Revision 2

The Deepwing Brooder is a large, non-aggressive leviathan-class organism in Subnautica 2. It is an egg-laying leviathan that roams the waters of Proteus, and unlike the predatory members of the leviathan set it poses effectively no threat to the player. It is part of the Early Access leviathan roster, included for its scale rather than for any danger it presents.

Overview

The Deepwing Brooder is one of the confirmed leviathans in the current Early Access build, alongside the Collector Leviathan, the Shiver Leviathan, and the Great Jaw. What sets it apart is its temperament: where the others are either dangerous predators or hazardous traps, the Deepwing Brooder is docile. It is the gentle giant of the launch roster, a leviathan the player can share the water with rather than flee from.

Behavior

The Deepwing Brooder roams rather than holding a fixed position, drifting through the water as it goes about its life cycle. As an egg-laying leviathan, its reproduction is the trait its name and design center on. It does not hunt the player and does not react to the player with aggression, so encounters are calm. Finer details of its movement patterns and exactly where it concentrates are not firmly pinned down in the current build, so treat any precise specifics as unconfirmed.

Where Encountered

The Deepwing Brooder is reported to roam Proteus. Because it wanders rather than staying in one biome, sightings are not tied to a single fixed spot, and its appearances can be sporadic. The exact biome boundaries it favors are not strongly documented in the current Early Access build, so the area where you meet one may vary.

Role in the No-Weapons Design

The Deepwing Brooder fits the game's no-weapons philosophy from the opposite direction to the predators. The design point of that philosophy is that the player survives leviathans rather than killing them, and the Deepwing Brooder shows that a leviathan does not have to be a threat at all. It demonstrates the variety within the leviathan-class tier: not every giant is something to be feared, and a docile, egg-laying roamer can exist in the same world as the apex hunters. There is nothing to fight here, only a large creature to observe.

Pack Migration

The Deepwing Brooder travels in small packs, typically of three individuals moving in single file behind a lead animal. Packs migrate at higher water levels than the player normally operates, often roughly 100 m above the player's working depth. Only the lead Brooder in a group spawns eggs; the trailing members follow without producing clutches of their own.

Decoy Egg Behaviour

The Brooder gathers layers of oil beneath its outer shell, which it releases as small white droplets alongside its eggs. Most of the released spheres are decoys that break apart on close approach. A small number of larger spheres survive the approach intact; interacting with those yields a Deepwing Egg Clump, an ingredient used in some of the best food recipes available in the current Early Access build.