Subnautica 2 Guide: How to Find Lead and Survive
If you want to unlock the best mining tools, you have to risk swimming straight into apex predator territory.
Finding titanium and copper is a breeze when you first drop into the ocean. Lead is a completely different nightmare. You desperately need this metal to craft the Sonic Resonator, which is the exact tool required to clear Angel Combs and mine massive resource boulders. If you want to know where to use that Resonator once you build it, you can check out my Subnautica 2 silver farming guide.
The problem is that lead does not spawn near your starting Lifepod. You have to venture out into some incredibly hostile waters to find it. I mapped out the safest route to secure your first major haul.
The Northeast Canyon Run
You will not find this ore sitting on safe, shallow coral reefs. You have to head deep into a specific ravine system.
Start at your Lifepod and face northeast, keeping your bearing right around 75 degrees. Swim for about 280 meters until you spot a fast flowing blue water current beneath you. Dive straight into that current. It will propel you down into a deep canyon. Keep your eyes peeled for a ruined colony platform construction sitting on the left side, which usually has a Tadpole vehicle fragment sitting nearby.
If you push further down this ravine toward the 400 meter mark, you will run into the Lander Garage Cicada Wreck. This entire canyon floor is littered with lead. You are looking for deep purple rocks with a harsh, cuboid texture. You will spot massive deposits that require the Sonic Resonator to break, but if you search the sand nearby, you can pick up plenty of small lead nodes entirely by hand.
Surviving the Marrowbreach
Before you carelessly swim out into the open water to grab a shiny rock, you need to check your surroundings. This canyon system is extremely dangerous.
The water currents here are aggressive and can easily sweep you dozens of meters away from your target. More importantly, this specific region is the hunting ground for a Marrowbreach. Aside from the massive leviathans, this is one of the most lethal apex predators you will encounter.
Do not swim high above the canyon floor. Stay as low to the seabed as possible and hug the wreckage of the Lander Garage. If the Marrowbreach spots you, you need to immediately break line of sight by ducking around corners or hiding inside the ruined hull.
I highly recommend bringing a Habitat Builder with you on this run. Once you safely reach the lead deposits, spend one copper and one titanium to drop a Beacon. You can toggle this signal on and off from your PDA, meaning you never have to blindly search for this dangerous canyon again.
What to Craft With Lead
Once you fill your pockets and make it back to base alive, you have a few strange crafting options. I already covered basic survival in my Subnautica 2 food and water guide, but lead is surprisingly a mandatory ingredient for high end cooking. You literally mix it with salt to make sugar.
Here is exactly what you can manufacture once you secure your first batch of lead.
