It has come to our attention that many players are having trouble dealing with the assimilation debuffs because they must be cured manually rather than just waiting for them to wear off, and due to admittedly poor communication of how to do so on our part, the upcoming update will include an introduction to the mechanic through the Guide, but for the time being, this will provide players the necessary information.

Assimilation debuffs are inflicted when the player is attacked by enemies from the evil biomes, is hurt by the thorns from the Crimson biome, or comes into contact with the water in the Riven Hive Biome.

Each biome's assimilation has different effects:

Corruption: reduces the player's offensive stats in proportion to its severity.

Crimson: randomly inflicts Confused or Bleeding, becoming more common at higher severities.

Defiled Wastelands: inflicts debuffs based on severity, consisting — in order — of Weak, Broken Armor, and Rasterized, also slowly accumulates more assimilation.

Riven Hive: inflicts Torn at a severity matching that of the assimilation.

Assimilation can be cured by the Dryad, a Cleansing Station, a Mojo Flask, the passive effect provided by a Mojo Injection, or death;
The cleansing station and mojo flask can be purchased from the Dryad after completing her "I'll Give You a Deal" quest.
The mojo injection can be obtained by throwing a Nature's Gift into Shimmer.

Assimilation mechanics can also be entirely disabled in the mod's server-side settings.