Subnautica Prawn Suit Guide

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Helmi Chaieb

Helmi is An ambitious writer, a passionate gamer, and a lover of movies, television, and all that is fun to learn about. Never misses an opportunity to do what he loves. He lives by J.r.r. Tolkien’s quote, - “Not all who wander are lost.” - He grew up playing video games and watching and reading fantasy and fiction. A couple of years ago, he thought to himself“why not combine those things and make something out of it?” Fast forward to the present day and he is an experienced video game writer. He writes video game news, guides, top lists, and reviews when he is not learning all there is to know about the creative aspects of video game development.

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• Subnautica Prawn Suit Guide - July 27, 2022
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Subnautica is an open-world survival game by Unknown Worlds Entertainment that was designed to have you explore its vast underwater setting rather than kill every creature you find on sight. This is why it has no weapons, at least not in the traditional sense, which, to some extent, puts you in a very vulnerable position. 

I, personally, love this because the sense of helplessness in survival games excites me and stimulates my curiosity. However, Subnautica is a game that when you leave your base, gives you the urge restlessly wary at all times.

Subnautica not only pits you against the vicious predators of Planet 4546B –many of which are gargantuan in their own right– but also compels you to explore numerous biomes of various fauna, flora, and crash sites. Some of those biomes are almost impossible to explore without a good way to resist deep water pressure, extreme heat, and enormous predators, which is where the Prawn Suit is brought into the discussion.

Although it would give you great advantages for exploration and harvesting resources, nothing as special as the Prawn Suit ever comes at an easy cost. Getting it is an adventure in its own right. But you don’t have to worry about a thing.

We went and made this article for the sole purpose of giving you everything you need to know about this phenomenal vehicle and how to get it. Welcome to our Subnautica Prawn Suit guide.

Bottom Line Up Front

The Prawn Suit is Subnautica’s most versatile and incredibly-durable vehicle. It makes some seemingly impossible tasks to do in Subnautica seem like a walk in the park (pun unintended). 

With the Prawn Suit equipped with the right upgrades and attachments, you can use this mechanical walker to traverse the game’s most hazardous environments.

Before you get to craft the Prawn Suit, you’ll have to scan some scattered scraps to get its blueprint. Then, you will need to gather the correct components for it before you craft it using the Mobile Vehicle Bay. 

The most efficient way to get your hands on the Prawn Suit’s blueprint is by scanning its fragments from the Prawn Bay inside the Aurora, which you’ll find the guide for down below.

Once you’ve crafted the Prawn Suit, you’ll have the most durable vehicle in Subnautica. You can use it to traverse the Lava Zones and capitalize on its Drill Arm to harvest from large resource deposits from mere salt and Silver to the precious Magnetite and Uraninite Crystals.

What Is The Prawn Suit In Subnautica

Its full name is The Pressure Reactive Armored Waterproof Nano Suit Mk.III, so I don’t really blame them for settling with the name Prawn Suit. It’s short and sweet! This vehicle is designed for walking in areas of extreme heat and pressure. 

Its enhanced, mechanical limbs and vertical thrusters allow you to jump at great speed and heights in zero-gravity environments. The arms are also really powerful and provide great striking force for when you need to defend yourself against predators near its size.

The Prawn Suit can go for an initial depth of 900 meters. Therefore, It’s the perfect vehicle for exploring deep-sea caverns with small entries and the blazing lava zones in Subnautica.

Just like all vehicles in Subnautica, the Prawn Suit’s name and color scheme are customizable from the Vehicle Upgrade Console, which also grants you access to most of its upgrades.

Basically, the Prawn Suit is the only vehicle that can accomplish most things it does, which include venturing into the Lava Zones unscorched, mining large resource deposits, and crashing to any depth completely unscathed.

Upgrades

The Prawn Suit has an upgrade panel on its left shoulder where you can add or swap up to four upgrade modules and two arm attachments. All of them are crafted in the Vehicle Upgrade Console, with the exception of the Depth Module MK. II. There are eleven upgrade modules that apply to it, the first three of which are also compatible with the Seamoth:

• Storage Module: It increases the Prawn Suit’s storage by six slots. You can stack up to four of these:

Titanium x3 + Lithium x1.

• Hull Reinforcement: This upgrade increases the vehicle’s collision durability. However, I don’t recommend it because the Prawn Suit is virtually immune to collision damage. Though, you can use it as an upgrade for the Seamoth. You can stack up to four of these as well. To craft it, you need Titanium x3 + Lithium x1 + Diamond x4. 
• Engine Efficiency Module: This is a power upgrade that recycles heat to reduce the Prawn Suit’s power consumption by 15%. You can stack four of these as well:

Computer Chip x1 + Polyaniline x1.

• Thermal Reactor: This upgrade allows the Prawn Suit to automatically regenerate power in hot-temperature environments of 30°C and higher. This is very useful for long expeditions in Subnautica’s lava biomes:

Kyanite x2 + Polyaniline x2 + Wiring Kit x1.

• Jump Jet Upgrade: It enhances the Prawn Suit’s thrusters, adding acceleration and a longer boost duration. It allows it to reach a height of 135.8m, which is more than double the Prawn Suit’s initial jump height:

Titanium x5 + Nickel Ore x2 + Crystalline Sulfur x2 + Lithium x1.

• Depth Modules MK. I and MK. II: The Depth Modules allow the Prawn Suit to survive great pressure underwater. This way you can use it in deeper biomes in Subnautica. The MK. I increases the Prawn Suit’s crush depth from 900m to 1300m, while the MK. II goes for a 1700m crush depth.
• Grappling Arm: It launches a magnetic claw that latches to any solid surface and pulls you toward it. To craft it, you need Advanced Wiring Kit x1 + Titanium x5 + Lithium x1 + Benzene x1.
• Drill Arm: It drills through and harvests large resource deposits such as those of Salt, Gold, Kyanite, etc. you can craft the Drill Arm using Titanium x5 + Diamond x4 + Lithium x1.
• Propulsion Cannon: You use it to lift an item or a creature from a short distance. You craft it using Computer Chip x1 + Titanium x5 + Lithium x1 + Magnetite x2.
• Torpedo Arm: It stores and launches up to six torpedoes. You can even fire two of them at a time. You craft this upgrade by combining Titanium x5 + Lithium x1 + Aerogel x1.

The Prawn Suit Statistics

This is the most durable vehicle in Subnautica. Even though Leviathan class monsters can grab it and destroy it after several attempts, the Prawn Suit takes no collision damage and is resistant to extreme heat levels poison. 

So, it’s definitely the ideal vehicle for exploring Subnautica’s volcanic biomes. Of course, none of this applies to cases of direct contact with lava. Plus, the Prawn Suit does have a health meter. So, keep that in mind if you want to use it to try your luck with Leviathans.

Just like the Seamoth, the Prawn Suit takes its power from a Power Cell, which you can switch after it runs out of power by interacting with the sockets on either shoulder. Plus, similar to the rest of the vehicles in Subnautica, your oxygen will regenerate when you enter the Prawn Suit. In addition to those, similarities, the Prawn Suit can also be stored in the Cyclops and Moonpool. When stored in either of those, it will recharge.

Read also: Comprehensive Cyclops Subnautica Guide.

Also, don’t be fooled by its name. The Prawn Suit identifies 100% as a vehicle and does not replace your existing dive suit. It also has its own beacon so that you can track it in case you lose it or die with it too far from your Lifepod.

These are the Prawn Suit’s statistics:

• Health: 600.
• Damage: 28/s.
• Top speed: 14 Mph.
• Jump height: 56.8m.
• Crush depth: 900m, which you can upgrade to either 1300m or 1700m.
• Inventory space: 24 slots.
• Maximum upgrades: 4.
• Maximum arm attachments: 2.
• Can be modified and recharged in the Moonpool.
• Crash damage: 0.
• Can be stored in the Cyclops: Yes.

What Does The Prawn Suit Look Like

The Prawn Suit is a mecha vehicle designed for walking in zero-gravity environments. It has no head and its plasteel-reinforced chamber is centered in the torso for your protection. There is an antenna on its right shoulder that shares its location and facilitates radio communication. 

It has hydraulic limbs with a pair of initial vertical thrusters attached to its back. As for its arms, they come with a pair of claws that are lethal against most average-sized creatures.

The Prawn Suit has a power socket on each shoulder. You can place one Power Cell inside each socket with the option of resorting to only one in desperate situations. 

How To Get The Prawn Suit

As is the case with both other vehicles in Subnautica, the only way you can get the Prawn Suit is from the Mobile Vehicle Bay. You can craft it using the Fabricator from your initial Pod or the base you’ve built:

Titanium Ingot x1 + Lubricator x1 + Power Cell x1.

As for the Prawn Suit itself, you must first get its blueprint to unlock it. There are two ways to gather its blueprints. The first of which is to scan each of the four wrecked Prawn Suits in the Aurora. Each one of those wrecked suits accounts for a quarter of the blueprint. 

The second way to get the blueprints is by searching any of the wrecks you’ll find near your Pod’s location fragments. Each one of those scattered fragments will give you a 5% progress towards obtaining the complete blueprint. 

After you finally get your hands on the whole blueprint, of course, you’ll have to gather specific items for the Prawn Suit’s recipe: 

Plasteel Ingot x2 + Aerogel x2 + Enameled Glass x1 + Diamond x2 + Lead x2.

Plasteel Ingot:

To get the Plasteel Ingot, you’ll have to put Titanium Ingot (Titanium x10) x1 and Lithium x2 in the Fabricator. Search for Lithium inside the caves between your Lifepod and the Aurora crash zone.

Aerogel:

You also craft this in the Fabricator as well by putting Ruby x1 and Gel Sack x1. The easiest way to get Rubies is by looking for them around the Crash Zone Mesas south of the Aurora. As for Gel Sacks, you’ll find many in the Northeastern Mushroom Forest underneath the front of the Aurora.

Enameled Glass:

The Enameled Glass is also crafted using the Fabricator by putting Glass x1 and Stalker Tooth x1. You can find plenty of Glass inside the caves between your Lifepod and the Aurora. The closest locations for Stalker Teeth are the Kelp Forest between your Pod and the Aurora or near the Aurora crash zone. Stalkers will occasionally drop teeth after picking up Metal Salvage. So, drop some near it and it will definitely pick it up.

Diamond:

You will find Diamonds anywhere near the Aurora Crash Zone.

Lead: The closest locations to find Lead are Kelp Forests (there’s one between your Pod and the Aurora) and the Aurora Crash Zone.

Related Quests

Subnautica, like many other survival games, does not have a traditional quest system. There are only a few quests that you have to play in a certain order. The rest is up to your pacing and how you want to play the game. 

One quest, however, indirectly makes securing the Prawn Suit’s blueprint way easier than it would have been exploring the vast waterbeds of Subnautica. That quest is when you explore the radiated Aurora after its explosion. 

That particular quest comes way down the road but I really suggest that you go check out the Aurora as soon as you can because there, you’ll find so many useful items and information that will make your stay in Subnautica easier, including the Prawn Suit.

From the moment you wake up in your Lifepod, your PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) will keep warning you of the Aurora’s degradation. Each in-game day its state will worsen until it reaches its critical state on day 3. On day 4, its Drive Core will eventually explode. Once the detonation happens, I suggest that you explore the Aurora. You’ll find so many valuable notes, logs, abandoned PDAs, blueprints, etc.

The explosion has absolutely no effect on you if you’re out of the crash zone. I do urge you to watch it from afar because it’s so satisfying to see and it gives me, personally, the sense that the real Subnautica has only just begun. 

However, from the moment it detonates, the Aurora crash zone will become a radiation zone that you should only explore wearing radiation gear (suit, gloves, helmet). 

Aside from water, food, and Medkits, the other equipment that you’ll need for exploring the Aurora are:

• Seaglide: For navigating the flooded areas of the Aurora.
• Survival Knife: You’ll need to dedicate a weapon to kill some of the creatures that inhabit the Aurora in case you get surrounded.
• Fire Extinguisher: Some fires will be in front of doorways.
• Laser Cutter: Some doorways, including the one for the Prawn Suit Bay, cannot be unlocked, therefore, you’ll have to use the Laser Cutter to breach them.
• Repair Tool: You’ll need this to repair some broken doors (and the Drive Room further down the line).
• Propulsion Cannon: This is what you’ll use to remove some heavy crates and other obstacles from your way. You can also use it against hostile creatures in the Aurora. Further tip, bring a couple of extra batteries with you.

Read also: Subnautica Battery Charger Guide.

This is how you get into the Prawn Bay:

• Once you reach the Aurora, there are two ways to go inside. Take a right for the bottom entrance where you’ll have to use your Propulsion Cannon to make it clear of crates.
• Next, you’ll find another doorway that happens to be on fire. Use the Fire Extinguisher on it, then, dive into the water. There will be a passage with an exposed electric cord. Pass through it then use the Laser Cutter on the door to your left.
• Swim through the linear passage. You’ll find a Data Terminal and two hatches above it. Swim up and out of the hatch closest to the terminal, then, go right through the doorway.
• The will be another hatch with pipes inside. Dive through it and go opposite the way you came in. Go through the pipes until you find an exposed electric cord and go through to the right of it. 
• When you go up and leave the pipes, you’ll find yourself right in the middle of the Prawn Bay. 

How To Best Make Use of The Prawn Suit

By the time you got the Prawn Suit, you’ll have probably spent so much time and resources on it. Sure,  just the thought of having it in your arsenal is a privilege, but you’re going to want to take that bad girl out and test it out. 

As I’ve said earlier, the Prawn Suit works as a means of traversal and defending yourself. However, its Drill Arm is the only thing that can mine large resource deposits. Take that and add the fact that the Prawn Suit can be stored in the Cyclops, and you have the perfect resource-gathering tool.

The way this works is that you put the Prawn Suit in the Cyclops and take it to the deepest areas in Subnautica’s biomes such as the Blood Kelp Caves, the Lost River, and the Inactive Lava Zone. The fact that it can get inside the smaller areas that the Cyclops cannot, puts even more emphasis on why you’ll need the Prawn Suit.

Build a few lockers inside the Cyclops before you go out on your expedition. This is another reason why these two vehicles go so well together. You can gather the resources using the Prawn Suit, then, store them in the lockers inside the Cyclops until it fills up.

By the time you went home from a single expedition of this sort, you will have plenty of building and crafting materials that can be used for the most advanced equipment, tools, and buildings.

Important Locations To Explore Using The Prawn Suit

Inactive Lava Zone

The Inactive Lava Zone is a 1300 meters series of lava-protected caverns where you will find several beautiful (but equally-dangerous) streams of lavafalls. Aside from the apparent danger of lava, you should beware of the Sea Dragon Leviathan that roams this biome.

Among the resources that you can find in the Inactive Lava Zone are Kyanite, Deep Shroom, Magnetite, and many Large Resource Deposits including Uraninite and Gold.

Lava Lakes

The Lava Lakes are a similar biome to the Inactive Lava Zone. In fact, they are both connected in the way that the only entrance to the Lava Lakes is near the latter’s Lava Castle. However, the Lava Lakes is quite deeper than the Inactive Lava Zone and it has way more volcanic activity.

You will find two resources of high value here, which are the Large Kyanite Deposits and Crystalline Sulfur.

Jellyshroom Cave

The Jellyshroom Cave can be found underneath the Grassy Plateaus covered in red weeds, which you can see on your way from your pod to the Aurora. To explore it using the Prawn Suit, however, you’ll need to have the Grappling Arm. This cave biome is distinguished by the large bioluminescent mushrooms that are native to it.

You will find many resources here including large Lithium, Gold, and Magnetite deposits. In addition to those, there are many fragments here to scan for items such as the Stasis Rifle and the Moonpool.

Blood Kelp Caves

The Blood Kelp Caves are located 200 meters deep northwest of the Grassy Plateaus. You will find that this biome is distinguishable by the large bioluminescent vines with blood-colored pustules growing out of them. These pustules give you Blood Oil, which you can use to craft Benzene.

Another rare resource to find in the Blood Kelp Caves is the Ghost Weed Seed, which you can extract out of Ghost Weeds to use in crafting Hatching Enzymes further down the road in Subnautica’s narrative.

Steer clear of the giant Crabsquids though. They will disarm and deactivate whichever vehicle that shines a light on them.

Lost River

Not only is this the most enigmatic out of all biomes on this list, but also one of the largest. The Lost River has a foggy atmosphere and a green tint to its water. I, personally, find the Bone Fields to be its most exciting area to explore. A giant sea monster skeleton dubbed the “Gargantuan Fossil” lies at the end of it, right before you find the entrance to a desolated alien base where you will uncover many secrets to Planet 4546B’s lost natives and what happened to them.

This exciting location also has many resources to collect, including Mesmer Eggs, Nickel, and Rubies.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conquer The Depths Of The Ocean

The Prawn Suit is truly a vehicle made for the most extreme of circumstances. It’s no easy feat getting it, but once you do, you will have the perfect machine for traveling and resource-gathering.

The Prawn Suit delivers quite well as a means of protection, but you won’t know what it’s truly capable of until you’ve added a couple of arm attachments and upgrades to it. In addition to that, pairing it with the Cyclops would be truly a game-changer.

The Prawn Suit should definitely be among your top priorities as soon as you leave your pod in Subnautica.