The Wakemaker is the first real movement upgrade you will want in Subnautica 2, and the good news is you can unlock it very early without venturing anywhere dangerous. Three fragments, a scanner, and a short swim north of your Lifepod are all it takes. Once crafted, the twin-fan propulsion system gives you a noticeable speed boost that makes every dive faster and less frustrating, especially before you have a Tadpole.
What is the Wakemaker and why get it early?
The Wakemaker is a handheld propulsion tool that boosts your swim speed when equipped from the hotbar. It sits between basic flippers and the Tadpole submersible in terms of mobility, but the gap it fills is significant. Without it, reaching resources at 25 to 50 metres depth takes long enough to eat through your oxygen supply on every trip. With it, those same dives become routine.
Unlike some blueprints that require you to stumble across a single wreck, the Wakemaker fragments are spread across a small cluster of abandoned science lab platforms north of the starter zone. All three are reachable with minimal gear, and none require you to enter particularly hostile water. The whole route stays within survival games territory that a fresh character can handle.
Where are all three Wakemaker fragments?
The sources cross-reference three confirmed fragment locations, all north or north-northeast of the Lifepod. The exact compass headings differ slightly between sources because spawn positions can vary, but the general zone is consistent across all reports.
Fragment 1: North-northwest, shallow water
Head roughly north-northwest from your Lifepod, between the 330 and 345 compass markers. Swim approximately 95 metres and look down at around 18 metres depth. You will find broken metal containers scattered near an orange coral formation. The first Wakemaker fragment is inside one of those containers. PC Gamer places this one slightly differently at about 15 degrees north and 30 metres depth near a broken ship, so check both the container cluster and any nearby science lab structure if you do not find it immediately.
Fragment 2: Inside a sealed camp structure
From the first fragment, continue north toward the 60-degree compass marker. Game Rant describes a small cave with scattered Alterra wreckage at around 125 metres from the Lifepod and 27 metres deep. PC Gamer's guide notes a sealed door on a nearby science lab platform that you need to interact with manually to enter. The second fragment sits inside, either in the interior room or inside an open metal box within the cave. Both sources agree it is close to the first fragment, so if you found number one, number two is a short swim away.
Do not skip interacting with the sealed door if you find a camp structure nearby. The fragment is behind it, and the door will not open automatically.
Fragment 3: A crevice or glowing light to the north
The third fragment has the most variation between sources. Game Rant describes returning to Fragment 1's location, then swimming toward the 240-degree marker for roughly 20 metres and dropping into a crevice in the seafloor at about 53 metres depth. Nerdschalk's guide describes swimming directly north from the Lifepod area and watching for a small glowing light source on the seabed, with the fragment sitting near it. PC Gamer places a third location at 45 degrees northeast, about 200 metres from the Lifepod at 20 metres depth on a cliff-side science platform.
The discrepancy here likely reflects multiple valid scan points. Subnautica 2's blueprint system typically provides more scan locations than needed, per PCGamesN's explanation of how blueprints work. Scanning any three Wakemaker fragments unlocks the full recipe, so whichever three you find first will complete the blueprint.
The blueprint progress bar fills with each scan. One fragment gives partial progress, two nearly completes it, and three unlocks the full Wakemaker recipe instantly.
How to craft the Wakemaker
Once you have scanned all three fragments, head to a Fabricator you have built yourself, not the one inside the Lifepod. The Wakemaker recipe requires:
- 1x Silver
- 1x Wiring Kit
- 1x Grease
- 1x Basic Battery
None of these are single-step pickups. Here is what each one needs.
Wiring kit
Craft at the Fabricator using 1x Silver and 1x Copper Wire. Silver is found in caves roughly 200 metres north of the Lifepod. Copper Wire is made from Copper ore, which spawns abundantly in starter-area caves alongside Titanium.
Basic battery
Craft using 1x Copper and 1x Acidic Raion Pouch. Acidic Raion Pouches are purple, brain-shaped fauna found at the bottoms of starter-area caves. Harvest them with the Survival Multitool.
Grease
Craft using 1x Lucifer Rotsac. Lucifer Rotsacs are glowing bulb-like fauna that grow on Cradle Shootroot plants, starting around 70 metres east of the Lifepod. They glow in the dark, so night dives actually make them easier to spot.
How do you recharge the Wakemaker?
The Wakemaker runs on Basic Battery charges. Using it drains the battery over time, and running dry while deep underwater is genuinely dangerous. Game Rant's guide explains the recharge process: carry a charged Basic Battery in your inventory, press the reload key (R on PC), and confirm the swap via the on-screen prompt. The depleted battery goes into your inventory and the fresh one powers the tool.
To avoid getting stranded, build a Battery Terminal base module, which lets you charge depleted batteries when you return to base. Scan its fragments to unlock the blueprint. PC Gamer also recommends keeping a backup battery in your inventory on longer dives, which is straightforward advice worth following.
For a broader look at what tools are worth building alongside the Wakemaker, the complete Subnautica 2 tools guide covers every craftable item and its unlock requirements.
Why the Wakemaker matters before you reach deeper biomes
The Wakemaker is not the fastest thing in the ocean. The Tadpole submersible is a bigger leap in mobility. But the Wakemaker fills a real gap between having basic flippers and owning a full vehicle, and it costs far less to build and maintain. Reaching resources at 25 to 50 metres depth without constantly racing your oxygen timer changes how much ground you can cover per dive.
The fragment route also doubles as a tour of the abandoned camp structures north of the starting zone. Those camps contain additional resources and environmental lore worth picking up while you are there. Combining this run with early scanning of other degraded gear can unlock multiple blueprints in a single trip, which is how the game rewards thorough exploration.
For everything else you need to progress through the early game, the full Subnautica 2 guide collection has you covered.