Nanite Clusters are a new currency in No Man’s Sky, and there are lots (and lots) of ways to earn the stuff. It’s important for upgrades — upgrades to your ship, to your base — basically anything that needs to be upgraded needs Nanites. It’s a secondary currency, and while it isn’t exactly rare, it is tough to get lots of Nanite Clusters quickly.
You get Nanite Clusters for doing basically anything. All the normal stuff you’ll do while playing No Man’s Sky? You’ll get Nanite Clusters. Completing missions, exploring planets, searching destroyed Sentinels all yield Nanite Clusters. The real challenge is collecting enough to get all the S-Class upgrades you’ll need to make exploration even easier. Here’s all the best ways to earn Nanites.
More No Man’s Sky NEXT guides on Gameranx:
- No Man’s Sky NEXT: 8 New Features You Need To Know | Beginner’s Guide
- No Man’s Sky NEXT: Scanning Is The Secret To Earning Units Fast | Farming Guide
- No Man’s Sky NEXT: How To Create A Self-Sustaining Base | Refiner Guide
How To Earn Tons Of Nanite Clusters | S-Class Upgrade Farming Guide
For this guide, we’re going to focus on two primary methods for earning Nanite Clusters — farming for clusters, and fighting for clusters. Depending on your playstyle, you can either fight enemies to earn lots of clusters, or use base tools to refine basic elements down into Nanite Clusters that you can use for upgrades.
Fighting For Nanites
There are two handy methods for earning Nanites — you can rob freighters and collect the resources / nanites, or you can use a Grenade Launcher Multitool to blast Sentinels.
Robbing Freighters will destroy your relations with sentient life, so I prefer to focus on fighting Sentinels. You’ll find these robots on planets — attacking them will begin different alert levels, and they’ll just keep coming. Bring a Grenade Launcher Multitool and enhance your ExoSuit shields. The Grenade Launcher tears through Sentinels once you’ve hit a 5-Star Alert Level.
Once you’re fighting Level-5 Sentinels, each one will drop 50-200 Clusters.
Refining Nanites
Using refineries, you can create Nanite Clusters with basic chemicals. You can use any sized refinery, but the large refiners give you much greater results.
- 1 Larval Core -> 50 Nanite Clusters
- 1 Hadal Core -> 50 Nanite Clusters
- 1 Hexite + 1 Coprite -> 1 Nanite Cluster (per .5 secs)
- 5 Platinum -> 1 Nanite Clusters (per .6 secs)
- 5 Runaway Mold -> 1 Nanite Cluster (per 1.5 secs)
The tricky part is just collecting the resources you need to convert into Nanite Clusters. If you’ve got the resources and don’t mind doing some dangerous refining, this is another great way to gather nanites after you’ve returned to your base with piles of adventuring loot.
