Malum: Spirits, Infusion, and the Arcane Progression
Malum is a large magic mod built on harvesting spirits and spending them at specialised benches. This guide covers where its recipes live, which systems matter first, and a version split that renames several of them.
Spirit Infusion is the centre of the mod
Of the 24 recipe categories Malum registers, Spirit Infusion is the largest specialised one at 144 recipes on 1.21.1 (98 on 1.20.1). That is where spirits are spent to transform items, and it is the system the rest of the mod feeds.
Around it sit the other spirit benches:
- Spirit Focusing — 21 recipes on 1.21.1, 10 on 1.20.1
- Spirit Repair — 4 on 1.21.1, 16 on 1.20.1
- Runeworking — 24 on both
- Soul Binding — 36 on 1.21.1, none on 1.20.1
Several systems were renamed between versions
This is the trap when following an older tutorial. Two pairs are the same idea under different names:
- Spirit Transmutation carries 66 recipes on 1.20.1 and none on 1.21.1; Unchained Transmutation carries 70 on 1.21.1 and none on 1.20.1
- Favor Of The Void holds 13 recipes on 1.20.1; Void Favor holds 13 on 1.21.1
The counts barely move, so nothing was lost — the names changed. A guide written for one build will send you looking for a bench the other does not list.
Three more categories are 1.21.1 only: Node Blasting and Node Smelting at 10 recipes each, and Milling at 3. The Market appears on 1.21.1 with 2 recipes.
The ordinary routes are still large
Crafting runs 328 recipes on 1.21.1 (304 on 1.20.1) and Stonecutting 148 on both. Melting holds 12 either way, Crushing 17 and 11, Smelting 25 and 26, Blasting 13 and 14, Splashing 6.
Stonecutting at 148 recipes is worth knowing early: Malum ships 310 blocks against 255 items, and the cutter is how most of that block palette is reached.
One structure, and it is underground
The mod generates a single structure — the Weeping Well, placed underground on a spacing of 24 with a separation of 18. For a mod of 565 pages, having exactly one worldgen feature tells you the content is crafted rather than found.
Where to start
Build toward Spirit Infusion. Everything upstream of it — the crushing, melting and smelting lists — exists to feed that bench, and everything downstream is spending what it produces.
Covers the mod's in-game guide topics: