How to Get the Frozen and TNT Buckets in Drain the Lake

If you’ve been checking the Badges menu in Drain the Lake lately, you may have noticed two new rewards sitting near the bottom: Demolition Expert and Frozen Throne.

Both badges unlock new buckets, but getting them isn’t as simple as reaching a certain depth and buying something. You need the correct biome to appear, and even then, the important objects you need may be randomized.

The two rewards are:

• Demolition Expert Badge – TNT Bucket

• Frozen Throne Badge – Frozen Bucket

I’d especially keep the random part in mind before starting. If you reach one of the new areas and can’t find the keys, gate, or other objects mentioned below, you probably haven’t necessarily missed them. You may simply need another run.

Here’s how both new bucket unlocks work.

The TNT Bucket is unlocked by earning the Demolition Expert badge.

For this one, you need to reach the new TNT-themed area.

You’ll know you’re in the right place when the surroundings start looking like a construction or demolition site. There are cranes, explosive crates and small shanty-like buildings scattered around the area.

Once you find this biome, your next job is to hunt down three keys.

There is one catch, though: the keys don’t appear every time.

That means reaching the TNT biome isn’t automatically enough to complete the badge.

Search inside the small homes and shanties throughout the TNT area.

The keys can randomly appear inside these structures, so don’t just check one or two and assume your run is broken. Walk through the area and inspect every small building you can access.

You need:

Key #1 Key #2 Key #3

Simply interact with each key when you find it to collect it.

Because their appearance is randomized, you can encounter the TNT biome without finding the necessary keys. If you’ve thoroughly searched the area and they’re genuinely not there, you’ll need to continue playing until you get a run where the required key setup appears.

Once you’ve collected all three, watch the top of your screen.

You should receive a message saying:

“The door is unlocked.”

That’s your confirmation that you’re ready for the next part.

After collecting the three keys, continue through the area and look for the previously locked door.

As you reach its checkpoint, your screen may briefly fade to black.

Don’t worry if that happens.

Approach the door and interact with it. Since all three keys have already been collected, you should now be able to open it.

The TNT Bucket is waiting inside.

Walk up to the bucket and hold E to claim it.

Doing so unlocks the Demolition Expert badge and permanently gives you access to the TNT Bucket.

So the whole process is basically:

Find TNT biome → Search shanties → Collect three keys → Unlock door → Hold E on TNT Bucket.

The only frustrating part is getting the right randomized spawn.

There’s also a useful change to how these special rewards are claimed.

Previously, one player picking up a special item could cause it to disappear, which wasn’t exactly ideal if you’d gone through the entire run with friends.

That has now been changed.

Your friends should also be able to claim the TNT Bucket individually after you’ve unlocked the area.

So if you’re doing the hunt with a group, don’t immediately leave after the first person grabs it. Give everyone a chance to interact with the bucket and claim their own reward.

The second new reward comes from the Frozen Throne badge.

This one takes you into the new snow/frozen biome, and it’s a little more involved than simply searching for three keys.

First, you need to reach the snowy area during your run.

You’ll recognize it immediately from the icy environment.

However, simply reaching the frozen biome doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to complete the Frozen Throne ending.

Once again, you’re dealing with randomized elements.

Look around the frozen biome for a large open path leading toward a giant ice gate.

That’s the important landmark.

Sometimes you’ll reach the snowy biome and the required gate won’t be there. Other times, the open path and huge frozen gate will appear.

If you see that gate, you’ve got the setup you need for the new ending.

Approaching it will indicate that you need to figure out how to open it.

Don’t spend ages randomly interacting with the gate.

You need another item first.

Around the Frozen Throne area, you’ll notice a section containing letters.

Search behind the letter area.

There’s a Journal hidden there that you need to collect before you can progress through the giant ice gate.

The snowy biome is fairly large, so this part can take a little exploration, especially if you’ve still got plenty of water left to drain.

Once you locate the Journal, grab it and head back toward the huge frozen door.

That’s the item that allows you to progress with the Frozen Throne ending.

Return to the giant ice gate after obtaining the Journal.

Walk up to the interaction point and hold E.

If you’ve done everything correctly, interacting with the gate will trigger the new ending.

Unlike some of the other endings in Drain the Lake, this one doesn’t simply play the usual type of cutscene.

Instead, you’ll be transported somewhere new.

You’ll be teleported into a large throne room.

And yes, there’s an actual throne waiting inside.

You’ll also be able to see the special bucket associated with the ending.

Don’t panic if you walk over to it and can’t manually pick it up.

That’s intentional.

By reaching this point and completing the ending, you’ve already earned the corresponding Frozen Throne badge, which unlocks the bucket for you.

You don’t need to interact with the bucket inside the throne room a second time.

This is probably the most important thing to understand about these two badges.

Their required setups are randomized.

For the TNT Bucket, you can reach the correct biome but not necessarily get the key setup you need.

For Frozen Throne, you can reach the snow biome without necessarily getting the giant ice gate and new ending path.

If that happens, don’t waste too much time searching the same area over and over.

Continue playing and try another run.

For the Frozen Throne in particular, the obvious giant ice gate is a good indication that you’ve finally gotten the right version of the biome.

Neither one is especially complicated once the correct version of the biome appears.

Most of the difficulty comes from actually getting the random setup you need.

If you’re going after both new Drain the Lake buckets, I’d start with whichever special biome appears naturally rather than repeatedly resetting for one specific reward.

When you get the TNT area, immediately search every little shanty for the three keys. Once the “door is unlocked” message appears, find the locked room and hold E on the TNT Bucket to earn Demolition Expert.

When you get the snow biome, look for the huge ice gate first. If it’s there, search around the letter area for the hidden Journal, bring it back to the gate and hold E to trigger the special ending and earn Frozen Throne.

And if the necessary objects aren’t there?

That’s probably just the random generation doing its thing. Try another run rather than spending forever searching an area that didn’t spawn the version you need.