Orc Problem 5.2: The Lips, Explained by Three Players

Last reviewed: 10 September 2026 · Newest game update reflected: 2026.08.18.12.05 (18 August 2026). 5.2 has two narrow entry points players call "the lips," and the level is lost or won at those two spots, not in the open ground behind them. Three players independently posted detailed setups for the same map feature, and reading all three together gives a clearer picture than any single one.

The map has a name for its own weak point

A player called Spud_cannon opened the thread that answers this level with a blunt description of the problem: "It feels literally impossible to this and idk if i need to grind a billion dollars to upgrade my units to pass or im just terrible at placement and spending skills." The full exchange is here: Need some help on 5.2, and it only has three replies — but all three are substantial, and all three use the same word for the same two chokepoints: "the lips."

What the lips are and why the center kills you

A player called jeffk114 gave the clearest structural explanation. There are two lips — narrow points where the map funnels orcs sideways into the level — and a third failure path down the center that opens up if the lips aren't held: "That, with enough mortars, should be enough to keep the orcs massing and pushing each other, forcing them going down the center (which is how you die here)."

That's the same throttling mechanic our orc flow mechanic page describes in general terms, but 5.2 makes the failure mode explicit: fail to hold the lips, and the wave doesn't just leak a little — it reroutes through the center, which has no defence built for it because you were placing turrets at the sides.

Two build lists for the same level

jeffk114's setup uses long-range lasers and slow grenades at the top of each lip: "You will need long range lasers for this and slow grenades. The grenades will slow the enemy down in the kill box. Use tight patterns to bounce lasers N to S at the top and bottom of each 'lip.'" The goal, in his words, is a "laser fence of bouncing death" at each lip, forcing orcs to trickle around the corners into cannon and gunner fire rather than pushing through the middle.

Sulphuric_Glue's setup is more detailed and splits the two lips by role, since he didn't have lasers unlocked when he cleared it:

• First base of fire (sideways lip): slow grenades to clump the wave, flamethrowers positioned opposite each other so two of them cover the entire passage and double up the burn damage bonus, then mortars for volume and a small gunner-plus-cannon wall behind.
• Second base of fire (downward lip): a line of gunners and cannons, plus more flamethrowers and slow grenades — though he notes the flamethrowers can't reach fully across this wider lip, which matters less because orcs cluster to the sides here anyway.
• Cleanup: tesla coils on the small circular platforms behind both lips, catching stragglers, with a couple of spare cannons plowing through orcs still queued at the first chokepoint.

The overlap between both setups is the part to trust: slow grenades at both lips, and cleanup turrets — laser bounce or tesla — placed to punish anything that squeezes through rather than trying to seal the lip completely.

Why the grenade slow shows up in every setup

Both detailed replies lean on the grenade launcher's slow. Per the community stat sheet referenced on our all turrets page, the grenade launcher applies a 60% slow for 3 seconds with a 13 m radius, and slowed orcs take 30% more damage — the same multiplier effect that our 3.2 difficulty spike page identifies as the difference between a build that scales and one that doesn't. On 5.2 specifically, the slow isn't just a damage multiplier — it's what buys the lip enough time to actually function as a kill box instead of a pass-through.

Bobby, the third reply in the thread, summarized this more briefly: "need the freeze beam or gas grenades to slow the hordes at the lips, after that airstrikes or nukes to cut the number down, but mainly its about controlling the flow at the lips." That's a good one-line version of the whole page if you don't want the detailed builds — control the flow at the two chokepoints, spend limited-use abilities (see our abilities page for the exact charge counts) on whatever still gets through.

A practical checklist for 5.2

1. Locate the two lips before placing anything — one sideways entry, one downward entry, per jeffk114 and Sulphuric_Glue's independent descriptions.
2. Put slow grenades at both lips. This is the one element every reply agreed on.
3. Build your damage line (lasers if unlocked, otherwise cannons and gunners) to fire into the slowed cluster, not into open ground.
4. Put tesla coils behind both lips on any raised or circular platform available, for stragglers.
5. If the center lane is where you're dying, that's a symptom of the lips failing, not a separate problem to solve with center turrets.

What we have not confirmed

None of the three replies mention specific upgrade tiers, so we can't say how far into the tech tree you need to be before this build works — only that all three players who posted detailed setups had the grenade slow available. We also don't have Steam achievement data specific to level 5, since the game's tracked milestones sit at levels 1, 3 and 6 (see the achievement tracker), so there's no global completion percentage to cite for how hard 5.2 is relative to the rest of the campaign. If "the lips" or any other term above is unfamiliar, the glossary defines it, and the FAQ and myths page covers the misreadings that come up most often around chokepoint levels like this one.