As an open-world survival RPG, Enshrouded is full of possibilities for progressing through the game. Players can go wherever they want whenever they want and gain different modes of power through the points of interest scattered around the map. As you venture beyond the starting area, enemies start to get higher levels and bosses will send you back to spawn. Danger lurks everywhere in the Embervale and some players can struggle to progress their character steadily. This guide will provide some tips to get a good start in Enshrouded and understand the fundamentals of this game.
Resource Gathering
Even in the endgame, you still want to gather as many resources as possible. Gathering wood and stone is vital for base building and needed by NPCs for much of the game. Metal Scraps are important for gear crafting and other more advanced crafting stations. These are harder to find as they are found in bandit camps and only dropped by certain enemies. Sparks and Shroud Cores are the most important resources for Enshrouded as these will upgrade your Flame Alter, the first-ever structure you will build when making a base. Your Flame Altar’s upgrade levels increase the amount of space your base can have, while the Flame’s strength level affects how long you can stay in the Shroud before dying and bonuses to your character stats.
Crafting Priorities
There are two craftable items that will save you lots of time when traversing through the map. First is the Glider, which speeds up travel significantly as well as saving you from lethal fall damage. This costs 8 Shroud Wood (gathered from trees in Shrouded areas), 2 Animal Fur, 2 String, and 2 Shroud Spores (dropped by Shrouded enemies). The next item is the Grappling Hook, which lets you use grappling hook points to hop across chasms. It costs 4 Metal Scraps, 7 String, and 10 Shroud Spores. While the Glider can be crafted immediately after making a workbench, the Grappling Hook will require the Blacksmith NPC in your base to unlock the recipe.
Base Crafting Stations and Resting Bonuses
Like any survival game, you can build your base anywhere on the map. That area will be your base of operations for the rest of the game and a frequent stop for you. Here, you will need to craft the following to craft anything in the game.
- Workbench, Fireplace, Oven, Hand Spindle, Spinning Wheel and Loom
- Charcoal Kiln, Forge, Smelter, Grinding Stone, and Kiln for the Blacksmith
- Tanning Station and Drying Rack for the Hunter
- Alchemy Station and Laboratory for the Alchemist
- Seedling Bed and Beehive for the Farmer
- Table Saw for the Carpenter
Enshrouded has a “safe” mechanic that buffs your character with bonus stamina and health regen. You simply need a roofed house, a bed, and a nearby heat source to keep you warm. The more you rest or sleep, the longer the buff duration lasts. Furniture ties into your rested buff as each piece of furniture provides a stat called Comfort, which increases the cap of your rest duration. Keeping a well-furnished home not only makes your abode look more homely, but it also directly affects your exploration significantly so best bring out the interior designer in you.
Combat
Conflict is inevitable, especially in the harsh and dangerous world of Embervale, with the Fell and Fiends roaming the land. You will need to understand how combat works in the game to master it fully. While you do have your basic attacks with most melee weapons, that won’t be enough. Enemies are weak and resistant to certain types of physical and elemental damage, and some of your weapons lean more toward one type of damage. Whenever you hit an enemy, it will take stamina damage. When their stamina gauge is filled, they will be inflicted with Overpower, which stuns them for a duration and makes them open to extra damage. When in melee, you can block to negate most damage, but if you block just as the attack is about to hit you, you can deflect that strike for a significant amount of stun.
Bows are a powerful tool in combat since they can do headshots. However, require some aiming skills since bows have projectile physics. If you can kite an enemy, bows will be great until you get magic. Meanwhile, spells are very powerful with their elemental damage interactions, but they require your mana resource, and some spells have limited charges.
Important NPCs
Many base functions like blacksmithing, farming, alchemy, and tanning are unavailable until you rescue the appropriate NPCs from captivity. They are found in Ancient Vaults spread around the world, whose locations will be revealed as you progress through your personal questline.
- Blacksmith: Found in the Springlands area, northwest of Braelyn Bridge
- Alchemist: Found at the easternmost side of the map, south of the Wolf Cave
- Hunter: East of the Blacksmith Ancient Vault
- Farmer: North of the Blacksmith Ancient Vault
- Carpenter: East of the Morwenna settlement
After unlocking them, you can use a Summoning Staff to place them anywhere in your base. They must be placed in an interior area, or they will not provide any services. Each has a questline that unlocks more recipes, so do these whenever you can.
The Shroud
The land is covered in a deep fog known as the Shroud. As you enter a Shrouded area, a timer will be counting down. Once it times out, you will instantly die and lose all the items in your backpack. This specific fog is known as the Blue Shroud. There is another Red type of Shroud that will kill you in seconds if you don’t leave the area, which should be avoided at all costs. Red Shroud requires a stronger Flame in the Flame Altar to turn them into Blue Shroud. Strengthening the Flame also gives an extra minute to your Enshrouded timer, giving you a bigger window to explore the area. To remove the Shroud from an area, you will need to chop down the Shroud Root, which is often guarded by a boss nearby, so make sure to prepare any necessities before venturing out.
Gearing
Finding the best weapons for the toughest challenge is the goal in many survival games, and Enshrouded is no exception. It’s vital that you keep different types of weapons on you when progressing. Gear in Enshrouded can range from Common rarity up to Legendary. All the most powerful gear can only be gained by exploring the open world and opening chests.
If you wish to keep your weapons and other important consumables in your person after death, simply place them on your hotbar, as anything slotted on the hotbar will never be lost on death. It’s recommended that you keep all your best weapons there to secure them, especially when they’re Legendary tier.
Skill Trees
The skill tree is where much of your synergies lie, as each passive node in the tree provides bonuses to different styles of gameplay. There are three paths to take within the skilltree: Strength, Intelligence, and Dexterity paths.
Every path has 4 branches to take that provide unique moves and bonuses to your character. At the core of your skill tree are skills that are essential for basic gameplay, like the Double Jump skill and the Sneak Attack passive. This skill tree encourages experimentation and allows you to define your own class with the many branches to choose from. It’s recommended that you try out different skill combinations and find the build that works for you. Respeccing your skill points is very cheap, costing only 10 Runes, a common drop for most enemies, so feel free to experiment to your heart’s content.
Magic
Casting spells is rather simple in Enshrouded. All you need is a Wand (only costing 2 Bones), some Intelligence, and a few craftable spells on the Alchemy Table. All Wands and Staves have access to an infinite spell called Eternal Ice Bolt, but the rest will initially require spell charges to be crafted, much like regular ammo. Soon, Eternal variants of every spell can be crafted for a hefty resource cost. It's best to think of your wands and staves as guns and spells ammo for your gun. Magic will become another staple to combat once you have enough Intelligence and some spells to really take advantage of elemental weaknesses.
