Malum Spirits, Runeworking and Soul Binding
Malum's magic runs on spirits harvested from mobs and spent at a handful of benches. This guide covers the systems that consume them and how they differ between the two builds.
The spirit benches, by size
Four categories spend spirits, and their sizes say how much content each holds:
- Spirit Infusion — 144 recipes on 1.21.1, 98 on 1.20.1
- Soul Binding — 36 on 1.21.1, and none at all on 1.20.1
- Runeworking — 24 on both builds
- Spirit Focusing — 21 on 1.21.1, 10 on 1.20.1
- Spirit Repair — 4 on 1.21.1, 16 on 1.20.1
Spirit Repair moving the other way is the one to notice: the older build devotes four times as many recipes to mending gear with spirits, while the newer one folds more of that work into infusion.
Runeworking is stable, so learn it first
At 24 recipes on both versions, Runeworking is the one spirit system that does not change between builds. Anything you learn about it transfers, which makes it the safest place to start if you play across both lines.
Transmutation changed its name, not its size
Spirit Transmutation holds 66 recipes on 1.20.1 and none on 1.21.1. Unchained Transmutation holds 70 on 1.21.1 and none on 1.20.1. These are the same part of the mod under two names, and the four-recipe difference is the only real change.
The same applies to the void: Favor Of The Void on 1.20.1 and Void Favor on 1.21.1 both carry 13 recipes.
Feeding the benches
Spirits have to come from somewhere, and the supporting lists are ordinary processing: Crushing at 17 recipes on 1.21.1 (11 on 1.20.1), Melting at 12 on both, Smelting at 25 and 26, and Blasting at 13 and 14. The 1.21.1 build adds Node Blasting and Node Smelting at 10 recipes each — dedicated routes that do not exist on the older line.
The Weeping Well
Malum generates exactly one structure, the Weeping Well, underground at a spacing of 24 and a separation of 18. It is dense enough to find without a long search, and being the mod's only worldgen feature makes it the one thing here you explore for rather than build.
Scale
565 pages across 310 blocks and 255 items, on 1.8.2 (1.21.1) and 1.6.7 (1.20.1).
Covers the mod's in-game guide topics: