The Deep Desert is Dune: Awakening‘s endgame PVP zone, but it’s really designed with large-scale conflict between guilds in mind. That hasn’t stopped some solo Dune: Awakening players from braving the sands of the Deep Desert, though, and some people have managed to scrounge up an impressive amount of resources all on their own.
While the Deep Desert is completely optional in Dune: Awakening, the best materials in the game can only be found within its shifting sands. Valuable resources like Titanium Ore and Stravidium Mass are exclusively available in the Deep Desert with spawn locations changing after every weekly reset, and these are used to craft Plastanium Ingots required for the game’s most powerful recipes. Because of this, players may want to do some farming in this dangerous area. Here are some tips they might want to keep in mind.
Related
Dune Awakening – Interactive Map (Arrakis)
Our interactive map for Arrakis in Dune Awakening. All the enemy camps, shipwrecks, and merchants, found in the game.
How to Survive the Deep Desert Solo in Dune: Awakening
If you’re dead set on avoiding other players and exploring the Deep Desert on your own, you’ll need to go in with a completely different mindset than everyone else. The Deep Desert is a volatile, ever-changing place that will look completely different depending on your server’s population, so adaptability is key.
Rat Behavior
If you’ve played games like Escape from Tarkov or Rust, then you already know what this means. Solo players who stick to the shadows and wait for the best moment to strike with a shotgun or other highly-lethal weapon are known as “rats” among these communities. But there’s no shame in rat behavior when valuable resources are on the line.
The POIs of the Deep Desert are incredibly dangerous for solo players, but if you see a small group before they see you, you can trail them and wait for them to let their guard down. The same goes for small bases where players frequently come and go or mining spots occupied by a small crew in a single ornithopter. You have to be sneaky to survive as a solo player in the Deep Desert, anyway, so why not use that stealthy playstyle to your advantage? Otherwise, engaging in PVP head on is basically a death sentence.
If you see a sandworm bursting out of the sand, that means that there are players in that vicinity making some noise. Check it out and see if you can steal some Spice from an easy mark.
Stick to the Safe Zones
While it’s primarily a PVP-focused zone, there are some PVE safe zones in the Deep Desert. The area bordering Hagga Basin doesn’t have PVP enabled, making it a perfect place to test the waters for solo players who are new to Dune: Awakening‘s endgame. There aren’t too many resources to harvest in this part of the Deep Desert, but there are enough to sustain a solo player or a small squad if you’re willing to put up with some tedious farming.
The bigger guilds will be focused on the deeper parts of the Deep Desert where resources are more plentiful, too, so you shouldn’t have too much competition when exploring the PVE zones. Remember that the Deep Desert changes every week, so you might get lucky and find more resources than usual in the PVE zones after a Coriolis Storm.
Scope Out the Scene
If you get caught off guard in the Deep Desert, you’re dead. Use your ornithopter to thoroughly survey an area before landing, and check the surrounding areas to make sure you won’t get ambushed by another group that happens to wander by.
Adding a scanner module to your ornithopter is also a good idea. Not only will it help you find dense deposits of Titanium Ore, Stravidium Mass, and other resources, but you can also find buried treasure underneath the open sands. Sometimes, you’ll find rare materials in buried treasure caches that will save you the trouble of mining or exploring.
Avoid the Worm
The sandworm is a much bigger deal in the Deep Desert than it is in Hagga Basin, so be prepared with gear like Softstep Boots to reduce worm aggression. The worm itself isn’t actually the biggest threat when it emerges; other players are much more dangerous.
A sandworm emergence is basically a giant signal flare that lets every other player in the Deep Desert know your exact location. Not only that, but they’ll figure out that you’re probably carrying valuable resources like Spice since the sandworm only attacks people on the open sands. If a sandworm notices you, get into your ornithopter immediately and fly far, far away.
Dune: Awakening
- Released
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June 10, 2025
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- PC Release Date
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June 10, 2025
