Subnautica Diamonds: Where to Farm Them and What They Build

Surviving in Subnautica is mostly about not getting eaten. Once you have that part figured out, you start needing diamonds. They power some of the more interesting upgrades in the game, including the Laser Cutter and the Prawn Suit. The annoying part is that the game does not point you at them, so you end up swimming in circles wondering what a shale outcrop even looks like.

This guide covers where diamonds spawn, the smartest places to start farming them, and every recipe that uses them.

What Drops Diamonds

Diamonds in Subnautica come almost entirely from shale outcrops. These are the rocky, slightly purple growths you see clinging to seabeds and the sides of cliff formations. Click one and the game rolls a random drop: lithium, gold, or, if the dice cooperate, a diamond. Loose diamonds also sit out in the open occasionally, so it pays to actually look at the ground while you swim.

Shale outcrops are stubborn about where they appear. They show up across most biomes, but you will never find them in the Safe Shallows, Kelp Forests, or Grassy Plateaus. Those zones exist to keep you alive in the early hours, not to give you upgrade materials.

Early Game Farming Spot

If your save is fresh and you only have a handful of fish recipes to your name, head toward the Aurora. It is the giant crashed ship southeast of your lifepod. Aim for the middle of the wreck, not the engines, because something large and unfriendly patrols the rear.

As you approach, the seafloor flattens and turns sandy. That stretch of shallows is a reliable place to scrape together your first batch of shale. A few outcrops here can fund the Laser Cutter and Reinforced Dive Suit much sooner than the game expects you to have them.

Late Game Trick: Sea Treaders

Once you can dive deeper and survive longer, the most efficient diamond farm in the game has legs. Literally. Sea Treader Leviathans are enormous, slow, and mostly indifferent to your presence. Each step they take cracks the seafloor open and kicks up zero to three pieces of shale. Follow one for a few minutes and you will leave with a stack.

One warning. They are passive until you swim in front of them, and a Sea Treader foot is not something you want to test your dive suit against. Stay behind, stay patient, and let them work.

You can find Sea Treaders in three spots:

• Grand Reef
• Sea Treader's Path
• Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves

Every Biome That Spawns Shale Outcrops

If you are exploring and want to know whether the biome you just entered is worth scanning, here is the full list:

• Blood Kelp Caves
• Blood Kelp Zone
• Bone Fields
• Bulb Zone
• Bulb Zone Caves
• Crag Field
• Crash Zone Mesas
• Deep Sparse Reef
• Ghost Forest
• Grand Reef
• Grand Reef Caves
• Inactive Lava Zone
• Inactive Lava Zone Corridor
• Jellyshroom Cave
• Junction
• Lost River
• Mountains
• Mountains Caves
• Mountains Corridor
• Mountains Island
• Mushroom Forest
• Mushroom Forest Caves
• Sea Treader's Path
• Sea Treader's Tunnel Caves
• Sparse Reef
• Underwater Islands
• Underwater Islands Caves

Diamond Crafting Recipes

Diamonds are not strictly required to stay alive, but they unlock a tier of equipment that makes everything after the early game far less painful. The recipes are spread across four crafting stations: the Fabricator (which you start with), the Mobile Vehicle Bay, the Vehicle Upgrade Console, and the Habitat Builder. The last three you have to build yourself before you can use them.

Fabricator

• Reinforced Dive Suit: 2 Diamond, 1 Synthetic Fiber, 2 Titanium
• Purple Tablet: 2 Diamond, 1 Ion Cube
• Laser Cutter: 2 Diamond, 1 Battery, 1 Titanium, 1 Cave Sulfur

Mobile Vehicle Bay

• Prawn Suit: 2 Diamond, 2 Plasteel Ingot, 2 Aerogel, 1 Enameled Glass, 2 Lead

Vehicle Upgrade Console

• Hull Reinforcement: 4 Diamond, 1 Lithium, 3 Titanium
• Prawn Suit Drill Arm: 4 Diamond, 1 Lithium, 5 Titanium

Habitat Builder

• Modification Station: 1 Diamond, 1 Computer Chip, 1 Titanium, 1 Lead

Quick Notes

You do not need to hoard diamonds. Two or three early on are enough to bridge into the Laser Cutter, and the Prawn Suit is the realistic next big sink. Once you reach the stage where you are running Sea Treader laps, supply stops being the bottleneck. Storage does.