Subnautica 2 Loadout Guide: What to Carry at Every Depth

The hardest thing about Subnautica 2 isn't the leviathans or the oxygen management. It's inventory. You've got maybe 12 functional slots and the game throws 50 different resources at you. I spent my first 10 hours constantly dropping things I needed and keeping things I didn't.

This is the loadout system I've settled on after three fresh starts. It's organized by depth range rather than by activity because what you need at 50 meters is completely different from what you need at 500.

Shallows Loadout (0-100 Meters)

You're gathering starter materials, scanning everything, and building your first base. Keep it light.

The essentials: Scanner, Survival Knife, Repair Tool, and the Habitat Builder once you unlock it. That's four slots. The remaining space is for whatever you're collecting. Titanium, copper, quartz. The boring stuff that you'll need 200 of over the course of a playthrough.

I don't carry food or water in the Shallows. You're never more than a minute from your lifepod or base. Just eat before you leave and come back when you're hungry. The inventory slot is more valuable than the convenience.

One Becon is worth the slot. Drop it at any cave entrance or interesting wreck you find. Your memory is not as good as you think it is. I have 14 Beacons active on my map right now and I still find new things near old markers.

The only Biomod that matters at this depth is Bioluminescent Vision. It passively lights your surroundings. No inventory slot needed for a flashlight. It's the first Biomod you should craft and you should never unequip it.

Mid-Depth Loadout (100-400 Meters)

This is where the game opens up. You've got the Tadpole. You're exploring the Vine Tangle, the Reef Shelf, maybe the edges of the Fungal Basin. Threats are real but manageable.

Your toolbar should include the Scanner, Repair Tool, and a Beacon or two. Everything else depends on your objective.

If you're blueprint hunting, bring the Laser Cutter. Wrecks at this depth almost always have sealed doors. Nothing worse than swimming 300 meters to a wreck and realizing you can't open the one door with the good fragments behind it.

If you're resource running, the Tadpole's Cargo chassis is non-negotiable. The storage difference between Scout and Cargo chassis at this depth is the difference between one trip and four. Your time is worth more than the speed loss.

I always slot the Pressure Adaptation Biomod before leaving the Shallows. At tier 2 it effectively gives you about 50 extra meters of safe diving depth. The math isn't exact but the feeling is. You breathe easier. You panic less. Worth the Biomod slot.

The Tadpole should carry at least two spare power cells in its storage. The trip out to the Fungal Basin edge is long and if you've been using sonar you'll burn through power faster than expected. A dead Tadpole at 350 meters with a full inventory of rare minerals is the kind of loss that makes people quit games.

Deep Biome Loadout (400-800 Meters)

Now you're in the serious depths. The Trench. The lower Fungal Basin. Maybe poking at the edge of the Void. Everything hits harder, everything costs more oxygen, and the margin for error shrinks dramatically.

The Tadpole needs the Deep chassis. No exceptions. The extra crush depth buffer has saved me from hull failure twice. When something attacks your Tadpole at 700 meters, the hull integrity drops fast. The difference between the Scout chassis and the Deep chassis at this depth is surviving two hits instead of one. That matters.

Carry the Repair Tool and at least three batteries for it. The Tadpole takes damage constantly down here. Environmental hazards, aggressive fauna, your own bad driving. Repair early and often. I repair every time the hull drops below 80%. It's tedious but it beats losing the vehicle.

For Biomods, swap to whatever defensive option you've unlocked. I use the Electric Discharge mod from scanning the eels in the Trench. It pulses an AoE shock when something grabs you. The cooldown is long but it's a panic button that actually works.

I also carry exactly one piece of cooked food and one water. Just in case. At this depth you can get pinned down by terrain or creatures and spend longer than expected before surfacing. The inventory slots for emergency supplies are cheap insurance.

Co-op Adjustments

Playing with others changes loadout math substantially. You can specialize. One person brings the Scanner, another brings the Repair Tool, another handles Beacons. You carry less individually but the group covers everything.

The downside: if your group separates and someone gets in trouble, you might not have the tool they need. I've been 400 meters from my buddy who had the only Repair Tool when a Lurker clipped my Tadpole. We don't separate anymore.

In co-op, someone should always carry extra power cells. Always. The group's battery economy is worse than solo because you're all running equipment simultaneously. Designate one person as the power mule. They'll complain but they're the reason you don't wipe on the way back from a deep run.

One more co-op note: Beacons are per-player. Your Beacon is invisible to teammates. This seems like an oversight but I think it's intentional to encourage communication. You have to describe locations verbally. "It's near my Beacon labeled Cave 3" means nothing to anyone else. Use landmarks. The big coral arch. The heat vent with three spires. Things everyone can see.

The inventory system in Subnautica 2 is deliberately restrictive. It forces hard choices. The only way to win is to know exactly what you need before you leave and nothing more. My rule of thumb: if you didn't use an item on your last three trips, stop bringing it.