Essence

Essences are global bonuses that you can get from exploring special event portals. They are classified as Common, Rare and Legendary, with Common and Rare appearing every 4th day and Legendary appearing every 8th day. These Essence portals are only open for a day and all of them close when you claim one, so you should choose which one you get carefully. However the options change by the hour, which allows some control over what you can take. Claiming an essence multiple times does not amplify the effect.

In addition, the player receives two unique essences when starting the game, based on their chosen partners' primary species. If both partners are the same species, then the player will receive a second complimentary essence which typically favor single-species teams. Because Tanids cannot be chosen as partners, they lack their own starter essences.

Essences are well worth the investment as the bonuses they provide are very powerful, with many of them even providing synergistic effects. For instance, Corrosion and Acid amplify the usefulness of Poison, while AngelPotential gives the same level increasing ability that the Starter trait gives, but without a known upper limit, rendering both the Starter and Growing traits obsolete.

Each starting MC and Elemental Affinity gets their own unique Essence.
 * Evolution gets Adaptation, which grants 0.1 to all stat growths whenever a unit is adapted. With enough Stability and Evolution Potions, that's a full 1.0 to all stat growths for all 10 genetic trait slots (though adapting a skill doesn't appear to count towards this). Combined with other growth boosting Essences, you can achieve stat growths enough to make any unit a top-tier addition to your party.
 * Creation gets Corruption, which deals 2 damage to the Health and Lust of every enemy on slime, at both the start and end of every turn. This magnifies the advantages of her unique slime terrain and synergises with many other effects, particularly her Soul Fragment 6 bonus, which allows for various playstyles including unusual choices such as deploying a MushroomCore.
 * Druid gets NatureSpark, which lets Seedlings start a battle surrounded by grass. It may seem weaker than the other two at first glance, but not when you consider the boost to the already significant synergy that the Druid enjoys with Seedlings/Grass Spirits/Plant Hybrids. Combined with his Soul Fragment bonuses as well as certain other Essences, you can achieve an unparalleled synergistic effect.

Currently, the list of Essences you have claimed will only show up to the first 47 you have claimed. The list will keep growing but you won't be able to see the list after the cut off mark. As such, if you wish to use and keep track of the bonus you are getting from EggMastery and GiantSoul, it's recommended to get them within those 47.


 * The "Species"Sparks seem to be bugged in 0.16.0.2. It only seem to be giving +0.2 to stat growths.
 * Symbiosis appears to be bugged in 0.17.0.1. It looks like a Rare essence but it is actually obtained within a Legendary portal.