Spoilers: Mid game
Abiotic Factor Hexwood: Canaan Access, Trees and Salvage
Get Hexwood in Abiotic Factor: unlock Canaan, reach its living trees, compare salvage yields and prepare the return route before your first trip.
Can you reach Hexwood yet?
| Your progression | Usable option | What blocks it |
|---|---|---|
| You have only just entered Labs | Continue Labs progression first | Canaan still requires Night Essence |
| You have Night Essence, Snag Vine Seed and Tier 3 access | Open Canaan through Particle Lab | Two repaired modules and a hacked console |
| You already have spare Canaan weapons | Salvage an axe or pitchfork | You lose the weapon |
| You are exploring the much later Divarcation area | Harvest local Hexed Trees | Not an alternative early-game unlock |
For one Mushroom Farm, reserve four Hexwood. Two tree harvests supply that wood requirement; the other farm materials are still separate.
Canaan route: entry, harvesting and return
Unlock the Particle Lab portal
- Progress through Labs into Security until you can obtain Night Essence. An X-Ray Lamp used against a Reaper is one source; Night Realm also contains pickups. Do not confuse this item with the Leyak Essence used inside Labs.
- Bring one Snag Vine Seed. One pickup is in Manufacturing’s mines near the door to the Antejuice pool; another is in a containment cell near Dr. Petra Peters. Salvaging a Snag Vine at a Repair and Salvage Station also supplies a seed.
- Return to the Wildlife Pens in Cascade Laboratories and use its connection to Particle Lab. Look for the strange root growth around the portal equipment.
- Repair the two Flow Control Modules using Night Essence and Snag Vine Seed, then use a Tier 3 Hacker on the nearby console. The Labs access section gives the Hacker upgrade components.
- Before entering, pack light, healing supplies, a repaired weapon and room for wood. Bring a Repair and Salvage Station if you do not want to depend on finding the area’s station for the exit item. Canaan’s locals and its trees can hurt you; this is not a peaceful logging area.
Find and harvest the living trees
On arrival in Canaan, turn around, take the road between wooden platforms, then turn left at the cart. Continue over the log bridge toward the mill and village. Look for the moving, creaking trees; these are Hexed Trees, not ordinary background trunks.
Use a Vacuum from outside the tree’s reach, or crouch and hit the roots with a spear from the edge of its reach. Each tree yields two Hexwood. Confirm the item in your inventory after destroying it. Back away if the tree can still reach you.
The swamp also contains Hexed Trees with gold-toned faces, but reaching the swamp is unnecessary just to identify the resource.
Do not forget the way back
On a first visit, the normal exit needs more than collecting wood. Continue through the village mine route and windmill toward the swamp, find Riggs’ hut and take the Lodestone. Salvage it at a Repair and Salvage Station. Return toward the church on the hill, handle the hostile occupants, then go behind the stage and up to the roof. Insert a Lodestone Fragment into the portal equipment to enable the exit.
Bring supplies for that longer first visit; do not assume the arrival portal is already a working exit. For later collection runs, use only travel infrastructure you have actually established.
Salvage alternatives and exact yields
| Spare equipment | Where it comes from | Hexwood per item salvaged |
|---|---|---|
| Woodsman’s Axe | Woodsman enemies in Canaan | 1 |
| Pitchfork | Farmer enemies in Canaan | 1 |
| Ornate Knife | Interfector enemies later in progression | 1 |
Use the Repair and Salvage Station’s salvage option, not weapon repair. Keep a weapon you rely on: four spare axes or pitchforks cover a farm’s four wood, but the arithmetic does not mean hunting them is faster than harvesting two trees.
Fishing in Canaan and qualifying enemy drops are additional ways to obtain Hexwood. For a dedicated wood run, target Hexed Trees. Explore Divarcation after you reach that later area.
Why ordinary wood is not enough
Hexwood is a named ingredient. Wood Planks do not substitute for it. Once you have the four wood, check the Mushroom Peccary Skull source and the farm’s remaining components before crafting.
After construction, move to water and lighting checks and tainted-water collection. Water is an operating requirement, not a crafting substitute.
How much Hexwood do you need for a Mushroom Farm?
The complete recipe uses four Hexwood, one Mushroom Peccary Skull, one Human Arm (Military) and two Soil Bags. Count the missing ingredients before travelling.
