Subnautica 2 is built around tools, diving equipment and vehicles that you craft, unlock and upgrade as you explore. Tools handle gathering, scanning, building and repairs, and they help you get through dark caves and wrecks. Diving equipment decides how long you can stay underwater, how fast you swim and what you can do when things go wrong. The Tadpole submersible and its add-ons carry you to places too far to swim to, and knowing what each piece does makes it easier to decide what to craft next.
Type
Tools
Survival Multitool
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- -
- Ingredients
- 3 Titanium
- What It Does
- Harvests plants and resource nodes, cuts blockers, and can make some creatures recoil so you can escape.
Repair Tool
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Scan 2 Repair Tool fragments
- Ingredients
- 1 Titanium Ingot, 1 Wiring Kit, 1 Basic Battery, 1 Sulfur
- What It Does
- Repairs damaged vehicles, bases and systems, and cuts through some barriers.
Habitat Builder
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Scan 2 Habitat Builder fragments at the Welcome Center
- Ingredients
- 2 Titanium, 1 Glass, 1 Basic Battery, 1 Copper Wire
- What It Does
- Builds base rooms, structures, power sources and vehicle support pieces.
Scanner
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- -
- Ingredients
- 2 Titanium, 2 Quartz, 1 Basic Battery
- What It Does
- Scans creatures, fragments and objects to fill the databank and unlock blueprints.
Bioscanner
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Unlock the Bioscanner upgrade
- Ingredients
- 1 Scanner, 2 Enameled Glass, 3 Conduit Crystal
- What It Does
- Scans creature biology to unlock Biomods and extra passive Biomod slots.
Flashlight
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Scan 2 Flashlight fragments
- Ingredients
- 2 Titanium, 1 Basic Battery, 1 Quartz
- What It Does
- Lights dark wreck interiors and caves during exploration.
Sonic Resonator
- Made At
- -
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 2 Lead, 2 Titanium Ingots, 1 Wiring Kit, 1 Basic Battery
- What It Does
- Breaks supported mineral deposits and stuns creatures for a few seconds.
Feedback Resonator
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Scan 2 Feedback Resonator fragments
- Ingredients
- 1 Sonic Resonator, 2 Enameled Glass, 2 Conduit Crystal, 2 Strontium
- What It Does
- An upgrade to the Sonic Resonator that fires a projectile, breaks hardened Bloom Cankers and stuns creatures.
Beacon
- Made At
- Habitat Builder
- Blueprint
- -
- Ingredients
- 1 Copper, 1 Titanium
- What It Does
- Places a visible signal that marks a location for navigation.
Portable Locker
- Made At
- Habitat Builder
- Blueprint
- Unlock its Utility recipe
- Ingredients
- 4 Titanium
- What It Does
- Provides a carryable container for staging materials during exploration routes.
Type
Diving Equipment
Basic Fins
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- -
- Ingredients
- 2 Rubber, 2 Fiber
- What It Does
- Increase swimming speed to shorten resource trips and improve early exploration routes.
Improved Fins
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- -
- Ingredients
- 1 Basic Fins, 1 Fiber Mesh, 2 Conduit Crystal
- What It Does
- Provide faster swimming than the basic Fins for repeat routes and longer trips.
Rebreather
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Scan a Rebreather fragment
- Ingredients
- 2 Fiber Mesh, 1 System Chip
- What It Does
- Conserves oxygen on deeper dives by reducing the penalty from depth.
Standard Air Tank
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Ingredients
- 2 Titanium, 2 Silver, 1 Rubber
- What It Does
- Raises oxygen capacity to 75 for longer early dives.
High Capacity Air Tank
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Ingredients
- 1 Standard Air Tank, 1 Plasteel Ingot
- What It Does
- Provides a larger oxygen reserve than the Standard Air Tank for longer dives.
Air Bladder
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Ingredients
- 2 Titanium, 1 Rubber
- What It Does
- Provides a quick ascent toward the surface and a brief emergency air reserve.
Wakemaker
- Made At
- Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Scan 3 Wakemaker fragments
- Ingredients
- 1 Silver, 1 Wiring Kit, 1 Grease, 1 Basic Battery
- What It Does
- Adds burst swimming propulsion for faster movement and emergency escapes.
Type
Vehicles and Chassis
Tadpole
- Made At
- Vehicle Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Scan Tadpole fragments
- Ingredients
- -
- What It Does
- The first personal submersible, supporting longer exploration trips and providing oxygen while powered. Built from the Vehicle Fabricator after you place a Moonpool and a Tadpole Dock.
Tadpole Haul Chassis
- Made At
- Vehicle Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 4 Titanium Ingots, 3 Strontium, 3 Enameled Glass, 1 Dedicated Core
- What It Does
- Adds a passenger and cargo platform to the Tadpole, with reduced speed compared with the Scout Ray.
Scout Ray Chassis
- Made At
- Vehicle Fabricator
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 2 Plasteel Ingots, 1 Advanced Wiring Kit, 1 Dedicated Core, 1 Strong Acid
- What It Does
- Changes the Tadpole for faster acceleration, higher speed and sharper turns.
Type
Vehicle Upgrades
Tadpole Depth Module Mk. 1
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 3 Celestine, 2 Enameled Glass, 1 System Chip
- What It Does
- Raises the Tadpole's safe depth limit before pressure damages its hull.
Engine Efficiency
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 1 Titanium Ingot, 2 Glass, 1 System Chip
- What It Does
- Reduces the Tadpole's power use while moving.
Strike Armor
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 2 Enameled Glass, 2 Strontium
- What It Does
- Reduces physical damage from creature attacks and collisions to the Tadpole.
Cavitation Muffler
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 3 Titanium, 2 Strontium
- What It Does
- Reduces the Tadpole's noise and the chance of drawing unwanted attention.
Photovoltaic Charger
- Made At
- Modification Station
- Blueprint
- Unlock its blueprint
- Ingredients
- 1 Copper Ingot, 1 Strong Acid, 1 Troilite
- What It Does
- Recharges the Tadpole's power cell in shallow water during daylight.
How to Get Tools, Equipment and Vehicles in Subnautica 2
Most of this gear is crafted at the Fabricator from materials you collect. Many items also need a blueprint first, and you unlock blueprints by scanning fragments you find in the world. Upgrades work a little differently, since you improve something you already have.
Stations matter as much as materials. The Modification Station handles upgrades to gear you already own, including the Tadpole's modules, and the Vehicle Fabricator is where Tadpole chassis get built.
Many recipes share the same basic materials, so gather in batches rather than one item at a time.
Which Tools to Get First in Subnautica 2
The Survival Multitool is one of the first tools you craft. It harvests plants and resource nodes, cuts through blockers, and takes over the job the Survival Knife did in the first game. It's built for gathering, not fighting, though. Most creatures recoil or flee when you hit them, which gives you room to escape, and swatting at passing fish rarely helps and can drain your oxygen.
The Scanner comes next, since it fills your databank and unlocks blueprints. It also shows how a creature is likely to behave, marked as passive, cautious or hostile. Creatures you haven't scanned yet appear grey, so treat them with caution until you've scanned them.
When you start a base, the Habitat Builder is the tool to get, because it places rooms, power sources and the support pieces vehicles need. The Repair Tool is the one to reach for when something breaks, since it fixes damaged vehicles, bases and systems and can cut through some barriers.
Tools for Scanning, Mining and Exploring
The Bioscanner is an upgrade to the Scanner that studies creature biology to unlock Biomods. The Sonic Resonator breaks certain mineral deposits and stuns creatures for a few seconds. Its upgrade, the Feedback Resonator, fires a projectile that breaks hardened growths such as Bloom Cankers from a distance, and it also stuns creatures.
Some tools help you move through the world. The Flashlight lights up dark wreck interiors and caves, so you can see where you're going. The Beacon places a visible marker that helps you find a location again, and the Portable Locker is a carryable container for holding materials on longer routes.
The Beacon and Portable Locker are both built at the Habitat Builder, though the Portable Locker needs its Utility recipe unlocked first. They pay off most on longer exploration trips, when you want to mark a spot or carry supplies with you.
Diving Equipment for Longer Dives
Oxygen sets the limits underwater, so most diving gear comes down to how long you can stay down and how safely you can come back up. The Standard Air Tank is the first upgrade to aim for, raising your oxygen capacity for longer early dives. The High Capacity Air Tank is the next step, with a larger reserve, and it's made by upgrading a Standard Air Tank with a Plasteel Ingot.
Fins help you move. Basic Fins make swimming between nearby sites faster, and Improved Fins go further on repeat routes and longer trips. The Wakemaker is a wearable system for quick bursts of speed, which is handy when you need to get out of a tight spot.
For deeper water, the Rebreather conserves oxygen by reducing the penalty that depth puts on your air. The Air Bladder is your emergency option: once it's selected underwater, press F to take a short breath or right-click for a fast ascent. Get back to the surface afterward to refill.
Plan each dive around your oxygen. Stay shallow early on, and count the swim back as well as the way down, since wreck passages and currents can stretch the return. Diving gear also doesn't replace heat protection in volcanic water, so plan for that separately.
The Tadpole Submersible and Its Chassis
The Tadpole is the first personal submersible you can use, and it makes longer exploration trips practical. While it's powered, it also provides oxygen, and passengers riding in a Haul chassis depend on it staying powered to keep breathing. You unlock its blueprint by scanning Tadpole fragments, then build it through a chain that runs through a Moonpool and a Tadpole Dock to the Vehicle Fabricator.
A chassis changes the platform attached to the Tadpole, and each one suits a different job. The Haul Chassis adds a passenger and cargo platform, though it moves more slowly than the Scout Ray. The Scout Ray Chassis is built for exploration, with faster acceleration, higher top speed and sharper turns.
Each chassis is built at the Vehicle Fabricator and needs specialized parts such as Dedicated Cores, so gather those ahead of time. Choose based on the trip: carrying people and supplies, or covering ground quickly.
Tadpole Vehicle Upgrades and When to Use Them
Tadpole upgrades are modules you craft at the Modification Station and install in the Tadpole's module interface. That keeps them on the vehicle instead of sitting in your backpack. Each one tackles a specific problem and does nothing for the others, so start with the trip you have in mind and pick the module that fits.
If the destination is past the Tadpole's safe depth, the Tadpole Depth Module Mk. 1 is the one to prioritize. It raises the depth the Tadpole can handle before pressure damages its hull, but multiple depth modules don't stack. If the return trip drains too much power, Engine Efficiency reduces the power used while moving.
Strike Armor helps when creatures attack or you bump into things, since it reduces the physical damage the Tadpole takes. Cavitation Muffler lowers the noise the Tadpole makes and the chance of drawing unwanted attention, but it isn't invisibility, so keep your distance from dangerous animals anyway. The Photovoltaic Charger recharges the Tadpole in shallow water during daylight, which makes it a helper rather than a replacement for a full charge on a deep or nighttime route.
Plan the materials before you start, since some upgrades share ingredients. Strike Armor and Cavitation Muffler both use Strontium, and at the Processor it takes two Celestine to make one Strontium, so those two add up quickly. Keep the depth module's ingredients, like Celestine and Enameled Glass, set aside so other builds don't use them up.
Test each upgrade on a short trip with a fully charged Tadpole and an easy way back. After installing the depth module, read the new depth limit before you set a deeper destination.
FAQ
What do you need to craft a Standard Air Tank in Subnautica 2?
Craft it at the Fabricator with 2 Titanium, 2 Silver and 1 Rubber. Silver also goes into Wiring Kits, which need 1 Silver and 1 Copper Wire, so a tank and a kit together start at 3 Silver.
How do you make a Plasteel Ingot in Subnautica 2?
Make it at a Processor using 2 Titanium and 1 Lithium. Besides the High Capacity Air Tank, the Scout Ray Chassis needs two Plasteel Ingots, so plan for that too.
Do tools and the Tadpole need batteries in Subnautica 2?
Yes. Tools run on batteries, and the Tadpole runs on power cells, so pack spares before a longer trip. Basic Batteries are also an ingredient in tools such as the Scanner and Flashlight.
How do you craft a Rebreather in Subnautica 2?
Scan a Rebreather fragment first to unlock its blueprint. Then craft it at the Fabricator with 2 Fiber Mesh and 1 System Chip.
