The Orchid Mantis boss fight Grounded is one of the most difficult bosses you will have encountered in the Backyard. As a result, knowing how to effectively battle the Creature and to prepare for it is essential to a successful fight! This boss is a repeatable fight in Grounded so long as you have the food or “bait” to summon the Orchid Mantis. You can either solo the boss or fight it with friends. You will find this boss fight by the plant pots in the Upper Yard.
Boss Preparation
As a result of heading into a battle that is far from easy, you will want to prepare a few things. Outside of the usual such as bringing healing items like Smoothies, Bandages or Granola Bars. Bringing the correct and hopefully not broken gear. You are required to bring one consumable that acts as bait for summoning the Orchid Mantis. You will have to create the Orchid Mantis Kebab! To unlock the recipe, find the Mantis Research Note in the Stump Lab. It is fairly close to the window entrance area by the blue pylon within the topsy-turvy room.
Suggested Gear
For this particular boss fight we recommend a personal favourite set-up to enter this battle with. The Orchid Mantis is weak to Salty. So as a result we like to use the full Ladybug Armor set upgraded with Sleek and for the weapon we like to use the Tick Macuahuitl! This weapon might fly under the radar for some. But combined with the armour set of choice it packs a mighty punch! With the bonus healing from the Sleek Ladybug Armor and +Life Steal that the Tick Macuahuitl provides, you become a solo tank with decent damage and sustain. A force to be reckoned with! For this set-up we also recommend a shield such as the Ladybird Shield.
The Orchid Mantis in particular has resistances against practically every physical combat form in Grounded. As a result as long as you have Salty on your weapon you should be good to go! However if you have access to the Salt Morning Star we at MMO-Wiki recommend this too!
Now that you are prepared and ready, place the Orchid Mantis Kebab down and the Orchid Mantis boss fight in Grounded will begin!
Phase 1
The fight will begin with some movement in the upper leaves. Suddenly the Mantis will have lunged downwards however dealing zero damage. The Orchid Mantis is incredibly dangerous up close. It can do various attacks and combos such as a single slash from the left or right, a devastating 3-hit combo slam that will lower the players perfect block window. And a charged up slam down that will inflict Bleed. The Orchid Mantis will have the ability to leap away and back to a player, dealing huge amounts of damage so avoid this where possible! When distanced, it can fire an unblock-able shockwave of rocks towards you or an ally or simply jump at you.
Phase 2
At about 80% health, it will deafen with a powerful scream that damages and lowers Exhaustion recovery time. The biggest change in this phase is the Orchid Mantis gaining access to Pollen Shots. These shots will have to be avoided. As they bounce around the arena, and create pollen clouds whenever they hit. This cloud will slow, lower your perfect block window and lower your attack power. The clouds persist for about half a minute. The previous combo you faced now has an enhanced larger shockwave at the end. The Orchid Mantis can also initiate a scream at any point of the fight, as well as having a powerful combo attack that will repeatedly slash at you or an ally, causing lower attack power and a bleed.
Phase 3
Below 50% health, the Orchid Mantis will have access to 2 new attacks and fire more pollen shots. It can also fire 3 vertical shockwaves in a row. The main difference is this attack can be used by the Orchid Mantis up close or far away, making it very scary. Its other attack replaces the standard slam, instead smashing the ground and then unearthing its claws making a second shockwave. Be careful of this!
Keep in mind that throughout the fight you can hide between branches if you are low health and need to heal! Another final note is to practice your parries! Parrying this boss proves very useful especially paired with Parry Master, you will have the chance to get more hits in and defend yourself from nasty debuffs!
Note: We apologize for some of the stuttering in the video below. Currently the Mantis boss fight grounded isn’t fully optimized as all users fighting in the video experienced the freezing in-game!
Congratulations! You will have now defeated the Orchid Mantis! Once defeated claim your loot and craft powerful gear! Remember – the Orchid Mantis boss fight in Grounded is repeatable so long as you have more Orchid Mantis Kebabs at your disposal! Next up is the Schmecter boss fight!
