Last updated: 9 November 2026

Dune: Awakening Ornithopter How to Unlock Your First One

There are two ways to get your first ornithopter in Dune: Awakening: reach Reputation Level 4 with the Atreides or Harkonnen and buy the parts for about 125,000 Solari, or research it with Intel and craft the parts yourself. The Scout is the ornithopter to start with. Either way you finish by assembling it with a Welding Torch; the vendor and the Fabricator show the exact price and material cost of each part.

01Which route should you take?

• Buy the parts — fastest if you have Solari. You need Reputation Level 4 with the Atreides or Harkonnen (earned through faction quests) and roughly 125,000 Solari. Atreides vendors are in Arrakeen, Harkonnen vendors in Harko Village.
• Research and craft — slower and material-hungry, but needs no Solari and no faction standing. It costs Intel and a large pile of refined materials.

Most players mix the two: buy what they can afford and craft the rest. Save about 125,000 Solari if you want the vendor route in one go.

02Route 1: buy the parts from a faction vendor

1. Pick Atreides or Harkonnen and complete their faction quests until you hit Reputation Level 4.
2. Collect about 125,000 Solari.
3. Visit the faction vehicle vendor (Arrakeen for Atreides, Harko Village for Harkonnen) and buy the ornithopter parts.
4. Assemble the parts with a Welding Torch in an open area; the roof of your base works well.

Faction quests are how you reach Reputation Level 4, so start them early.

03Route 2: research and craft it yourself

Unlocking the ornithopter research costs 30 Intel, on top of roughly 300 Intel for the research branch leading to it (about 330 in total). You craft the parts at a Vehicle Fabricator, which also needs an ore refinery for aluminium.

A full Scout (all parts together) takes roughly these materials:

• about 241 Aluminium Ingots (around 1,700 aluminium ore)
• 46 Advanced Servoks
• 14 Diamondine Dust
• 8 Carbide Scraps
• 8 Industrial Pumps
• roughly 57,000 water
• Cobalt Paste, Particle Capacitors and Complex Machinery (the Fabricator shows the count for each part)

Water is the real bottleneck, so research a Blood Extractor upgrade or set up a Windtrap before you begin. Funcom has not published an official materials list for the Scout, so confirm the exact numbers at your Fabricator before you commit resources.

04Storing and keeping it safe

A Scout can be stored in the Vehicle Backup Tool, the same way as a sandbike, and the tool is crafted at your base Fabricator. Always store the ornithopter before logging out or entering a dungeon.

At your base it needs a protected landing space: a Pentashield-protected helipad at least 3×3 and two foundations high is the standard answer. Until you can afford the shield, a roofed bay of the same size is a stopgap.

05What an ornithopter unlocks

An ornithopter is required for the Deep Desert (see our Deep Desert guide), and is the most efficient way to travel across the map. Read the sandstorm guide before long flights.

06FAQ

Quick answers to the most common ornithopter questions.