Subnautica 2 Navigation Guide: Compass, Beacons & How to Not Get Lost

No Map. Deal With It.

Subnautica 2 has no built-in map. No minimap in the corner. No fog of war revealing itself as you explore. The developers made this choice deliberately — navigation on an alien ocean planet should feel uncertain, and it does. But “no map” doesn’t mean “no navigation system.” You just have to build your own.

The three pillars of navigation on Zezura are the Compass, Beacons, and the coordinate system. Master these and you’ll cross the ocean with confidence. Ignore them and you’ll spend 20 minutes swimming in circles looking for your Lifepod.

The Compass: Craft It Immediately

The Compass is available at the Fabricator with basic materials. Craft it as your second or third tool, right after the Scanner. There is no excuse for exploring without one.

Once equipped, the Compass shows your heading at all times. North, south, east, west — simple, reliable, always available. Combined with coordinates, it turns “I think the wreck was somewhere over there” into “the wreck is at heading 60, 240 meters from Lifepod.”

How to Use It Effectively

The Compass gives you a heading in degrees. Here’s how that maps to directions:

• 0/360 — North
• 45 — Northeast
• 90 — East
• 135 — Southeast
• 180 — South
• 225 — Southwest
• 270 — West
• 315 — Northwest

When swimming to a known target, maintain a consistent heading. Glance at the Compass every 10-15 seconds to correct drift. Underwater currents and dodging creatures will push you off course. Small corrections keep you on track.

When exploring unknown territory, note your outbound heading. To return, swim the opposite direction (add or subtract 180 degrees). If you swam out at heading 60, swim back at heading 240. This is basic land navigation applied underwater, and it works.

The Coordinate System

Open your pause menu. Your current position is displayed as XYZ coordinates.

• X — east/west position (positive = east, negative = west)
• Y — depth (0 = surface, negative numbers = deeper)
• Z — north/south position (positive = north, negative = south)

Every location in the game has fixed coordinates. Your Lifepod is always at the same spot. Camp One is always roughly 240 meters northeast. The Old Habitat is always about 350 meters north. Once you note these positions, you can navigate to them by checking your current coordinates and swimming until the numbers match.

Using Coordinates for Distance

To estimate distance between two points, you mostly care about X and Z (the horizontal plane). The rough distance formula:

Take the difference in X values and the difference in Z values. The bigger number gives you an approximate distance. For exact distance, you’d calculate the hypotenuse, but in practice, looking at which axis has the larger gap and swimming to close that gap first works fine.

Example: Your Lifepod is at X: 50, Z: 100. Camp One is at X: 170, Z: 280. That’s 120 on the X axis and 180 on the Z axis. So Camp One is roughly 200 meters away, predominantly to the northeast.

Depth Tracking

The Y coordinate tells your depth. Surface is 0. Deeper is more negative. This matters for:

• Power planning: Solar Panels weaken below -50
• Oxygen budgeting: You need to know how deep you are to know if you can surface in time
• Biome identification: Kelp Forest stays above -80, Coral Gardens extend to -200, Thermal Vents go to -400+

Beacons: Your Personal Map System

Beacons are craftable items that, when placed, create a permanent named marker visible in your HUD. They’re the closest thing to a map that Subnautica 2 offers.

Beacon Placement Strategy

Don’t just drop Beacons randomly. Follow a system:

Tier 1 — Fixed anchors (drop these first):

• Your Lifepod
• Your first base
• Welcome Center (85-90m SE of Lifepod)

Tier 2 — Story locations:

• Camp One (240m NE, heading 60)
• Old Habitat (350m N)
• Each Blackbox recovery site
• Tadpole Pens (675m E)
• Alien Ruins entrance

Tier 3 — Resource and transit markers:

• Rich mineral deposits you want to revisit
• Biome transition points
• Fragment cluster locations
• Deep cave entrances
• Current channels (for Hydroelectric base scouting)

Tier 4 — Route markers (for long expeditions):

• Drop one every 100-150 meters on routes to distant objectives
• Creates a breadcrumb trail you can follow home at low oxygen

Naming Conventions

Bad Beacon names: “Here,” “Cool spot,” “Thing,” “IDK”

Good Beacon names:

• “Base Alpha -25m”
• “Coral Entry North -60m”
• “Tadpole Frags x2 -45m”
• “DANGER Leviathan Patrol”
• “Thermal Vent Power Spot -190m”

Include depth in the name. When you’re scanning your HUD for a marker, knowing it’s at -190 meters tells you immediately whether you’re equipped for the trip.

Managing Beacon Clutter

After 20+ Beacons, your HUD becomes unreadable. The PDA lets you toggle individual Beacon visibility. Keep only relevant Beacons visible for your current objective. Before a deep expedition, hide all shallow Beacons and show only the deep markers. Before a resource run, show only material locations.

Don’t delete Beacons unless you’re absolutely certain you’ll never need that marker again. Hiding is reversible. Deleting is not.

Landmark Navigation

The Compass and coordinates are your primary tools, but the ocean itself gives you navigational cues. Learning to read these makes movement faster and more intuitive.

Vertical Landmarks

• Kelp stalks — tall vertical columns visible from 50+ meters away. If you can see kelp, you’re in or near the safe zone.
• Coral formations — large branching structures that indicate the Coral Gardens. Color shifts from green (Kelp Forest) to red/orange (Coral Gardens).
• Thermal plumes — visible distortion rising from the seafloor. You’ll see the shimmer before you feel the heat.
• Alien structures — geometric shapes that stand out against organic terrain. Impossible to miss once you’re in the Ruins biome.

Horizontal Landmarks

• The Lifepod — visible on the surface from a moderate distance. If you’re at the surface and can see it, swim toward it.
• Your base — lights from a powered base are visible at range. Build exterior lights for exactly this reason.
• Wrecks — large debris fields are static. Once you know one is at heading 120 from your base, you can always find it again.

Audio Landmarks

Each biome has distinct ambient sound. The Kelp Forest is relatively quiet with gentle currents. The Coral Gardens have more creature activity and snapping sounds. Thermal Vents rumble. The Void goes eerily quiet before something roars. Your ears tell you where you are before your eyes confirm it.

Navigation Scenarios

”I’m lost and low on oxygen”

1. Surface immediately. Swim straight up.
2. Look around on the surface. Can you see the Lifepod? Swim to it.
3. Open pause menu. Check coordinates. Compare to your Lifepod coordinates.
4. Check Beacon HUD markers. Which one is closest?
5. Swim toward the nearest safe location.

”I found something cool but don’t have a Beacon”

1. Open pause menu. Screenshot or write down the coordinates.
2. Note the Compass heading from your current position to the nearest known Beacon.
3. Describe the location to yourself: depth, biome, nearby landmarks.
4. Return with a Beacon as soon as possible.

”I need to reach a specific coordinate”

1. Open pause menu. Note your current XYZ.
2. Calculate which direction you need to go (X for east/west, Z for north/south).
3. Set your Compass to the appropriate heading.
4. Swim, checking coordinates every 30-60 seconds.
5. When you’re close (within 20-30 meters), switch to visual scanning.

”I’m heading to a distant objective (500m+)”

1. Plan your route before leaving base. Note start and end coordinates.
2. Drop a Beacon at your departure point.
3. Drop route Beacons every 100-150 meters.
4. Bring extra oxygen and food for the return trip.
5. If using the Tadpole, keep an eye on power — running out of charge 400 meters from home is a problem.

Advanced Tips

Mark Leviathan territories. When you encounter a Leviathan, drop a Beacon labeled “DANGER” and note the area. You’ll want to route around these zones on future trips.

Depth contour mapping. As you explore, note the depth at biome transitions. After several trips, you’ll build a mental model: “The Kelp Forest floor is at -60 to -80. Below that, Coral Gardens. Below -200, expect Thermal activity.” This mental contour map replaces the physical one the game doesn’t give you.

Use the surface. Surface swimming is faster than underwater swimming in most conditions. If you need to cover horizontal distance and don’t need to dive, stay on the surface. You can breathe freely and see farther. Only dive when you reach the area you want to explore.

Buddy navigation in co-op. In 4-player co-op, designate one person as the navigator. They drop Beacons and call out coordinates. Everyone else follows. Four people independently trying to navigate is four times the confusion.