AXL Boss Fight Guide

AXL is a Tier 3 tarantula boss in Grounded 2, fought in an arena near the birdcage in the Pine Hill region. To summon it, you’ll need to craft the Poached Roach Roast recipe and use it at the arena’s egg cluster.

AXL has around 5,000 HP and resists stabbing, fresh, venom, and explosive damage. Smashing weapons, paired with the Smasher mutation, are the most effective way to build up stun damage.

We walk you through how to defeat AXL, including tips for what armor and food to use. You will need to prepare a specific loadout and follow a structured, multi-phase strategy focused on managing aggro and hitting his weak spot.

AXL Location and How to Summon Him

AXL’s arena is located on the northwest side of the map, specifically under the very large tree.

To activate AXL, you must use the Poached Roach Roast. The recipe for this unique item can be found at the empty terrarium somewhere on the map. It’s a key item, so make sure you’ve found and cooked it before heading to the arena. We have a video here showing where to find the Poached Roach Roast recipe: https://youtu.be/7Px-z7Bs57s

AXL’s Weakness

AXL has no clear elemental weakness, but he does resist several damage types. AXL takes reduced damage from most common damage types, so picking the wrong loadout can make the fight noticeably harder.

• Hit the exposed weak spot instead: Since AXL resists most damage types broadly, the real path to consistent damage is stunning him with a smashing weapon like the Pinch Whacker and hitting the weak spot on his back, which bypasses these resistances.
• Avoid venom builds: AXL resists venom damage the most of any type, at -90%, so venom-focused weapons and mutations will barely make a dent.
• Skip stabbing and fresh weapons: Both are reduced by -50%, making daggers and fresh-damage tools a weaker choice than smashing weapons.

Recommended Loadout and Preparation

Fighting AXL solo is quite difficult, so if you have a friend who can join you, a +1 co-op partner will certainly make the fight much easier and less frustrating.

Armor and Weapon

For a solid defense and offense, we recommend a configuration that offers good overall damage and protection:

• Armor: The full Mantis Armor set. This is new with the recent update and provides excellent stats for this type of encounter.
• Weapon: The Pinch Whacker. This weapon has proven to be effective against AXL, allowing you to deal substantial damage quickly.
• Shield: The Scarlet Aegis for reliable blocking and parrying, which you’ll need a lot of.
• Trinket: The Volatile Capacitor. This choice helps enhance your overall combat efficiency, which is necessary for a long fight.

Mutations

Consumables

You will absolutely need to pack a substantial amount of healing and buff items to survive all three phases:

• Healing Bars: Load up on several of Grumble’s Granola Bars or similar high-value healing items.
• Smoothies (Buffs): Bring a few Chunky Liquid Rage for the damage buff, and definitely pack the Scorpidote. The Scorpidote is particularly useful as it will help remove the poison effect, especially during Phase 2.
• Buggy Healing: If you are bringing your own spider companion, have a few Healbasas on hand to keep it alive.

AXL Boss Fight Strategy: Phase by Phase

The fight is broken up into three distinct phases, each requiring slightly different tactics.

Phase 1: Aggro Management and First Stun

1. Start the Fight: Once the fight begins, your immediate priority is aggro management. If you have a friend, or if you brought your own buggy/spider companion, try to let your companion take the initial aggro from AXL. This lets you attack more freely.
2. Sustained Attack: Start attacking AXL aggressively with your Pinch Whacker.
3. The First Stun: After you have depleted the first 3 health bars using the Pinch Whacker, AXL should enter his first stun state.
4. Hit the Weak Spot: When he’s stunned, immediately run up to him and jump onto his back. His main AXL weak spot is the cut in the sack on his back. Attack this spot heavily during the stun period for massive damage.
5. Keep Companion Alive: If your buggy has the aggro, you can throw Healbasa at it periodically to help keep it alive and maintain AXL’s focus off of you.

Phase 2: Poison and Underground Attack

1. Roar and Retreat: AXL signals the start of Phase 2 by standing up on his back legs and letting out a roar. He will then dig underground.
2. Safety First: When he goes underground, immediately run to the center of the arena. Make sure you are at full health during this time. The center is the safest place.
3. New Threat (Poison): In this phase, AXL gains strength and begins to shoot poison at you. This is where your Scorpidote smoothies become essential, as they will quickly remove the debilitating poison effect, allowing you to stay aggressive.
4. Repeat the Stun: Continue attacking AXL until you manage to stun him again. Once stunned, repeat the process: jump onto his back and attack his weak spot until he recovers.

Phase 3: The Rush and Minion Control

1. Final Phase: AXL enters his final, toughest phase when he has about a quarter of his health left. This is the time to revive and heal your buggy, if necessary, and prepare for a chaotic finish.
2. Web and Caterpillars: AXL will move to webs and start trying to eat the caterpillars trapped there. You must quickly run over and kill the caterpillars before AXL can consume them to prevent him from regaining health or power.
3. Minion Swarm: Next, AXL will summon an array of minions, including roaches and scorpions. You need to take these out. As before, try to stay in the middle of the arena while dealing with the minions, as AXL struggles to hit you in this central position.
4. Final Attacks: Once the minions are defeated, AXL will return to attacking you directly with a few new, high-damage moves:
   • Charge Attack: He will start using a powerful charge attack. Be ready to dodge or sprint out of the way of this one.
   • Needles: Watch out for the needle attack (which looks like a rain of arrows). Try to either parry them with your Scarlet Aegis or move quickly out of the affected area to avoid significant damage.
5. Finish the Fight: Now, it’s a matter of endurance and execution. Focus on properly parrying and attacking AXL to stun him one final time. Hit his weak spot hard when you get the chance.

Congratulations. You have successfully conquered AXL and unlocked some powerful rewards!

AXL Rewards

Once you have managed to defeat AXL, you will be rewarded with:

• The Pheromone Shot Mutation
• Tarantula Chunks
• Venom
• Fangs
• Talons

Remember that AXL can be fought again, which is good for farming those new crafting materials.

Useful Tools For Your AXL Fight

• Overlay app: Track cooldowns, buffs, and stats in real time without leaving the game using the Grounded 2 overlay app.
• Map: Pinpoint AXL’s arena, the empty terrarium, and every other landmark in Pine Hill on the Grounded 2 interactive map.
• Database: Look up full stats on the Poached Roach Roast, Mantis Armor, the Pinch Whacker, and every mutation covered in this guide via the Grounded 2 database.