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Once you’ve defeated the Masked Stranger, the whole ofGrounded 2’spark is your oyster. With Mix.rs to defeat and ORC Transmitters to stop, you’ll need a decent set of wheels if you want to get around quickly. Or, rather, a decent set of legs.
The Orb Weaver mount is a powerful and versatile buggy able to quickly getting just about anywhere in the map. Add to that some fearsome offensive capabilities, and it’s definitely something you’ll want to put the time into getting.
Grounded 2 is in early access, so any information here may be subject to change.
Unlocking The Orb Weaver Buggy
While you unlock the Red Ant Soldier as part of the story, it’s quite easy to miss the Orb Weaver. The technology is unlocked with theNetwork Center TURBO Optical Disk, which you acquire after defeating theMasked Strangerin the head of the Burgl statue.
During the game’s early access launch, this marked the end of story content in Grounded 2, so it’s possible you turned the game off before getting an Orb Weaver.
Once you’ve got the Network Center Turbo Optical Disk, take it to aRanger Stationat any ranger outpost. This will allow you to then buy the Orb Weaver Buggy for5000 raw science– 2000 of which you were just given as a reward for scanning the disk.
Hatching An Orb Weaver
As you were required to make one during the earlier parts of the story, you should already have aHatchery. If not, you’ll need to rebuild one with materials that are commonly foundin almost every area of the yard:
By the time you’re able to get an Orb Weaver, you’ll likely also have thelevel two omnitool axeand aRed Ant Soldier Buggy. This makes getting everything you need even easier, as you can harvest Weed Stems fromHardy Weedsand have your ant carry them.
Building The Spider Nest
While not strictly required, you should also build aSpider Nestto store your Orb Weaver buggies. This is a very large structure that will needa lot of spare roomto build, but allows you to store multiple buggies and assign them to different players if needed. To build the Spider Nest, you’ll need to collect:
Weed Stem and Web Fiber are easy enough to find. Weed Stems can be harvested fromdandelions or hardy weeds, though the latter will need alevel two omnitool axe. Meanwhile, web fibers aredropped by dead spiders, or can be taken straight fromspider webs. Take a few of these fibers andspin them into ropeat a spinning wheel.
Each rope requires one web, so in total you will needten Web Fibers to make a Spider Nest- six raw, and four spun into rope.
The most complex material needed are Pine Needles. These can be found inNeedle Bundles strewn across the ground, but require alevel two omnitool axeto collect. They can be found predominantly in thepine areain the top left of the map, or in thedry bricks arearunning through the map. Checkunderneath trees, as they often blend in with the other detritus on the ground.
Materials For The Harness
Next, you’ll want to collect the materials required to build your Orb Weaver’s harness. Fortunately, these are also pretty common:
For Blueberry Leather, the best places to collect blueberries areon top of the picnic table,or in the gladenear to the ice cream stand. These only require alevel one omnitool axe, and can then be converted into leather at aworkbench. However, all areas with blueberries are also hotspots forstronger insects, particularly spiders, bees, and mosquitos, so harvesting carefully is important.
Finding An Orb Weaver Egg
The trickiest part of hatching an Orb Weaver isfinding an egg. Like the Red Ant Soldier, this egg will have to bemanually carried back to the hatcheryand can’t be placed in your inventory. To make matters more complicated, the area is, naturally,crawling with Orb Weavers.
Orb Weaver eggs can be foundunderneath Burgl’s body. Circle the body until you find a tunnel going underneath him, and in the cetre you will find anumber of eggs, guarded by not just spiderlines, but alsoOrb Weaver Jrs.andfully-grown Orb Weavers.
Depending on how quickly you get to the egg, you may also encounterWolf Spiderswalking around too.
The best way to get the egg is to use yourRed Soldier Ant Buggy. They are fast, and canhold the eggfor you, allowing you to avoid all combat and dart in and out of their nest. Grab, the egg, head back to your hatchery, and, as long as you have all the materials for the harness too, you canhatch an Orb Weaver.
Hatching an Orb Weaver takes 24 in-game hours, so sleep or go do other things while you wait. Once the Orb Weaver is ready to hatch, you will need todismiss your Red Soldier Ant Buggyfirst, as you cannot have two buggies at the same time.
Using The Orb Weaver Buggy
Compared to the Red Ant Soldier, the Orb Weaver isfaster, more mobile, and has much greater offensive capabilities.
On top of hitting harder in a fight, the Orb Weaver cansprint into enemies to damage them, outright killing smaller bugs like Weevils and Mites. It won’t be enough to do much damage to larger enemies like Stinkbugs or other spiders, but charging through a pack of mites is a great way to get rid of an annoyance.
On top of sprinting, Orb Weavers can alsofire webs, tangling up anything that gets stuck in them. This can be used to immobilise prey, or to get away from larger enemies if they’re chasing you down.
The final ‘attack’ isIntimidating, which has the Orb Weaver let out a huge roar thatscares away small enemies. Unfortunately, this effect is largely useless, as larger enemies you’d want to scare off are actuallyaggro’d by it instead.
By far the biggest benefit to using an Orb Weaver isimmunity from webs. Orb Weavers can crawl acrossweb bridgeswithout being slowed down, and canpass through other webswithout getting tangled. You’ll have lots of new areas to explore, such asclimbing up Burgle, the Lectern,orup the side of the Hot Dog Stand.
However, there are a few downsides to using the Orb Weaver. Itcan’t chop down or carry grass, making it vastly inferior to the ant if you’re building your base.
Unlike riding the ant, which makes all ants friendly, riding the Orb Weaverwon’t stop spiders from attacking you.If you were hoping this would make you safe from one of the biggest threats in the park, you’ll be sadly mistaken.
