Enshrouded 1.0 Starter Base Guide: Modular Hub, Farm and Alchemist Wing

Enshrouded’s building system has no structural integrity checks, so a starter base doesn’t need a stone foundation. This modular layout uses that fact. It is a cross of wooden 3×3 platforms floating off a raised ledge, with an open crafting hub in the middle and a separate wing for each job you’ll do in the early game. The materials are cheap, and every wing can grow upward later without tearing anything down.

Quick answer: Place a Flame Altar on high ground, snap 4m wooden ceilings into 3×3 grids, then build a central hub with four wings: alchemist and farm, storage, survivor dormitory, and comfort room.

Enshrouded starter base layout: The hub and four wings

Every part of the base sits on a 3×3 grid of 4m ceiling tiles. The hub is open on its sides so you can reach your crafting stations quickly. Each wing has one clear purpose, which keeps you from walking through the whole house to drop off loot or brew a potion.

Section	Footprint	Purpose
Central hub	3×3, open pavilion	Crafting stations
Rear wing	3×3, walled	Alchemist, chest storage
Rear terrace	3×3, lower level	Seedbed and crop plots
Right wing	3×3, multi-level	Survivor beds
Left wing	3×2, multi-level	Flame Altar and comfort items

The left wing is one row short because the Flame Altar’s collision takes up the space. Both side wings use internal stairs, so new floors can be added on top as you collect more beds and furniture. Extra 3×3 platforms can also be snapped onto any outer edge if you need more room.

Comfort Stacker u0026 Expansion Showcase — Stairs let each wing grow upward one floor at a time. Shown at 00:59 in P4wnyhof’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Requirements for the build

All of the structure is made from early-game pieces. You need these before you start:

A placed Flame Altar. The hammer only works inside its range.
The Construction Hammer, crafted at the Workbench.
Rough Wood Block material for the ceilings, walls, columns and stairs.
Plant Fiber Roof Block material for the hub roof.
Small Chests for the storage wall, plus soil for the farm terrace.

The Construction Hammer unlocks when you pick up Stone and reach player level 2. It is also the reward for the Building Shelter quest. It takes one Workbench recipe to make, and it does nothing outside the area covered by a Flame Altar.

Enshrouded Workbench menu with Construction Hammer selected, showing recipe requirements of Workbench and Stone. — The Workbench crafting menu shows the Construction Hammer blueprint, which needs a Workbench and Stone.

Flame Altar placement near Longkeep

The base works best on an elevated dirt ledge, because the floors can then extend straight out from the altar’s height. The example build is close to Longkeep, in the starting area near Braelyn Bridge.

Open the world map and pick a raised ledge near Longkeep. A spot that is higher than the ground around it gives the floating floors space underneath.

Location u0026 Flame Altar Setup — Longkeep, near the starting area, has plenty of raised ground for the altar. Shown at 01:07 in P4wnyhof’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Place the Flame Altar on the ledge. Every platform after this will be measured from its height.

Equip the Construction Hammer and enter Building Mode. Once the HUD shows the “Flame protected area” prompt, you are inside the altar’s range and can build.

You can grow the build zone later from the altar menu. Upgrading the altar from level 2 to level 3 increases the building area from 80m×80m×80m to 120m×120m×120m and costs 5 Shroud Core.

Floating floor grids from 4m ceilings

Foundation blocks would have to run all the way down to the terrain, and that uses up stone quickly. The 4m wooden Ceiling piece is thin, snaps outward from whatever it touches, and can float. A full 3×3 grid of ceilings costs only a fraction of a foundation-based floor.

Select the Ceiling piece and lay a 3×3 platform level with the altar. This becomes the anchor for the rest of the base.

Laying Base Floor Grids — The blue preview shows where the next 4m ceiling tile will snap. Shown at 01:44 in P4wnyhof’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Snap a short walkway outward from the anchor platform. Make it long enough to separate the hub from the altar wing.

Lay a second 3×3 grid at the end of the walkway. This will be the central crafting hub.

Snap a 3×3 grid onto each of the hub’s other three sides. With the anchor platform, this gives you the cross shape with four wings.

Central crafting hub: Pillars, roof and railings

The hub is a roofed pavilion with open sides, so stations can be reached from every wing.

Put a 4m Column at each corner of the hub grid. These hold up the roof line.

Attach 4m sloped roof pieces in the Plant Fiber Roof Block material to the sides of the pavilion. Add stairs wherever you want a way up.

Cover the top with Flat Roof segments. A Peak Roof Top piece also works if you prefer a pointed finish.

Central Hub Framework u0026 Roof — Flat roof segments close off the top of the plant-fiber pavilion. Shown at 02:18 in P4wnyhof’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Turn snapping off and pick the Door Frame piece. Rotate it to lie sideways and place it along the open edges of the platforms, where it works as a low railing.

Door Frame Railings — Door frames placed without snapping make low railings along the edges. Shown at 02:39 in P4wnyhof’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Alchemist room, storage wall and farm terrace

The rear wing is the busiest part of the base. Balthazar’s station, your chests and the crop beds are all a few steps apart, so you can harvest an ingredient and make a Health Potion with it in a single trip.

Walls and windows for the alchemist’s den

Put walls up around the rear 3×3 grid. Leave a doorway on the outer side that leads to the back platform.

Swap some wall sections for Window Frame pieces. Use Wide Wall and Stepped Wall pieces to form the gables under the roof.

Building the Alchemist's Den — The rear room gets solid walls with window frames set into them. Shown at 03:28 in P4wnyhof’s video. Image: Keen Games GmbH

Fill any leftover gaps between standard wall pieces and the roof line with Single Wall Block 0,5m. These half-meter blocks close seams that full pieces can’t cover.

Tiered chest shelves

Set a row of Small Chests on the floor along one wall of the alchemist room.

Turn snapping off and lay Door Frame pieces flat above the chests to act as shelves. Hold them up with 2m Column pieces.

Put another row of Small Chests on each shelf. Every chest stays reachable from the doorway, so Quick-stack and Deposit Items can empty your inventory in one pass.

Lower farm terrace with soil beds

Build stairs going down from the alchemist room’s back door. Snap a 3×3 ceiling platform onto the bottom of the stairs.

Line the terrace edges with sideways door-frame railings. These also mark the edges of the crop beds.

Use the terrain tool to lay soil across the wooden floor inside the beds. Then place a seedbed and plant your crops.

The Farmer can make Farm Soil in batches of 10; its recipe becomes available after you craft beneath a roof. Most plants grow faster in it, and water flowing across it uses up a little water—a detail to keep in mind on a raised wooden terrace.

Survivor dormitory and comfort tower

Both side wings are built to go up, not out. Beds and comfort furniture need floor space, and adding a level is cheaper than adding another platform.

Wall in the right-hand 3×3 grid and add window frames. This becomes the survivor dormitory.

Enshrouded skill tree with glowing central ring, class branch labels around it, and 7 available skill points. — The Skills tree in Enshrouded shows the central ring of unlockable skills surrounded by the Survivor, Beastmaster, Ranger, Assassin, Athlete, Barbarian, Warrior, Guardian, Battlemage, Healer, Wizard and Trickster branches, with 7 skill points available.

Build a staircase inside the dormitory and put a second layer of ceiling pieces on top of it. Each new floor holds more survivor beds.

Enclose the left wing around the Flame Altar using a 3×2 footprint so the altar’s collision doesn’t block the walls.

Add stairs going up inside the left wing. Fill each level with comfort furniture as you unlock it.

Enshrouded 1.0 reference values for the base materials

These are the items you will craft, farm or spend while building and upgrading this base, with their values from game build b25988036.

Item	Source	Unlocked by	Stack
Construction Hammer	Workbench	Stone, player level 2+	—
Wood Logs	Felling trees	—	250
Plant Fiber	Gathering	—	250
Farm Soil	Farmer (10 per craft)	Crafting under a roof	250
Shroud Core	Alchemist or Fell Bosses	Roof, or Shroud Spores	250
Fired Bricks	Kiln (30 per craft)	Lump of Clay	250
Indigo Plant	Revelwood	—	250

Shroud Core is Rare, and it is the item you burn at the altar to grow your building area. Fired Bricks and Indigo Plant are both item level 13. The bricks come up in a Smelter quest that asks for 50 of them along with a Crucible. The Indigo Seedling planted on the terrace grows into Indigo Plant, which is a source of deep blue pigment.

Balthazar, the alchemist for the rear wing

Field	Value
Role	Alchemist
Found in	Ancient Vault — Alchemist, Springlands
Recipes	247
Quest reward	Powerful Alchemy

Balthazar’s list covers Health Potion, Shroud Core, the Mortar, the Alchemy Station and Shroud Survival Flask, along with early spells and mage armor. His quest chain includes Alchemist Needs Shelter and The Alchemist’s Mortar. That is why his room sits next to the crop beds and the chest wall, since his recipes use up so many raw ingredients.

How to confirm the starter base is working

The game shows you when each part of the build is doing its job:

“Flame protected area” appears in the HUD anywhere on the platforms.
Indoors, your status shows Sheltered, Warmth and Comfortable, and Rested after you sleep.
The comfort readout goes up as furniture fills the left wing. The example build reaches Comfort (Level 18).
The seedbed shows Water 1/1, Farm Soil 1/1 and a growing plant, such as Indigo Plant 1/1.
Quick-stack at the chest wall clears your inventory, or shows “Nothing to Deposit” if it is already empty.

Once all of these show up, the base is done for now. Any later growth is just another 3×3 ceiling grid or one more floor on top of a wing. The walls, stations and chests you already have can stay where they are.