We’ve all been there: you’re 10 minutes away from crafting your first set of explosive arrows to take down a tough shroud boss, and you realize you’re 12 nitrate short with no clue where to find more. Nitrate is one of the most versatile resources in Enshrouded, used for everything from gunpowder and explosives to high-tier farm fertilizer, so it’s easy to burn through your stock faster than you expect. Learning how to get nitrate in Enshrouded early on will save you hours of frustrated scavenging later, no matter if you’re a brand new player or a veteran building your endgame base.
Early-Game Nitrate Farming: Spots You Can Access at Level 1
You don’t need fancy gear or access to high-level regions to stock up on nitrate when you first start playing. The western area of the starting Springlands region is dotted with small, unshrouded cave systems that are packed with low-level nitrate nodes. You can find 5-10 nitrate nodes per small cave in the western Springlands, all of which you can mine with a basic stone pickaxe you can craft within your first 15 minutes of gameplay.
These early nodes drop 1-2 pieces of nitrate per hit, and respawn every 7 in-game days, so it’s worth marking any cave you find on your map right away. If you’re still struggling to find caves, look for small rocky outcrops with dark, narrow openings along the sides of hills. You won’t run into any dangerous enemies in these early caves either, only the occasional stray wolf that’s easy to take down with a starter sword.
Hold off on using your first nitrate batches for fertilizer if you can. Basic bone meal fertilizer works fine for small early-game farms, and saving your nitrate for gunpowder will let you clear shroud towers faster to unlock more of the map much earlier.
How to Get Nitrate in Enshrouded Reliably for Mid-Game Crafting
Once you unlock your glider and can access the Revelwood region, you’ll have access to far more consistent nitrate sources that cut down on frequent farming runs. The first big unlock you’ll want to prioritize is the Miner NPC, who you can rescue from a small shrouded camp in the northern part of Revelwood. Unlocking the Miner NPC gives you a consistent, renewable nitrate source that doesn’t require farming runs.
After you complete his first small side quest to collect 10 pieces of stone, he’ll sell up to 20 nitrate per in-game day for 5 coins each. That’s an incredibly low cost once you start selling excess armor and weapons you pick up from enemy camps, so it’s easy to stock up 100+ nitrate in a week of in-game time without ever stepping foot in a cave.
If you prefer to farm your own, the large cave systems along the northern border of Revelwood (near the edge of the mid-game shroud zone) have high-yield nitrate nodes that drop 3-4 pieces per hit. You will need an iron pickaxe to mine these nodes, so make sure you craft one before heading out. These caves do have a few more dangerous enemies like shroud stalkers, so bring a weapon and some healing potions just in case.
Late-Game Nitrate Automation: Cut Down on Farming Runs Completely
Once you make it to the endgame Kindlewastes region, you can set up systems that generate nitrate for you passively, so you never have to go on a dedicated farming run again. The first upgrade you’ll want to get is the Resource Scanner upgrade for your backpack, which you can craft at the Carpenter bench once you unlock the endgame crafting blueprints. This scanner highlights all nearby nitrate nodes on your minimap, so you don’t waste time wandering around large cave systems looking for resources.
The biggest game-changer for late-game nitrate supply is setting up a dedicated mining outpost. You’ll find massive, sprawling cave systems in the southern part of the Kindlewastes that have hundreds of high-yield nitrate nodes. Assign the Miner NPC to a Kindlewastes mining outpost to get up to 50 passive nitrate per day with zero extra work on your end. You just have to check in with the outpost chest every few in-game days to collect your stock.
If you want to make your farming runs even faster when you do need extra nitrate, follow these simple tips:
- Place multiple Flame Altars near high-yield nitrate caves to stop node despawning and speed up respawn times by 30%
- Upgrade your pickaxe to the Ancient Quality tier to get 2x more nitrate per node hit, and a 15% chance of double drops
- Keep 2 stacks of nitrate in your storage chest at all times, as late-game explosive recipes and high-tier farm fertilizer require 10+ nitrate per craft
You don’t have to stick to just one method either. I usually combine passive outpost generation with occasional 10-minute farming runs if I need a big batch of nitrate for a base upgrade or boss fight, and I never run low anymore.
Common Nitrate Farming Mistakes to Avoid
Even with the right spots and unlocks, it’s easy to make small mistakes that leave you short on nitrate when you need it most. Don’t mine nitrate nodes with a tool lower than the recommended tier—if you use a stone pickaxe on a mid-game Revelwood node, you’ll only get 1 piece per hit, and you have a 50% chance of breaking the node early before you collect all its resources.
Another common mistake is not marking nitrate farming spots on your map, even after you unlock the Miner NPC. The Miner only sells a limited amount per day, so if you need 200 nitrate quickly to craft explosives for a world boss fight, you’ll want backup spots you can run to right away. It only takes two seconds to drop a map marker, and it will save you so much time later.
Finally, don’t sell your excess nitrate in mid-game for quick coins. It’s tempting to sell every extra resource you have when you’re saving up for a new base upgrade, but you’ll need thousands of nitrate for endgame crafting. You can make far more coins selling excess weapons and armor anyway, so keep all your nitrate in storage even if you don’t have an immediate use for it.
At the end of the day, how to get nitrate in Enshrouded doesn’t have to be a frustrating scavenger hunt if you plan ahead for your playthrough. Start with the small caves in the Springlands when you’re first starting out, unlock the Miner NPC as soon as you reach Revelwood for consistent daily stock, and set up a mining outpost in the Kindlewastes once you hit endgame for passive generation. If you skip the common mistakes and plan your stock ahead, you’ll never find yourself stuck mid-craft waiting for more nitrate again.