The Grounded Mantis Kebab is essential for summoning the Orchid Mantis boss, and the recipe is found at the Stump Lab Outpost in the Northeast garden. However, the lab can only be opened by having a locked door facing upwards, which is unlocked by accessing a button in the Pool and can only be accessed by killing the Deputy Director – it’s a whole process and not an easy one. Below, we’ll go into detail on how to find the Orchid Mantis Kebab recipe on Grounded, as well as how to enter, access, explore, and even escape the Stump Lab Outpost—it’s more confusing than you might think.
To make the Orchid Mantis Kebab, you’ll need the recipe you’ll find at the Stump Lab Outpost in the Tree Stump in the northeast corner of the Upper Courtyard. However, you probably won’t be able to get inside yet – once you get there, a standing door will reveal, but anyone who manages to access it will likely find it locked. This is the first of many hurdles to overcome…
The Stump Lab gate is remotely controlled by an underwater outpost at the Pond, a flooded section separate from the main Pond Lab. You must also have killed the Deputy Director in the Black Anthill Lab as outlined in our guide on what to do after the Grounded Fence Lab. However, if you have reached the Upper Courtyard, you have almost certainly done so, and more importantly, you have received the keycard.
Take the key card to the underwater outpost, whose cover is located on the South wall of the Pond. Swim in and up until you find the locked door – the Manager’s Key Card will open the door. Go ahead and there will be a big red button below the live CCTV footage – press this to open the locked door of the Stump Lab Outpost where you will see the CCTV show. Now that you’ve opened the lab, you still need to go inside.
The entrance to the Stump Lab Outpost is placed on the ground right in the middle of the base of the tree stump. It’s a dangerous area with roaming ticks and even a few Grounded Spiders – wolf spiders to be precise. You’ll see the entrance fairly easily – a white cylinder placed on the floor – but more difficult to climb to the top of. Either climb the log around it and glide down with a dandelion pinch, or set up a few quick steps so you can climb straight into the entrance.
Either way, be sure to bring at least three. dandelion tufts. Stump Lab is built around dangerous platforming, and you want to make sure you can crash without dying instantly.
Stump Lab has a trick – it’s crouched on its side, making it difficult to navigate. You will walk on walls and have to climb the floor to reach other rooms. There are no enemies here, but platforming is VERY difficult and often frustrating, it’s easy to hit your head on something to get past your target or stabilize your trajectory. Here is a basic step for navigation.
- From the entrance, jump down the hallway and glide down with a dandelion pinch, collecting Raw Science on the way.
- When you land, go straight ahead and go over the locked door “A”. There is a glass pane in the front and a folder just below it: “Mantis Research Note”. Get them to get the Orchid Mantis Kebab Recipe.
- Unfortunately, you are now trapped or at least unable to leave the way you came. With the Milk Molar, use the roots and terminals to climb straight into the ground until you reach the aisle above (it disorientates).
- Drop it in the next room and hit the interactive computer on the far wall.
- Now you need to climb up again and return to the first room using the roots and terminals.
- Gate A that you walked through is now open. Go down on it and there will be a BURGL chip you can grab along the way.
- Then go through the hole in what looks like a wall to you, with Raw Science in it. This will take you to a cave, the caves rising on the left will take you back to the Stump near the entrance.
Now you have the Mantis Kebab recipe! And it won’t be too hard to do, right…?
Orchid Mantis Kebab is very difficult to make, requiring the following ingredients.
- Breeder Mother Fragment x5
- Fire Ant Head x2
- splinter x1
Yes, you need to kill the legendary Grounded Broodmother to create the kebab – and if you’ve already killed him once and used his pieces for crafting, you’ll have to do it again. Check out the guide on how to find him in the Fence and what you can do to kill him easily.
The other two components are, mercifully, more manageable. Most wood surfaces in Grounded have barbed, ridged edges that indicate they can be cut with a level 3 chopping tool or ax found in our Grounded weapons. This will allow you to get splinters easily enough.
The Fire Ants often roam around in the middle and East Upper Courtyard, near the Stump and closer to the Grounded MIXR Modules and Javamatic. Both workers and soldier ants have a chance to drop a Head when killed, but this is a small chance and you will likely need to kill at least a few of them.
Once you have the ingredients, build yourself an Earthen Oven (there’s no way to make a Kebab without one). Since there is no way to prepare Broodmother’s lunch and fight it without it, you must already have one, so go back to it and select the Kebab recipe and wait. After about three minutes of waiting, it should produce the Kebab (or you can always lie in bed and have it done right away).
Once you have the kebab, you can use it to summon the legendary kebab. Grounded Mantis and start the fight. Go to Wendell’s West of Wendell’s SCAB location in Grounded, his lair in the flower pot on the porch, and use the hose to get inside. There will be a cluster of eggs you can place inside to summon the Orchid Mantis – but you definitely shouldn’t do this until you’ve read the enclosed manual and are ready for the battle of your tiny life.
