Enshrouded: How to survive longer in the Shroud
Here are all the ways you can extend your Shroud timer in Enshrouded
How can you stay in the Shroud longer in Enshrouded? The Shroud is the main point of difference between Enshrouded and other open-world survival crafting games. Once you enter the Shroud, a timer begins to count down. If it reaches zero, you die. Which begs the question - how can you survive for longer in the Shroud?
Thankfully, there are a few ways you can extend the Shroud timer and stay in the Shroud for longer, and we'll go over all of them in our guide below. So if you're preparing for a long expedition into the most hostile and ubiquitous of Enshrouded's environments, we're here to help! Without further ado, here are the best ways to survive longer in the Shroud in Enshrouded.
1. Strengthen The Flame
The main way to extend your Shroud Timer in Enshrouded is to Strengthen The Flame at your Flame Altar. That's a lot of jargon, so let's break it down.
Head to your Flame Altar, and interact with it to open the upgrades menu, and then select "Strengthen The Flame". Here you'll see the materials you need in order to increase your Flame level. With each upgrade, you get a 1-minute bonus to your Shroud Timer. So while you start the game only able to endure the Shroud for 5 minutes, by the time you reach Flame level 5, your default Shroud Timer will be set to a much more palateable 9 minutes.
2. Unlock the Inner Fires and Relentless Flames skills
If you've read our Enshrouded best skills guide, you'll already know that there are a couple of specific nodes in the skill tree which allow you to stay for longer inside the Shroud. These two skills are called Inner Fires and Relentless Flames, and they increase your Shroud timer by 2 and 5 minutes respectively.
This means if you unlock both skills, you'll gain a massive +7 minute bonus to your Shroud Timer. Both skills are located between the Survivor and Beastmaster branches in the skill tree, and they cost 3/4 Skill Points respectively.
3. Use Shroud Survival Flasks ahead of time
Enshrouded has a great many consumable potions and other items, and one of them directly increases how much time you can spend in the Shroud. The Shroud Survival Flask potion adds an extra 2 minutes to your Shroud Timer, and lasts for 45 minutes.
But there's a catch: you have to drink the Shroud Survival Flask before entering the Shroud, not after. It only increases your maximum Shroud Timer, not the current countdown. So if you're already inside the Shroud and you're at 4 minutes out of 5, then when you drink the potion you'll be at 4 minutes out of 7. Which is still just 4 minutes until death. So make sure you drink the Shroud Survival Flask ahead of your journey to make use of it!
You can occasionally find Shroud Survival Flasks as floor loot in points of interest on the map, but once you awaken the Alchemist you can interact with him to craft more Shroud Survival Flasks out of Charcoal, Shroud Liquid, and Wood Acid.
4. Make a note of nearby Shroud-less areas
Our final top tip for surviving longer in the Shroud isn't a way to directly increase your Shroud Timer, but it's a useful bit of common sense that is easily forgotten in the heat of the moment. Enshrouded rewards planning ahead of time, and when you're planning to delve into the Shroud for any length of time, you should always use the map to scope out nearby areas of Shroud-less terrain so that you know the fastest way out of the Shroud if things get dangerous.
Failing that, if you're caught in the middle of the Shroud with nowhere to escape to, one last resort is to reach as high an altitude as possible by scaling nearby buildings, flora, or hills. Occasionally, the very highest points will poke just above the Shroud level, allowing you to surface momentarily to replenish your Shroud Timer. However, this is not a reliable method, so it's always best to plan your escape route out of the Shroud ahead of time.
And with that, our guide on surviving longer in the Shroud in Enshrouded has come to an end. Hopefully these tips will help you to obtain key Shroud materials such as Shroud Wood and Shroud Cores. To help you get around more quickly, you should also check out our guides on how to unlock the Glider and the Grappling Hook.