Tools and Equipment

Tools and equipment in Subnautica 2 are the items players carry, craft, and use to interact with the world of Proteus. Players start with basic gear and unlock recipes for more advanced equipment by exploring deeper biomes and scanning fragments. Crucially, Subnautica 2 has no weapons of any kind: every item in the toolkit is a collection, survival, or utility tool, in line with the game's no-weapons philosophy.

Confirmed Tools and Equipment

The following items are confirmed for the current Early Access build. Where a detail is uncertain, it is flagged as such.

Fabrication vs Processing

Crafting in Subnautica 2 is split into two stations with different jobs. The distinction matters because the wrong station cannot do the other's work.

In short: fabricate small items at the Fabricator, refine raw ore into ingots at the Processor. See Crafting and Resources for the full progression and resource list.

Scanner

The Scanner returns from the franchise with a significant upgrade. It carries a hovering radar hologram that helps players locate scannable objects, materials, and fauna across Proteus's large map. Its core function is unchanged: scanning fragments, creatures, and objects drives blueprint unlocks, which is the backbone of the progression loop. The radar pairs well with the resource-node system, since materials appear as distinct nodes on the seafloor, letting players home in on exactly what they need.

Biosampler

The Biosampler is the signature new tool of Subnautica 2 and the entry point to the game's biology systems. Players use it to extract genetic material from living creatures; those samples feed the Adaptation and BioMod systems, which let the player evolve their own body to survive harsher conditions. This makes the Biosampler central to progression in a way no prior franchise tool was, because it turns the player character itself into something you upgrade. See the dedicated Biosampler page for full details.

Wakemaker

The Wakemaker is a handheld twin-fan propulsion tool, not a vehicle. The player holds it to boost swim speed; it runs on a battery, and the player is rendered visually obscured while it is active. Its blueprint is unlocked from several fragments found in the world. Because it is a tool rather than a craft, it sits in the equipment roster alongside the Scanner and Biosampler rather than with the vehicles. See the dedicated Wakemaker page for full details.

Distraction Flare

The Distraction Flare is a throwable lure that exploits the reactive AI of hostile creatures, including the Collector Leviathan. The Collector constantly re-evaluates its surroundings using a stimulus system that reacts to light, sound, and movement. A thrown flare creates a light-and-sound stimulus away from the player, drawing the creature's attention toward the flare and opening a window to slip clear.

Because the creature weighs the flare against the player's presence, the distraction is temporary rather than permanent, and the Collector's shockwave attack can knock flares away, so flares are a tool to buy time rather than a guaranteed escape. This fits the no-weapons philosophy: players outsmart predators through environmental manipulation rather than killing them. Quiet swimming in dark water, using terrain as cover, and deploying flares as decoys are all evasion strategies.

Sonic Resonator

The Sonic Resonator is the game's main mining tool and, in a world with no weapons, the nearest thing to a means of self-defense. Its primary job is gathering: a focused pulse of sound shatters the larger mineral deposits that cannot be collected by hand, releasing the material inside. Aimed at a creature, the same pulse briefly stuns it, opening a short window to escape or to grab a passive fish. It charges slowly, which makes it unreliable against fast attackers, but it dependably buys a moment against slower mid-sized threats.

Upgrading it to the Feedback Resonator turns that close-range pulse into a ranged blast. The projectile travels a set distance before bursting, so threats and obstacles can be hit from a safer distance. The upgrade is also a progression gate: only its ranged blast can break the armored Bloom Cankers that seal certain Angel Comb organisms, which in turn unlocks Adaptations such as Axum Vision. It is built from a Sonic Resonator together with refined materials; exact recipe quantities are not detailed here.

PDA (Not Yet Confirmed for Subnautica 2)

The PDA has been a staple of the franchise as the player's logbook, database, and crafting menu. For Subnautica 2 specifically, however, a PDA is not directly confirmed in current sources. It is likely present by convention, since scanning, blueprints, and a database all need a host interface, but until it is shown explicitly its exact form and features for this game should be treated as unconfirmed. Where this wiki refers to scan-driven blueprint unlocks, that progression is confirmed independently of whether the interface is branded as the PDA.

No-Weapons Design Philosophy

Subnautica 2 has no weapons of any kind, and Leviathan-class organisms are mechanically invincible and cannot be killed. The design intent is direct: predators are problems to interact with, run from, or outsmart, not to kill. The reasoning given is that simply bashing creatures until they die is unsatisfying, and that any tool resembling a weapon should help creatures and the world rather than eliminate parts of the environment that bother the player.

The replacement for the old knife is a non-lethal cutting tool used for harvesting and physical interaction rather than combat, and the developers have acknowledged that more non-lethal interaction options are still being added. The thrust of the design is to make players solve problems without killing the creature, and to lean on evasion, distraction, and the environment instead of force.

Advanced and Future Equipment

Beyond the confirmed items above, players find recipes for more advanced tools, equipment, and submersibles as they explore. The tool roster will expand throughout the Early Access period as new gear, craftables, biomes, and creatures are added. Expected directions for future equipment, based on the franchise's patterns, include:

• Diving gear with enhanced depth ratings or environmental protection

• Additional non-lethal interaction tools to round out the no-weapons toolkit

• Specialized equipment tied to specific biomes or creatures

• Upgrades that extend the capabilities of existing tools

Specifics of cut and retained equipment, and exact recipes for confirmed tools, have not been publicly enumerated, so they are not listed here.