To get Quartz Glass in Grounded 2, mine Phantom Quartz under Gnarly Bark, grind it into Crushed Quartz, make and analyze a Fire Brick to unlock the recipe, then bake Quartz Glass in a Kiln with Crushed Quartz and Horsetail Stems.
Quartz Glass is one of the standout new materials in the Into the Abyss update, and it trips people up because there is no glass node to walk up and mine. You craft it at the end of a short refining chain that starts with Phantom Quartz pulled from a flooded cave under the Gnarly Bark tree. Here’s the whole path, plus the exact route to the crystals.
The Quartz Glass crafting chain
| Stage | What |
|---|---|
| Mine Phantom Quartz | Hammer the pink nodes in the flooded cave under Gnarly Bark |
| Grind Crushed Quartz | Process Phantom Quartz Shards in a Quern |
| Bake Fire Brick | Combine Clay and Crushed Quartz in an Oven |
| Analyze Fire Brick | Scan it at a Ranger Outpost to unlock Quartz Glass and Marine parts |
| Bake Quartz Glass | Combine Crushed Quartz and Horsetail Stems in a Kiln |
Key Nothing in the cave is labeled Quartz Glass — the raw pink crystal you mine is Phantom Quartz, and everything after that happens at crafting stations. The material only appears as a recipe once you’ve refined the quartz and scanned a Fire Brick, so treat the node as the start of the chain rather than the payoff. Use this as a quick scanner before the detailed walkthrough.
Where Phantom Quartz hides under Gnarly Bark
Phantom Quartz sits inside a flooded cave system tucked beneath the roots of the Gnarly Bark tree. The entrance is a cave mouth near the tree, and the crystals themselves are further in and underwater, so this is not a grab-and-go trip — expect to swim for them.
Bring a torch before you go in; the tunnels are dark and packed with bugs, so a light source and something to fight with are both non-negotiable. A mount or buggy makes the ride in far less painful and helps with the pond-style traversal the update leans on. Once you reach the water, the crystals glow pink along the submerged path, and you break them loose with a hammer rather than a pickaxe.
How to mine Phantom Quartz and craft Quartz Glass in Grounded 2
Follow this route from the Gnarly Bark cave to the crystal chamber, then run the refined quartz through the stations that unlock and bake Quartz Glass.
STEP 1/9
Head to the Gnarly Bark entrance
Open your map and make for the cave mouth marked near the Gnarly Bark tree.
STEP 2/9
Ride inside with a torch
Bring a mount and a lit torch, then push through the tunnel past the bugs waiting inside.
STEP 3/9
Cross to the far side
Follow the passage to the opposite end of the cave, where it opens toward the water.
STEP 4/9
Drop into the water
Slip in behind the ledge and swim down along the pink crystal trail into the crystal cave.
STEP 5/9
Mine the Phantom Quartz
Hammer the pink Phantom Quartz nodes and clear every one you can reach.
STEP 6/9
Grind Crushed Quartz
Load your Phantom Quartz Shards into a Quern and grind them down into Crushed Quartz.
STEP 7/9
Bake Fire Bricks
Combine Clay and Crushed Quartz in an Oven to bake Fire Bricks.
STEP 8/9
Analyze a Fire Brick
Scan a Fire Brick at any Ranger Outpost Resource Analyzer to unlock Quartz Glass and Marine building parts.
STEP 9/9
Bake Quartz Glass in a Kiln
Build a Kiln, then combine Crushed Quartz and Horsetail Stems to bake your Quartz Glass.
Video help
What analyzing a Fire Brick unlocks
The recipe gate here is the scan. Taking a Fire Brick to a Ranger Outpost Resource Analyzer is what actually unlocks Quartz Glass, and it opens up the Marine building parts at the same time — so that one scan is doing double duty for your base. Skip it and the Kiln recipe simply won’t be there.
Quartz Glass reads as one of the more important building materials in this update, and the whole chain is quartz-hungry from end to end. Between the Crushed Quartz you burn on Fire Bricks and the Crushed Quartz the Kiln eats for the glass itself, a single haul from the cave rarely stretches as far as you’d hope, which is why it’s worth stripping the crystal chamber completely on your first visit.
Clear every Phantom Quartz node in one trip — the whole chain runs on quartz, and swimming back through the flooded cave for a second batch is a chore you can skip by farming it all up front.
Mistakes that stall the recipe chain
The most common trap is hunting the cave for a “Quartz Glass” pickup — it doesn’t exist as a raw material, so you leave empty-handed when the answer is to mine Phantom Quartz and craft up. The other quiet blocker is skipping the Fire Brick scan: without analyzing one at a Ranger Outpost, the Quartz Glass recipe never appears, and neither do the Marine parts. Make sure you’ve actually built a Kiln too, since that’s the only station that bakes the glass.
Watch out for older quartz advice as well. Pre-update guides point you at quartzite and sturdy quartzite nodes scattered around the surface, but those are a different material and have nothing to do with the Phantom Quartz chain in the pond content. And don’t wander into the cave underprepared — going in without a torch or without the gear to fight the bugs inside is the fastest way to die before you reach the first crystal.
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