What's inside
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There are 24 ducks in Abyss, spread across five regions, and only one of them is permanently missable. The single hard gate is the Pressure Suit Mk II you receive at the end of Chapter 3 — nine ducks sit below crush depth and cannot be collected without it — plus three soft gates (Rebreather, Grapple Line, Heat Shield) you can tackle in any order. Below is the full checklist, region by region, with the landmark to stand next to, the tool you need, and the earliest story point each duck becomes reachable.
What we cover
What counts as a duck, and the rule that wastes the most time
Ducks are the game’s hidden collectible: small, unmarked, and not drawn on the map until you find the first one in a given region. That last detail is the biggest source of wasted hours. The map screen only begins drawing duck icons for a region after you have collected at least one duck there, so a region with zero finds looks completely empty even when five ducks are sitting in it. The in-game collectibles tracker (pause menu → Archive → Curios) shows a per-region counter in the form “3/5” and updates live as you pick them up.
Two other rules matter. Ducks do not respawn, and they do not carry between save files — a New Game Plus run resets all 24 to uncollected. If you are chasing the “Full Nest” achievement, do it in a single playthrough rather than across two.
Quick reference: ducks per region
| Region | Ducks | Depth range | Access requirement | Earliest story point | Typical clear time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drowned Docks | 5 | 0–12 m | None (Bolt Cutter for one) | Prologue | 8–12 min |
| Cathedral Reach | 5 | 5–40 m | Rebreather, Coral Key | Chapter 2 | 12–18 min |
| The Brineworks | 4 | 30–60 m | Grapple Line, Shift Keycard | Chapter 3 | 10–15 min |
| Obsidian Shelf | 5 | 55–90 m | Heat Shield, Grapple Line | Chapter 4 | 15–22 min |
| The Abyssal Gate | 5 | 90–140 m | Pressure Suit Mk II | Chapter 5 | 18–25 min |
Duck locations, region by region
Drowned Docks (ducks 1–5)
All five are reachable in the prologue, but one needs a tool you find inside this region, so a single sweep covers it.
- 1 — Harbormaster’s hut, west pier. Climb the fish-market crates to the flat roof and drop through the open skylight. No tool required.
- 2 — Beached trawler wheelhouse, north of the lighthouse. Enter through the broken wheelhouse window; the duck sits on the chart table.
- 3 — Under Pier 4, exposed at low tide. The tide runs on a roughly eight-minute cycle. Wait for the water line to fall below the pilings, then walk the sand strip.
- 4 — Crane cab at the top of the Pier 7 gantry. Take the maintenance ladder on the seaward face; the duck is on the console beside the levers.
- 5 — Locked container yard by the customs gate. Requires the Bolt Cutter, which sits on the desk in the harbormaster’s hut — the same room as duck 1.
Cathedral Reach (ducks 6–10)
Two of these are gated behind the Rebreather, and one behind a key that only exists once you have been into the crypt.
- 6 — Choir loft railing. Reach the loft by the spiral stair behind the organ.
- 7 — Flooded crypt, on the sarcophagus lid. Needs the Rebreather. The crypt entrance is under the collapsed section of nave floor.
- 8 — Bell tower, third landing. The internal ladder from the second landing is broken; use the outside ledge on the north face instead.
- 9 — Reliquary niche behind the altar. Needs the Coral Key, which lies on the crypt floor next to duck 7.
- 10 — Broken spire, east face. Take the zip line from the bell tower’s open arch; the duck is on the first platform you land on.
The Brineworks (ducks 11–14)
This region has the only permanent missable in the game, so clear it fully before you leave.
- 11 — Control room pressure console. The duck is wedged behind the gauge panel; crouch to reach it.
- 12 — Pump housing, lower level. Shut the pump off first using the valve wheel on the lower catwalk, or the housing stays flooded and the duck is unreachable.
- 13 — Catwalk above Tank 3. Needs the Grapple Line; the anchor point is the ceiling beam directly above the tank rim.
- 14 — Supervisor’s office. Needs the Shift Keycard, dropped by the patrolling foreman. This is the permanent missable: once you leave the Brineworks at the end of Chapter 3, the office door re-locks and there is no route back.
Obsidian Shelf (ducks 15–19)
Heat damage is the limiting factor here. The Heat Shield is handed to you early in Chapter 4, before the first vent crossing.
- 15 — Thermal vent ledge. Needs the Heat Shield. The duck sits at the lip of the third vent, on the seaward side.
- 16 — Lava tube interior. Behind the second stalagmite on the left; the tube entrance is hidden directly behind the survey camp.
- 17 — Wreck of the Meridian, bow section. Swim in through the broken forecastle rather than the stern, which is welded shut.
- 18 — Survey camp tent. On the cot. No tool needed.
- 19 — Drill derrick top. Grapple Line to the derrick’s upper platform, then climb the final ladder to the crown.
The Abyssal Gate (ducks 20–24)
All five require the Pressure Suit Mk II. Two are easy to lose to a checkpoint reload, so save manually before the current section.
- 20 — First gate ring. On the ring’s inner ledge, just past the entry aperture.
- 21 — Trench between rings two and three. The current pushes you right; swim left against it into the alcove. Riding the current past it drops you into a checkpoint that makes the swim back long.
- 22 — Derelict submersible. Inside the crew compartment, through the open forward hatch.
- 23 — Guardian’s platform. Spawns only once the Guardian encounter resolves. Leaving the arena and returning is fine; the duck persists.
- 24 — Exit lift, final descent. On the far corner of the lift floor. The cutscene triggers when you step onto the centre console, so grab the duck before you walk to it.
The collection order that saves the most backtracking
| Your situation | Recommended order | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| First playthrough, currently in Chapter 2 | Docks → Cathedral → Brineworks | Fast travel between these three unlocks at the start of Chapter 3, so early sweeps cost almost nothing to redo. |
| Clean-up run after finishing the story | Abyssal Gate → Obsidian → Brineworks → Cathedral → Docks | Reverse-depth order means you never re-descend through a pressure transition; saves roughly 20–30 minutes of transit. |
| No Rebreather yet | Docks (5) → Cathedral bell tower and spire only (2) | The three crypt-side ducks need air; the loft, tower and spire do not, so you can bank two early. |
| Co-op partner available | Split regions, one player per zone | Duck pickups are shared across the session, so two players clear the Docks and Cathedral in roughly the time one takes to do either. |
| Achievement only, no interest in exploration | Docks → Brineworks → Gate, minimum path | Those three regions hold 14 of the 24 and have the shortest average route between ducks. |
Missable ducks and their lockout windows
| Duck | Region | Window | What locks it out |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Brineworks | Chapter 3 only | Permanent. The supervisor’s office re-locks when the chapter ends; no route back exists. |
| 21 | Abyssal Gate | During the current section | Soft-lock only — reload the previous checkpoint and the trench resets. |
| 24 | Abyssal Gate | Before the final cutscene | Soft-lock. The lift cannot be re-entered after the cutscene; reload the pre-lift save. |
| 9 | Cathedral Reach | Before Chapter 4 | Soft-lock. The reliquary niche seals when the cathedral floods, but the region reopens in the post-game. |
Common mistakes that cost people the achievement
- Sweeping a region before finding one duck there. With no icon on the map, players assume the region is empty and move on. Grab one duck first, then let the map do the work.
- Ignoring the tide cycle at Pier 4. Duck 3 is submerged for roughly two-thirds of every eight-minute cycle, so it reads as a bug rather than a timing gate.
- Leaving the Brineworks with the pump running. This strands duck 12 behind a flooded housing, and the chapter exit can strand duck 14 permanently.
- Riding the current in the Abyssal Gate trench. The alcove for duck 21 is only reachable by swimming against the flow on the left-hand wall.
- Sprinting to the exit-lift console. The cutscene fires on contact, so duck 24 in the lift’s far corner is missed in most first runs.
- Assuming progress carries into New Game Plus. It does not — all 24 reset, along with the Curios counters.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many ducks are in Abyss in total?
There are 24 ducks across five regions: 5 in the Drowned Docks, 5 in Cathedral Reach, 4 in the Brineworks, 5 on the Obsidian Shelf, and 5 in the Abyssal Gate. The Curios page of the Archive menu tracks them per region, so you can confirm the count against your own save at any time.
Which duck is permanently missable?
Duck 14, in the Brineworks supervisor’s office. It requires the Shift Keycard dropped by the patrolling foreman, and the office door re-locks once Chapter 3 ends with no route back into the region. Every other duck in the game can be recovered either in the post-game or by reloading a checkpoint.
Do I need the Pressure Suit Mk II to collect any ducks?
Yes — the nine ducks below 90 m, which covers all five in the Abyssal Gate and four on the Obsidian Shelf, sit below the crush depth of the standard suit. The Pressure Suit Mk II is awarded at the end of Chapter 3, so nothing in those regions is collectible before that point regardless of skill.
Do duck locations change between patches?
Spawn points have shifted in past updates, so treat any list — including this one — as accurate for the build you are playing. If a duck is not where the checklist says, check the per-region counter in the Curios menu; if the count is short and the map shows nothing, you have not yet found the region’s first duck, which is what reveals the remaining icons.
What do you get for collecting all 24 ducks?
Collecting every duck unlocks the “Full Nest” achievement or trophy, plus a cosmetic rubber-duck charm that attaches to the submersible’s dashboard. The charm is purely visual and has no effect on performance, depth rating, or oxygen capacity.
Can I still collect ducks after finishing the story?
Yes, for 23 of the 24. The post-game world restores access to the Docks, Cathedral Reach, Obsidian Shelf and Abyssal Gate, and the collectible counters persist in your save. The exception is duck 14 in the Brineworks, which is locked out the moment Chapter 3 ends.
