Spawning Grounds

The Spawning Grounds is the first cave in Lover's Spring and the second cave overall in Pikmin 5: Apex Predator. There are 675 Pokos worth of treasure here. Blue Pikmin are found here, but the Blue Onion is not. Bring 80 or fewer Pikmin into the cave is recommended, so there is plenty of space in the squad for the resident Blue Pikmin.

When the cave is first approached, a cutscene begins. Rhea notes that to get to the cave, the all-Red squad had to avoid many puddles of water. She recommends that, due to the difficulty of navigating the puddles, perhaps a smaller squad of 80 Pikmin would be better for the cave. After the cutscene ends, the player character can adjust their Pikmin as needed and delve in.

Sublevel 1

 * Theme: Fire
 * Treasures:
 * None
 * Enemies:
 * (group of 10) (from eggs)
 * Vegetation:
 * None
 * Obstacles:
 * None
 * Other:
 * None
 * Other:

The landing site of this simple, T-shaped sublevel is at the top-right of it. The hole to the next sublevel is at the bottom, three eggs are located at the top-left, and six Female Sheargrubs populate the top-middle. Be careful about the three eggs, as while two contain nectar, the other one will always contain a swarm of ten panic-inducing Mitites. Six Male Sheargrubs reside in the corridor on the way to the hole onward, potentially posing a threat to Pikmin the Mitites made scatter too far away. To maximize safety, go after the Male Sheargrubs before the eggs, killing all of them.

Sublevel 2

 * Theme: Water
 * Treasures:
 * Phony Blowhog
 * Enemies:
 * Vegetation:
 * Obstacles:
 * Vegetation:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:

Upon landing on this sublevel, Rhea comments that she hears cries of some kind, but none resembling those of castaways. The camera pans to a corner of the room where Blue Pikmin are cowering in some clovers. They're walled in by fire geysers and one of the Puffy Blowhogs is threatening to blow the Blue Pikmin into them. Quickly head over to the corner, disable the geysers with Red Pikmin, and take out the flying menace. Whistle in the clovers, and ten Blue Pikmin will join the squad. Since there are so few, take them to the safety of the landing site and use Red Pikmin to take out the Shearwigs and Yellow Wollywogs. Only one enemy should be left, which is the other Puffy Blowhog. It lingers perilously close to a large water puddle, so throw Pikmin with caution. After killing this final enemy, the blowhog corpse and the Phony Blowhog it had ingested will most likely land in the puddle. Rhea will curse their luck again but Olimar will remind the player character that Blue Pikmin can get in the water. Claim the Phony Blowhog for 50 Pokos and continue to the next sublevel.

Sublevel 3

 * Theme: None
 * Treasures:
 * Enemies:
 * Vegetation:
 * Obstacles:
 * Vegetation:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:

The layout of the third sublevel is a giant circle. There are 10 Red Bulborbs and a familiar treasure inside one at random. The vast quantities of clovers provide cover if they accidentally wake up a Bulborb before attacking it and want to wait for it to go back to sleep. Isolate and kill the Puffy Blowhogs so they don't blow the Pikmin into the Bulborbs, waking them up. Next, take down the fire geysers around the Bulborbs to get rid of yet another potential distraction while fighting one. Finally, start killing the Bulborbs until the Strife Monolith falls out of one of them. Take it to the landing site, and either advance to the next sublevel or fight the remaining Bulborbs for extra Pokos.

Sublevel 4

 * Theme: Water
 * Treasures:
 * Red Alpha Emblem
 * Blue Alpha Emblem
 * Enemies:
 * Vegetation:
 * Obstacles:
 * Vegetation:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:
 * Obstacles:

The fourth sublevel is a giant square split into two sections, with the squad landing in the bottom right corner. The right half of the square is land with water puddles, and the left half is a giant puddle with islands. Wogpoles will only be on the left half of the room, the Emperor Bulblax will only be on the right half of the room, and the Dwarf Albino Bulborbs will be scattered everywhere except the bottom left quadrant. Keep the Blue Pikmin safely tucked in the corner and take the Red Pikmin along the land half. Kill the Dwarf Albino Bulborbs and disable the fire geysers to make it easier for the Blue Pikmin to later bring the Blue Alpha Emblem, a Pepsi bottlecap, from the watery side of the sublevel. Once done, confront the Emperor Bulblax at the top right corner. Make sure to consider the puddles when fighting it, because backing Red Pikmin into them in the middle of the fight would be a disaster. Killing the Emperor Bulblax results in it spitting out the Red Alpha Emblem, a Coca-Cola bottlecap. Take it back immediately, or send a few Blue Pikmin if the Bulblax spat it into the water. After collecting the Red Alpha Emblem, take the five Blue Pikmin and head to the bottom left corner of the big room. 10 Blue Pikmin will be chasing Wogpoles. Whistle them to add them to the squad. Enter the top left quadrant and take on the remaining Dwarf Albino Bulborbs, making sure to whistle the Pikmin immediately after throwing them to avoid the Blues getting distracted by the remaining Wogpoles. Take the Blue Alpha Emblem from the random Dwarf Albino Bulborb that has it and return it to the starting area before continuing on to the final sublevel.

Sublevel 5

 * Theme: Boss
 * Treasures:
 * Bot of Burden
 * Enemies:
 * Vegetation:
 * None
 * Obstacles:
 * None
 * Other:
 * None
 * Obstacles:
 * None
 * Other:

The final sublevel is shaped like a cog, with six teeth distributed along the sides of a hexagon, with the starting area being the bottom tooth. The exit is in the top tooth. The Empress Bulblax sits in the middle of the room, facing the leaders and Pikmin and giving birth, and the Red Bulborbs reside in the other four teeth alongside some eggs. Immediately whistle the Red Pikmin, keeping the Blue Pikmin away from the ravenous Larvae, and attack the Empress Bulblax, calling Pikmin back before she does her roll attack. Her roll move should kill every bulborb larva she gives birth to. If one or two survive, kill them with a captain. Repeat the strategy as many times as necessary and the Empress Bulblax should die, releasing the Bot of Burden, a treasure that looks like a large metal Skutterchuck and requires the strength of 20 Pikmin to carry. Then, kill every Bulborb residing in the other four gear teeth, with one dropping the Citrus Lump. If there are any Pikmin without flowers, be sure to crack open a few of the eggs nearby to advance their maturities. Take both treasures to the landing site for convenience's sake. Once the Bot of Burden is taken by the ship, a cutscene begins. A crew member analyzes the treasure and says they can reactivate it, turning it into a machine that lifts with the strength of 100 Pikmin, though it can only be used once per day. It is very important to take this treasure due to the larger creatures easily needing more than the strength of 100 Pikmin. Finally, take the Pikmin to the exit geyser and hop on, thereby completing the cave.