Enshrouded doesn't hold your hand - and trust me, I learned that the hard way. A lot of my early game was just a highlight reel of frequent, embarrassing deaths.

Hey folks, I'm Ash and today I'll be sharing 12 things I wish I knew from the start so you can skip that whole trial-and-error phase entirely. So get ready to chop some wacky wavy inflatable tube trees and let's dive in.

Video version of this guide (~12 minutes)

1) Make checkpoints

While there are towers scattered across the map that act as teleport locations, there's simply not enough of them given the sheer size of the world. That’s where the Flame Altars come in. They’re super cheap to make - costing only 5 stone - so whenever you’re doing something risky, plop one down as a checkpoint. There’s a catch, though: you can only have a limited number of altars, determined by your Flame Level. But there is a trick. Once you’re done with an area, just teleport to the altar, deactivate it, and then warp away. Easy-peasy.

But here’s the fun part: the altar also counts as a base marker, which means you can build around it. What I’m getting at is - bring a Workbench with you. That way you can always repair your gear out in the field. Your weapons and tools are useless at zero durability, but for the low, low price of one inventory slot, you’ll never get caught swinging a wet noodle at enemies ever again.

Ideally place them on mountains for longer distance glides

2) Pack for the road

Enshrouded has a ridiculous amount of consumables - health potions, elixirs, food, you name it. First of all, you can have three food buffs at once - one drink to refill stamina, and two foods that boost your stats. They’re cheap to make and give you a massive boost, especially early on, so make sure you’re stuffed before you stumble into danger.

As for bandages and health potions, they should be permanent residents of your hotbar. Healing options are super limited in the early game, so unless you enjoy sleeping alongside skeletons, having portable regen you can pop mid-fight will be a lifesaver.

With elixirs, don’t fall into the classic RPG trap of hoarding them for a 'later' that will likely never come. Just chug the weird mushroom juice! It’ll save your life against bosses or big enemy packs, and you’ll find plenty more in chests and Scavenger camps.

3) Farming is fantastic

I’ll be honest, I hate busywork in games, so I ignored farming since the moment I unlocked it. Eventually a quest forced me into it, and... yeah, turns out farming here is actually quite straightforward and rewarding. It’s as simple as tossing flowers into a seed maker, planting them haphazardly around your base, and then coming back later to harvest an absurd amount of resources. It's minimal effort, yet those ingredients will keep your various buffs stocked for many, many hours.

Same goes for animals. Capture a few goats, dump a ridiculous pile of food in their pen, and then basically forget about them until it’s time to collect their precious, stamina-recovering milk. It’s easy, it’s efficient, and you also get some adorable goats wandering around your base. Now that’s a win-win situation!

Goats really are adorable!

4) Magic chests are mandatory

Enshrouded will bury you in loot. Crafting materials, random junk, shiny trinkets - all of it is needed for recipes across a dozen crafting stations. Even trying to organize all of that manually will drive you insane.

So the moment Magic Chests pop up in your crafting menu, build them. Everywhere. These beauties let both you and your crafting stations pull items straight from them, which means no more dragging stacks of ingredients back and forth like a fantasy postman. Just press R to dump everything that’s not on your hotbar into your Magic Chests and let the game handle things for you. And if you run out of room? No problem - just build more. Magic Chests are basically inventory management cheat codes, and once you use them, you’ll never want to go back.

Just imagine trying to sort through this garbage heap by hand

5) Respeccing is easy

Enshrouded offers a variety of different playstyles - sword-and-board warriors, glass-cannon mages, stealth archers, and so forth. The only way to know what’s actually fun for you is to try them all. And luckily, the game makes respeccing super easy, barely an inconvenience. As long as you’re in your base, you can completely reset your build at the Flame Altar for a laughably low cost. And that’s it. No fuss at all.

Different builds do need different gear, though. So here’s the trick: hoard every interesting weapon or armor piece you find, then once you have a full set swap into that playstyle for a while to test it out. Before long, you’ll have an assortment of interesting builds to experiment with... and honestly, half the fun in Enshrouded is just swapping things around to see what kind of nonsense you can make work.

1 rune per talent point is a ridiculously cheap price

6) Keep calm in combat

While Enshrouded isn’t a Souls-like, a lot of the same rules apply. Respect the enemy and don’t just mash buttons hoping for the best. Bait their attacks, parry or dodge to avoid damage, and then punish once their guard is down. I know it sounds wrong, but slowing down actually makes the fights go faster since rushing just gets you pancaked.

There is also one super important thing you need to know: you can’t dodge while attacking. If you’re up against a boss or something with a mean set of teeth, take a second to learn their timing before swinging. It’s better to wait a second than to eat hit after hit directly to the forehead. Trust me, I speak from experience... and a dented head.

7) Even the odds

No matter how good you are, you’ll eventually run into fights you simply cannot win head-on. When that happens, play it smart. Pull enemies in small groups, sneak around the edges, or carve up those annoying archers and mages before their bodyguards can catch up. And if you're really having trouble, you can always climb a nearby roof or cliff and laugh at the poor fools that can't reach you. Just make sure you clear out the ranged enemies first, for obvious reasons.

And if you do accidentally aggro the entire camp? Don’t be a hero. Just run! You’re faster and more mobile than most enemies, so use that. Heal up, circle back in from a better angle, and then enjoy some righteous vengeance.

Don't neglect explosive barrels. Those things do serious damage!

8) Stay in your league

Combat in Enshrouded is brutal because both you and your enemies are glass cannons. You can shred them, but they can shred you just as fast. That’s why upgrading your gear regularly is a must. Each new tier is a big leap in armor and stats, and the game's balance assumes you’re keeping pace - so don’t slack. Just craft better gear as soon as you're able and you'll be golden.

And while you can punch above your level, there’s usually no reason to unless you’re just in it for the challenge. So if an area is stomping you flat, that’s the game politely telling you: "go somewhere else." Enshrouded's world is absurdly big, so trust me, there’s no shortage of level-appropriate enemies waiting to ruin your day. No need to make things even harder on yourself.

9) Mages start off slow

Much like old-school Dungeons & Dragons, mages in Enshrouded start out tragically weak. Low damage, barely any spells, and about as sturdy as a sheet of wet paper. So unless you really like pain, I wouldn’t recommend starting as a mage. I know, it's not exactly the power fantasy you signed up for. But don't worry, it does get better!

First of all, mixing a few magical items and spells into your build is always handy, so you can still use a bit of magic while leveling. And then, once you're around level 15-20, you'll have enough skill points and proper gear to respec into a true mage. And once you do, you'll be able to burn through enemies like they're nothing. The glow-up is real!

Becoming a fireball machine gun is well worth the wait!

10) Quests matter

Enshrouded prefers to let you do things your way, so it doesn’t force quests on you, but you should still do them as you explore. They give you good loot, some rather interesting lore, and most importantly, unlock new NPCs and crafting recipes. Because of this, skipping them basically means you're locking yourself out from some really fun stuff, so don't do that.

Quests are also the best guide for where to go next, as they'll generally point you towards level-appropriate enemies. So if you’re wandering aimlessly, just check your quest log for anything highlighted in green. Odds are you missed an important area, or some poor villager that has been waiting three in-game weeks for you to rescue them!

Sometimes you might even find cool gear you completely missed the first time around!

11) Shroud roots

The tutorial mentions Shroud Roots, but it seriously undersells them. Smashing one in the open world gives you one skill point, while the ones inside Shroud Wells give you three. For context: you only get two skill points per level, and leveling is pretty slow.

So whenever you’re near a shroud zone, keep an eye out for those wacky wavy inflatable tube trees. Taking down even a couple early on gives you a massive power boost and lets you kickstart your build way faster than grinding levels ever could.

Whenever you see a mushroom tree, beeline for it!

12) Double jump & Updraft

Normally, I don’t like telling people which talents to pick or avoid - half the fun is experimenting with builds for yourself. But I’ll make an exception here: Double Jump and Updraft are non-negotiable.

They sound like small quality-of-life perks, but they’re ridiculously strong. With just a few points you’ll be able to dodge traps, easily avoid enemies, and scale sheers cliffs like you've been possessed by the ghost of the Skyrim horse.

But you don't have to take my word for this. Respeccing is basically free, so try them out for half an hour, and I promise you won’t ever want to give them up. They're that good!

Gliding off mountains will never get old

Got any questions?

And there you have it - 12 tips that will hopefully make your first journey through Enshrouded as nice and pleasant as a world overrun with deadly mushroom fumes will allow. If you have any questions, about the guide or Enshrouded in general, let me know in the video's comments. I'll do my best to help out.