Serum is the lifeblood of humanity in the survival horror title of the same name. While it keeps you alive, you can also imbue it with various effects that aid you in combat or exploration. You can even add a vial to your weapon for extra bonuses. These are all the organic and weapon effects in Serum.
Every Organic and Weapon Effect for Serum
There are two types of additional effects or skills you can imbue the serum with. The first places different skills or enhances your abilities via the injection into your arm. The other boosts weapon stats or adds an effect like Bleed when inserted into a Serum Canister attached to the piece of equipment.
All Organic Serum Effects
- Protection against the Blight: The basic serum. Extends your timer.
- Health recovery: Increases your current health immediately.
- Stamina protection: Actions don’t affect your stamina for a specific period of time.
- Slashing resistance: Resistance to slashing attacks.
- Piercing resistance: Resistance to piercing attacks.
- Blunt resistance: Resistance to blunt attacks.
- Stun resistance: Increases stun resistance.
- Venom resistance: Increases venom resistance.
- Wall Destroyer: Increases upper body strength, allowing you to break through walls.
- Leap of destruction: A long jump and attack that stuns enemies in the landing area.
- Tether: Immobilizes enemies in the immediate vicinity with thorny vines that also inflict damage.
- Banzai!: Charge attack that damages and stuns enemies in your path but reduces your mobility.
- Double Jump: Allows you to double jump.
- Movement speed up: Increases movement speed for a period of time.
- More to collect: Increases the amount of collectible organic materials.
- Health regeneration: Adds increased health regeneration.
- On your feet: Reduces fall damage.
- Dodge master: Increases dodge speed. Allows you to perform a mid-air dodge.
- Masking: Gain camouflage mode that decreases enemies’ ability to see you.
- Mosquito repellent: Allows you to get rid of mosquito swarms.
- Needs a formula to unlock.
- Toxic Mist resistance: Negates damage dealt when in the Toxic Mist.
- Needs a formula to unlock. Obtained in the first Refuge you encounter in the Forest biome.
- Night vision: Ability to see in the dark
- Needs a formula to unlock.
- Successfull Damage Bonus: Increases damage.
- Liberation: An attack and jump that allows you to escape.
- Effortless: Decreased stamina drain rate during sprinting and parkour.
- Less health, more damage: The less health you have, the more damage you deal.
- Attack speed up: Increases how fast you attack.
- Finishing blow: Increased changed to instantly kill a stun or immobilized enemy.
All Weapon Serum Effects
- Stun vulnerability: Increases your chance to stun an enemy.
- Piercing vulnerability: Decreases enemy’s resistance to piercing damage.
- Slashing vulnerability: Decreases enemy’s resistance to slashing damage.
- Blunt vulnerability: Decreases enemy’s resistance to blunt damage.
- Bleeding: Drains health over time.
- Slow movement: Slows enemy movement.
- Damage Boost: Adds damage to attacks.
- Decreasing Attack Speed: Slows enemy attacks.
How to Use the Serum
The main use of serum is to extend the amount of time you survive against the Blight, this all encompassing infection that’s destroyed the world. The timer on your arm dictates how long you have immunity against it. Run out of time, and you’ll start taking damage.
To use a vial, navigate to the serum menu through the Tab wheel and select the one you want. You’ll then inject it into your arm.
When creating a serum at the Fabricator, you can select up to 3 effects. Resistance Against Blight is the only one unlocked at the beginning. The rest, except the three on the top outer circle, are unlocked by gaining experience in brewing. The more you craft the elixir, the more abilities you get access to.
Using a serum with an active ability, like Tether, means the skill wheel in the bottom right will load the icon. Press the corresponding number to use it. Others, like health regeneration or Wall Destroyer, are passive and work in your body. Some of these passive effects last a short amount of time, while others stay until you use the Absorber.
For weapons, you need to find the Serum Cannister blueprint, then craft the cannister onto your chosen weapons. Weapon serums are stored in your Tab wheel under Equipment. Slide them into the cannister to have the effects added to your attacks.
As you start to upgrade your base, you’ll be able to upgrade the strength of your serums. Increasing your Fabricator level at the Drawing Board gives you the ability to upgrade the different effects, though some may require a higher Fabricator tier. This helps when managing the mutagen the serum injects into your system. Upgraded skills inflict less Wildness and you have increased benefits.
Those are all the organic and weapon effects in Serum, as well as how to use and upgrade serums. For more on the survival title, check out our Serum guides.
