How to Survive the Shroud Longer in Enshrouded: Ways to Increase Shroud Time

The Shroud is one of the main reasons you exist in Embervale. A focal point and primary gimmick, the fetid fog is sometimes inescapable. Here, I’ll tell you how to you survive in it longer and increase the amount of time you can stay in the Shroud in Enshrouded.

What is the Shroud in Enshrouded?

The Shroud isn’t exactly what it appears to be. A fog, yes. But it’s a fog that infects everything it touches. It’s a creeping sickness from deep in the earth. I don’t want to spoil anything, but once you get into Enshrouded, Old Books explain what the Shroud is.

From a game mechanic standpoint, the Shroud is a hostile entity filled with enemies with no problems striking you down. It spreads through multiple areas, often found in caves and valleys. It has its own specific resources found, like Shroud Wood, along with ruins and Elixir Wells.

How the Shroud Works in Enshrouded

When you enter the Shroud, the timer at the top of the screen counts down from four minutes. This is your Shroud Protection timer. It’s your natural Flameborn resistance to the life-sucking effects of the fog. If you run out of time, you die instantly. There’s no slow health drain while you try to find an exit and no debilitating character nerf. You’re just dead.

Escaping the Shroud within the time limit sounds simple. However, there’s more than one type of Shroud fog in Enshrouded. It’s also easy to get distracted and have little time to escape with no escape route.

There’s the hungry, slow-death blue-white fog most commonly seen in the Springlands. There’s also the ravenous red fog that shreds through your timer like moldy cheese. Even with a six-minute timer, I die in three to four seconds when in the red Deadly Shroud. You even get an extra alert to flee when you enter it.

How to Extend Your Time in the Shroud

There are various ways to extend and increase your Shroud time, with some working better than others. The only permanent way to add minutes to your Shroud Protection is by Strengthening the Flame.

This is like leveling up the Altar itself, except it adds one minute per level you strengthen instead of expanding your base territory. I’ve gotten my timer up to 7 minutes by doing this. That’s long enough to get in and out without worrying about extending my stay or losing everything to death.

Less permanent solutions for extending your Shroud timer are:

• Shroud Survival Flask: Adds two minutes to the Shroud meter when used. Lasts 45 minutes.
  • There seems to be a glitch with this item. It doesn’t add the extra time when you’re already in the Shroud. Take it before entering to see the effects.
• Refresh Time Hourglasses: Completely refills your time when used. Found inside the Shroud.
• Return Point Spheres: Respawn spheres refill your meter as you stand near them.
• Prayer of the Flame Scroll: Adds a minute to your timer when used. Costs 20 mana.
• Inner Fires Skill: Increases maximum Shroud time by two minutes. (Ranger skill)
• Shroud Filter Skill: Dealing magic weapon damage has a 15% chance to restore 30 seconds of time for you and your allies. (Mage skill)
• Clear Shroud Roots: Taking down a Shroud Root clears the immediate area of the Shroud. This may be easier for the standalone roots versus the ones in Elixir Wells that are guarded.

Unfortunately, for melee mains, there’s no skill for Warriors to increase your max Shroud time or refresh time already lost in the Shroud. If you get lost in the fog and your time starts running out, the best thing to do is go back the way you came. Keep an exit path in mind while exploring. It’s easy to get turned around in the Shroud.

Look out for high areas that peek above the Shroud to get fresh air and refill the Shroud timer. Clear air may be in a cave or mineshaft, depending on your location. Always look for brightly colored ground that has green grass or flowers. Those are indications fresh air and salvation can be found.

Items and Enemies That Change in the Shroud

• Lava: It no longer burns you. But it rapidly reduces your Shroud Protection timer every time you touch it. I’ve had five minutes disappear in a couple of seconds from touching lava 2-3 times.
• Explosive Barrels: Similar to lava, these barrels no longer burn you or cause damage. Instead, staying in their radius after exploding reduces your timer. The color of the barrel changes from red to blue.
• Pulsing Mushrooms: When these mushrooms explode, staying in their radius reduces your time. Best to stay away from them altogether.
• Poison Flowers: These flowers still shoot at you, though they inflict Deadly Shroud instead. They also drop Shroud Sacks instead of Poison Sacks. Their appearance changes from orange and red to shades of blue.
• Trees: The Shroud is a blight on the land and has killed off all trees in the area. These drop Shroud Wood instead of Wood Logs when cut.

What’s the Shroud Teleport Loophole?

When you’re in the Shroud, you can’t fast travel out of it. There’s a way, however, to survive if your timer is down to seconds.

A feature many want changed is that you always load into the game at the last Flame Altar you visited. When playing, I can see how frustrating it is to be in the middle of a vault or ruin and be punted back to a starting area that may be nowhere near. There are some ways to exploit this mechanic, though. In this case, you can use it as a get-out-of Shroud-free card.

Simply log out to the main menu when your time is running out. Then log back into your world. You’ll appear at one of your bases with all your items still in your backpack. It’s a handy trick when you’re stuck in a series of caves, down a deep hole, or in a large area of fog you just can’t escape from and you don’t want to lose your resources.

That’s what you need to know about the Shroud, without spoilers, and how to extender your time in it in Enshrouded. To learn how to Strengthen the Flame, craft your own Shroud Survival Flask, or find resources, check out our guides hub.