How To Mine Stone Deposits In Stranded Deep

Rocks in Stranded Deep are a crucial component for every stage of crafting, meaning players will need plenty of stone to survive the game.

Like sticks and Fibrous Leaves, rocks are an essential material for almost every item in Stranded Deep. Even if a recipe doesn’t explicitly include rocks, tools made from rocks were most likely used to harvest and refine all the materials needed in a given recipe. Even though lone rocks are found around islands, players must create a Refined Pick to gather enough rocks to survive the harsh island environment.

Rocks are found scattered on the islands or can be mined with a Refined Pick. Keep in mind rocks are a non-renewable resource. Unlike plants, including the ones harvested to get Fibrous Leaves in Stranded Deep, rocks do not regenerate, so once all the rocks have been used, there will be no more available rocks for the remainder of the game. This scenario can easily be avoided by not wasting rocks on unnecessary items.

Related: Stranded Deep: Every Cheat Code (& How to Use Them)

How to Make a Refined Pick & Mine Rocks in Stranded Deed

The name “Refined” Pick is misleading because it is the only pick craftable in Stranded Deep and isn’t an upgraded version of a lower-tier tool, as the name suggests. Rock nodes can’t be harvested until players have both the materials to craft the pick and a Crafting Level of at least three. The necessary materials are all basic except for Leather, which requires a Tanning Rack to produce. However, Leather can sometimes be found in Shipwrecks or around Survivor Remains. The Refined Pick itself can’t be found as loot and will always need to be crafted in the Tool section of the crafting menu. Using the Refined Pick on clay deposits is also how players get clay in Stranded Deep.

Although the islands are covered with and composed of rocky formations and boulders, players can only mine specific nodes. Upon approaching these nodes, the rock will gain a yellow outline and be labeled as a “Minable Resource.” Each node yields six rocks, but the number of hits required to break down the stone depends on players’ Harvest Levels. As the rock crumbles, loose rocks will fall from the node to be picked up manually by players.

Finding and maintaining a stockpile of rocks is essential to getting un-stranded. Stone Tools, which require one rock, are part of the recipe for almost every tool in the game and are also used in building a raft in Stranded Deep. However, no stone equals no raft equals stuck in the Pacific Ocean with sharks forever.

More: How To Find (& Use) The Pipi Plant in Stranded Deep