Subnautica 2: what the 1.2 update changes underwater — the sonic resonator stuns for 10 seconds, 2 scans for the repair tool

Subnautica 2's Early Access update 1.2, titled Between Friends, has been rolling out since Wednesday, August 19. Unknown Worlds published its patch notes in French, and a good portion of their content doesn't fit into the list of major new features: it concerns what happens during a dive, facing a creature, tool in hand.

Three lines capture the essence of it. The feedback resonator now stuns creatures instead of scaring them off. The sonic resonator stuns them for 10 seconds. And just two scans are now enough to unlock the repair tool.

The rest comes down to one word: readability. Six species now finally react when hit, the scanner flags dangers it used to ignore, and a known escape trick against the crush leviathan has just been closed off.

Resonators no longer move the threat, they put it on pause

This is the most structurally significant change in the update for anyone diving. Until August 19, the feedback resonator was used to push creatures away: one shot, the creature disengages and heads elsewhere. Since 1.2, it stuns it instead. The sonic resonator, meanwhile, causes a stun clocked at 10 seconds.

The difference isn't cosmetic, it's a shift in defensive doctrine. Scaring off a predator just relocates the problem: it comes back, often at the worst possible moment, and while it's fleeing it hasn't vacated the area you wanted to occupy. Stunning it buys you time on the spot.

Three uses become possible where they weren't before:

• Harvesting under watch. A deposit guarded by a predator can be worked on during the stun, without having to drive the creature off or come back later.
• Scanning what moves. An immobilized creature is a creature you can scan calmly, which matters when scans gate part of the catalog.
• Getting past. In a narrow corridor or a wreck entrance, 10 seconds is usually enough to get through the bottleneck instead of going around it.

Be careful not to confuse stunning with neutralizing: the notes don't mention any damage. You gain a window, not a kill.

Two fixes accompany this shift. Hammerheads no longer sink too quickly after being stunned. And it's no longer possible to stun a sand shark while it's underground, which removes a free counter before the ambush.

On the gathering side, two points deserve checking before your next session. Corals and other stationary objects harvested with the sonic resonator no longer shrink, no longer seem to disappear, and no longer slip below the map after a shot. On the other hand, atacamite can no longer be harvested with the sonic resonator: if your ingot routine relied on that, you'll need to redo it.

One last, more subtle detail: the feedback resonator no longer plays its audio description when the blueprint is obtained, but only when it's crafted.

Six species finally react when hit

Unknown Worlds has added hit-reaction animations and visual effects for six creatures: the bonesplitter, the hammerhead, the crashfish, the stinger, the epicureal, and the double sitar ray.

It's a readability fix that carries more weight than it appears to. Without a visible reaction, there was no way to tell if a hit had landed, or whether the tool being used was the right one. You were striking blind. Since 1.2, that feedback returns to the screen.

The hammerhead comes out best off the lot: impact effects when it collides with an object, impacts and knockback effects that were missing from its collisions, and corrected attack visual effects. The tongue-stealing lice also receive impact effects.

The rest of the bestiary moves without changing the rules: new animations for coral crabs, a new model and new animations for the bloom parasite, improved tentacles for the ring jellyfish. Crashfish, for their part, now hunt small fish more regularly and more visibly: a crashfish busy hunting is a usable ambient signal — it's a crashfish that isn't watching you.

Two fixes close out the parasite chapter: an epicureal can no longer be infected by multiple tongue-stealing lice at once, and two epicureals can no longer share the same louse.

Tracker hunters: more damage, but a way out

Tracker hunters deal more damage since 1.2. In exchange, it's now possible to dodge them — and the studio itself adds the nuance in parentheses in its notes: "…sometimes."

This phrase should be taken for what it is. Unknown Worlds publishes no dodge window, no percentage, no condition, and nothing indicates that a dedicated command has been added. What we do know boils down to two points: the exchange is more punishing if you take the hit, and there are now situations where the attack misses. Any figure circulating this week about this window comes from a community observation, not from the studio.

The practical consequence is simple: a tracker hunter can no longer be dealt with by just tanking the hit. Either you stun it, or you try to sidestep — but don't bet on that twice in a row.

Collector leviathan: the Camouflage loophole is closed

This is the least talked-about nerf of the update, and probably the most painful. Until now, a player grabbed by the collector leviathan could activate the Camouflage biomod during the devouring animation: the creature would let go. Unknown Worlds files this behavior under bug fixes. It no longer exists.

Tell your group if that trick was part of your reflexes: a grab from the collector leviathan is now a grab. The studio announces no compensation. The only response left is not to get caught.

Two other, more minor lines concern it: the strange blue outline sometimes visible on its model has been removed, and it no longer spins in place when grabbing or throwing a Peeper.

The scanner becomes an instrument for reading the seafloor

The scanner is no longer just for unlocking database entries: it now starts flagging useful things along the way.

• Acid sources are now marked with green dots on its screen. This means you can spot them before entering an area, rather than taking the damage.
• Macrofungi now have an icon on the same screen, making them detectable without having to visually search for them.

The second change affects progression: two scans are now enough to unlock the repair tool. The patch notes only state that more were needed before, without giving the previous number. For a new playthrough, this is an early-game barrier that comes down sooner.

Several fixes go in the same direction. Objects that previously lacked scan highlighting now have it, the ruins' advanced battery is easier to scan, and axum bacterial cultures as well as abyssaile egg masses become scannable. The scan station, meanwhile, no longer displays resources that don't exist.

Two small details that unlock stuck situations

Necrolei cysts can now be planted in culture beds. Until now they refused to be cultivated: that's one more resource you no longer need to go gather out in the field.

A Tadpole destroyed outside the early access boundaries is no longer lost. It gets teleported back inside the playable area so it can still be recovered. Crossing the barrier and leaving your submarine there no longer costs you the vehicle.

A note on terminology: these French names are official

This point is worth making, because it changes our own publishing habits. The 1.2 patch notes are written in French by Unknown Worlds, which also states that it has localized lines that previously weren't. Brise-moelle, sphyrnocéphale, croqueur, aiguillonneur, épicurien, raie sitar double, chasseur-pisteur, macrofongus, léviathan collecteur, nécrolei: these are the studio's official labels, not in-house translations. The update itself carries a French title, Entre amis.

What to pick back up tonight, Thursday, August 20

1. Relearn your resonator reflexes. The move that used to push a predator away now immobilizes it: stay put and exploit the window instead of disengaging.
2. Check your atacamite chain. The sonic resonator no longer harvests it; any recipe that depends on it needs to go through another source.
3. Warn your group about the collector leviathan. Camouflage no longer makes it let go during the devouring animation.
4. Keep an eye on the scanner screen while traveling. Green dots for acid sources, an icon for macrofungi.
5. If you're starting a new game, do your two scans. The repair tool is within immediate reach.
6. Replant. A necrolei cyst brought back from an expedition now goes into a culture bed.

None of these lines appeared in the presentation video briefing: they only surfaced with the full patch notes on August 19. That's where you'll find what actually changes a dive.