Flameborn, you must bear this in mind: Embervale fell with steel in its hands. It will require steel in hand for it to rise once more. And it will require your efforts to strengthen both the steel and the hand which holds it.
By now, you’ve got a base, you’ve probably made the immediate area around the base a “do not lurk” zone for Shroud mutants and wolves, and you’ve gotten yourself kitted out with the best armor and weapons you can make in Enshrouded (which aren’t all that great). You might have found a couple cool pieces here and there, but you’re not in any shape to be taking on serious threats. You’re going to need to build up your arsenal if you’re going to face the horrors of the Shroud. Fortunately, this guide will cover how to improve your weapons in Enshrouded.
The Blacksmith: The First Sleeper
Ideally, the following sequence of events will occur during the morning and early afternoon – though if you feel particularly daring, you can wait until late afternoon or early evening before setting off. You’ll have a quest in your log named “Find The Sleeping Survivor,” and the first step will be to cross the Enshrouded area north of Longkeep.
Head north-by-northwest to Braelyn Bridge. It’s possible that, from general running around and extremely good luck, you’ve managed to gather up enough Metal Scraps to craft a Grappling Hook to let you swing across large gaps and reach certain high areas. If so, you can just go straight across Braelyn Bridge, but, for this guide, we’ll assume you haven’t gotten that far just yet. To the right of the bridge’s southern end, there are a couple of tents and an archway with a path leading down and to the north. The left-hand tent will have a lore item and a chest with a couple random items in it. Loot it, then head down the path. A rough structure will be at the bottom with another chest and another lore item. Loot the chest, then continue following the path.
In short order, you’ll enter a very large Enshrouded area, with a tool tip warning you about staying too long inside. Follow the path north. You’ll run into a Shroud mutant, along with a couple more tents. There are loose items to pick up and a corpse to search, which will yield resources and likely a magic ring (Sigil Ring of the Elder Guard) which bumps health and stamina by a flat amount. Of particular note is a flask which resets the amount of time you can spend in the Shroud. It’ll be in front of the tent on the left-hand side of the road going north. Don’t use it just yet, because there are two important raw materials to pick up here. Various mushrooms will provide Shroud Liquid. Broken tree trunks will provide Shroud Wood, a key resource for the Glider. Spend a couple of minutes to gather up these particular resources, then use the flask to reset your time.
Keep following the path as it goes up and through a short tunnel before turning west to a platform with a climbing wall (it’ll look like super-sized chain link). Climb up, jump up on the next platform, and head over to the right. Another tent is standing with a lore item about Braelyn Bridge. Looking at your map, you’ll see you’re near the north end of the bridge. Follow the path west. If attacked by a Scavenger right at the bridge, don’t be shy about cutting him down and looting the corpse. Scavengers are a good source of Metal Scraps.
The path west will lead you to some ruins very much like the Cinder Vault in appearance, albeit smaller. There will be some bushes with a tool tip about crouching into stealth and the benefits of attacking from behind when unawares. There are also two Scavengers you can use to test your skills. Once the Scavengers are dispatched, have a look around the area. There are lootable nodes, lore items and a chest which contains random drops on the upper level of the north tower. The real prize is beyond where the second Scavenger was squatting: an Ancient Vault. This is where your first sleeper, the Blacksmith, is currently residing. Go inside, dispatch the Scavenger guarding the Cinder Vessel, and claim the Blacksmith, which will unlock the recipe for the Summoning Staff. You’ll need that back at base.
While you’re here, look at the north wall of the vault immediately across from the Vessel where the Blacksmith was stored. You’ll see light coming from behind a section of the wall. There’s a hidden chest behind that section of wall. Craft yourself a Lockpick from the Metal Scraps you’ve picked up (it doesn’t have to be in a quickbar slot, just your inventory), open up the wall, then open the chest. You’ll get a new random weapon out of it.
One last thing: when you leave the vault, head to the south past the short ruined tower and through the half-open palisade. Approaching the edge of the cliff, you’ll see another ruined site down below, Rookmore. Don’t worry about that for now (you’re not strong enough). Instead, turn west and go up the slope. You’ll come to a Flame Shrine and a new marker will appear on your map. Approach the shrine and hit the action button when prompted to collect a Spark. Sparks are valuable resources for improving the Flame Altar, which we’ll get to another time.
For now, fast travel back home. Use a Twig to craft the Summoning Staff, and place Oswald Anders, the Blacksmith, somewhere in your base. This will unlock some new recipes, including materials needed for new gear, and base improvements. Two of the more useful improvements relate to storage. You had access to the Tiny Chest when you first built the Workbench. Now, with Oswald around, you have access to two new storage options, the Small Chest and the Small Magic Chest. Small Chests are useful for storing items like weapons, armor, and potions. Small Magic Chests are useful for raw and processed materials that you pick up out in the wild or refine yourself. They allow you to use those materials anywhere in the base. No more having to run around to pick up your crafting gear!
That said, it doesn’t do anything for equipment like the Forge, which process raw materials into refined materials. Those will have to be put into the proper processor manually, and the products carried out to the Magic Chests.
Key First Sleeper Recipes
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Summoning Staff – 1 Twig
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Small Chest – 6 Wood Logs, 6 Nails
- Small Magic Chest – 1 Small Chest, 15 Shroud Spores, 15 Shroud Liquid
Weapon Upgrades And Enhancements
Ideally, you’ll have a room already set aside for Oswald. But if not, get to building. He needs shelter before he’s going to do anything useful for you. Once he’s comfortably ensconced, talk to him and you’ll unlock two new quests. One will be “Forge Weaponry or Armor.” It requires you to either go find enough Metal Scraps to craft one of two new weapons, the Spiked Club or the Scrappy Sword, or forge part of the Fur Armor set. It’ll point you in the direction of Rookmore, but there are other options. And you may already have enough Metal Scraps saved up. Oswald is able to craft a number of new materials and items for you beyond the two previously mentioned weapons, including a new Scrappy Axe for woodcutting and a Scrappy Pickaxe for mining. You can upgrade these later.
When you choose to craft something with Oswald, you’ll see an option up at the top for “Enhance Equipment.” Remember all those Runes you’ve been carrying around or stashing in a chest for a rainy day? It’s time to make it rain, Flameborn. Weapons that you find out in the world have the potential to be upgraded. They’ll have a level indicator, and a greyed out attribute bonus listed. When you have those items in hand, you can spend Runes in the “Enhance Equipment” screen to unlock the bonus attribute, which will in turn raise the level of the weapon. You’ll also notice that weapons can have a rarity indicator, going from Common to Legendary. The better the rarity indicator, the more slots you’ll have available. However, it’ll also cost more Runes to unlock each slot. Depending on how well RNG favors you, you might have an Uncommon or Rare weapon depending on what you find in chests. Possibly even an Epic weapon.
However, it should be pointed out that using Runes to enhance weapons with Oswald only works for gear you find in the wild. Crafted weapons (so far) cannot be improved in this manner.
One last thing to keep in mind about weapons: all those chests you find gear in are reset when you shut down the game world, then start it back up. If you don’t mind doing a lot of rounds of quitting to the desktop, then starting back up, you can roll the dice quite a bit. For those who are in a co-op world, you’re probably out of luck.
Starting Blacksmith Recipes
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Scrappy Axe – 3 String, 4 Metal Scraps, 1 Shroud Wood
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Scrappy Pickaxe – 8 Metal Scraps, 1 Shroud Wood
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Spiked Club – 4 Nails, 4 Wood Logs
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Scrappy Sword – 1 Wood Log, 3 Metal Scraps, 2 Nails
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Fur Hood – 1 Torn Cloth, 1 Animal Fur, 2 String
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Fur Chest – 1 Torn Cloth, 3 Animal Fur, 2 String, 2 Metal Scraps
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Fur Gloves – 2 Torn Cloth, 2 Metal Scraps, 1 String
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Fur Trousers – 1 Torn Cloth, 2 Animal Fur, 1 Metal Scrap, 2 String
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Fur Boots – 2 Torn Cloth, 1 Animal Fur, 2 String
The other quest that Oswald will give you is to clear your first Elixir Well. It’s going to be a challenge, and you’re going to need to get geared up if you’re going to defeat the horrors within. We’ll cover that quest, and the preparations you’ll want to make, in our next Enshrouded guide, so keep an eye out!
