Subnautica 2 — Tools & Equipment Priority: What to Build, in What Order

Tested against: Subnautica 2 early-access build available at the time of writing. Material costs and unlock thresholds described here reflect the EA build’s behaviour as understood from public dev updates and the studio’s early-access patch notes. EA values may shift between patches — verify against the in-game fabricator before relying on specific numbers.

The single most common reason new Subnautica 2 players fail to progress is that they build the wrong tools in the wrong order. The fabricator queue is small, materials are scarce, and it’s easy to spend an hour crafting a “cool” item that doesn’t actually unlock the next tier of content.

This guide gives you a stage-by-stage build order — early, mid, late — that matches the natural progression of EA’s content arcs. If you follow it in order, you’ll never get stuck on a craft that’s waiting for a deeper biome you haven’t reached yet.

The four tool categories

Every tool in Subnautica 2 fits into one of four categories. Knowing which category a tool is in tells you what stage it belongs to.

1. Survival kit — items that keep you alive (oxygen tanks, fins, depth modules, first-aid kits)
2. Resource tools — items that let you harvest (multi-tool, biology sampler, sonic resonator)
3. Scanning & information — items that unlock blueprints (scanner, signal mapper)
4. Base & vehicle modules — items that expand your home infrastructure (habs, lockers, fabricators, moon pool, vehicle modules)

The build order below respects these dependencies: a tool is built only after everything it depends on has been built.

Stage 1 — Early game (first 2 hours, kelp forest)

You spawn with nothing. This stage’s job is to give you the minimum kit for autonomous survival.

Build order

1. Multi-tool (Titanium ×2) — your only harvest tool. Cuts kelp, pops acid pods, slices ore.
2. Battery (Copper ×2 + Acid sack ×1) — needed for the scanner and several base modules. Make 2–3 at a time so you always have a charged spare.
3. Standard oxygen tank (Titanium ×2 + Rubber ×1) — doubles your underwater endurance. Always carry a backup tank in your inventory.
4. Fins (Titanium ×1 + Rubber ×1) — small speed boost. Cheap, build immediately after the oxygen tank.
5. Scanner (Titanium ×2 + Quartz ×2 + Battery ×1) — the single most important tool in the game. Unlocks every blueprint chain.
6. Emergency bladder (Titanium ×2 + Rubber ×1) — instant ascent + 25 oxygen. Carry two at all times.
7. Habitat builder (scanned from a shallow wreck) — lets you place corridors, hatches, and lockers.
8. First-aid kit ×2 (crafted from basic plant fibres) — never leave the lifepod without one.
9. Standard flashlight — built into the suit, but the upgraded handheld light stick is much brighter.

Skip for now

• Vehicles, vehicle modules, the moon pool — you don’t have materials yet, and the kelp forest doesn’t need them.
• The biology sampler — wait until you’ve unlocked the gene station in stage 2.
• Reinforced suit — titanium isn’t scarce in the kelp forest, but the reinforced suit is a mid-game item.

Common mistake: building the reinforced suit immediately because it “looks cool.” It requires mid-tier materials you don’t have yet. Save the slot.

Stage 2 — Mid-game (hours 2–8, sparse seafloor + jellyshroom plateau)

You’ve unlocked the gene station and the moon pool. This stage is about unlocking the depth band you’re missing for late game.

Build order

1. Habitat builder upgrade → Corridor + T-junction + L-corner — expand your starter base to at least 6 rooms.
2. Moon pool (Titanium ×6 + Lead ×2 + Glass ×2) — required to build any vehicle.
3. Tadpole vehicle (Titanium ×10 + Copper ×5 + Lead ×3 + Glass ×4) — see the dedicated vehicle guide.
4. Vehicle depth module — required for any deep dive past the kelp forest.
5. Vehicle storage module — doubles your carry capacity on long salvage runs.
6. Biology sampler (Titanium ×2 + Quartz ×2 + Gold ×1) — the gene-farming tool.
7. Gene modification station (scanned from first camp) — your permanent gene interface.
8. Reinforced dive suit (Titanium ×4 + Rubber ×3 + Lead ×1) — doubles effective oxygen time.
9. High-capacity oxygen tank (Titanium ×3 + Silver ×2 + Lead ×1) — your mid-game oxygen solution.
10. Water filtration unit — place inside a base. Removes the need to find water slugs.
11. Solar panel ×3 — powers your starter base. Place on the seabed near the base, not on the roof.
12. Storage locker ×4 — you need more inventory slots than the fabricator gives you by default.

Skip for now

• Thermal reactor — wait until you reach stage 3 (vent biomes).
• Prawn suit (heavy mech) — not in EA’s stage 2 yet. Future content.
• Cyclops submarine — not in EA at all. Future content.

Co-op tip: in a 4-player squad, assign one player to be the vehicle specialist. They focus on building the moon pool + Tadpole first so the squad has mobile transport as early as possible.

Stage 3 — Late game (hours 8+, thermal vent + decay zones)

You’ve unlocked pressure resistance tier 1 and heat immunity. Time to push into the main story arc.

Build order

1. Thermal reactor (Lithium ×3 + Kyanite ×1 + Titanium ×5) — replaces solar panels permanently. No more day/night power outages.
2. High-capacity oxygen tank upgrade → Mark II — for the longer dives this band requires.
3. Pressure-rated suit (Lithium ×2 + Kyanite ×1 + Titanium ×4) — required for sustained dives below 800 m.
4. Toxin-resistance underlayer (Titanium ×3 + Acid sack ×4 + Kyanite ×1) — required for decay-zone exploration.
5. Vehicle sonar mining module — exposes large ore veins through cave walls.
6. Vehicle defensive warning module — lights up when a leviathan enters scanner range. Your single most important safety tool.
7. Base pressure hull — replace standard corridors with pressure-rated ones if your base is below 200 m.
8. Bio-luminescent lighting modules — for the deep abyss where there’s no natural light.
9. Scanner station (base module) — auto-scans wreckages that pass nearby. Saves manual scanning time.
10. Sonic resonator (Acid sack ×2 + Titanium ×2 + Silver ×1) — required for some precursor interactions and large ore veins.

Skip for now

• Vehicles with prawn suit arms — not in EA. Skip.
• Deep abyss weapons — EA doesn’t include combat weapons. Skip.

Stage 4 — Endgame (hours 16+, deep abyss)

The deepest content. Requires pressure-resistance tier 2 or 3.

Build order

1. Pressure-rated hull Mark II — required for any base below 1,500 m.
2. Vehicle thermal reactor dock — your vehicle now charges at your base instead of needing a moon pool trip.
3. Bio-luminescent base lighting array — fully light your abyss base.
4. Maxed-out oxygen tank — the longest-duration tank. Required for some precursor puzzles.
5. Reinforced dive suit Mark II — the final upgrade before “endgame” gear.
6. Deep-pressure medical kit — auto-injects when health drops below 25%, replacing manual first-aid use.

What you should ALWAYS have in your inventory

These items you never leave home without, regardless of stage:

• 2× emergency bladders
• 2× first-aid kits
• 1× charged battery (spare)
• 1× repair tool (for vehicle hull damage, late game)
• 1× light stick (for jellyfish zones)

What you should NEVER build unless you need it

A short list of items that look essential but are actually traps:

• Multiple scanner units — one scanner is enough. You don’t need a backup.
• Decorative base modules — fun but a material drain. Build these last.
• Reinforced suit Mark II — if you already have the Mark I and you’re not at the abyss, skip.
• Vehicle sonar mining module — if you’re still in the kelp forest, skip.
• Multiple moon pools — one is enough. Build a second only after the first is fully utilised.

Common issues and fixes

”I built a vehicle but I can’t find the moon pool blueprint”

The moon pool blueprint is unlocked by scanning any mid-depth wreck (band 2 or 3). It does NOT drop from shallow wrecks. Go to a deeper biome, find a wreck, scan it.

”I built the gene station but it doesn’t show gene unlocks”

You haven’t scanned any creatures with the biology sampler yet. The gene station is just an interface — you have to give it fragments before it offers unlocks.

”I can’t afford the thermal reactor even though I’ve been mining for hours”

You’re not gathering kyanite. Kyanite is the rarest material in stage 3 and only spawns in specific vent caves. Use the resource atlas to find a guaranteed spawn.

”My oxygen tank drains way faster than I expect”

You’re either at a depth deeper than your tank’s rating, or you’re missing a pressure-resistance gene. Both cases are addressed in the resource atlas depth bands section.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Should I ever build more than one vehicle? A: Yes — but only after your first Tadpole is fully upgraded with depth, sonar, defensive, and storage modules. A second vehicle is endgame redundancy.

Q: Can I sell back items I’ve already built? A: No. The fabricator doesn’t have a sell-back function. Build deliberately.

Q: Are tool upgrades always worth it? A: Almost always. Each tier of upgrade meaningfully extends your effective underwater time. The exception is decorative modules.

Q: Does the moon pool need power? A: Yes — the moon pool consumes power continuously to maintain the docking pressure. If your base loses power, vehicles docked inside can’t launch.

Next steps

• Beginner’s 30-Minute Walkthrough — first-session flow
• Resource Atlas — what spawns where, by depth band
• The Tadpole Vehicle — blueprint, modules, leviathan evasion
• Underwater Base Building — site selection, power, layout (coming soon)

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