Wrinkler

Regular wrinklers, with Scary Stuff on (left), and off (right)

Wrinklers are twitchy leech-like creatures in Cookie Clicker that appear during the Grandmapocalypse. While they at first appear to reduce CpS (cookies per second), they actually provide a massive boost to cookie production in the long run.

Overview

Twelve wrinklers at the Big Cookie.

During the Grandmapocalypse, wrinklers appear and slowly crawl towards the Big Cookie. A maximum of 10 wrinklers can be present at once, however the heavenly upgrade Elder Spice and the dragon aura Dragon Guts each allow 2 additional wrinklers present, for a maximum of 14 wrinklers.

Each wrinkler reduces CpS by 5%, though this has no effect for offline production. The amount of cookies digested may be viewed with the heavenly upgrade Eye of the Wrinkler.

Each wrinkler has 2.1 health and will be popped if their health goes below 0.5. Health will regenerate at 1.2 per second (0.04 each frame, at 30 frames per second) if less than max.

A wrinkler can be popped if:

• It is clicked (0.75 per click)
• The Grimoire spell Resurrect Abomination backfires, popping a random wrinkler
• The Grandmapocalypse is disabled (Elder Pledge, Elder Covenant, or selling all Grandmas), popping all wrinklers.

When popped, wrinklers give x1.1 the cookies they have digested (can be modified), and seasonal upgrades as random drops in appropriate seasons.

Dragon Guts (dragon aura) allow for 2 more max wrinklers, makes each wrinkler digest 6% instead of 5% (+20% wither rate), and gives 20% more cookies from wrinkler pops.

Skruuia (Pantheon god) boosts wrinklers' CpS multiplier on pop and directly boosts spawn rate. It does not make each wrinkler digest 15% more cookies.

Shiny Wrinkler

Shiny wrinklers are a very rare type of wrinkler in Cookie Clicker that have a 1/10000 chance (0.01%) of spawning.

Unlike regular wrinklers' 3 clicks, shiny wrinklers take 12 clicks to pop and will grant the Last Chance to See shadow achievement if done for the first time.

When popped, it gives x3.3 more cookies (as opposed to x1.1 from normal wrinklers). The multiplier is affected by Sacrilegious Corruption and Wrinklerspawn, giving x3.465 more with one active, and x3.63825 with both. The maximum in theory, would be x40.64 with 14 shiny wrinklers affected by Wrinklerspawn, Sacrilegious Corruption, and Skruuia.

Shiny wrinkler values may be checked here.

CpS multiplier

Because wrinklers store a percentage of the total wither rate, each additional wrinkler adds a larger bonus than the previous one. The overall wrinkler bonus quadratically scales with the amount eating the cookie at once.

To calculate the effective CpS multiplier, use the following formula, where:

• N - amount of wrinklers present
• M - cumulative wrinkler pop bonus (1.1 normally; each wrinkler pop bonus upgrade multiplies onto this one)
• W - amount of CpS each wrinkler withers (0.05 normally, 0.06 with Dragon Guts; affected by Wrinklegill's "wrinkler appetite" effect)

$(N^{2}\cdot M-N)\cdot W+1$

If shiny wrinklers are present, instead use the following formula, where S equals the amount of shiny wrinklers:

$((N-S+S\cdot 3)\cdot N\cdot M-N)\cdot W+1$

Spawn Rate

Each empty wrinkler slot has a (re-) spawn rate of 0.001% (0.005% with "Unholy bait") per Grandmapocalypse stage per frame (the usual framerate is 30 fps). The Skruuia, Spirit of Scorn and Garden plants can also alter the rate.

Modifier	Factor
Grandmapocalypse stage	1/2/3 (One Mind/Communal Brainsweep/Elder Pact)
Unholy bait	5
Skruuia, Spirit of Scorns	2.5/2/1.5 (Diamond/Ruby/Jade)
Elder Spice	+2 wrinkler slots (indirectly boosts spawn rate)
Dragon Guts	+2 wrinkler slots (indirectly boosts spawn rate)
Garden plants	1-(1-0.85^WA)+0.02WR WA = # of Wardlichen WR = # of Wrinklegill

For example, if the player has unholy bait and 3 Wardlichens in the garden when in Communal Brainsweep stage, the spawn rate will be r= 0.001% * 2 * (1-0.15*3) = 0.0011%.

On average, collecting all 12 wrinklers takes:

${\frac {1}{r}}\sum _{k=1}^{12}{\frac {1}{k}}={\frac {1}{r}}{\frac {86021}{27720}}$ frames

$\approx {\frac {0.10344}{r}}$ seconds

• On average, it takes 57 minutes and 28 seconds (11 minutes 30 seconds with "Unholy bait") for all 12 Elder Pact (speedup factor is 3) wrinklers to spawn, from a starting point of 0 wrinklers. For Communal Brainsweep, it takes 3/2 of that time, about 86 minutes (17 with "Unholy bait"). For One mind this is three times as long, which is about 172 minutes (34 with "Unholy bait").

Optimization/Shiny Hunting

Since each wrinkler spot rolls the dice for spawning independently, it is ideal to have as many max spots as possible, and pop wrinklers as soon as possible for optimal spawn rates across all spots.

Wrinkler spawn rate boosters

Name	Type(s)	Effect on wrinklers
Elder Spice	Heavenly upgrade	+2 max
Unholy Bait	Heavenly upgrade	x5 spawn rate
Dragon Guts	Krumblor Aura	+2 max
18 Wrinklegills & 18 Nursetulips	Garden plants	+128.05% spawn rate
Skruuia	Pantheon god	+150% spawn rate
Resurrect Abomination	Grimoire spell	Spawn a wrinkler (if not backfired)

Seasons

Halloween

Main article: Halloween Season

Halloween Cookies are unlocked randomly during the Halloween season by popping wrinklers. The unlock rate is 5% base and up to 91% depending on achievements, upgrades, dragon auras, heavenly upgrades, pantheon gods, garden plants, and wrinkler type (normal or shiny). The unlock rate also non-linearly decreases with the amount of Halloween cookies already unlocked.

Easter

Main article: Easter Season

A wrinkler during the Christmas season

All Easter upgrades are egg based in theme and can be unlocked randomly when clicking a Golden Cookie or Wrath Cookie, or by popping a wrinkler. At base, a Golden/Wrath Cookie has a 10% chance to unlock an egg and a wrinkler has a 2% chance to unlock an egg. Achievements, upgrades, dragon auras, heavenly upgrades, pantheon gods, whether it is a common or rare egg, and garden plants all increase the chance to unlock an egg. The unlock rate also non-linearly decreases with the amount of Easter eggs already unlocked.

Christmas

Main article: Christmas Season

The appearance of wrinklers change during Christmas season, but Shiny wrinklers don't change.

Upgrades

Icon	Name	Unlock condition	Base price	Description	ID
	Wrinklerspawn	"Rare" egg (see Probabilities)	999 x 3E	Wrinklers explode into 5% more cookies. Cost scales with how many eggs you own. "Look at this little guy! It's going to be a big boy someday! Yes it is!"	224
	Unholy bait (heavenly upgrade)	"Starter kitchen" purchased	44,444	Wrinklers appear 5 times as fast. "No wrinkler can resist the scent of worm biscuits."	292
	Sacrilegious corruption (heavenly upgrade)	"Unholy bait" purchased	444,444	Wrinklers regurgitate 5% more cookies. "Unique in the animal kingdom, the wrinkler digestive tract is able to withstand an incredible degree of dilatation - provided you prod them appropriately."	293
	Elder spice (heavenly upgrade)	"Unholy bait" purchased	444,444	You can attract 2 more wrinklers. "The cookie your cookie could smell like."	364
	Eye of the wrinkler (heavenly upgrade)	"Wrinkly cookies" purchased	100 million	Mouse over a wrinkler to see how many cookies are in its stomach. "Just a wrinkler and its will to survive. Hangin' tough, stayin' hungry."	495

Achievements

Icon	Name	Description	ID
	Wrinkler poker	Poke a wrinkler 50 times without killing it. "Also the name of a card game popular in retirement homes."	598
	Itchscratcher	Burst 1 wrinkler.	105
	Wrinklesquisher	Burst 50 wrinklers.	106
	Moistburster	Burst 200 wrinklers.	107
	Last Chance to See (shadow achievement)	Burst the near-extinct shiny wrinkler. "You monster!"	262

To help keep track of how many wrinklers that have been popped, the player can go in the "Stats" section, then look under "Special".

Trivia

• Wrinklers have a 1/10000 chance of becoming Winklers upon loading the game.
• In the game's code, next to the code that tells the Wrinklers to return 110% of their withered cookies is the comment "cookie dough does weird things inside wrinkler digestive tracts".
• The "Moistburster" achievement is a reference to the Alien Franchise's Chestburster.
• The "Last Chance To See" achievement is a reference to the book and radio documentary series about species extinction by novelist Douglas Adams and zoologist Mark Cawardine. There is also BBC television series that followed.
• Prior to the v1.0453 update, Wrinklers disappeared when closing the Cookie Clicker window or exiting the browser.
• The Wrinkler may be a reference to the Mosquito Larvae or the Wriggler.
• The "Eye of the Wrinkler" description is a reference to the song "Eye Of The Tiger."
• When the option "Scary Stuff" turned off, Wrinklers will have googly eyes that will occasionally blink.
• Wrinklers will begin to shake when the mouse is over them.