The Ultimate Resource Gathering Guide for Subnautica

Materials are the backbone of every Subnautica playthrough, and running out of essentials can quickly stall your progress. After extensive exploration and mining, here’s a complete guide to the best resource locations in the game—so you never have to wonder where to go again.

Basic Resources & Best Locations

Cave Sulfur

Where: Safe Shallows (inside Crashfish nests)
Tips: Check small caves and coral tubes early in the game.

Copper

Where: Best in the Mushroom Forest, also found in the Blood Kelp Trench and Lost River Junction
Tips: Mine along the outer edges to avoid dense mushroom tree obstructions.

Crystalline Sulfur

Where: Lost River Brine Pits, and Lava Castle Tubes
Tips: Collect with the Prawn Suit for deeper zones; can also be hand-picked in lava regions.

Diamond

Where: Mountain Island Caves
Tips: Shale outcrops here are easy to farm thanks to nearby food and air sources.

Gold

Where: Jellyshroom Caves
Tips: Dense shale deposits make this area the most efficient gold farming spot.

Ion Cubes

Where: Alien Caches, Alien Thermal Plant, and Primary Containment Facility
Tips: Use the Ion Fabricator at the Containment Facility for infinite cubes late-game.

Kyanite

Where: Inactive Lava Zone, Lava Castle
Tips: Large deposits need the Prawn Suit; smaller crystals can be picked up manually.

Lead

Where: Sparse Reef
Tips: Easy to spot on flat, sandy terrain—ideal for early base building.

Lithium

Where: Sparse Reef, Bulb Zone, and Mountain Island Shale
Tips: Shale outcrops on the mountain are quick to farm and oxygen-safe.

Magnetite

Where: Jellyshroom Caves
Tips: Easily collected by hand or with a Prawn Suit.

Nickel

Where: Lost River Brine Pools
Tips: A short mining session here provides more than enough for progression.

Quartz

Where: Best in the Grand Reef, also found in the Dunes and Sparse Reef
Tips: Stick to biome edges for quicker and safer mining.

Ruby

Where: Blood Kelp Trench, Sparse Reef, and thermal vents in the Dunes
Tips: Keep an eye out around hydrothermal activity zones.

Salt Deposits

Where: Grassy Plateaus, or via Water Filtration System
Tips: Farm early-game or automate with a filtration unit.

Silver

Where: Underwater Islands Seafloor
Tips: Bring a Prawn Suit with grappling arm to mine and escape tricky terrain.

Titanium

Where: Aurora wreckage zone, Bulb Zone, and from Metal Salvage
Tips: Behind the Aurora lies the best titanium farming zone in the game.

Uraninite Crystals (Uranium Ore)

Where: Lost River Brine Pools, or below the Underwater Islands
Tips: A glowing green rock—often near silver deposits in the same zone.

Top Biomes for All-Around Resource Farming

If you’re looking for efficiency, prioritize these multi-resource hotspots:

🩸 Blood Kelp Trench – Best all-around biome for variety and value.
🌿 Sparse Reef – Rich in quartz, rubies, lithium, and lead.
🌊 Grand Reef / Crash Zone – Great for supplemental mining runs.
⛰️ Mountain Island Caves – Quick shale outcrop farming (diamonds, lithium, gold).

Final Thoughts

That wraps up the Ultimate Resource Gathering Guide for Subnautica! Mastering the game’s economy of materials is key to thriving beneath the surface—and with this guide, you’ll spend less time searching and more time building, exploring, and surviving.

If this guide helped, don’t forget to like, share, or subscribe for more survival tips. Got a specific topic you want covered next? Drop it in the comments!

Happy diving, and watch out for Reapers!