Enshrouded building guide: How to build any structure

Want to learn how to build in Enshrouded? If you've seen some of the incredible creations that the playerbase has already put out in Keen Games' new open-world survival crafting game Enshrouded, you'll likely have guessed that this game has a very powerful and flexible building system. Enshrouded is a voxel-based game, meaning you can build structures a block at a time, like Minecraft. But it also gives the player a few very useful and powerful quality-of-life tools which allow you to build far more quickly than just a block at a time.

In this Enshrouded building guide, we'll teach you all the basics of building. We'll start with a primer on how to use the Construction Hammer and all its shapes and materials, before delving into more specific topics like how to craft new building materials, how to freeform build without the Construction Hammer, how to use Scaffolds to reach high areas of your builds, and how to terraform using those same tools.

In this guide:

• Enshrouded building basics
• How to craft building materials
• Freeform building in Enshrouded
• Using scaffolds in Enshrouded
• How to sculpt terrain in Enshrouded

Enshrouded - Release Date Announcement Trailer

Enshrouded building basics

To start building in Enshrouded, you should craft a Construction Hammer. Some premade structure parts, like doors and scaffolds, can be created in the crafting menu just like any piece of equipment, but to actually build structures out of blocks (or voxels), you need the Construction Hammer. Create one in the crafting menu out of 1 Stone.

With the Construction Hammer in your hand, hit TAB or LT to enter Building Mode.

While in Building Mode, your regular hotbar will be replaced by a building hotbar containing various shapes. From here, you can customise what building piece you'd like to place in three ways:

• SCROLLWHEEL or DPAD LEFT/RIGHT to select your building shape.
• CTRL + SCROLLWHEEL or DPAD UP/DOWN to change your building material.
• ALT + SCROLLWHEEL or RB + DPAD UP/DOWN to select between different building shape hotbars.

Using these controls you can make use of the full scope of building pieces available in Enshrouded. Most of the time you'll be switching between the first three hotbars to place down blocks, foundations, walls, stairs, and floors. The fourth and fifth hotbars contain roof shapes, while the final hotbar is purely for terrain shapes.

How to craft building materials

Before you can start building your dream home in Enshrouded, you need the right building materials. To create building materials, you first need a Workbench. Create one from the crafting screen out of 3 String and 8 Wood Logs. You can also make String in the crafting screen from 3 Plant Fiber.

Once you've crafted a Workbench, place it down in the world and interact with it. Under the Blocks heading on the left-hand side you'll see all the building materials available to you at the moment. You start with just a couple to choose from - Rough Wood Block, and Rough Stone Block - but as you discover more materials and resources in the world, you'll automatically unlock more building material recipes.

Most building blocks are created in groups of 100. Don't worry, you won't clog up your inventory. A single stack in your inventory can contain thousands of blocks. And it's a good thing too, because you'll be needing blocks in huge quantities for most building projects!

Freeform building in Enshrouded

If you have building blocks in your hotbar, you can also build without the use of the Construction Hammer. Simply select the building material you want (for example, Rough Wood Block), and you'll be able to place down (and remove) single blocks at a time. This is very useful for making quick or precise adjustments to your builds, because you don't need to bother with opening the Building Mode using your Hammer. Of course, you'll still need your Construction Hammer if you want to place down anything more than a single block at a time.

Another way of doing this purely from inside the Building Mode is by navigating to the Single Wall Block piece (the first shape in the first hotbar). This will also allow you to place down and remove single blocks at a time.

You can also mix and match these building modes. You could, for example, place down an entire wall at once using the Building Mode, and then equip a building block and carefully sculpt a hole in the wall for a window. So even if you use large shapes to create your buildings more quickly, you still have more granular control over the individual blocks.

Using scaffolds in Enshrouded

If you're creating a taller building in Enshrouded, you'll quickly find that there's a limit to how high you can reach from the ground when placing blocks. You could opt for the "Minecraft method" of building a pillar of blocks below your feet, but there's an easier way in Enshrouded: creating scaffolds.

Scaffolds are created inside a Workbench. They're found under the Essentials category at the top. You can choose between two Scaffold types - a larger platform with a ladder, and a smaller cube platform with no ladder. Both require the same crafting recipe: 5 Wood Logs and 1 String.

Once you've crafted a Scaffold, equip it in your hotbar and place it down in the world, just like you would place down a Workbench. Unlike pillaring up below you, you'll only need to place down one of these Scaffolds to reach up a considerably further height than you could at ground level. You can also stack Scaffolds atop one another, and if you've chosen the ladder Scaffold, then the ladders will connect seamlessly, allowing you to climb all the way to the top with ease.

How to sculpt terrain in Enshrouded

There are three major ways to terraform (sculpt terrain) in Enshrouded:

1. Dig holes using the Pickaxe.
2. Flatten ground using the Rake.
3. Add and remove terrain a block at a time using the Building Mode.

If you're not particularly concerned with being neat and just want to remove a large swathe of terrain at a time, the Pickaxe is the way to go. Just equip it in your hand, aim at the ground, and start swinging. This is also the only method that actually adds Dirt to your inventory for you to use later on.

The Rake has a more subtle touch. If you want to level a piece of terrain, first point the Rake at a patch of ground that's already at the correct level. Then click and hold LEFT MOUSE BUTTON or X, and drag the Rake's area of effect over the nearby ground to bring it down to that terrain level. You can also hold R + SCROLLWHEEL or RT + LEFT/RIGHT to change the angle of the Rake's area of effect, if for example you wanted to flatten a vertical wall of terrain instead of a horizontal surface.

But for the most precise terrain sculpting, you can use the exact same Building Mode you use for placing down building shapes. Simply equip your Construction Hammer, open the Building Mode, and select the Single Terrain Block shape in the first hotbar. Using this tool, you can place down blocks of dirt with LEFT MOUSE BUTTON or X, or remove terrain a block at a time with RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON or LB.

You can even use larger shapes to cut precisely into the terrain. For example, you can equip the Foundation shape, and place it fairly deep into the ground. Then use the Construction Hammer to remove the foundation, and you'll be left with its deep imprint in the ground.

With all this in mind, you should be able to start taking advantage of Enshrouded's powerful building system. If you want to become a professional explorer in Enshrouded to match your building skills, check out our guides on the best skills in Enshrouded, and how to unlock the Glider and Grappling Hook.