In the DEEP VEIN mission, you’ll be searching for and then mining Exotics in the Arctic. This guide will first list the relevant details of the mission, and then provide a step-by-step walkthrough.
To complete the objectives, you’ll need to make your way to the Arctic location of the Exotic ore, mine some, and then return it to the dropship. While you only need to obtain a small amount to complete the mission, you can collect more by venturing deeper into the Arctic. Currently, there’s a bug you need to know about to finish this prospect:To complete the final mission objective, you’ll need to manually drag any amount of Exotic Ore from your inventory into the Dropship Cargo and then leave the Dropship menu.
Preparing for DEEP VEIN
Listed below is the minimum gear required for completing the mission.
Stone Pickaxeor better – If you have accses to a Pickaxe from the workshop that gives higher than the standard “+100% Yield”, bringing it will increase the amount of Exotic Ore you can collect. (Thanks to EIP user Murk for pointing this out).
It’s also a good idea to bring a Canteen from the Workshop if you have access to one — it will save you having to worry about collecting Berries.
The following talents will dramatically increase your chances of survival:
Very, Very Quiet [Solo – Solo]: 1 point
-15% perceived threat while in stealth. If you want to avoid polar bears bears, you’ll want this.
Without a Sound [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point
-5/10/15% perceived threat while stealthed. If you want to avoid polar bears even more, you’ll want this too if you can get it.
Mission Walkthrough
Note: Unlike many previous missions, you must make it back to the dropship with your mission objectives (Exotics) in your inventory. Therefore, dying to return to the dropship will not allow you to complete the mission.
Part 1: Hiking to the Arctic, Setting up Camp
Once you land, open your map and find the objective marker to your east — you’ll need to hike north, east, and then south to make your way around the mountains (see ma above for specific route). As you head towards your objective, collect materials until you’ve crafted all the basics: a knife, bow and arrows, pickaxe, axe, and cloth armor. Once you’ve killed a few animals and collected a few veggies, set up a Campfire and cook some of your food while chopping down a couple of trees for the shelter you’ll build later. If you didn’t bring a Canteen, make special care to collect as many Berries as possible so you don’t have to craft a Waterskin.
Once you’ve got few cooked food items, eat some to raise your max stamina, pack up your campfire, and continue heading towards the objective. You’ll want to kill any predators you encounter in your path, plus any easy-to-hit prey animals, until you’ve got at least 20 Raw Meat and enough materials to craft a Bedroll. Keep the mountain on your right so you can avoid predators — it’s mostly wolves, but you can never be too careful. You’ll probably run into a bear in the northern section of grid O-12; this is a fairly narrow area, so go slowly and stay out of its way.
Continue to the southwestern portion of O-12. Once you can see the Arctic transition area, set up camp nearby in the Forest, placing down a Bedroll and setting it as your spawn point. Start cooking any remaining food you have, and if you don’t have enough for a full stack of meat, hunt nearby animals. Also harvest a full stack of Oxite, and fill any water vessel you brought with you at the stream that runs north-south through O-12.
Part 2: Into the Arctic, Mining Your First Exotics
If you want, you can craft another Wooden Shelter (4 Walls, 2 Floors)and bring it with you into the Arctic along with your Campfire. However, it’s very likely you’ll be able to run to the cave mentioned below if there’s bad weather, and if all goes well you won’t be spending very long in the Arctic. Therefore this is optional.
If you failed to collect at least ~50 Berries, and you didn’t bring a canteen of some kind from orbit, you’ll want a Waterskin just in case you get lost while in the Arctic. You can fill it by melting Ice at a campfire (don’t forget to put your Waterskin in the campfire’s inventory), or you can fill it at the aforementioned stream in O-12.
Once you’re fully hydrated, and you’ve got yourself a Wood Rag Torch, a full stack of Meat,and full Cloth Armor on, you’re ready to head out. Move quickly through the Arctic, but always keep an eye out for Polar Bears, and crouch around any blind corners or large rocks. You’ll probably pass at least one and perhaps even two Polar Bears on your way to the cave in O-13.
The cave you’re looking for is on the eastern edge of the middle of O-13. There will be a couple of Cave Worms inside, but they’re easily handled with your knife (they end up doing more damage if you try to engage them from range). Aim for the worm’s mouth for maximum damage. Before you enter the cave, pull out your torch and light it. Then sprint into the cave mouth, drop your torch with [Q], then pull out your knife and fight the worms (careful not to step on your torch as you do so). There will be one worm by the entrance to the cave, and one slightly further back.
With both worms dispatched, you can pull out your pickaxe and mine the Exotic ore. There’s usually only one node in the cave, but reportedly a second Exotic ore node can sometimes spawn, so double-check before you leave. At this point, you’re technically done with the mission, and could return to the drop pod with the Exotics currently in your inventory. That being said, you came all the way out here… so you might as well grab a bit more Exotic ore before you leave.
Part 3: The Remaining Exotics & The Trip Home
Note: We’ve gotten reports of another node on a cliff somewhere in the marked area — we’ll try and get the guide updated ASAP with the fourth node, but if anyone has a screenshot or map location they can share, we’d love to add it to the guide to help other Prospectors!
Exit the cave and continue south, staying in the middle of the valley. You should come across a narrow crevasse in the bottom third of O-13 (see map) — head to the left (eastern) end of it to make your way down and find your second Exotic node.
Climb out of the crevasse (you can use the Unstuck option from the [Esc] menu if you get stuck, but be warned you might spawn on top of a Polar Bear — use this only if necessary) and continue southeast, keeping the mountains on your left. Once you round the corner, you should look for a kind of pit in the snow, which contains the final Exotic ore node.
The map location of the pitLook for thisYour reward
There’s one more node to find, this one on the top of a cliff. It’s in the middle of the very top of O-14 — the ridgeline itself is visible on the map as a darker area. (Thanks to EIP users Sap and Crog for this info, and our very own SurvivalSherpa for the images!).
The map location of the ridgeThe ridge as seen from the southYour Reward (this view faces north)
Now head back the way you came (head north this time), once again being very careful about Polar Bears. Don’t fret if you do end up mauled; as long as you can find where you died, you can retrieve your Exotic Ore. You’ll need to make your way all the way back through the Forest biome, heading north, west, and then south to return to the drop pod. It’s not a bad idea to bring your shelter along and set up a new spawn point about halfway to the dropship.
When you reach the dropship, you’ll need to drag some ore manually (don’t control+click) into the Dropship Cargo, then exit the dropship’s inventory screen. You should then see your final mission objective complete, and shortly see the “Mission Complete” indicator in your objectives on the HUD. Once you’ve confirmed you’ve completed the Mission, make sure you put the rest of your Exotic Ore and any Workshop tools you have in either your hotbar or the Dropship Cargo, and then you can leave the planet!(Thank you to EIP user Neinier for reporting this mission quirk).
Note that you won’t earn your rewards from this mission automatically. On the Home screen, click the yellow Banner under Completed Prospects and then click Claim Rewards — you’ll then earn your Exotics.
We hope this DEEP VEIN mission guide was helpful! If you have questions or suggestions, or if you managed to find an Exotic node we missed, please let us know in the comments below.
Share this article:
DanielD
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
Unfortunately the mission is broken now thanks to the new update. Yesterday (09.02.2023) I completed the mission a few times and got nice payout due to hard mode and the extra veins.
But as I tried to complete the mission again today (10.02.2023) it was not possible. The objective list just don’t get updated when mining the main objective exotic vein. It got updated when I arrived at the cave but further progress was not possible. I tried to complete the mission multiple times today, testing whether this problem is completely random or depending on which pickaxe I used. Nothing seems to work and I had to leave the mission unfinished without Ren payout and just a handful of exotics (8-16).
*Sad player noises*
Apparently the extra exotic veins only spawn when the objective “Mine exotic ore vein” gets finished. Thanks to the bug it’s not possible to complete this objective and therefore the extra exotic veins don’t spawn which makes this mission completely worthless. Except you want to invest 1 hour into this mission to only get 8-16 exotics (stone pickaxe-“good” workshop pickaxe).
Having problems, its telling me to create some kind of exchange at the workshop? And I can’t drop exotics in the cargo.
I’m playing on easy level. Thoughts?
Sap
3 years ago
ther is 4 nodes 1 in the cave one on the cliff 1 in the big holl and 1 in the long crack left to right round the middle of it 😃 
Shoot, I knew I’d probably missed one. Can you be any more specific about where on the cliff it is? Is it that raised area on the east side of the pass?
I have some screenshots of it for the guide. If you are still interested in an old guide. Although I found it super helpful, so maybe other new players will find this guide as well.
Thanks for pointing that out Murk! I’m surprised you got double the resources, given that the maximum increased yield bonus from Workshop Pickaxes is 35% (according to the tooltips). Either way, I’ve edited the guide to point out that bringing a Pickaxe from the Workshop can increase the amount of Exotic ore you can collect.
Jodie
3 years ago
I found 4 nodes!!
We are going to try and make titanium axes to see what we get 🙂
Here is a pic of the mysterious 4th node, hope it helps. I netted 64 ore from all 4 nodes using the MXC Exotic Pick Axe. There is a bluff you climb up onto and just drop down to mine it.Just like Crog stated in the comments earlier.
Thanks for sharing Rhasputin! Icarus is a vicious planet, and it’s important us prospectors stick together 🙂
Alex
2 years ago
Thank you for the guide! I’ve completed it with the Titanium pickaxe and mined 4 nodes. However, I did mine only 57 exotics. First three were 14 and last was 15. I wonder, what was wrong with my playthough that I got only 57.
You’re welcome Alex! As for your somewhat lacking Exotics haul, it’s hard to say… from what I can glean from other comments and our own testing, it seems as though both Exotic Veins and Nodes have a randomly generated amount of Ore in them. Perhaps you simply got unlucky.
Schism.exe
3 years ago
(TLDR I failed the mission only turning in 16 exotics) I ran from the dropship to the cave I mined the first exotic node because I didn’t have much time so I just wanted to complete it as fast as possible, I ran all the way to the cave killed the worm without a torch because I was dumb and didn’t have enough fiber and was too lazy to go get some mined with the first mxc pick, came out of the first cave the next step was deposit into the dropship and the “OPTIONAL” find more nodes. So I ran all the way back deposited the exotics and my axe and gtfo of there. Got back to space just to be met with a mission failed prompt so just so you know it can fail if you only do the one node.
Once you place the exotics in your dropship- exit that menu and re-enter it to trigger the mission flag for “launch dropship.” If you don’t exit the menu after placing the exotics in your dropship’s inventory the mission wont update the objectives; so, it will count you as leaving the mission without completing “launch dropship” causing a failure.
Additionally: You also have to click and drag at least one of your exotics into the dropship inventory to complete “deliver exotics to dropship storage.” Ctrl+clicking all of them from your inventory to the dropship will not complete “deliver exotics to dropship storage” and will result in a failure.
Yes. I attached a picture of the additional node in the first cave (the one where the required first node is for the mission progress). However, it does not spawn every time you do the mission.
The fifth node one of the random nodes that appear once you completed the mission.
Eyeandan
2 years ago
ive got an alternative rout, takes 25-45min (the blue line)
(key, yellow=start, pink=location, purple=area of other nodes, red=your path, blue=my path)
the path is shorter, but you spend more time in the snow
on return, the extra nodes are on the way, rather than being further in
your path can have 2-4 brown bears+ 2-5 polar bears
this one has 3-6 polars, and no browns
right before entering the arctic, there are 4 watermelon patches (give or take, 10 melons)
they both eliminate the need for the canteen, and boost stamina
grab 3-4 bushes of berries and you can get the stamina boost a 2nd time from them
so long as you don’t get pinned by a storm, the fire and bed are un-needed
and the shelter is un-needed in general, take shelter in a cave
dose cooked meat give stamina? it looks like its +75 health, +10% health regen
M14s central cave has mushrooms, that once cooked, give the same buff as cooked meat (lets you double up)
after the fist completion, the mission objective cave, has a chance to have an extra node (for 5 total)
You can half that time by doing the node in the hole last and using unstuck to return to the drop ship
Noax
1 year ago
I just finished the mission right now (03.01.23 – dd.mm.yy).
In the end, I was told to build an “Orbital Transaction Interface” (tier 2, over the radio, translated from french) and call a shuttle in wich I had to put all of the mineral.
Then, I just get back to my own shuttle and sent me back to the station. Every piece of the Exotics I mined (64, with the first pickaxe craftable on the workshop) was already available in the workshop.
Thanks for your update! It sounds like the DEEP VEIN: Extraction mission and objectives have been modified to match the new Orbital Exchange Interface that was introduced in the Week 53 (Anniversary) Update. As you described well, you build it, use it to call down a dropship to pick up your exotics, and send them into orbit. You get credit for them as soon as you send them up. However, you can no longer extract them using your own dropship.
We’ll update the guide to match the new way to extract exotics. Thanks!
Joee
1 year ago
I completed this mission today, and I am not seeing where to claim the exotics after completing it. The Credits popped up as soon as the msision was completed, but the Exotics are not showing up in a yellow banner.
Unfortunately the mission is broken now thanks to the new update. Yesterday (09.02.2023) I completed the mission a few times and got nice payout due to hard mode and the extra veins.
But as I tried to complete the mission again today (10.02.2023) it was not possible. The objective list just don’t get updated when mining the main objective exotic vein. It got updated when I arrived at the cave but further progress was not possible. I tried to complete the mission multiple times today, testing whether this problem is completely random or depending on which pickaxe I used. Nothing seems to work and I had to leave the mission unfinished without Ren payout and just a handful of exotics (8-16).
*Sad player noises*
Apparently the extra exotic veins only spawn when the objective “Mine exotic ore vein” gets finished. Thanks to the bug it’s not possible to complete this objective and therefore the extra exotic veins don’t spawn which makes this mission completely worthless. Except you want to invest 1 hour into this mission to only get 8-16 exotics (stone pickaxe-“good” workshop pickaxe).
Yes, mission is bugged, Dev team knows and says it should be fixed in this week’s patch
Good news! The update two days ago (13.02.2023) fixed it. It’s working again! 🙂
I played it again today on hard. It’s easy to beat this mission in 30 minutes if you have a full workshop armor set.
Having problems, its telling me to create some kind of exchange at the workshop? And I can’t drop exotics in the cargo.
I’m playing on easy level. Thoughts?
ther is 4 nodes 1 in the cave one on the cliff 1 in the big holl and 1 in the long crack left to right round the middle of it 😃 
Shoot, I knew I’d probably missed one. Can you be any more specific about where on the cliff it is? Is it that raised area on the east side of the pass?
Cliff/ rock line on the map . Very top center of 014 square where theres a rockline on the map in the white snow area.
Fantastic, thanks Crog! I’ll update the guide with that information. Your fellow Prospectors will be grateful, I’m sure 🙂
I have some screenshots of it for the guide. If you are still interested in an old guide. Although I found it super helpful, so maybe other new players will find this guide as well.
Standing on the node on the map. Here is a perspective looking south coming towards it from the way you normally would.
And here I am standing atop the half circular ridge looking down at it and toward where I came from.
Thanks Martin! People are still using this guide, so I’m sure your pictures will be helpful to them.
nevermind
also much better if you use exotic pick axe when mining the exotic material. if you mine 3 nodes instead of 24 it will be 48
Thanks for pointing that out Murk! I’m surprised you got double the resources, given that the maximum increased yield bonus from Workshop Pickaxes is 35% (according to the tooltips). Either way, I’ve edited the guide to point out that bringing a Pickaxe from the Workshop can increase the amount of Exotic ore you can collect.
I found 4 nodes!!
We are going to try and make titanium axes to see what we get 🙂
Nice work Jodie! Definitely let us know if you find that you get more than 16 Ore a node, that’d be great info for people to have.
titanium currently gives the same as iron
Here is a pic of the mysterious 4th node, hope it helps. I netted 64 ore from all 4 nodes using the MXC Exotic Pick Axe. There is a bluff you climb up onto and just drop down to mine it.Just like Crog stated in the comments earlier.
Thanks for sharing Rhasputin! Icarus is a vicious planet, and it’s important us prospectors stick together 🙂
Thank you for the guide! I’ve completed it with the Titanium pickaxe and mined 4 nodes. However, I did mine only 57 exotics. First three were 14 and last was 15. I wonder, what was wrong with my playthough that I got only 57.
You’re welcome Alex! As for your somewhat lacking Exotics haul, it’s hard to say… from what I can glean from other comments and our own testing, it seems as though both Exotic Veins and Nodes have a randomly generated amount of Ore in them. Perhaps you simply got unlucky.
(TLDR I failed the mission only turning in 16 exotics) I ran from the dropship to the cave I mined the first exotic node because I didn’t have much time so I just wanted to complete it as fast as possible, I ran all the way to the cave killed the worm without a torch because I was dumb and didn’t have enough fiber and was too lazy to go get some mined with the first mxc pick, came out of the first cave the next step was deposit into the dropship and the “OPTIONAL” find more nodes. So I ran all the way back deposited the exotics and my axe and gtfo of there. Got back to space just to be met with a mission failed prompt so just so you know it can fail if you only do the one node.
I just did the same, just with 2 nodes mined. And also got met with mission failed. Still got the exotics tho
Must be recently bugged, because I just finished it…a second time! And I mined the 4 nodes…and still go a failure, very dissapointed -_-
Once you place the exotics in your dropship- exit that menu and re-enter it to trigger the mission flag for “launch dropship.” If you don’t exit the menu after placing the exotics in your dropship’s inventory the mission wont update the objectives; so, it will count you as leaving the mission without completing “launch dropship” causing a failure.
Additionally: You also have to click and drag at least one of your exotics into the dropship inventory to complete “deliver exotics to dropship storage.” Ctrl+clicking all of them from your inventory to the dropship will not complete “deliver exotics to dropship storage” and will result in a failure.
Thank you for sharing Neinier, I’ll add this info to the guide.
No problem. There’s also an occasional (about 4 of my 40+ runs) vein that can spawn in the first cave resulting in 5 exotics nodes.
What did that mean u can find 5 exotics nodes but where is the 5th ?
In the same cave like the first one ??
Yes. I attached a picture of the additional node in the first cave (the one where the required first node is for the mission progress). However, it does not spawn every time you do the mission.
The fifth node one of the random nodes that appear once you completed the mission.
ive got an alternative rout, takes 25-45min (the blue line)
(key, yellow=start, pink=location, purple=area of other nodes, red=your path, blue=my path)
the path is shorter, but you spend more time in the snow
on return, the extra nodes are on the way, rather than being further in
your path can have 2-4 brown bears+ 2-5 polar bears
this one has 3-6 polars, and no browns
right before entering the arctic, there are 4 watermelon patches (give or take, 10 melons)
they both eliminate the need for the canteen, and boost stamina
grab 3-4 bushes of berries and you can get the stamina boost a 2nd time from them
so long as you don’t get pinned by a storm, the fire and bed are un-needed
and the shelter is un-needed in general, take shelter in a cave
dose cooked meat give stamina? it looks like its +75 health, +10% health regen
M14s central cave has mushrooms, that once cooked, give the same buff as cooked meat (lets you double up)
after the fist completion, the mission objective cave, has a chance to have an extra node (for 5 total)
(this is after the week 14 update)
You can half that time by doing the node in the hole last and using unstuck to return to the drop ship
I just finished the mission right now (03.01.23 – dd.mm.yy).
In the end, I was told to build an “Orbital Transaction Interface” (tier 2, over the radio, translated from french) and call a shuttle in wich I had to put all of the mineral.
Then, I just get back to my own shuttle and sent me back to the station. Every piece of the Exotics I mined (64, with the first pickaxe craftable on the workshop) was already available in the workshop.
Hi Noax,
Thanks for your update! It sounds like the DEEP VEIN: Extraction mission and objectives have been modified to match the new Orbital Exchange Interface that was introduced in the Week 53 (Anniversary) Update. As you described well, you build it, use it to call down a dropship to pick up your exotics, and send them into orbit. You get credit for them as soon as you send them up. However, you can no longer extract them using your own dropship.
We’ll update the guide to match the new way to extract exotics. Thanks!
I completed this mission today, and I am not seeing where to claim the exotics after completing it. The Credits popped up as soon as the msision was completed, but the Exotics are not showing up in a yellow banner.