Solo Guide for the MIX.R Quest In Grounded 2

Overloading the MIX.R is one of the hardest endgame quests Grounded 2 has to offer. After you anger the Stranger by destroying their O.R.C. receptor locations across the map, you'll be given two last main missions, one of them being overloading the MIX.R to cut off their communications with their army. This mission is meant to be completed with friends, but with this guide, you'll learn the quick and easy strategy for victory in this mission all on your own. This guide also requires you to have unlocked up to science level 15 for the best results.

Luckily, the area around the mission area can be built upon. Creating a base of operations and a sturdy defensive system when it's just you is pivotal to completing the quest. Remember, you do NOT have to kill every O.R.C. bug; you just have to have the MIX.R survive the onslaught until the overheated bar fills up completely. The purpose of this part of the guide is to set up a strong defense to waste the O.R.C. army's time in breaking down the MIX.R and what you'll need most.

Home Away From Home

Location: Set your camp a safe distance from the overhang, clear out some of the surrounding grass if you prefer, and have your bug mount on standby to carry the materials you'll need.
Lean To: For quick respawns during the fight.
Cooking Spit: To make meals to prevent hunger from setting in. Weevils and Grubs will wander around the area, giving you easy access to food consumption. There's no need for a dew collector, however, as the surrounding grass area will have up to three different dew drops to sip from or store in your canteen.
Ant Nest: Keep your mounts close and stored safely before you need them. You'll also need your buggy to transport items from your home base to this secondary base for construction.
Storage Chests: One for extra materials and a second chest for extra provisions to restock during the fight on the fly.
Defensive Fence: Fence in your camp with any material you want; grass, clay, so long as it fully wraps around. The O.R.C. won't pay much attention to your camp, but the larger ladybugs and scorpions might trample nearby on their way to the MIX.R, so this is just precautionary.

Prepare The Defenses

The Walls: You will need multiple walls surrounding the area. The innermost layer should be wrapped around the MIX.R as tightly as possible and made of the strongest material you have on hand. The second wall will be wider and have some defense mechanisms inside. Dot this wall with at least four O.R.C. Disrupter Bombs to cover all main points. The third wall is the widest and should be filled with spike traps to slow down the bug army. This is also the wall section where you will be for most of the fight, repairing the defenses, so the bugs will keep tripping them and injuring themselves. Within this final wall, place a few more O.R.C. Disrupter Bombs among the spike traps. Outside the walls, you'll want one disrupter to the north of the MIX.R and one disrupter to the south, and circle the outside with more spike traps. Depending on your difficulty, you can add an extra ring of defense if you prefer.
O.R.C. Disrupter Bombs: These will disrupt and heavily damage the O.R.C. army, allowing you to finish off any stragglers if it doesn't finish them off entirely.
Acorn Turret: You need at least two filled with ammo for you to run between in case one runs out or if one is destroyed during the fight.

Gear Up

Armor And Weapons

Armor Sets: Ladybug Armor set if you choose to take the brunt of the army agro onto yourself and lead them around the defenses. Be warned, you could be overwhelmed in this scenario. Other armor sets for normal combat that can work well are the Acorn Armor Set for defense, Butterfly Armor Set for crowd control mobility, and the Snail Shell Armor Set for the Retaliation buff.
Weaponry: Your weapon of choice is up to you. However, you will need weapons that deal fresh, smashing, and slashing damage. To narrow it down, the Glacial Sting for Fresh damage, the Spicy Coaltana or Northern Shredders for slashing, and the Red Ant Club for smashing. These weapons give you the best range for defeating the bug army head-on.
Pebble Spears: To throw to distract the O.R.C. army away from your defenses, mount, or the MIX.R itself.

Provisions

Have at least 2 of each smoothie type.

Food: Bug Roasts, Mite Loaf, and a Canteen with water to keep your hunger and thirst up.
Green Machine Smoothie: Boosts stamina recovery rate and heals.
Scorpidote Smoothie: Cures the Venom status effect and applies Venom resistance.
Hedge Lord Smoothie: Heals a portion of your health as well as applies healing over time.
Lady in Red Smoothie: Increases your maximum health and heals a portion of your health.
Buggy Buddy: Bring a buggy buddy of your choosing.

Start The Mission

You'll be given one last prompt before you start the mission. Make sure you have everything in place, as while you can always try again, you don't want to waste too many precious materials beforehand.

Last Minute Prep

Rearrange your hot bar to have your weapon switch on command along with your first round of restorative smoothies and food on hand.
The order of O.R.C. bugs is as follows: Weevil bombers, Orb Weaver Spiderlings and Orb Weaver Jrs, Red Ant Soldiers, Ladybugs, Northern Scorpion Jr, and one Praying Mantis Nymph.
Save your game beforehand for a reload to make any new tweaks to the build site or change around your weaponry and armor.
Have your ant mount out and roam nearby so it can fight. Be prepared to jump on it to have it run to safety to recover some health or down a smoothie before going to revive it if it gets knocked down.

The Bug Waves Begin

The waves will start with the Weevils, who will attempt to bomb your outer walls to weaken them for the larger, harder, harder-hitting bugs. Lure them away by using pebble spears and detonate them safely away from your defensive walls. These have no weaknesses as they have one purpose: to explode, touch them to set them off, and quickly dodge and block to avoid damage. The spiders will start appearing at this point. Hop onto your acorn turret and fire them down; you should be able to wipe out a majority, save for the largest one. There will be a very brief reprieve here, so hop off the turret and quickly do some repairs to any damaged spike traps and walls, as any used bombs will be gone.

In the next wave, two large O.R.C. Ladybugs will appear along with Red Soldier Ants, some more Weevils, and an Orb Weaver Spider may also join the mix. Focus on the ladybugs first, as their bulk will break defenses faster than the ants or spiders. Smash them over the head or lure them away into a disrupter bomb. The ants can be handled by you and your mount, so jump on your buggy to take them down together.

In the final few waves, the Scorpions and the Praying Mantis will arrive, signaling the near overload of the MIX.R. Wearing the Ladybug armor, aggravate the insects and lead them around the walls as much as possible, using your buggy and Green Machine Smoothie to restore stamina. Consume your Scorpidote Smoothie in case you get poisoned by one of the tunneling scorpions as well. Soon enough, by the time the bugs do eat through your defenses, it will be too late, as they'll barely be able to get any damage in before the MIX.R reaches its limit.

Once the MIX.R overloads, the rest of the bug army will collapse and die, causing the Stranger to scream at you over coms before going away. The mission will be marked as a success, and you are unable to replay the mission. Now you can harvest the remains of the fallen O.R.C. bugs and salvage your base to regain your materials. Save your lean-to for last, depending on how far away your actual home base is. You may need to make a few trips if you want to take as much back as possible. The advice here is to transport all your newly harvested drops first and then come back for raw materials.