Best Subnautica Base Locations: Early, Mid and Deep
For an early base build near Grassy Plateaus, 90 m, for the mid game near Sea Treader Path, 308 m and for the deep game near Inactive Lava Zone, 774 m. Each site has the most of its stage's materials within about 384 m and no hand-placed leviathan pin within 400 m.
- Early baseGrassy Plateaus90 m, 100.0 of 100
- Mid-game baseSea Treader Path308 m, 80.0 of 100
- Deep baseInactive Lava Zone774 m, 79.8 of 100
- Sites scored226candidate spots across three depth bands
Most base guides are opinions about a favourite biome. This one is a calculation you can read: we scored every spot on the map for how much of a stage's materials the game's spawner tables expect within reach, kept the ones far from the hand-placed leviathans, and show the winners.
On this page
Best early base
Best early base· Best early base
Grassy Plateaus, 90 m
Site 1 on the picture. 100.0 of 100 for limestone, sandstone, quartz, salt, metal salvage; the nearest hand-placed leviathan pin is 461 m away and the nearest wreck 52 m.
- 90 mseabed depth
- 100.0 / 100resource score
- 461 mnearest leviathan pin
The best base for each stage
One pick for the mid game and one for the deep game, from the same formula. The runners-up are in the table below.
Best mid-game base
Sea Treader Path, 308 m
Site 4 on the picture. 80.0 of 100 for shale, lithium, magnetite, ruby, diamond; the nearest hand-placed leviathan pin is 539 m away and the nearest wreck 175 m.
- 308 mseabed depth
- 80.0 / 100resource score
Best deep base
Inactive Lava Zone, 774 m
Site 7 on the picture. 79.8 of 100 for nickel ore, uraninite crystal, crystalline sulfur, diamond, magnetite; the nearest hand-placed leviathan pin is 496 m away and the nearest wreck 213 m.
- 774 mseabed depth
- 79.8 / 100resource score
How we ranked the sites
Resources in reach (capped), then away from hand-placed leviathans, at the stage's depth
Three steps, the same for every stage.
- Reach. We cut the world into 128 m cells and take a 3 by 3 block of them, a 384 m square, around each candidate. The resources of a base's shopping list are counted inside that square.
- Score. For each of the stage's five resources we take the expected spawns in reach, capped at 20: more than that is already plenty for one base. The score is the sum, out of 100. Early uses limestone, sandstone, quartz, salt, metal salvage; mid uses shale, lithium, magnetite, ruby, diamond; deep uses nickel ore, uraninite crystal, crystalline sulfur, diamond, magnetite.
- Safety and depth. The seabed depth of the square (the median depth of the spawn slots in it) must sit in the stage's band, and no hand-placed leviathan pin may lie within 400 m. Picks are at least 500 m apart so the runners-up are different places.
What the data cannot tell you
The resource numbers are a model from the game's spawner tables and have not been checked in a running game. The area name is the one with most spawn slots around the site, which can differ from the biome the map draws. Distances to pins are along the map and ignore depth, so a pin far below a site still counts. Wild creatures are rolled again for each new game and are not here; only hand-placed leviathans and predators have fixed pins. We did not read the building rules, so how deep or how close to a wall you may build is not covered.
All nine sites
Three per stage. The number is the site's number on the picture. "Leviathan" and "predator" are the distance to the nearest hand-placed pin of that kind; wrecks and caves are pins within 400 m.
| # | Stage | Area and depth | Score | Leviathan | Predator | Wrecks | Caves | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Early | Grassy Plateaus, 90 m | 100.0 / 100 | 461 m | 592 m | 5 | 10 | Open |
| 2 | Early | Crash Zone, 61 m | 100.0 / 100 | 483 m | 275 m | 4 | 1 | Open |
| 3 | Early | Grassy Plateaus, 134 m | 97.0 / 100 | 474 m | 181 m | 6 | 13 | Open |
| 4 | Mid | Sea Treader Path, 308 m | 80.0 / 100 | 539 m | 167 m | 2 | 32 | Open |
| 5 | Mid | Mushroom Forest, 212 m | 79.5 / 100 | 417 m | 498 m | 1 | 23 | Open |
| 6 | Mid | Sparse Reef, 270 m | 71.1 / 100 | 450 m | 196 m | 1 | 47 | Open |
| 7 | Deep | Inactive Lava Zone, 774 m | 79.8 / 100 | 496 m | 243 m | 4 | 30 | Open |
| 8 | Deep | Blood Kelp Zone, 371 m | 51.6 / 100 | 475 m | 50 m | 2 | 30 | Open |
| 9 | Deep | Deep Grand Reef, 434 m | 48.3 / 100 | 436 m | 110 m | 1 | 43 | Open |
Common mistakes
- Reading the score as safety. 400 m from a leviathan pin is not safe: leviathans roam, and wild creatures are not in the data. See where each leviathan lives.
- Treating a site as a pin. The site is a 384 m square of seabed; the resources in it are rolled per new game.
- Skipping the layers. Wrecks, cave entrances and thermal vents near a site are worth a look on the map before you build.
All data
Show tablesHide
All nine sites with their numbers, and the notes.
The best base for each stage
Three stages, one pick each.
- Early: Grassy Plateaus, 90 m. 100.0 of 100. 5 wrecks, 10 cave entrances and 2 thermal vent pins lie within 400 m. Open the site.
- Mid: Sea Treader Path, 308 m. 80.0 of 100. 2 wrecks, 32 cave entrances and 1 thermal vent pins lie within 400 m. Open the site.
- Deep: Inactive Lava Zone, 774 m. 79.8 of 100. 4 wrecks, 30 cave entrances and 10 thermal vent pins lie within 400 m. Open the site.
About these numbers
Every fixed place on this page is read from the game files of the Steam build 20241558 (3 October 2025). Anything that is rolled again for each new game, such as ore, is a chance model built from the game's spawner tables. It has not been checked in a running game, so treat it as odds, not as a map of what you will find.
Site picks are computed by scripts/subnautica/build-guide-facts.py from the spawn slots and the map's pins; 226 candidate squares passed the depth and leviathan filters.
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