Anyone who’s spent even a few hours exploring Enshrouded’s open world knows how brutal dark, unlit areas can be. You’ll trip over hidden cliffs, miss rare loot tucked in crevices, and get ambushed by Shroud creatures you never saw coming before you can even draw your weapon. Torches work for a while, but they take up an equipment slot and burn out fast when you’re deep in a cave or the Shroud itself. Lanterns are brighter, but they require rare fuel that’s not worth wasting on short exploration runs. A well-placed candle enshrouded can save you from more than one surprise ambush, and this guide breaks down exactly how to make a candle enshrouded, plus all the hidden uses most players never discover their first playthrough.
What You Need to Make a Candle Enshrouded
Crafting candles is one of the earliest useful recipes you can unlock in Enshrouded, and you won’t need any high-level materials or workstations to pull it off. The recipe unlocks automatically as soon as you build your first Basic Workbench, so you don’t have to hunt for a schematic or complete a side quest to access it. Once you’ve gathered all three items, you’re ready to make a candle enshrouded in just a few clicks. The required materials are easy to farm even in the first hour of gameplay:
- 2x Beeswax: You can collect this from wild beehives scattered across the Revelwood biome, or loot it from cabinets and storage chests in abandoned farmhouses across the starting area. If you’ve unlocked the Farmer NPC, you can also buy beeswax from them for 2 coins each, though farming it is far cheaper long-term.
- 1x Cotton String: Craft this from 2x Cotton, which grows in sunny grassy areas just west of the starting Cinder Vault. You can also loot cotton string from bandit camp storage chests, or find it on the bodies of defeated bandit archers fairly often.
- 1x Clay Base: Mine clay from soft, brown deposits along the banks of any river in the starting biome. You only need a stone pickaxe to mine it, and a 10 minute mining run will net you enough clay for 50+ candles. If you’re short on time, the Farmer NPC also sells clay bases for 1 coin each.
Step-by-Step Crafting Process for Enshrouded Candles
Once you have all your materials gathered, crafting a candle takes less than a minute total, even if you’re fumbling through the workbench menu for the first time. First, make sure all the required materials are in your personal inventory, not stored in a chest or on a companion. Interact with your Basic Workbench to pull up the crafting menu, then navigate to the “Lighting” tab on the left-hand side. You’ll see the candle recipe listed near the top of the tab, alongside torches and basic standing lamps. Select the candle recipe, choose how many you want to craft, and hit the craft button. Each candle takes 2 seconds to make, with no cooldown between crafts, so you can stock up on 20+ candles in less than a minute if you have enough materials. When the crafting process finishes, you’ll have a candle enshrouded added straight to your inventory. If you don’t feel like gathering materials at all, you can buy pre-made candles from the Farmer NPC for 5 coins each once you’ve unlocked them and built them a house at your base. That’s a solid option if you’re flush with coins and in a hurry to head out on an exploration run, but crafting your own saves you roughly 75% of the cost compared to buying them.
Top Practical Uses for Candles in Your Enshrouded Playthrough
Most new players only use candles for base decoration, but they’re one of the most versatile utility items in the game if you know how to use them right. I’ve been playing Enshrouded since its early access launch, and I now keep at least 20 candles in my inventory at all times for these key uses. Even a single candle enshrouded is enough to light up a small cave chamber so you can loot every chest safely:
- Light narrow cave passages where wall torches won’t fit. A lot of the game’s hidden loot chests and secret passageways are tucked in tiny crevices that are too narrow to place a standard wall torch, and holding a torch blocks your view of small items on the ground. Placing a candle enshrouded on the floor gives you enough light to see everything without taking up an equipment slot.
- Boost your base’s Comfort stat to speed up health and stamina regeneration. Each lit candle enshrouded adds 1 point to your base’s Comfort stat, and every 5 points cuts your regeneration time by 10% when you’re inside your base. I’ve lined the walls of my base with 20 candles, and my health regenerates almost twice as fast as it did when I first built the base.
- Mark safe paths when you’re exploring deep in the Shroud. It’s incredibly easy to get lost in the Shroud’s foggy, winding paths, and if you run into a Shroud Wraith you can’t beat, you’ll need a clear path to escape. Dropping a candle enshrouded every 20 meters gives you a bright, easy to follow trail back to safety, and they stay lit for 10 minutes even in light Shroud areas.
- Ward off small Shroud pests like Shroud Mites and Shroud Rats. These tiny enemies don’t deal a lot of damage, but they’ll chip away at your health constantly when you’re exploring the Shroud, and they’re easy to miss in the fog. A lit candle enshrouded creates a 3 meter radius that these pests won’t cross, so placing a few around you when you’re looting a chest or repairing your gear will keep you safe from annoying surprise attacks.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Enshrouded Candles
For such a simple item, there are a lot of mistakes new players make when they first start using candles that waste materials or leave them stuck in bad situations. The first big mistake is placing candles directly on Shroud-covered ground. If you place a candle enshrouded directly on Shroud ground, the thick, cold mist smothers the flame instantly, so the candle will go out as soon as you place it. You need to place a small wood or stone block down first, then set the candle on top of that if you’re using them in the Shroud. Another common mistake is relying on candles as your only light source when fighting large Shroud bosses. Candles only put out a small radius of light, so you won’t be able to see the boss’s long-range attack tells or fast movement if you’re only using candles to light the area. You’re better off using a lantern or a torch for boss fights, so you can see every attack coming and dodge in time. I also see a lot of new players waste candles trying to use them as makeshift weapons. There’s a common myth floating around community forums that throwing lit candles at Shroud creatures deals fire damage, but that’s not true at all. Candles don’t deal any damage when thrown, and you’ll just waste a perfectly good candle if you try to hurl it at an enemy. Save your candles for lighting and path marking, and use your sword or bow for fighting. Finally, don’t store candles in chests that are kept in unlit areas. If you leave a stack of candles in a chest that’s in a dark, unlit part of your base, there’s a small chance they’ll get stolen by random bandit raids that sneak into your base when you’re away. Keep your candle stacks in a chest near your workbench, where there’s plenty of light, and you won’t have to worry about losing them.
Candles are one of the most underrated low-level items in Enshrouded, and they solve so many common pain points that most players don’t even realize they have until they start using them. They’re cheap, easy to craft, and versatile enough to use for everything from base decoration to deep Shroud exploration, and you can unlock the recipe within your first hour of gameplay. Whether you’re a new player still figuring out the basics or a veteran looking for ways to cut down on exploration costs, knowing how to make a candle enshrouded will make your entire playthrough far smoother and less frustrating. I’ve recommended them to every new player I’ve played co-op with, and every single one has told me they’ll never go back to wasting iron on lantern fuel for short cave runs again.