What mutations do
A mutation is a modifier on an egg or pet that multiplies its income. In Steal an Egg it's the second-biggest factor in a pet's value after egg weight, and it's the reason the leaderboard looks the way it does. When we asked how the number one player got there, the answer wasn't "luck with divines". She saved every mutation item while they were unavailable and dumped them all onto big eggs when the next mutation update arrived.
The multipliers, measured
Older guides list Golden at 2x and Rainbow at 2.5x. Those numbers don't match what the current version shows. We took readings where creators applied different mutations to the same egg through the creator panel and divided each by the unmutated value. The results line up across every pet we checked, from a $3.5M King Snake to a $147B World Burner:
| Mutation | Measured | Older guides |
|---|---|---|
| Silver | ~1.2x | 1.25x |
| Golden | ~2.5x | 2x |
| Scrambled | ~2.75x | — |
| Rainbow | ~3.5x | 2.5x |
The evidence table above shows the raw readings. If the developers change a multiplier in a future update, the ratios in that table are the first thing we re-check.
Natural mutations: Silver, Golden, Rainbow
These roll by themselves on eggs in biomes. You'll see them before stealing: silver eggs look metallic, golden ones shine and rainbow eggs cycle colours. Admin Abuse often adds a 2x mutation boost, which is the best time to farm them. Rainbow is the most valuable natural roll and the rarest, especially on divines. One creator called a rainbow-plus-scrambled Night Flame "incredibly rare".
Scrambled
Scrambled arrived with Dr. Scramble's laboratory update. You buy Scrambled mutation potions with the event currency (chemical bottles, samples or "goop", depending on the week) and use them on an egg you've already placed. Each use is roughly a 10% roll. In practice it took anywhere from 1 to more than 10 potions per egg. One creator burned 38 of 41 potions on misclicks and fizzles before landing one. Scrambled is about 2.75x and, crucially, it's the one mutation you get to aim, so save it for your biggest egg.
Aiming tip: placed eggs overlap in a full pen. Hide pets first, and target eggs on the edge of the pen so you don't waste potions on the wrong one.
Enchanted
The newest mutation, added with the Enchanted Forest. Here's how to get it:
- Finish the Wisp quest to open the Enchanted Tree and pick up the Butterfly Net.
- During Butterfly Bloom, swing the net at butterflies. Standing still works better than chasing. The rare Golden Radiant butterfly is the one you need.
- Craft Enchanted Essence from your butterflies and amethysts.
- Apply it to a placed egg. It's a 100% success, no fizzles.
We don't have a clean side-by-side reading for Enchanted yet, so the calculator lets you enter your own value. What we do know: Golden + Scrambled + Enchanted on a 43,000 kg secret produced $73 billion, more than many divines, and the same three on a fused Spirit World Guardian hit $2.2 trillion.
Fractured, Monstrous and Bloom
- Fractured comes from Rift Shards dropped during rift events. It stacks with Scrambled; a Gorilla King with both made $4.1B.
- Monstrous comes from Mr. Toad. Feed him three Parasite eggs for a chest with about a 1.5% chance. One creator tried it for a while and concluded it "was such a waste of time".
- Bloom and the rare Spirit Bloom came from the old Sakura incubator, which had about a 40% Bloom chance. The incubator is gone, so these only exist on old pets.
Stacking mutations
There's no hard cap. The number one player said you can mutate a pet "as many times as you like", and we've seen Golden + Silver + Scrambled on one Unicorn and Golden + Scrambled + Enchanted on one Guardian. Our calculator multiplies stacked mutations together. That matches the stacked readings we've seen, but the stack numbers depend on egg size too, so treat stacked estimates as ballpark figures.
What doesn't stack well is the Fuse Machine: fusing mutated pets can keep a mutation, but there's a high chance of losing it if not every input pet has it.
Mutation strategy in one paragraph
Use guaranteed mutations (Enchanted) and aimable ones (Scrambled) on your heaviest egg, not your rarest. Steal during Admin Abuse for the free mutation boost. Event mutations are only around for a limited time, so stock up while the shop is open and keep the items until a worthy egg shows up. That's exactly what the number one player did. And never waste a Scrambled potion on a pet that isn't already in your Equip Best lineup. The full plan is in our mutation strategy guide.