If you’ve spent your first few hours in No Man’s Sky running around mining raw resources, only to hit a wall when you need pure ferrite or ionized cobalt to upgrade your gear, you’re not alone. I remember staring at my crafting menu for 20 minutes when I first started, wondering why I couldn’t make the new exosuit upgrade I’d just found. If you’re wondering how to make a refiner in No Man’s Sky, this guide breaks down every step, plus tricks to get the most out of your new resource processing tool. You’ll be turning useless rock dust into high-value materials in no time.
How to Make a Refiner in No Man’s Sky: Core Requirements for Your First Build
The first refiner you’ll get access to is the Portable Refiner, and its blueprint unlocks automatically during the opening Awakenings mission line, right after you fix your multi-tool’s scanner. You don’t have to hunt for rare blueprints or complete tough side missions to get it, which makes it perfect for brand new players. To build it, you’ll only need two easy-to-find materials: 30 Ferrite Dust and 1 Di-hydrogen Jelly. Portable Refiner units are designed to be used anywhere, so you won’t have to build a permanent base to set one up. You can plop it down on any planet surface, load it with fuel, and start processing resources right away. You don’t need a base to use it, though you can also place it inside a base if you want a permanent processing spot for early-game materials. The only thing you’ll need to keep handy besides the materials to build it is fuel: all refiners run on Carbon or Condensed Carbon, which you can get from harvesting plants or trees on almost any planet.
Different Refiner Types and Which One Fits Your Playstyle
The Portable Refiner is just the first of four refiner types you can unlock as you progress through the game. Each one has different use cases, so you don’t have to rush to unlock all of them right away. The Personal Refiner is the next upgrade you’ll probably want to go for. It unlocks after you complete the Exosuit Expansion mission line, and it fits directly in your exosuit’s tech inventory. It only has one input slot, same as the Portable Refiner, but you don’t have to place it down to use it. Personal Refiner units are the most underrated tool for long exploration runs, since you can process resources while you’re hiking up a mountain or waiting for your ship to recharge. If you spend most of your time building bases, you’ll want to unlock the Medium and Large Refiners next. The Medium Refiner has two input slots, so you can combine two different resources to make new materials, like turning carbon and oxygen into condensed carbon faster. The Large Refiner is the endgame option, with three input slots and the fastest processing speed, perfect for bulk crafting rare materials for trade or base building. If you mostly play solo and spend your time exploring rather than building, you can get away with just the Portable and Personal Refiners for your first 20 or 30 hours of gameplay.
Common Refiner Recipes to Try Once You Build Your First Unit
As soon as you build your first refiner, you’ll have access to dozens of basic recipes that will make your gameplay way smoother. You don’t have to memorize all of them right away, but these are the ones I use almost every time I log on:
Mistakes to Avoid When Using Your Refiner
Refiners are pretty straightforward to use, but there are a few common mistakes that can cost you hours of grinding if you’re not careful. I’ve made almost all of these myself, so I can tell you first hand they’re worth avoiding. Never leave a refiner running with valuable resources inside if you plan to travel more than a few hundred units away. If you leave the planet or go far enough away from the refiner, the game will despawn the unit and all the resources inside it. I lost 200 units of ionized cobalt my first month playing because I left a refiner running while I flew back to my ship to drop off supplies. Another common mistake is using regular Carbon instead of Condensed Carbon for long processing runs. Regular Carbon burns through super fast, so you’ll likely come back to a half-finished batch if you’re processing more than 100 units of a resource. You also don’t want to overload your refiner with more resources than you need right away. If you dump 500 Ferrite Dust into a Portable Refiner, it’ll take 10 minutes or more to process all of it, so split your batches if you’re in a hurry. If you build a Medium or Large Refiner for your base, connect it to your supply depots if you have them, so it can automatically pull resources without you having to manually add them every time you want to process something.
Refiners are one of the most essential tools in No Man’s Sky, and they can save you dozens of hours of grinding for rare resources if you use them right. You don’t need fancy endgame gear to start using them, either: the basic Portable Refiner is enough to get you through most early-game hurdles. Now that you know how to make a refiner in No Man’s Sky, you can start processing your raw resources into high-value materials the second you pick them up, no matter where you are in the galaxy. I still keep a Portable Refiner in my ship’s inventory even after unlocking all the endgame refiners for my base, just in case I run into a rare deposit of cobalt or uranium far from home. It’s a small tool that makes a huge difference in how smooth your exploration runs are.