You just spawned in Embervale, scrounged enough stone and wood to put up a tiny base shell, and now you’re staring at the gaping hole where an entrance should be. You know that leaving your storage chests and workbenches exposed to wandering Shroud creatures and random weather damage is a bad call, so learning how to build a door in Enshrouded is one of the first core skills you’ll master to survive the wilds. I remember fumbling with the build menu for 10 minutes my first playthrough, not realizing I was missing a key component before I could place the door, so this guide cuts out all that frustration with clear, tested steps.
What You Need to Build a Door in Enshrouded First
You don’t need any rare or late-game materials to craft a basic functional door, which is why it’s accessible within the first 30 minutes of a new playthrough. The only prerequisites are the materials listed below and a small 1x1 framed opening in your existing base walls. A lot of new players skip the framing step and try to wedge a door between two support posts, which won’t work – the game only lets you place doors in fully framed wall slots.
- 6 pieces of rough wood – you can get this by chopping any small trees or fallen branches near your starting spawn point, no upgraded axe required
- 2 pieces of stone – mined from loose grey rock formations scattered around grassy areas, no pickaxe needed for loose nodes
- An active basic workbench placed within your build zone to unlock the door crafting recipe
- A fully framed 1x1 wall opening in your existing base structure to place the door into
If you don’t see the door recipe pop up in your build menu, double check that your workbench is within 10 blocks of where you’re standing, and that you have all the required materials in your personal inventory, not just stored in a nearby chest. The game won’t pull crafting materials from chests for build mode unless you have a specific mod installed, so keep your wood and stone on you when you’re ready to build.
Step-by-Step Process to Place Your First Door
Once you have all your materials gathered and your wall opening framed, the actual placement process only takes a few seconds if you know what you’re doing. First, open your build menu while standing near your workbench, and navigate to the "Wooden Structures" tab. You’ll see the basic wooden door option pop up as soon as the game detects you have the required materials. This is the fastest way to get your first door set up when you’re still learning how to build a door in Enshrouded for the first time.
Hover your cursor over the opening in your wall, and the game will show a green outline if the placement is valid, or a red outline if something is blocking the spot. Make sure the door swings inward toward your base – if you place it swinging outward, it can get stuck on external terrain or decorations, and you won’t be able to open it fully. I made this mistake on my first mountain base, and had to tear down the entire door frame to fix it, since I’d built a planter box right outside the entrance right after placing the door.
You can rotate the door direction while in placement mode by pressing the default rotate key (R on keyboard) before you confirm placement. Once you’re happy with the position and swing direction, left click to place it, and you’re good to go. You can test the door by walking up to it and pressing the interact key – it should swing open smoothly, and close automatically behind you after a few seconds.
Upgrades and Customization for Your Enshrouded Door
The basic wooden door works perfectly fine for early game bases in low-threat grassland areas, but it only has 200 hit points, so it won’t hold up long against higher level Shroud attackers or raiders if you’re playing with friends on a public server. As you progress through the game and unlock better crafting stations, you can upgrade your door to match your security needs and base aesthetic.
Metal reinforced doors unlock once you get a metal workbench, and they have 800 hit points, plus they’re fire resistant, which is perfect if you’re building in an area with frequent fire Shroud spawns. You only need 4 iron bars and 2 pieces of wood to craft one, which is a small investment for triple the durability of the basic wooden door. If you’re playing on a multiplayer server, you can also add a lock to any door type to keep other players from accessing your storage and personal items without your permission.
If you care more about looks than max security, you can unlock glass paneled doors once you get access to a furnace to make glass. These work great for sunroom builds or bases in safe, high elevation areas where you don’t have to worry about frequent Shroud attacks. You can also paint any door type to match your base’s color scheme, with dozens of paint options unlocked as you find different flower and berry dye ingredients across the map.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Building Your Door
Even though building a door is a simple process, there are a few common mistakes that trip up new players all the time. First, don’t place your door too close to external obstacles. If you have rocks, plants, or other builds within 2 blocks of the door’s swing path, it will get stuck and you might end up locked out of your own base. I once had to climb through a second story window for a week because I placed a storage crate right outside my front door without checking the swing path first.
Second, don’t try to place a door in a partial wall opening. The opening needs to be a full 1x1 slot surrounded by complete wall pieces on the top, bottom, and both sides. If any of those surrounding pieces are half walls or support posts, the game will not recognize the slot as a valid placement spot for a door. You can fix this by replacing the partial pieces with full standard walls before trying to place the door again.
Third, don’t waste a metal reinforced door on a temporary outpost that you only use for a few hours. The basic wooden door is more than enough for small mining outposts or fast travel stops in low-threat areas, and you can save your iron bars for tools and weapons that will give you more value early on. Save the upgraded doors for your main permanent base and any outposts you build near high-threat Shroud roots or boss spawn areas.
Building a functional, secure door is one of the smallest but most impactful upgrades you can make to your first Enshrouded base, and once you know how to build a door in Enshrouded, you can start experimenting with more complex base layouts, multi-story builds, and specialized outposts across the map. Don’t stress too much about getting the perfect door on your first try – you can always tear it down and replace it with a better option later as you unlock more materials and recipes. If you’re still running into issues placing your door, double check that your wall opening is fully framed and you have all the required materials in your inventory, and you’ll be able to get it set up in seconds.