How to find and harvest Helium-3 in Starfield

Starfield‘s crafting systems require a number of metals, materials, and minerals—so much so, that it can be difficult to keep all of your resources in line. Helium-3, abbreviated as He-3 in the game’s resource menus, is one of the many elements you’ll need for crafting.

He-3 can be found across the universe on planets and moons, but you’ll need to know which celestial bodies are home to the element and how you can extract it.

The best planets to farm Helium-3 on

There are a ton of planets in Starfield, and not all of them will have every resource available. If you don’t know where to look, you may be searching for He-3 for quite a while. I found He-3 on the following planets and moons:

• Ananke (planet) in the Olympus System
• Curbeam (moon of Bondar) in the Alpha Centauri System
• Cantra (planet) in the Valo System
• Aranae I (planet) in the Aranae System
• Volii Tau (planet) in the Volii System
• Chthonia (planet) in the Wolf System

How to harvest Helium-3 in Starfield

Once you’ve located a planet or moon with He-3 on it, you will be able to harvest it through a couple different means. He-3 can be found both in vents as well as from the ground.

• To extract He-3 from a vent, walk up to the vent and interact with it to collect the element.
  • Be careful when harvesting He-3 from the vents. It will afflict the ailment Lung Damage, which you’ll need to cure with an Injector. Lung Damage causes your character to cough, which can alert enemies and reduces your overall oxygen supplies, so you’ll want to find a fix rather quickly.
• For larger He-3 deposits that you find in the ground, you’ll need to build an outpost.
  • Use your Hand Scanner (default keybinding is F on PC, LB on Xbox) to highlight the He-3.
  • Hit the dedicated key or button shown at the bottom of the scanner HUD to set up an outpost.
  • Place an He-3 extractor and a power supply near the deposit.
    • You’ll need four pieces of Nickel, three Copper, and five Aluminum to build an He-3 extractor.
  • Wait for a minute or so for the extractor to collect the resource. Then interact with the extractor to collect the He-3.

Where to buy Helium-3 in Starfield

If you’re not looking to do any manual labor, however, there’s still a quick way you can get your hands on He-3—if you’re willing to part with those hard-earned credits, that is. There are a number of stores across the galaxy that sell Helium-3.

All the stores in Starfield that sell Helium-3

As I traveled throughout the galaxy, I found Helium-3 at the following stores in Starfield:

• Jemison Mercantile in New Atlantis spaceport (Alpha Centauri System)
• UC Distribution Center in New Atlantis Commercial District (Alpha Centauri System)
• Clint’s Collectibles in Gagarin (Alpha Centauri System)
• Sieghart’s Outfitters in Neon City (Volii System)

Jemison Mercantile is the best store to visit in search of Helium-3, in part because it’s one of the earliest locations you can find when you begin your playthrough. It’s also one of the most convenient locations of the shops listed above, since it’ll be the first store you can access after landing in New Atlantis’s spaceport without the need to fast travel to the Commercial District.

To find Jemison Mercantile, land your ship in the New Atlantis spaceport and head straight. Take a slight left up the ramp and keep going forward. Eventually, you’ll see the shop’s storefront. You can view the store’s inventory by speaking to the NPC at the counter.