Enshrouded presents a fresh take on crafting and survival games, set in a vast voxel-based continent. As you traverse the diverse landscapes of this open world, you’ll have the freedom to chart your own course and influence your fate. 

Embarking on your journey from square one can feel tedious and somewhat overwhelming. Therefore, this guide offers beginner tips to ease the initial hours of gameplay in Enshrouded. 

1. Maximizing Travel Efficiency With Flame Altars

Flame Altars function as respawn points and hubs for fast travel.

It’s advisable to carry a pre-built Flame Altar in your inventory when venturing far from your base to establish a secondary spawn point closer to your destination. This guarantees swift and convenient travel between your base and the new altar. Should you forget to bring a second flame, fret not. Crafting a new one only requires 5 stone, which is readily available throughout the map.

As you enhance the Flame and unlock the ability for multiple altars, consider establishing forward bases to facilitate rapid travel across different areas of the map. This greatly accelerates your progress in the game.

Once you have a Flame, the next step is to set up a Workbench for crafting building blocks. Crafting a Workbench requires 3 string and 8 wood logs. Obtain string by harvesting plant fiber from bushes or tall grass in grassy areas, and acquire wood logs by using an axe on trees.

Given the limited number of altars, strategic placement is crucial for efficient map traversal. Consider whether you intend to revisit a location. If so, erect an altar and proceed. Always reserve one altar slot for placing altars in remote locations without nearby spires, which are recognizable as the tallest towers in Enshrouded. This approach ensures seamless exploration and travel throughout the game.

2. Optimizing Workbench Use To Increase Equipment Durability

Within the game, every tool and weapon possesses internal durability, depicted by a bar located beneath their icons in your hot bar.

Initially, when the bar is green, the item is in prime condition, but with usage, it transitions to yellow and eventually breaks if the bar depletes. This applies to axes, swords, and other equipment alike.

To address this issue, you can utilize repair kits while out in the field. However, a more efficient method exists: the Workbench. Interacting with it not only allows you to craft various Enshrouded Items but also instantly restores all items in your inventory to full durability at no extra cost.

Though the Workbench can only be accessed within proximity to a Flame Altar, the advantages outweigh any limitations. Regularly returning to the Workbench ensures your equipment remains intact, particularly beneficial for epic and legendary gear like the Tainted Axe from Elixir Well. Maintaining your blades sharp at the Workbench guarantees a consistently powerful weapon.

Durability management is especially critical, necessitating vigilance before confronting a boss. Fortunately, the process of repairing items requires minimal resources. Simply allocate initial materials towards crafting a Workbench.

3. Enhancing The Advantages Of Food For Adventurers

Enshrouded offers a diverse range of food options to cater to the varied tastes and dietary preferences of players. From cooked meats to fresh berries, there’s something suitable for every adventurer.

While consuming food serves a practical purpose beyond mere roleplay by granting buffs, the game doesn’t incorporate a hunger system directly affecting stamina. Instead, consuming food provides unique buffs represented as circles below your health and mana bars. These buffs vary depending on the type of food consumed. For instance, meat may boost the constitution, while mushrooms could enhance intelligence. Higher-quality food items offer more potent bonuses.

These buffs can significantly enhance gameplay, particularly when strategically combined. For example, consuming both cooked meat and mushrooms can boost both health and magic damage, benefiting characters reliant on wands. Players are encouraged to experiment with different food combinations, although consuming raw meat may lead to food poisoning.

Cooking meat, such as that from wolves, substantially extends the health bar for a duration, aiding in exploration and crafting endeavors. In the starting area of Long Keep, players can hunt wolves for meat, which when grilled, doubles the health bar for a significant period, facilitating early-game survival and exploration for crafting materials.

4. Crafting The Glider & Grappling Hook

In the game, your initial focus should center on achieving key objectives, notably crafting essential items for navigation, such as the Glider and the Grappling Hook.

These tools are pivotal in enhancing your character’s mobility. Devoid of them, your movement is sluggish, and stamina is lacking. The Glider allows effortless ascension into the skies, enabling you to bypass large expanses of terrain or descend safely from considerable heights.

Conversely, the Grappling Hook facilitates natural traversal across the Overworld, revealing hidden shortcuts marked by silver buckles.

Prioritizing the crafting of these items is paramount for swift advancement. The Glider and Grappling Hook introduce fresh avenues for exploration, providing vertical pathways alongside cliffs and temples. Utilizing the Grappling Hook, you can circumvent obstacles, such as swinging across a broken bridge in the Shroud, rendering the initial journey more manageable. Meanwhile, the Glider permits bold descents from elevated points, allowing seamless traversal over the landscape to access remote locations unhindered.

For rapid progress in Enshrouded, it’s crucial to prioritize crafting the Grappling Hook and Glider as your primary objectives. The Grappling Hook holds particular importance, as its absence impedes extensive exploration, hindering your ability to complete quests and acquire superior equipment.

5. Mastering Skills

You’ll encounter a diverse array of skills tailored to various playstyles in the game. Whether you’re drawn to casting spells as a Battlemage or prefer the brute force of a barbarian, there are options to match your preferences.

Prior to immersing yourself in character customization, unlocking the Double Jump skill node is imperative. It significantly improves platforming mechanics, resulting in smoother and more enjoyable gameplay. Progression is structured around a skill web, with each level up granting skill points for unlocking new abilities and enhancing stats.

However, three skills are particularly noteworthy: Merciless Attack, Sneak Attack, and Double Jump. These abilities not only amplify your character’s combat capabilities, but also improve overall maneuverability.

Merciless and Sneak Attacks inflict substantial damage, crucial for confronting formidable adversaries, while Double Jump provides unparalleled mobility and access to concealed areas.

Despite the extensive skill tree in Enshrouded, one skill stands out for rapid acquisition: Double Jump. To obtain Double Jump from the center of the skill tree, allocate a total of 8 skill points. Commence by investing in the strength buff on the left, then allocate 3 points to jump attack for crowd control assistance. Finally, dedicate 4 points to secure the coveted Double Jump ability, enriching your adventures in Enshrouded with newfound agility.

6. Efficient Use Of Runes In Early Gameplay Via Salvaging

Improving your effectiveness with runes early in the game before enhancing your backpack involves a crucial strategy: salvage your unused gear.

To accomplish this, simply right-click on an item in your inventory and select the “Salvage” option. While certain items cannot be salvaged, that’s perfectly fine. If an item is low level or if you’ve already crafted a better version, feel free to delete unnecessary items. If your backpack is cluttered with duplicate swords or unwanted materials, rather than discarding them outright, salvage these items at your Backpack, Workbench, or the Blacksmith.

Although salvaging won’t break down items into their basic materials, it provides valuable runes. These runes serve a dual purpose: they not only enable you to reset your skill allocation, but also play a crucial role in another aspect of the game. Accumulated runes prove particularly useful when upgrading weapons at the Blacksmith.

The number of upgrade slots and the cost of upgrades are determined by the weapon’s rarity. For example, a purple tier two-handed mace may offer multiple slots, enhancing damage and adding status effects, whereas a basic sword might possess only one slot.

7. Essential Crafting Priorities In Early Gameplay

To begin, prioritize the construction of essential crafting items, such as a Flame Altar and a Workbench, utilizing resources like stone and wood.

Among the recommended crafting priorities, excluding the Grappling Hook and Glider, are Bandages. These are indispensable for healing, providing gradual restoration and featuring animations that enable players to quickly return to combat.

Next, it's advisable to craft Lockpicks for opening locked chests, particularly in the early stages of the game. While crafting them requires metal scraps, initially scarce but a worthwhile investment, they are invaluable for unlocking potentially valuable items concealed in chests.

Lastly, consider crafting a club, a basic yet effective melee weapon in the game. Crafting it early on is recommended, especially before gaining access to a Blacksmith, as it proves effective against lower-level enemies such as wolves and goats, thereby enhancing your combat capabilities.