If you’ve spent even a few hours exploring Enshrouded’s cursed valleys and crumbling ruins, you’ve already hit that frustrating wall where you can’t craft a workbench upgrade, repair your favorite sword, or build a sturdier base without a stack of metal scrap. Most new players waste hours bashing random objects hoping for drops, but there are far faster, lower-effort ways to stock up. This guide breaks down everything you need to know about how to get metal scrap in Enshrouded, no late-game gear or dangerous shroud deep dives required.
How to Get Metal Scrap in Enshrouded: Common Farmable Sources
Metal scrap doesn’t drop from every random metal object you see, and wasting time on low-yield items will slow your grind to a crawl. Stick to these verified sources, all of which work with even basic stone-tier tools, to get the most scrap per minute of effort:
- Old cars and rusted vehicle parts: The single most reliable source of early-game metal scrap, with most cars dropping 3-7 pieces each when bashed with a stone axe or pickaxe.
- Ruined building metal frames: The thin, grey metal supports in abandoned villages and small outposts drop 1-2 scrap per section, and they respawn every 10 in-game minutes if you leave the area.
- Scrap piles and discarded metal crates: Usually found near workbenches in bandit camps or old workshop sites, these piles can drop up to 15 scrap per stack if you find an untouched camp.
- Defeated bandit raiders with metal armor: Higher-level raiders that wear chest plates or metal helmets drop 1-3 scrap when looted, plus you get extra gear you can scrap later too.
It’s worth noting that all these sources respawn on a consistent timer, so you don’t have to hunt for new spots every time you run low. As long as you travel far enough away from the area (about a 2 minute walk, or one fast travel trip) the objects will reset fully, so you can run the same route over and over as needed. You can also stop at the small resting spots along main roads, most have a metal bench or two that drop extra metal scrap if you break them.
Low-Risk Early-Game Farming Routes for Metal Scrap
If you’re still working on upgrading your first base and don’t want to fight tough enemies, stick to roads that run between the starting Ancient Spire and the first small village to the west. Most of these roads have 8-10 abandoned cars along their length, plus a few ruined sheds with metal frames that you can break down. That route takes about 15 minutes to run, and you’ll walk away with 60-80 scrap each time, no combat required.
You don’t even need to clear the bandit camps along this route if you don’t want to – just sneak past the raiders to grab the scrap piles near their camp entrances, and run off before they spot you. If you do happen to get caught, you can just lead the raiders back to the starting NPC camp, where the friendly guards will take them out for you, and you can loot their bodies for extra scrap for free.
I’ve used this route dozens of times when I’m short on scrap for base repairs, and I’ve never had to use more than a single healing potion the entire time. It’s perfect for new players who haven’t unlocked better gear or skill points yet, and you’ll also pick up extra wood and stone along the way for other crafting projects.
Mid-Game Tricks to Double Your Metal Scrap Yield
Once you unlock the scrapping bench and have a few points in the gathering skill tree, you can make your farming runs way more efficient. First, the scrap recycling perk (unlocked at level 4 gathering) gives you a 30% chance to get an extra piece of scrap every time you break a metal object, which adds up fast over a full farming run. Even a 15 minute route can net you 20+ extra scrap just from this single perk.
Once you get the scrapping bench, you can turn all the broken metal armor, rusted swords, and old tools you find in chests into scrap too – most of these items give 2-5 scrap each, so don’t leave them behind when you’re looting camps. I used to throw these items away to save inventory space early on, and I lost out on hundreds of scrap before I realized how valuable they were. If you’re playing solo, you can even park your glider at the top of the hill overlooking the abandoned workshop south of the first large bandit fortress, glide down to grab all the metal scrap, and glide back out before the raiders notice you.
This workshop spot has 3 large scrap piles, 12 metal frames, and a chest full of old metal tools that you can grab once every in-game hour. If you fast travel between the workshop and the starting spire, you can farm 150+ scrap in 20 minutes, even if you only stop to break the highest-yield objects. If you’re playing co-op, bring a companion with you on runs, since two people breaking cars and frames cuts the run time in half, and you both get full scrap drops from every object you break.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming Metal Scrap
A lot of players waste time and resources doing things that don’t actually help them get more scrap, so avoiding these small mistakes will save you hours of grind. First, don’t waste time breaking small metal objects like nails or small fence posts – they only have a 10% chance to drop a single scrap, so you’re better off spending that time looking for cars or large scrap piles. You’ll get 10 times more scrap per minute focusing only on high-yield sources.
Second, don’t hold onto broken metal gear for “later” – unless it’s a rare item you plan to repair, you’re always better off scrapping it immediately to add to your stockpile, since you’ll need scrap far more often than you’ll need a random rusted axe you found in a chest. Keep a small slot in your inventory reserved specifically for scrapable metal gear so you don’t accidentally leave it behind when you’re looting.
Third, don’t go deep into the shroud to farm scrap unless you’re specifically looking for other resources too – there are way more scrap sources in the safe, unshrouded areas of the map, and you don’t have to worry about the shroud timer running out while you’re breaking cars. I used to make the mistake of going into the lower shroud zones to farm scrap when I first started playing, and I’d end up losing half my haul when I got swarmed by shroud enemies and had to run for the exit. It’s just not worth the risk when there’s so much easily accessible scrap above ground.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to get metal scrap in Enshrouded doesn’t have to be a frustrating, time-consuming grind. Stick to the low-risk routes early on, unlock the gathering perks that boost your yield as you level up, and avoid wasting time on low-drop objects, and you’ll have more scrap than you know what to do with in no time. You can use your extra stock to upgrade all your base crafting stations, repair your gear after long exploration runs, or even build reinforced walls to keep raiders away from your home. Don’t overcomplicate it – the best farming spots are usually the ones you pass every day on your way to complete quests.