If you’ve ever been mid-base upgrade, halfway through crafting your first metal pickaxe, or repairing your gear right before a big raid and run out of scrap metal, you know how frustrating that gap can feel. Scrap metal is one of the most versatile, widely used resources in Enshrouded, relevant from your first hour in the game all the way to late-game base building and high-tier gear crafting. That’s why we put together this guide covering exactly how to get scrap metal in Enshrouded no matter what level your character is or where you are on the map, with tricks we’ve tested across 3 full playthroughs to save you time and unnecessary risk.
Core Methods for How to Get Scrap Metal in Enshrouded
There’s no single “right” way to farm scrap metal, but most reliable methods fall into four core categories that work at every game stage. You can mix and match these depending on your playstyle, gear level, and how much time you have to spend gathering:
- Looting ruined furniture, cabinets, and loose metal debris in abandoned settlements and unShrouded ruins
- Dismantling unwanted metal gear, tools, and old crafting stations you no longer use
- Farming hostile human enemies like raiders and bandits, who often drop scrap metal when defeated
- Processing raw scrap piles you find in industrial zones with a Crusher to turn low-value junk into usable metal
You don’t need any special tools to gather scrap from loose debris early on, just your fists or a basic stone axe will work, though a metal pickaxe speeds up the process by about 40% in our testing. I remember wasting 10 minutes hitting a solid scrap pile with a stone axe my first playthrough, only to realize I could just pick up most of the loose scrap lying next to it for the same amount of resource, no swinging required.
Any metal armor or weapon you loot that’s worse than your current gear is worth dismantling, you’ll get back around 70% of the scrap used to make it, which adds up fast when you’re clearing out bandit camps every other run. Don’t toss those extra rusted swords in the trash, take 10 seconds to break them down at your workbench. Crushers are a game-changer once you unlock the Carpenter NPC, you can toss in all the random scrap bits you pick up that don’t count as usable metal—rusted nails, broken pipes, old car parts—and turn them into 2-3 scrap metal per piece of raw scrap.
Best Early-Game Scrap Metal Farming Routes
Early game is when you’ll need scrap the most, and when you have the least access to fast travel or high-tier gear to take on tough enemies. Stick to these low-risk, high-reward spots near the starting Cinder Vault to stock up without getting wiped by Shrouded creatures or high-level raiders.
The first spot to hit is the abandoned village just west of the starting vault. There are 12 small houses there, each has at least 2-3 pieces of scrap metal in kitchen cabinets, old radiators, and broken tools lying on the floor. You can clear this entire village in 8 minutes flat, and walk away with 30-40 scrap metal per run. The best part? All the loot respawns every 10 in-game minutes, so you can loop it as many times as you need if you’re saving up for a big crafting project. I once ran this loop 4 times in a row to get enough scrap for my first workbench and metal sword, and it took less than 40 minutes total.
The next spot is the small raider camp north of the village. There are 4 low-level raiders there, each drops 1-2 scrap metal, plus there’s a storage crate in the middle of the camp that usually has 5-10 extra scrap. You don’t need to fight the raiders if you don’t want to—you can sneak around the back of the camp, grab the crate, and run off before they spot you, which is perfect if you’re still running basic stone gear. I did this so many times my first playthrough I had a stack of 200 scrap before I even ventured into my first Shrouded area.
Skip the Shrouded ruins near the starting zone early on, the enemies there hit way too hard, and the small amount of scrap you’ll find isn’t worth the risk until you have at least a metal sword and 2 pieces of basic metal armor. I once spent 20 minutes fighting a tough Shrouded enemy just for 2 pieces of scrap early on, and I swore I’d never make that mistake again.
Mid to Late-Game Tricks to Stockpile Scrap Metal Fast
Once you unlock fast travel and have better gear, you can scale up your scrap farming drastically, and even set up passive systems to get scrap without running dedicated farm routes. These methods will keep your storage chests full of scrap even when you’re focused on other activities like questing or base building.
The first spot to add to your fast travel list is the industrial zone in the northern part of the map, near the Black Citadel. There are dozens of large scrap piles there, plus broken trucks, factory equipment, and locked storage containers full of scrap. A single run through this zone can net you 150-200 scrap metal in 15 minutes, especially if you bring a pickaxe with the mining speed perk. The enemies here are higher level, but if you’re at least level 15 with mid-tier armor, you can clear the area easily, and the raiders here drop even more scrap on top of what you gather from the environment.
Once you unlock the ability to assign workers to crafting stations, build 2-3 Crushers at your base and assign a worker to run them full time. All the random junk you pick up while exploring that you previously thought was useless can be tossed into the Crusher to turn into scrap metal. I used to leave all that rusted junk behind to save inventory space, but once I got a worker running my Crushers, I was getting 50+ scrap metal every time I came back to base from an exploration run, no extra effort needed. It’s completely passive, and you’ll never run out of raw scrap to process if you pick up every piece of junk you see while out questing.
Another great trick is to set up a fast travel point near the large bandit fortress east of the Ancient Spire. There are 20+ high-level raiders there, each drops 2-3 scrap metal, plus there are 10 storage chests in the fortress that have up to 50 scrap total. Clear the camp, fast travel to another spot to do a quick quest or gather other resources, wait 15 in-game minutes, come back, and the entire camp is fully respawned. You can run this loop as many times as you want, and you’ll get both scrap and high-tier gear loot to dismantle for even more scrap.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Gathering Scrap Metal
Even if you’re using the best farming routes, small mistakes can slow you down and make you waste way more time than needed gathering scrap. These are the most common mistakes we see new (and even experienced) players make all the time:
First, leaving loose scrap behind because you think it’s not worth picking up. A single piece of scrap might not seem like much, but if you pick up every piece you see while exploring, you’ll have a stack of 100 before you even know it. I used to skip small pieces all the time, and I’d always run out of scrap when I needed to craft something last minute for a raid. Now I pick up every scrap I pass, and I rarely have to run dedicated farm routes anymore.
Second, using the wrong tool to break scrap piles. Using a sword or axe to break metal scrap piles takes 3x longer than using a pickaxe, so always switch to your pickaxe when you’re gathering scrap to save time. It’s a small habit to build, but it cuts down your farming time by a huge amount over multiple runs.
Third, forgetting to check respawn timers. If you go back to a farming spot too early, none of the loot will have respawned, and you’ll waste a trip. A good rule of thumb is to do one other activity, like clearing a small dungeon or gathering enough wood for a base upgrade, before you go back to a farm spot. That way you’re not wasting time waiting around for loot to respawn.
Fourth, dismantling gear you can use for other things. If you have a spare metal sword, don’t dismantle it if you can give it to a follower, or use it as a backup weapon when your main one breaks. Only dismantle gear that’s completely useless to you, or that you have way too many of. I once dismantled 3 spare metal swords right before I recruited 2 new followers, and I had to farm 2 hours of scrap to make them new weapons.
Scrap metal is such a versatile resource, you’ll never really have “too much” of it, whether you’re crafting new gear, upgrading your base defenses, or repairing your tools mid-exploration run. No matter what stage of the game you’re in, using the methods we covered will make it way easier to figure out how to get scrap metal in Enshrouded without wasting hours running around the map. I still use the early game village route when I’m running low on scrap for quick repairs, and the Crusher trick saves me hours of farming every playthrough. Try out a few of these methods next time you log in, and you’ll have a full stock of scrap before you know it.