Quartz is one of the first crafting resources you need in Subnautica 2, and it gates almost every glass-based blueprint. It appears as small clusters of white, semi-transparent crystals jutting out of the sandy seabed and along cave walls, often with a faint pinkish tint and a soft glow at night that makes it easy to pick out in dark areas.
Quick answer: Swim across the open seabed and shallow caves of the Sparse Plains around your lifepod, look for clusters of white crystal shards on sand or rock, and pick them up by hand. Two quartz fabricate into one glass at any Fabricator.
What quartz looks like in Subnautica 2
Quartz nodes are not hidden inside outcrops like titanium or copper. They sit directly on the terrain as standalone crystal clusters, roughly the size of your character's forearm, made of three to five angled white shards. The crystals catch ambient light during the day and emit a low bioluminescent glow at night, which is the fastest way to spot them while exploring without a flashlight.
You do not need a tool to harvest quartz. Swim up to a cluster, hold the interact key, and it goes straight into your inventory as a single quartz unit per node.
Where to find quartz near your lifepod
The Sparse Plains is the starting biome in the Early Access build and sits between roughly 0 and 500 meters of depth. Quartz spawns throughout this zone, with denser concentrations in three specific places worth circling on your mental map.
| Location | What to look for | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open seabed of the Sparse Plains | White crystal clusters on flat sand | Often near titanium-bearing limestone outcrops |
| Rocky ledges and small caves | Clusters wedged into rock crevices | Watch oxygen; most pockets are short dives |
| Coral formations and reef edges | Crystals tucked beside coral bases | Reliable spawn cue when you see large coral pieces |
The game does not include an in-game map, so use the compass on your HUD and drop a Beacon once you locate a dense patch. Most early players can gather 10 to 15 quartz within a 150 meter radius of the lifepod on a single oxygen run with the Standard O2 Tank equipped.
How quartz respawns
Quartz nodes do not regenerate while you stay in the same area. Resources are tied to biome chunks based on proximity, so a patch you cleared remains empty until you swim far enough away for the chunk to unload, then return. A simple loop is to alternate between two quartz-rich spots a few hundred meters apart, harvesting one while the other resets.
What quartz is used for
Quartz is the sole ingredient for glass, and glass feeds into nearly every windowed base piece and vehicle component. It also appears directly in several early survival blueprints, so you will want a steady stockpile rather than a one-off run.
| Item | Quartz required |
|---|---|
| Glass | 2 |
| Fabricator | 1 |
| Hatch | 1 |
| Solar Panel | 2 |
| Work Light | 2 |
| Battery Terminal | 2 |
| Dive Elevator | 2 |
| Nook (via 2 Glass) | 4 |
| Half Round Room (via 5 Glass) | 10 |
Plan your first base around these numbers. A starter habitat with a corridor, hatch, fabricator, one window, and a solar panel needs at least 7 quartz before you account for glass-heavy upgrades.
Efficient farming routine
Step 1: Craft fins and the Standard O2 Tank as soon as you have enough titanium. Both extend the distance you can cover per dive, which roughly doubles quartz output per trip.
Step 2: Pick a quartz-dense patch within visual range of your lifepod and clear every cluster you can see. Surface to refill oxygen between dives rather than risking a long swim back.
Step 3: Move to a second patch at least 150 to 200 meters away and repeat. By the time you finish the second spot, the first one will respawn on your return loop.
Step 4: Drop a Beacon at each productive node so you can re-enter the circuit without searching. Once you unlock the Habitat Builder and build a small base, store excess quartz in a wall locker so a single trip funds multiple crafting sessions.
Common reasons you cannot find quartz
- You are searching deeper biomes first. Quartz is most abundant in the shallow Sparse Plains; deeper zones favor other minerals.
- You already cleared the chunk. Swim several hundred meters away and return to trigger respawns.
- You are looking inside limestone outcrops. Quartz spawns as freestanding crystal clusters, not as outcrop drops.
- It is daytime in a brightly lit area. The glow that makes quartz easy to spot is only obvious at night or inside shaded caves.
Once you have a steady quartz circuit running near the lifepod, glass stops being a bottleneck and the rest of the base-building tree opens up quickly. Keep a running stockpile of at least 20 quartz on hand before pushing into the Graveyard or Thermal Spires, since deeper construction projects burn through glass faster than the early-game habitat pieces.