There’s nothing more frustrating than hitting a crafting wall 10 hours into your Enshrouded playthrough. You’re ready to upgrade your flimsy cloth armor to something that can actually survive a wolf attack, or add extra inventory slots to stop dumping valuable resources every time you leave base, but you’re missing one key material: leather. A lot of new players assume it drops directly from mobs, and waste hours hunting the wrong creatures before they realize there’s a specific crafting process involved. If that’s you, this guide breaks down exactly how to get leather in Enshrouded, with zero fluff or confusing jargon.
How to Get Leather in Enshrouded: Core Crafting Steps
Leather isn’t a random drop from wildlife, so you won’t get it just by killing sheep or boars around the starting area. You have to process raw materials at a dedicated crafting station, and there are a few pre-requisites you need to unlock first. The process is straightforward once you know what to do, and you can start crafting leather as soon as you unlock the Carpenter NPC, which most players do within their first 5 hours of play.
- Hunt passive or aggressive wildlife to collect Raw Hide, the core material for all leather crafts
- Unlock and craft a Tanning Station via the Carpenter NPC once you collect 10 wood planks, 5 copper bars, and 2 string
- Place the Tanning Station in a covered area of your base, add Raw Hide to the input slot, and wait 30 in-game seconds per leather piece to craft
You’ll need 5 pieces of Raw Hide to make 1 piece of leather, so plan your farming runs accordingly. If you have an upgraded Tanning Station later in the game, you can cut that crafting time in half, and reduce the Raw Hide requirement to 4 per leather piece. Don’t worry about upgrading right away though, the basic station works perfectly fine for early and mid-game needs.
Best Early-Game Spots to Farm Raw Hide for Leather
You don’t need to wander into dangerous high-level Shroud areas to get enough Raw Hide for your first batch of leather. The starting biomes have tons of easy targets that won’t fight back, or put up very little resistance if you have basic stone tools. I’ve tested dozens of farming spots across 3 separate playthroughs, and these are the most reliable for new players.
The meadows directly west of the Cinder Vault starting spawn are by far the best spot for early farming. They’re full of sheep that spawn in groups of 3 to 4, and they won’t attack you even if you hit them first. You can one-shot most sheep with a basic stone axe, and each one drops 1 to 2 Raw Hide, plus mutton you can cook for health. You don’t need to wander into the Shroud to farm hide early on, that’s a common mistake that leads to unnecessary deaths and lost loot.
If you’re looking for higher yield runs once you have basic cloth armor, head to the small oak forest north of the first Flame Altar. It’s full of deer and wild boars, each of which drops 2 to 3 Raw Hide per kill. Boars will charge you if you get too close, so keep your distance and use a bow if you have one, or dodge their charge and hit them from behind. The forest also has berry bushes and wood, so you can stock up on other resources while you hunt.
For players who have already unlocked stone weapons, the abandoned camp just east of the first Farmer NPC spawn has small wolf packs that drop 2 to 4 Raw Hide each. They run in groups of 2 to 3, so make sure you pull one at a time to avoid getting swarmed. I usually run this route once I have my first stone sword, and I can get 30 Raw Hide in 15 minutes flat, enough for 6 pieces of leather.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming for Leather
It’s easy to waste hours of time or stacks of Raw Hide if you don’t know what pitfalls to look out for. I made all of these mistakes in my first playthrough, so you don’t have to. Most of them come from assuming leather works the same way it does in other survival games, so it pays to slow down and follow these rules early on.
Never use Raw Hide to make temporary firewood or basic bandages. I see new players do this all the time when they’re stuck out in the cold or low on health, but it’s a massive waste. You can get firewood from regular wood, and bandages from cloth scraps dropped by bandits, both of which are way easier to farm in large quantities than Raw Hide. Keep every piece of Raw Hide you collect for leather crafts, no exceptions.
Another big mistake is hunting corrupted wildlife in the Shroud for Raw Hide before you have at least iron armor. Corrupted wolves and boars drop 3 to 5 Raw Hide each, but they hit 2x harder than regular wildlife, and you’ll spend more time running back from the nearest respawn point than collecting materials. Wait until you can take them down in 2 to 3 hits before you try farming Shroud wildlife for hide.
Don’t forget to keep your Tanning Station covered, either. I once forgot to build a roof over my first Tanning Station during a rainstorm, and my entire stack of 25 Raw Hide got ruined before I could get back to base. Rain slows down crafting speed by 70% for outdoor stations, and there’s a 20% chance per craft that your materials will get destroyed if they’re exposed to the elements. Build a small covered crafting shed for your Tanning Station, Forge, and Carpenter bench to avoid this issue entirely.
You also don’t need to craft more leather than you need at any given time. Raw Hide stacks up to 99 per inventory slot, while leather only stacks up to 50, so you’ll save inventory space by keeping raw materials unprocessed until you’re ready to use them. I only craft enough leather for the specific craft I’m working on, unless I’m prepping for a long exploration run away from base.
Practical Uses for Leather You Should Prioritize First
Once you have a steady supply of leather coming in, it’s tempting to waste it on fancy decorations or low-tier tools you don’t actually need. These are the crafts you should prioritize first to get the most value out of every piece of leather, especially in the early and mid-game.
The first thing you should make is the Leather Armor set. It gives twice as much defense as the basic cloth armor set, and it’s light enough that it doesn’t reduce your stamina regeneration when you’re running, climbing, or swinging weapons. It’s strong enough to survive most early Shroud runs and bandit attacks, and you can use it until you unlock iron armor later in the game.
Next, craft a Leather Backpack as soon as you have 10 pieces of leather saved up. It adds 8 extra inventory slots, which is a complete game changer when you’re out farming resources for hours. I used to have to dump half my ore and wood every time I went on a mining run before I got my first leather backpack, and it cut my farming time in half almost immediately.
Third, stock up on leather repair kits. They work on all stone and iron tier tools and weapons, so you don’t have to run back to base every time your axe or sword breaks mid-farm. Each repair kit uses 1 piece of leather and 2 cloth scraps, and they restore 75% of an item’s durability. I keep 5 to 10 repair kits in my inventory at all times, and I rarely have to throw out a broken tool anymore.
Finally, use leather to craft reinforced storage chests for your base. Regular wooden chests can get destroyed during Shroud surges or bandit attacks, but reinforced chests are completely indestructible, and they hold twice as many items as regular chests. Each one uses 4 pieces of leather, 10 iron bars, and 15 wood planks, and they’re worth every resource once you start collecting large stacks of rare materials.
Once you get the hang of how to get leather in Enshrouded, you’ll stop stressing about running out mid-craft and can focus on exploring deeper into the Shroud. If you want to make farming even easier, build a small animal pen near your base and fence in a few sheep – they respawn every 10 in-game minutes, so you’ll never run out of Raw Hide again. If you have a go-to farming spot I didn’t mention, feel free to share it with other players in the comments.