If you’ve spent hours wandering Enshrouded’s fog-choked valleys and half-buried ruins, you’ve probably stumbled across glowing, twisted Shroud Roots sprouting from corrupted ground. You might have even hacked a few apart to clear a small patch of Shroud, only to realize you’re still missing several to unlock fast travel points or new base building zones. If you’re asking how many shroud roots in Enshrouded you need to 100% each region or beat the main story, we’ve spent 80+ hours playtesting every corner of the map to get you the exact answer, plus no-fluff tips to track them down without wasting hours backtracking.
How Many Shroud Roots in Enshrouded Are There Total?
60 total Shroud Roots exist across Enshrouded’s full playable map, spread across 5 distinct regions. Each region has a set number of roots tied to its Altar of Flame progression, so you’ll unlock access to them gradually as you work your way through the main quest. Here’s the breakdown per region: Springlands has 8, Nomad Highlands has 12, Revelwood has 14, Pikemeadow has 13, and the Kindlewastes endgame zone has 13. You only need to collect 42 to complete the main story quest line, so you can skip 18 total roots if you’re not interested in 100% completion. That said, even casual players will want to collect a few extra roots to unlock basic QoL upgrades like increased stamina and higher build limits for their base. You don’t have to collect all roots in a region before moving to the next one, but I recommend clearing at least 70% of roots in each zone before progressing to make later travel much easier.
Key Benefits of Collecting Every Shroud Root
You might be wondering if it’s worth going out of your way to collect all 60 roots, especially if you don’t care about 100% completion achievements. The short answer is yes, if you plan to spend more than 30 hours in the game, the perks you get are well worth the 5-6 hours it takes to hunt them all down. Here are the biggest rewards you’ll unlock:
- Permanent Shroud clearance for the surrounding area, so you can build bases, farm resources, and explore without taking constant corrosion damage
- Unlocks new Altar of Flame upgrades, including increased maximum stamina, higher build height limits, and access to rare crafting recipes for endgame gear
- Grants exclusive skill points that you can’t earn from quests or enemy kills, letting you unlock powerful build-specific perks 5-10 hours earlier than you would otherwise
- Unlocks all fast travel points across the map, cutting down travel time between quest locations by up to 70% for endgame farming runs for rare materials like ancient scraps and ember
Don't feel pressured to collect every single one if you're only playing through the story once, but if you plan to build a large base or farm endgame gear with friends, clearing all roots is well worth the effort. I skipped a dozen roots on my first playthrough and regretted it when I had to backtrack 10 hours later to unlock a higher build limit for my mountaintop castle.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Hunting Shroud Roots
Hunting Shroud Roots sounds straightforward, but there are a handful of common mistakes that cost new players hours of wasted time. I made almost all of these on my first playthrough, so you don’t have to. Don’t waste time hunting roots in regions you haven’t unlocked the Altar of Flame for yet — any roots you break before activating the local altar won’t count toward your region progression, and you’ll have to break them again when you come back later. That’s a mistake I made early on when I wandered into the Nomad Highlands before finishing the Springlands quest line, and I had to re-break 6 roots when I returned properly. Another big mistake is using low-tier tools to break roots. Shroud Roots take 3x more damage from fire-infused weapons or pickaxes, so craft a fire pickaxe as soon as you unlock the smelter to cut down break time by two thirds. You’ll also want to avoid forgetting to mark uncollected roots on your map. Enshrouded’s map doesn’t automatically mark roots you’ve spotted but haven’t collected, so drop a custom pin every time you see a glowing root through the Shroud fog so you don’t have to search for it later.
Fastest Way to Track Down Missing Shroud Roots
If you’re 90% done with a region and can’t find that last 1 or 2 roots, you don’t have to spend hours combing every inch of the Shroud zone. There are a few simple tricks to find missing roots in half the time. First, unlock the Shroud visibility perk from the survival skill tree as early as you can. This makes all Shroud Roots glow bright orange through fog and walls, so you can spot them from 200 meters away instead of the default 50. It’s a 2-point perk, so you can unlock it within the first 5 hours of play if you prioritize survival skills. If you’re only missing 1-2 roots in a region, check the edges of the Shroud zone first — most hidden roots spawn on cliff edges or inside small cave systems that players often overlook when running through the center of the zone. I spent 2 hours looking for a missing root in Revelwood once, only to find it tucked in a tiny cave 10 meters outside the main Shroud zone boundary. If you’re really stuck, you can also join a public co-op lobby. Other players often have marked roots on their maps that you can borrow, and any roots you collect in their world count for your own progression too. Just make sure you’re in a lobby with the same game version as yours, or you might run into sync issues that prevent your progress from saving when you leave.
At the end of the day, how many shroud roots in Enshrouded you collect is entirely up to your playstyle. Casual players can stick to the 42 required for the main story and have a perfectly fun experience, while completionists and builders will get a ton of value out of tracking down all 60. Take your time, use the tips we shared, and don’t get frustrated if you miss a few — half the fun of Enshrouded is exploring every hidden corner of its post-apocalyptic world. You might even stumble across a rare hidden chest or secret quest while you’re hunting for roots.