How to Build and Use a Metal Farm in Subnautica 2

The Metal Farm is one of the most valuable structures you can build in Subnautica 2. Once powered and loaded, it passively duplicates rare ores that are otherwise scarce and difficult to farm by hand. If you need large quantities of Troilite or Atacamite later in the game, a Metal Farm makes the grind manageable. This guide covers everything: where to find the blueprint, what resources to gather, how to build it, and how to use it efficiently.

How to Unlock the Metal Farm Blueprint

You unlock the Metal Farm blueprint by scanning three Metal Farm fragments. All three are in the same location, so you do not need to search across multiple biomes.

The fragments sit inside the yellow metal fields, also called the Karakorum Metal Fields, located northeast of the Alien Ruins. The area sits at roughly 450 meters depth, which is at or near the limit of your Tadpole even with the first depth module installed. Bring the depth module before you attempt this dive, or you will not reach the bottom.

You only need to scan any three large metal farm structures in the area to unlock the blueprint. The fragments are spread across the glowing green pools, so scan as you move through the zone and you will hit three quickly.

How to Get to the Metal Farm Location

Getting to the metal fields takes a few navigational steps. Follow this route from the Alien Ruins:

1. Travel east from the Alien Ruins Research Base. Drop off the cliff and descend until you spot the purple tube structure below.
2. Follow the purple tube east toward the Angel Comb. The Angel Comb is a massive plant with large purple roots, sitting directly below a towering alien structure. It is roughly 520 meters east of the Alien Ruins.
3. From the Angel Comb, take the chasm to the northeast. Follow another purple tube down the ravine.
4. At the bottom, you will find the green glowing pools surrounded by tall alien column structures. These are the Metal Farm remains you need to scan.

Before you dive in: The Collector Leviathan patrols this area. Watch for it before entering the pools, and listen for the boss music that signals its approach. The other deep-sea creatures will only attack you if you exit the Tadpole, so staying inside keeps you relatively safe during the dive.

Bring a Repair Tool for your Tadpole before heading down. At 450 meters with hostile creatures nearby, taking hull damage without a way to repair it can end the run early.

What Resources You Need to Build a Metal Farm

Each Metal Farm costs one Mangalloy Ingot and one Axum Bacterial Culture.

Axum Bacterial Culture

Axum Bacterial Cultures grow on the yellow metal fields between the old Metal Farm remains, right in the same area where you scan the fragments. You can collect four to five per run. Grab at least one before you leave, and bring extras if you plan to build multiple farms.

Mangalloy Ingot

You craft Mangalloy Ingots at the Processor. Each ingot requires:

• 1 Titanium Ingot (craft from Titanium at the Processor)
• 1 Atacamite (dark ore that spawns near the Alien Ruins)
• 1 Troilite (rare green ore found only near the metal fields, look for seven green ore deposits around the yellow metal fields)

Troilite is the most important resource to collect while you are at the metal fields. It does not appear anywhere else on the map, and it does not respawn. Grab as much as you can on your first visit. If you lose your Troilite before building your first Metal Farm, you will not be able to craft one.

For Titanium Ingots, raw Titanium grows in abundance around the Alien Ruins, so that part of the recipe is easy to fill.

How to Place and Power the Metal Farm

The Metal Farm is a Cultivation structure, which means it must be placed outside your base. Open the Habitat Builder, navigate to the Cultivation tab, and select the Metal Farm.

Power is required for the farm to run. The farm draws 20 units of electricity, so your existing power setup needs enough headroom to support it. The easiest solution is to place the Metal Farm close to a Hydroelectric Turbine already connected to your base power network. If you build it farther away, use Power Transmitters to bridge the connection.

When the farm has no power or insufficient power, its timer pauses automatically. It resumes as soon as the power supply recovers.

How to Use the Metal Farm

Using the Metal Farm is straightforward once it has power:

1. Interact with the front of the Metal Farm to open its storage slot.
2. Place one piece of the ore you want to duplicate inside.
3. A timer starts on the front of the unit. The filter on the bottom slowly rises as progress builds.
4. When the timer finishes, a resource node grows on top of the farm.
5. Break the node with your Sonic Resonator or Feedback Resonator to collect the ore.

As soon as you smash the node, the farm immediately starts a new production cycle. You do not need to reload or interact with it again.

One important rule: do not remove the ore from the storage slot mid-cycle. Pulling the ore out before the timer finishes resets all progress. Always smash the node first, then manage inventory.

Metal Farm Production Times and Output

Different ores take different amounts of time and produce different amounts per cycle. Here is the full breakdown:

Troilite is the most practical ore to farm here. It takes 20 minutes per cycle but produces a resource that only exists in one area of the map and does not respawn naturally. Running multiple Metal Farms in parallel on Troilite gives you a steady supply for endgame crafting.

Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Metal Farm

Build your first Metal Farm immediately: Once you have the resources, prioritize building the farm before spending Troilite or Axum Bacterial Culture on anything else. Both materials are scarce. If you spend them before building the farm, you lose access to the blueprint in practice.

Stack multiple farms: There is no limit on how many Metal Farms you can build. If your power infrastructure supports it, running three or four farms simultaneously on Troilite cuts the effective wait time significantly.

Match the farm to the need: For quick turnaround on basic materials like Titanium or Copper, the 2-minute cycle is extremely efficient. For rare ores like Atacamite and Troilite, the 20-minute cycle is still far faster than making repeat runs to a dangerous 450-meter zone. Play Now!

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• All Subnautica 2 Regions and Biomes Guide