Enshrouded 1.0: How to Get Black Powder at the Laboratory

Black Powder is the alchemical material behind explosive arrows and bombs in Enshrouded. Its item text reads “A dangerous alchemical substance used to produce explosives. Better watch out!” You make it yourself at the Laboratory once you have the three ingredients ready, and each of those ingredients comes from its own station or biome.

Quick answer: Craft Black Powder at the Laboratory using 7 Nitrate, 1 Sulfur and 2 Coal Powder, which produces 1 Black Powder in 1 minute 50 seconds.

What you need before crafting

Black Powder is produced at the Laboratory, the Alchemist’s advanced production station. You cannot make it until that station is built, and you also need a supply of the three ingredients it consumes. Two of those ingredients are themselves crafted, so plan to set up a short chain of stations.

The Laboratory, built through the Alchemist.
The Grinding Stones, for turning Charcoal into Coal Powder.
Nitrate, made at the Laboratory.
Sulfur, gathered from the Kindlewastes.

Craft Black Powder step by step

Unlock and build the Laboratory. It comes from the Alchemist quest “Scientific Instruments For A Laboratory”. The station recipe calls for 1 Scientific Instruments, 1 Athanor, 40 Fired Bricks, 10 Copper Bars and 3 Glass.

Make Coal Powder. Build the Grinding Stones at the Alchemist using 10 Flintstone and 15 Stone, then load Charcoal into it. Grinding 3 Charcoal yields 3 Coal Powder in 1 minute 30 seconds. Its item text reads “Ground up coals, creating a highly flammable powder.”

Coal Powder item — Coal Powder in your backpack, one of the three ingredients the Laboratory needs for Black Powder. Shown at 00:06 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Make Nitrate and gather Sulfur. Nitrate is crafted at the Laboratory from 5 Shroud Sand, 1 Wood Acid, 1 Salt and 5 Sand, which produces 5 Nitrate. Sulfur comes from the yellow deposits in the Kindlewastes and from Scavengers, so stock it up while you explore that biome.

Select Black Powder from the Laboratory’s recipe list, set it as the output and load the ingredients to begin production. A batch requires 7 Nitrate, 1 Sulfur and 2 Coal Powder and yields 1 Black Powder in 1 minute 50 seconds. Once the timer finishes, take the powder from the station’s output.

The Laboratory working on Black Powder, with the 1:50 craft timer counting down. Shown at 00:26 in HeRo Survival Guides’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Nitrate is the heavy cost here. Since one Black Powder needs 7 Nitrate, a stack of 10 Black Powder works out to 70 Nitrate, which is 14 Nitrate batches.

Ingredient reference

Item level and source for each part of the chain:

Material	Item level	Rarity	Source
Black Powder	25	Common	Laboratory
Nitrate	25	Common	Laboratory
Sulfur	25	Common	Kindlewastes
Coal Powder	5	Common	Grinding Stones

What Black Powder is used for

Black Powder is the base for the game’s explosive gear. It goes into these items at the Hunter and the Alchemist.

Item	Station	Black Powder	Output
Explosive Arrow II	Hunter	5	25
Explosive Arrow III	Hunter	3	25
Exploding Arrow IV	Hunter	3	25
Black Powder Ball	Alchemist	2	1
Explosive Barrel	Alchemist	4	1

The arrows also need 25 Flint Arrow and 5 Feather each, with Iron Dust added for Explosive Arrow III and Diamond Dust for Exploding Arrow IV. The Black Powder Ball pairs its 2 Black Powder with 1 Iron Bars, 1 Plant Fiber and 1 Lump of Clay, while the Explosive Barrel takes 4 Black Powder alongside 2 Plant Fiber, 2 Wood Planks and 1 Nails.