Abiotic Factor Chemistry & Distillation Bench Guide
Quick answer: The Distillation Bench (added in 1.3.0) crafts tinctures (personal buffs), weapon coatings (per-hit elemental damage, 30-60 hit charges), and throwable flasks (AoE grenades). Unlock by reaching Chemistry skill tier 2. Materials: Distilled Water + Glass Vials + one elemental reagent (Carbon, Bio-Sample, Caustic, Cryo).
The Distillation Bench
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Unlock requirement | Chemistry skill tier 2 |
| Build cost | 40 Steel, 12 Glass Plate, 8 Rubber, 4 Office Bin |
| Powered? | No (no power consumption) |
| Footprint | 2x1 grid tiles |
| Outputs | Tinctures, weapon coatings, throwable flasks |
Outputs at a Glance
| Type | Effect | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Tincture | Personal buff (HP regen, stamina, damage, movement, resistance) | Drink before a tough run; effect lasts 5-15 min depending on tincture |
| Weapon Coating | Elemental damage on hit (caustic, cryo, fire, etc.); 30-60 hits per coat | Apply to your main weapon before a combat zone; overrides any previous coating |
| Throwable Flask | AoE elemental damage on impact; affects all creatures in radius | Crowd control; clear hordes; trigger AI re-aggro patterns |
Where to Find Chemistry Materials
- Distilled Water: Hydroplant Sector. Use a Glass Vial on a working Distillation Spigot.
- Glass Vials: craft at the Glass Forge from raw Glass Plate. 1 Plate = 4 Vials.
- Carbon Compound: Office and Manufacturing trash bags, lab containers.
- Bio-Sample: harvest from defeated mutants (any sector).
- Caustic Crystal: Hydroplant chemical-spill side rooms; rare in the new Voices of the Void area.
- Cryo Salt: cold-zone crates (refrigerator rooms in the Office, the new VotV portal).
Sample Recipes
Exact recipes are visible in the Distillation Bench UI; here are common picks people search for.
Healing Tincture
- 1 Distilled Water + 1 Glass Vial + 2 Bio-Sample
- +5 HP/sec for 60 sec
Caustic Weapon Coating
- 1 Distilled Water + 1 Glass Vial + 3 Caustic Crystal
- +15 caustic damage per hit, 45 hits per coat
Cryo Flask (throwable)
- 2 Distilled Water + 1 Glass Vial + 4 Cryo Salt
- 3-meter AoE freeze on impact, 6-second slow on survivors of the freeze
Stamina Tincture
- 1 Distilled Water + 1 Glass Vial + 1 Bio-Sample + 1 Carbon Compound
- Stamina drain reduced 50% for 90 sec
Pairing Chemistry with Pets 2.0
Cosmic Companions ships both systems together for a reason. The intended combos:
- Companion-pet tincture + Companion in slot = dual-buff. Pet gets the buff, you get to wield a coated weapon.
- Caustic Flask in front of a tank Companion = pet absorbs aggro while the AoE ticks. Best opener on hordes.
- Healing Tincture on yourself + revive your downed Companion mid-fight = stable combat loop.
Server Performance Notes
Chemistry crafting is cheap on CPU. Each Distillation Bench is a static entity. The bottleneck on heavy chemistry servers is usually storage: chests fill with vials and reagents fast. Bump chest cap or organize storage by reagent type if your group hoards.
Common Issues
Distillation Bench recipe not showing
You're not at Chemistry tier 2 yet. Cook food and research new materials at the Research Bench to gain Chemistry XP.
Coating wears off too fast
Coatings have a per-hit charge counter, not a time counter. Heavy weapons consume coats slowly (one charge per swing); fast weapons burn through them. Apply Caustic on slow weapons for the longest uptime.
Flask hit my teammate
Throwable flasks affect every creature in the AoE, including survivors. Coordinate throws over voice. The cryo flask can also slow your own Companion.
Build a Chemistry-focused base on a 24/7 dedicated server. Host an Abiotic Factor server with Supercraft from $9.99/mo. Pets level offline, the Distillation Bench keeps producing while you sleep, and the world tick continues.