If you have a prawn suit, make sure to take drill arm, lost river is full of rare and useful materials

Don't get fucked by the ghost leviathan. Also there really is no reason to explore the lost river just go to the cove tree more loot there anyway and safer.

Some of the trees have cage-like root systems which you can hide in when a certain large predator is trying to have you for dinner. They can't get through the narrow spaces. Scanning/stabbing time :)

Prawn suit with drill, grappling and torpedo if that's your style when you feel threatened. The game will require you to go deeper so try to upgrade depth module for your suit as soon as you can.

Stay close to the walls to annoy fewer baddies.

The Lost River has a handful of mini-biomes that all have cool, different things to see and get.

That area in the Lost River is rich with large drillable deposits, but pretty lean on magnetite. Best place for magnetite is the Jellyshroom cave, lots of loose magnetite deposits and a few large drillable deposits. Also the thermal vents in the Mountains biome by the QEP have a lot of loose deposits.

Unless you're building a lot of something that uses it, you generally don't need that much for the game. A load from the Jellyshroom cave should cover it.

I believe there is at least one drillable deposit under the brine

Glowing mushroom caves has some drillable nodes, if you are using scanning room definitely try moving it around it will read different res around the scan area.

If you look around just past the entrance from the northwest blood kelp forest there's a scattering of it in the shallow water. It's interspersed with lithium and sulfur. Tbf it is present throughout the lost river but from my observations the most concentrated area is by that entrance. But the easiest place to obtain it is in the jelly shroom caves.

Have you built a moon pool?  While people love to build extravagant bases, mine consisted of 2 rooms.  You will need some kind of base, but it doesn’t need ti be fancy.

By the time you have to go to the lost river, you should have the blueprints. There are some resources like nickel and, farther down, kyanite. But you should have the blueprints already. Keep exploring the areas you can reach. To recharge the Cyclops, you need to recharge its energy cells with a charger. You need blueprints for that.

there are no fragments in the lost river or deeper

Just to clarify. When you say you cannot recharge Cyclops, while there is a module for charging, the materials can only be found much deeper. You have to rely on power cell chargers until you get that.

If you don’t have the blueprint for power cell chargers you should go find it. If you don’t have the materials for a power cell charger you should go find them.

All of the Aurora wreckage and fragments lands in places consistent with landing in the water and sinking to the bottom (perhaps rolling into a cave). If you want to find that wreckage, you'll have to go far and wide, not deep.

Stasis rifle can be found on the main island

I recomend bringing a melon farm or ALOT of water, as far as I know theres no source of it down there, also extra Cyclops power crlls

I mean, you don't need the stasis rifle, I didn't even use it until after I'd beaten the game. Propulsion is technically optional but it's convenient for getting your Prawn unstuck and for exploring somewhere else.

So what's in the lost river? Basically everything. Nearly every material is available down there and it is awesome, but you're going to need the Prawn's drill to access most of it. It's also the only biome with nickel, which will eventually be important. Oh, there's also ghost leviathans, so yeah, be ready to dodge those.

As for what to bring? Prawn with a drill at minimum, but it's a lot more convenient if you shuttle it around in a Cyclops. You just need to get that Cyclops past the ghost. A shield generator helps a lot. Sonar isn't needed but it's real nice for the upcoming areas. You'll also want material to do some building, all the stuff down there will need to go in lockers. Once you start going deeper than the lost river, carry that propulsion cannon around, just in case.

It's in some of the deepest area of the game.

Minor Spoilers: >!You have to find the lost river first. Then find the entrance to the lava zone from there.!<

Just keep going deeper. You will encounter it before you get to depths that are deeper than the depth modules that need it. It will also stand out when you see it. I can't say any more than that without revealing spoilers.

You'll need a prawn suit depth module and a drill arm, so don't worry about it until you have those.

Is there anywhere super deep that isn't infested with reapers?

Trust me there is a hell with a dragon patrolling around in the game and it’s deeper than the lost river

No it’s just a joke about how the deepest zone looks

If you see a big blue tree then go past it and you reach hell

Sorry that it seemed that way

Pretty much where I put it.

Lost River isn’t the end game, but it’s at the door steps of it. Obviously you can only go a lil deeper

But you could feasibly go there fairly early if you made that choice. But I think most average players first time there they are likely nearing the end of their first play through

Late game.

It might be middling in how much more you're going to keep playing, but by the time you've explored the River you've already found most of the tools you can play with.

bro that’s what i’m saying, that thought just makes the lost river that much cooler

Late game. People who say mid game are bonkers. There is like…. 5% of the game’s content after Lost River. It’s cool content. But it’s still very speedable. No voice logs. No pdas. No survivors.

No one else got as deep as you.

Yeah, the last two biomes are pretty big. Unless you've memorized the layout of the ILZ you could take a bit to make your way through.

First time I found myself there I was somewhere about 2-3. That was a lot of fun. There quite by accident, under equipped, and kept prodding in and out scanning things and collecting resources then running away again.

Subsequent playthroughs I'd agree with your numbering.

1 Is the shallows, kelp forest, and grassy plateau, 2 are things like the jelly caves, mushroom forests, and aurora, 3 are the other areas around the map you explore, 4 is lost river and finishing the deeper parts of the other areas, and 5 are the lava zones

in my opinion anyway

Aurora 1. Islands 2. Bases 3. River 4. Lava 5.

Assuming you build everything as it unlocks.

I think you underestimate things in the game that aren’t physical space. In terms of crafting, story, biome diversity, discoveries, logs, and flora/fauna documentation…. The remaining game after the lost river is reskinned fauna, lizards, kyanite, a two short alien facilities, sea dragons, and…. Yeah. It’s a lot of open space. But not much there to do or explore.

One in the blood kelp and one in the Grand reef. I prefer the one in the blood kelp it’s by the life pod that can be found in the blood kelp.

Theres also one in the bulb zone but the blood kelp entrance is the best for nickel

To partially avoid spoilers, I will give advice in the form of riddles.

> Where can you get both reaped and shocked?

> Spheres, Squids, and Seabases

> An open wound that breaks the skin

> Are squids hematophobic?

Hope this helps!

The entrances to lost river are in both blood kelp zones the deep grand reef and the bulb zone

Yep, it's there. Thanks! (god i hate the grand reef)

Behind the Degassi base in the Grand reef. It's the one deep down with all the blue spheres.

It's directly below the floating Island.

A little bit north of the Degassi base, the one 500m deep.

I think you enter through the grand reef but because it's underground and benath the sparse reef it shows the entrance on the sparse reef part of the map.

It is a good idea to build a base somewhere in the Lost River. And yes, everything you need can be found down there. Here are some tips and tricks I wish I knew before I ventured down there myself.

1. The easiest entrance for a cyclops is in the northeast between the bulb zone and the mountains. It is plenty wide for a cyclops. There is one juvenile ghost leviathan along the path, but once you sneak past it, you won’t ever have to face it again. The other entrances are doable but it will be a tight squeeze for the cyclops.

2. I consider the Tree Cove to be a prime spot for a base. The area is blue, you’ll know it when you see it. It is safe, pretty, and close to the Inactive Lava Zone. And there are plenty of resources around.

3. Make sure your prawn suit is equipped with a drill arm. Most minerals in the Lost River large deposits that need to be mined. It is also a good idea to equip a grappling arm or at least bring one along, as it helps you move more quickly in the prawn suit.

4. There are some items you should consider bringing to the Lost River that can only be found on the surface, or are just difficult to find down there. Bring creepvines and blood oil to plant in outdoor grow beds (for lubricant if needed and benzene). Table coral samples (several base components require these). Stalker teeth if you want to make enameled glass. Any kind of seed you want to grow (I always grow Marblemelons in my bases). And if you’ve found any ion cubes or alien tablets, definitely bring those.

5. If you haven’t already, make a growbed or two in your cyclops and fill it with Marblemelons. They are a great source of both food and water and will keep you alive while you get your main base set up as long as you keep replaying the seeds.

My main base is in the junction, that or the tree are great places to build. You can find plenty of the minerals down there, but it's kinda annoying having to head up every time for some of the basic resources. Overall, it's a pretty nice place to build and I recommend it.

There's a couple of items that you'll need to bring down with you, notably the Creepvines and purple gel sacks. I love making my second base in one of three locations (all of which have thermal vents):

- By the big tree where the blue "water" starts.

- Near the waterfalls by the big skeleton in the middle area.

- By the large structure in the lost river, between it and the eastern entrance.

The tree is the most important thing in terms of proximity, but by the time you're moving to the river you have plenty of experience zipping around. Watch your depth, the seamoth can never go past the tree.

I built one down there. I liked having a prawn suit there as well as my cyclops. I would leave cyclops there, have a prawn stored in moon pool and then use seamoth for shallow water

I don’t want to spoil anything for you but the blue area is a great base area, I love to build there, also there is plenty of resources down there but a prawn suit is needed for most of it for the drill.

The safest imo is blood kelp zone