Subnautica: Below Zero – Useful Tips and Tricks

A simple “guide” that I created based on my multiple games on different difficulties. Most of this information isn’t new, but I discovered it by myself, and decided to share all the tips and tricks I’ve learned over my time playing the Subnautica games.

List of Tips and Tricks

All credit goes to BigPiggy49!

Resource Related Tips

• Lubricant is much more useful in this game than the previous Subnautica. Always collect extra creepvine pods.
• Many items and buildings take raw resources (ex: solar panels). It may not be a good idea to turn all of your quartz into glass when you get the chance.
• Spiral plants are found within deep crevices in the purple vents area, and inside the giant vent gardens (yes, you can go inside of those, it took me way too long to figure that out).
• Gardening is extremely useful. Plants I recommend growing outside are ribbon plants for batteries, gel sacs for areogel (or for a quick snack!), spiral plants for synthetic fiber, cotton lilies for acid, and creepvine seed clusters. Inside, I recommend growing frost jalapenos for food, Preston’s plant for food, and frost vase plants for water purification tablets.
• Lead is extremely important, and is used en mass by every single sea truck module. You can never have too much lead.
• Magnite can be a huge pain to find. Thankfully there is a huge vein of it behind the Phi robotics lab on the lower level (behind the destroyed snowfox charging platform underneath the right most collapsed large room).

Survival Tips (Most Applicable to Hardcore Mode)

• Getting an air bladder (made from 1 bladderfish and 1 silicone rubber) is one of the best investments anyone not used to the “no oxygen warnings” part of hardcore can make. That tool has saved my life countless times.
• When free diving in the twisty bridges and deep twisty bridges to find sea truck fragments, to find gold or silver, or when trying to locate table coral, make a mental not of each oxygen plant’s location. It could save your life if you lose track of your O2.
• A common misconception is that enemies hit harder in hardcore mode, and to my observations say that this is false. Do not be afraid of taking risks. The trick is knowing which risks to take.
• Flares will ward off predators. It might not do much against a leviathan that is determined to rip out your intestine, but it will ward of many of the smaller animals like squid sharks and brute sharks. Flares can save your life.
• When exploring, always have a backup plan for if you run out of food or water. These plans can be anything like a seatruck fabricator module to cook fish you catch, knowing where to find creepvine samples or gel sacs to eat in an emergency, a thermal knife to cook fish on the go, or a water recycling suit.
• Med kits are your friend. Always have at least one.
• Using a booster tank in hardcore is very risky. I often find myself looking down at my O2 to see that I’ve been holding shift, and accidentally used all my O2 in a matter of seconds.

Location Tricks (Minor Spoilers)

I tried to keep as many story spoilers out of this section as possible, and instead dropped hints and other references. If you want a detailed walk through on how to access certain locations and items, there are many fantastic guides on YouTube.

• Seatruck fragments are easy to find inside the twisty bridges and deep twisty bridges.
• The parallel processing unit fragment is found in the upper portion of the wreck of the Mercury 2 (wreck located in the purple vents biome near the delta station island), and it requires a laser cutter to access.
• The entrance to Outpost Zero is accessed via underwater cave. I’m not saying specifically where because that would spoil all the fun.
• Many high quality upgrades and modification blueprints (things like ultra capacity O2 tanks, prawn suit grappling arm fragments, seatruck afterburner fragments, etc) can be found inside sea monkey nests in the lily pad islands caves.
• A strange creature frozen in ice is in fact not located over the bridge that you repair. It is in that general area however, and to complete the tasks associated with it, you will need a spy pengling, and a few med kits. A snowfox and thermos also help, but are not strictly needed.
• Prawn suit fragments are located in the old abandoned mining facility underneath Delta Station.
• Nuclear reactor fragments are located in Omega Lab, which is a great place to search for other fragments at. The lab itself is in the lily pad islands area, and is not resting on the seabed.