Seven deposits. No respawns. One leviathan patrolling the area. Troilite in Subnautica 2 is the kind of resource that punishes players who rush in without a plan, and the community has been piecing together the exact route to farm it safely since the game's early access launch.
Why troilite is a bottleneck for progression
Troilite is the key ingredient for crafting mangalloy ingots, which are required to build a metal farm. The metal farm is what lets players multiply their ore supply over time, which matters a lot in Subnautica 2 because ore nodes do not respawn once harvested. Without a metal farm, you are permanently limited to whatever ore you can scavenge from the ocean floor.
Here's the thing: troilite itself does not respawn either. There are exactly 7 deposits in the game's current build, all clustered in one location. Spend them carelessly on other crafting recipes before building the metal farm, and you have locked yourself out of the game's primary ore production system. Players on Reddit have flagged this as one of the most common soft-lock traps in early access.
The route to the deposits, and what you'll face
All 7 troilite deposits are located near the yellowish-green metal farm fields northeast of the Angel Comb, a massive alien structure with purple roots. To reach them, start at the Alien Ruins and travel 520 meters east to the Angel Comb, then follow the chasm northeast until you hit the yellow metal field.
A few things to know before making the trip. The first depth module for the Tadpole submarine is mandatory; the area is too deep and too hostile to approach on foot. A Sonic Resonator is also required to break apart the troilite deposits, which the game labels as "mineralized clinkers" in the world (they show up correctly as troilite in your inventory, which has confused more than a few players).
The bigger threat is the leviathan, a giant squid-type creature that patrols this zone. Listen for the boss music before pushing into the metal field. The other deep-sea fish in the area are aggressive too, but only if you exit the Tadpole, so stay inside.
How the 7 deposits are split across two levels
The deposits are divided between two lake areas on the left side of the metal field.
- Lower lake: 3 deposits, accessible at the same depth as the lake floor
- Upper ledge: 4 deposits near a second green lake on a higher platform
Enabling all landmark signals in the character menu before heading out makes navigating between the two levels significantly easier, since the upper ledge is not immediately obvious from the lower lake.
Once you have the troilite, crafting mangalloy ingots at the processor requires one troilite stack, one piece of titanium, and one piece of atacamite per ingot. The crafting process takes 30 seconds per ingot.
What this means for survival game players tracking resources
For anyone deep into survival games, the troilite situation in Subnautica 2 is a good reminder that resource scarcity is a design choice, not an oversight. Unknown Worlds is clearly building toward a system where early decisions have long-term consequences, and troilite is the sharpest example of that philosophy in the current early access build.
The metal farm solves the scarcity problem permanently once built, but getting there requires navigating one of the game's more hostile zones with the right gear. Players who want the full breakdown of the route, deposit locations, and the Sonic Resonator setup should check out the complete troilite farming guide. For other resources you'll need along the way, the Subnautica 2 guides hub covers quartz, copper, and most of the other materials you'll need before reaching the Alien Ruins.
