A Shroud Core is the material that unlocks your second Flame Altar level in Enshrouded, and the game describes it as “A stable form of energy. Burning it at the Flame Altar may protect against the Shroud.” You will keep needing them as your base grows, so it helps to know both ways to stock up.
Quick answer: Kill a Fell Thunderbrute or another large Fell enemy for a guaranteed Shroud Core, or craft one at the Alchemist from 10 Shroud Spores and 10 Shroud Liquid.
What a Shroud Core does
Shroud Cores increase your Flame Altar’s Altar Level, which sets the size of your buildable area. Open the altar menu and select Upgrade Altar. The upgrade panel lists “Shroud Core 0/1” as the cost and “Alchemist or Fell Bosses” as the clue to both ways of getting one.
Going from Altar Level 1 to Altar Level 2 costs one Shroud Core and expands the building area from 40m x 40m x 40m to 80m x 80m x 80m.
The Altar Level that sets your building area is a separate upgrade path from the Flame Level, which you raise with Sparks and rescued survivors. Shroud Cores are used for Altar Level upgrades, claiming another Flame Altar spot, and other recipes.
Flame Altar upgrade and claim costs
| Action | Cost |
|---|---|
| Altar Level 1 → 2 | 1 Shroud Core |
| Altar Level 2 → 3 | 5 Shroud Cores |
| Altar Level 3 → 4 | 5 Shroud Nexus |
| Claim another Flame Altar spot | 1 Shroud Core |
Reaching Altar Level 3 is where demand jumps, since that step asks for five Shroud Cores at once. The following level then switches to Shroud Nexus instead of cores.
Other recipes that use a Shroud Core
Beyond the altar, several crafted items spend a Shroud Core, so it is worth keeping a few in reserve:
- Quick Stack Station (Carpenter): 1 Shroud Core, 2 Goo, 5 Revelwood Stone
- Medium Magic Chest (Carpenter): 1 Medium Chest, 1 Shroud Core, 2 Goo
- Improved Grappling Hook (Carpenter): 1 Shroud Core, 2 Shroud Liquid, 3 Shroud Spores, 1 Grappling Hook
- Pikemead’s Bulwark shield (Blacksmith)
Get a Shroud Core from Fell brutes and bosses
Large Fell enemies drop Shroud Cores every time you kill them. After the kill, the Shroud Core appears as a pickup notice alongside the enemy’s XP. The counts below are fixed.
| Enemy | Shroud Cores dropped |
|---|---|
| Fell Thunderbrute | 1 |
| Armored Fell Thunderbrute | 1 |
| Fell Striker | 1 |
| Fell Wispwyvern | 3 |
| Fell Dragon Youngling | 5 |
The Fell Thunderbrute is the earliest reliable target. Five of them roam the Springlands, and one stands inside the Shroud roughly 400 m north of the Cinder Vault exit, near a Flame Shrine and a small flint mine.
The Armored Fell Thunderbrute appears in later regions, including Revelwood, where one sits by the Ancient Bridge enemy camp, as well as Nomad Highlands, Albaneve Summits, Kindlewastes, Veilwater Basin and Cinder’s Cradle. The Fell Striker turns up near Ferndale in the Springlands and again in each later region.
Enemies recover health over time after you leave a fight, so coming straight back for a quick retry keeps some of the damage you already dealt.
Craft a Shroud Core at the Alchemist
Once your base is settled, crafting is the steady option because it needs no fight. At the Alchemist, combine 10 Shroud Spores and 10 Shroud Liquid to make one Shroud Core.
Rescue the Alchemist, Balthazar, and collect Shroud Spores to unlock the recipe. Both ingredients are obtained within the Shroud: Fell enemies drop Shroud Spores, while Shroud Liquid comes from small enshrouded plants growing beneath the Shroud in Springlands and Revelwood.
With a supply of both materials on hand, you can produce cores on demand at a rate of ten of each per core, keeping your Altar Level upgrades moving without hunting for brutes.
