Early on in Subnautica 2, you'll be grabbing ore by hand. It's painfully slow, and you can't mine the big ore veins you'll come across with your basic tools—it'll say an "unknown tool is required". That's where the Sonic Resonator comes in.
This heavy-duty mining tool can blast large ore deposits like titanium, silver, and lead with ease, letting you collect valuable materials en masse—which you'll need once you start building bases and more complex tools. You can also use it to destroy Bloom Biofilm.
How to get the Sonic Resonator and mine in Subnautica 2
You need to scan just two Sonic Resonator locations to unlock it as a craftable blueprint. These are the locations I've found, and it's more than enough:
- There are two inside the Old Habitat around 370 meters to the north of the Lifepod, where you'll find Quaker's black box for an early task.
- The first is directly to your right when you enter the door.
- The second is directly ahead of you when you enter the building, next to a toppled table.
- One on a desk inside a cave just a few meters away from the Lifepod if you head 345° north.
- There's another one in the overturned crate just behind Wander's black box at the Spider Dome, around 240 meters southwest (240° on the compass) of the Lifepod—you're looking for a giant coral dome that resembles a spider.
Once you've unlocked the blueprint for the Sonic Resonator, you'll need the following materials to actually craft it:
- 1x basic battery (also required to recharge it)
- 2x titanium ingots
- 2x lead
- 1x wiring kit
While you can find titanium ingots by opening caches, you're best off building a Processor to refine them yourself. Likewise, you can craft wiring kits using one piece of silver and a copper wire. And I found the small chunks of lead you need (remember, you won't be able to break the large blocks yet) in a ravine about 250 meters northeast of the Lifepod.
Return to a Fabricator in your base (not the basic one inside the Lifepod) to craft your Sonic Resonator. To mine, all you need to do is swim over to a large ore vein and charge up the Sonic Resonator to smash it into chunks, which you'll automatically collect provided you have inventory space.
