Subnautica 2 Guide: How to Find Necrolei Cysts and Craft Strong Acid
Realizing your submarine battery is completely dead while hovering over a pitch black trench is a mistake you only make once.
You need Power Cells to keep your advanced tech and Tadpole vehicles running, and Power Cells require Strong Acid. Before you waste your time trying to craft this in a basic fabricator, you need to know that it requires a dedicated Processor module and a very specific alien resource called Necrolei Cysts. I tracked down the best farming spots so you do not have to endlessly wander the Safe Shallows looking for plants that simply do not spawn there.
Harvesting Necrolei Cysts
Cysts do not just float freely in the water. You have to extract them from local flora.
You are looking for Stilt Orbs. These are bizarre green, spherical jelly plants propped up by bright pink tentacles. To harvest the resource, swim up to the orb with your Survival Multitool equipped. Hit the green sphere once with the tool, and the Necrolei Cyst will pop right off. Because you need two cysts to make a single batch of acid, you should clear out entire clusters of these plants whenever you find them.
The Best Farming Locations
These plants prefer specific biomes. I have found three reliable locations to farm them in bulk.
The Old Habitat Plateau
The absolute best farming spot sits right next to the Old Habitat ruins. Head roughly 400 meters northwest of your Lifepod. Once you reach the abandoned facility, swim a few meters west to a plateau overlooking the base. Right before the ocean floor takes a massive drop into the deep, you will hit a huge coral field absolutely teeming with Stilt Orbs.
The Anemone Hills
If you need a slightly closer trip, point your compass northwest from the Lifepod and swim for about 280 meters. You will enter the Anemone Hills biome. Look among the giant anemone flora to find small clusters of Stilt Orbs grouped in batches of two to five.
North of Wander's Blackbox
If your exploration is taking you east between the Lifepod and the Tadpole Pens, there is an isolated patch you can hit. Swim about 300 meters north of Wander's Blackbox. It sits about 90 meters north of the first mandatory Angel Comb signal.
Processing Strong Acid
Do not bother dragging your freshly harvested cysts back to your Lifepod. The basic Fabricator can only handle Mild Acid.
To refine Strong Acid, you must build a Processor machine inside a powered habitat room. Simply dump two Necrolei Cysts into the machine. If you are entirely out of cysts but have other rare materials, the Processor offers an alternate recipe using one piece of Sulfur and one piece of Gold.
Also check out: Subnautica 2 Guide: How to Make Titanium Ingots and Find the Processor
Once you have your Strong Acid, you unlock access to crucial vehicle components and advanced battery tech.
Still struggling to survive on Proteus? Check out my complete Subnautica 2 Guide Hub for base building tips, resource maps, and more.
