Although whether you get the material from specific outcroppings is heavily reliant on RNG, there are a few places you can explore that are easier to get to early on. The guide below tells you what you need silver for, as well as where to find it.
What is Silver Ore Used for in Subnautica?
Silver ore is used to construct:
High-capacity O2 tank (fabricator) Wiring kit (fabricator) Medical kit fabricator (habitat builder) Scanner room speed upgrade (scanner room)
Arguably, the most important craftable objects are the high-capacity O2 tank (x1 ore) and the wiring kit (x2 ore). The larger O2 tank is essential for performing deeper dives and exploring for the various parts of the prawnsuit and cyclops, while the wiring kit is used in a variety of other crafting recipes, such as those for the rebreather, propulsion cannon, battery charger, and more.
The wiring kit is what you’ll need to farm silver ore for.
Where is Silver Ore in Subnautica?
This resource is found in basically every biome on Planet 4546B, from the Kelp Forest to the Bulb Zone and most everywhere in between.
Early in the game, you want to look for sandstone outcroppings on the seafloor and attached to the sides of underwater hills and mountains. They look like round, medium brown rocks (as opposed to the more oblong, tan/light brown limestone outcroppings). Each outcropping gives you 1x silver.
These are most abundantly found in the early game in the grassy plateau biome, as well as at the edge of the kelp forest biome when it abuts the grassy plateau.
Note that sandstone outcroppings are also sources of gold and lead, two other materials you’ll need. You can even get gold from the above areas, as I have several times.
How to Find the Grassy Plateau for Early-Game Ore
From your lifepod, go northeast (the wreckage of the crash landed Aurora will be on your right). Keep going through the safe shallows until it drops down into the grassy plateau area. There will be red grass on the ocean floor of this area.
Once the area drops down, turn left and go north, sticking along the cliff face. When you come to the large, green kelp forests (they’ll be on your left), you will start noticing caves in the cliff face. Look around and in these caves for sandstone.
You can also venture out into the grassy plateau and look for sandstone attached to the pillars there and in the caves that drop down to the mushroom forest, but this area is deep and dangerous.
Not only will you need the high-capacity O2 tank to manage your oxygen supply and navigate this area efficiently (which you need silver ore to construct), you’ll also likely need the seaglide to make sure you can get to the surface faster. Be on the lookout for bonesharks, as well.
You can also go to the grassy plateau/kelp forest area located south/southwest of the lifepod. Neither area is really more dangerous than the other, it seems, and I haven’t found either area to be more efficient than the other. Both grassy plateau areas also start at about the same distance from the lifepod (about 260 meters).
Get Ore Material from Large Deposits
Silver ore can also be mined from large resource deposits, which are pyramidal material nodes found on the seabed in various biomes. Silver outcrops can be most easily found early in the game in the underwater islands biome and the dunes biome, though “easily” here is relative since you’ll need the prawnsuit drill to mine them.
That’s not to mention that you likely need the colossus to carry the prawnsuit to these areas unless you have a base built closeby. These areas are also some of the more dangerous biomes in Subnautica.
Get Silver from Barnacles on Reefback Leviathans
Reefback Leviathans are the large, whale-like creatures that can be found swimming above the grassy plateau areas. They can also be found in the mushroom forest, bulb zone, and dunes, as well as a handful of other areas.
Various resource nodes can be found on their backs, including coral and acid mushroom. Teal barnacles inside dark greyish sacks can also be found on them. Breaking the barnacles can give you either copper or silver.
This method works, but it is much less reliable than looking for sandstone or, later in the game, looking for large deposits.
That’s all there is to know about how to find silver ore in Subnautica’s early game, and after you know what to look for, you’ll be able to find the crafting resource in other biomes. For more on how to explore the vast ocean of Subnautica, consider checking out our other guides. Happy exploring.
