If you’ve spent any time exploring Enshrouded’s foggy valleys and overgrown ruins, you’ve probably hit a wall where basic wood and stone just aren’t enough for your builds or gear upgrades. Resin is one of the first mid-tier resources you’ll need to unlock higher-tier crafting recipes, and many new players struggle to track down how to make resin in Enshrouded without wasting hours on low-yield farming runs. I’ve put in over 120 hours in the game across multiple playthroughs, and I’ve tested every possible way to get this sticky, versatile resource, so you don’t have to fumble through trial and error. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen new players in the community Discord asking where to find this resource, because the game doesn’t give you any clear hints about how to craft it early on.
How to Make Resin in Enshrouded: Core Requirements You’ll Need First
You won’t be able to craft resin as soon as you spawn into the game, and that’s not a bug – you need to unlock a specific crafting station first before the recipe becomes available. The only way to craft resin reliably is to process raw materials in a Smelter, which you unlock after rescuing the Blacksmith NPC from the Ancient Spire in the Forgotten Woods. If you haven’t completed that first main quest yet, hold off on farming for resin materials, because you won’t be able to turn them into usable resin anyway.
Once you have the Smelter placed in your base, the crafting recipe is straightforward, but there are a few extra supplies you’ll want to have on hand to make the process as efficient as possible. Here’s a full breakdown of everything you need to craft resin:
- 1 unlocked Smelter (obtained after rescuing the Blacksmith NPC from the Ancient Spire in the Forgotten Woods)
- 2 Pine Logs per unit of resin crafted
- 1 piece of Coal per 10 resin batches to fuel the Smelter (regular wood works too, but Coal cuts crafting time by 40%)
- Access to a pine-heavy biome, such as the Northern Forest or the upper slopes of the Revelwood area
You might get small amounts of resin as a random drop when chopping pine trees, but that drop rate is only around 5% per tree, so crafting it is far more reliable if you need more than 1 or 2 units. You don’t need any special perks or level upgrades to craft resin as soon as you have the Smelter, it’s available immediately in the station’s recipe list with no extra unlocks required. I made the mistake of grinding 3 levels thinking I needed a crafting perk to unlock the recipe on my first playthrough, so don’t waste your skill points on that.
Best Spots to Farm Raw Materials for Resin Crafting
Pine Logs are the only raw material you need for crafting resin, so your priority is finding spots with dense pine tree spawns that are also safe for your current player level. You don’t want to trek into a high-level biome just for logs and get one-shot by a level 20 ice wraith, right? I’ve tested every pine grove in the game, and these spots are the most efficient for players of all skill levels.
The best early-game spot is the edge of the Revelwood near the first player starting base. This area has dozens of young pine trees that respawn every 7 in-game minutes, and the only enemies you’ll run into are low-level wolves and stray scavengers, which are easy to take down with a basic iron axe. I usually farm this spot when I’m still working to unlock the Blacksmith, so I have a stack of 40 Pine Logs waiting to be turned into resin as soon as I get the Smelter set up.
If you’re a mid-level player with iron armor and a level 10+ weapon, head to the Northern Forest just south of the Ancient Spire of the Frostborn. This area has mature pine trees that drop 3-4 logs each when chopped, and there’s a fast travel point right at the spire so you don’t have to hike back and forth with a full inventory. The only downside is the occasional level 15 ice wolf and roaming wraiths, so keep your weapon drawn while you chop. If you have the logging perk unlocked, you can get 20% more logs per tree here, which cuts your farming time almost in half.
If you’re still early game and haven’t unlocked the Revelwood fast travel yet, the small pine grove west of the first Forgotten Woods vault is a great alternative. It only has about 10 trees, but they respawn super fast, so you can loop around the grove while you wait for the Smelter to process your previous batch of logs. You can usually get enough logs for 10 resin in about 5 minutes here, which is perfect if you just need a small amount for a quick upgrade.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Crafting Resin in Enshrouded
Even if you have all the right materials, it’s easy to waste time and resources if you’re not careful about how you approach resin crafting. I’ve made all of these mistakes myself, so I can tell you exactly what to skip to make the process as smooth as possible.
First big mistake: Using regular wood instead of Coal to fuel the Smelter. I know Coal can be hard to find early on, but using wood adds an extra 3 seconds per resin batch, which adds up if you’re crafting 50 or 60 units at a time. You can get all the Coal you need by mining the small coal veins near the entrance of the first Forgotten Woods vault, so grab a pickaxe and spend 5 minutes mining there before you start crafting resin, it’ll save you a ton of time later. I usually keep a stack of 20 Coal in my base chest just for resin crafting, so I never run out mid-batch.
Second mistake: Chopping every tree you see instead of targeting only pine trees. Oak and birch trees don’t give you pine logs, so you’ll just fill up your inventory with useless wood that you can’t turn into resin. You can tell pine trees apart from other trees by their dark green needles and tall, thin shape – they stand out really obviously against the lighter green oak trees in most biomes. I used to chop every tree in my path when I first started playing, and I’d end up with 100 regular wood logs and only 5 pine logs, which was a total waste of time.
Third mistake: Leaving your Smelter running while you go exploring far away. If you leave the area where your Smelter is located, the crafting progress pauses, so you’ll come back to an empty Smelter instead of a full stack of resin. I usually hang around my base and sort my inventory or repair my gear while the Smelter runs, so I don’t waste any time. If you do need to leave, make sure you’re only traveling to a nearby spot that’s still in the same render distance as your base.
Fourth mistake: Crafting more resin than you need. Resin doesn’t take up a lot of inventory space, but it’s easy to get carried away and craft 100 units when you only need 20 for your next build. That means you’re wasting pine logs that you could have used for building frames or fuel for your campfire. I always check my crafting recipes first to see how much resin I need before I start farming, so I don’t overdo it.
Smart Uses for Resin That Make Farming Worth Your Time
A lot of new players skip crafting resin because they don’t realize how useful it is for almost every part of the game. It’s not just a random crafting material – it unlocks some of the most powerful items and upgrades in the mid-game, so it’s well worth the 10 or 15 minutes it takes to farm the materials for it.
First, resin is a key ingredient for fire arrows and fire bombs, which are the most effective weapons against shrouded enemies and the large tree bosses in the Revelwood. Fire damage melts through the thick bark of those bosses way faster than regular physical damage, so having a stack of fire arrows before you fight any of the mid-game bosses will make the fight 10x easier. I beat the first Revelwood tree boss on my second try after switching to fire arrows, and I only used half the healing potions I needed on my first failed run.
Second, resin is used to make waterproof building materials. If you build your base in a rainy biome or near the shroud, regular wood walls will start to rot after a few in-game days, but wood treated with resin won’t take any water damage, so you don’t have to waste time repairing your base every time it rains. I built my first base in a rainy valley, and I had to repair my walls every 3 days until I upgraded them with resin-treated wood, which saved me hours of busywork.
Third, resin is required to unlock the Alchemist’s workbench, which lets you make potions, healing salves, and elemental buffs that are essential for late-game content. You can’t progress past the mid-game without the Alchemist, so you’ll need at least 30 resin to unlock his workbench and his first set of recipes. If you’re planning to tackle any of the late-game shrouded areas, you’ll need the resistance potions he makes, which are impossible to craft without resin.
Fourth, you can use resin to craft torches that burn 3x longer than regular torches. If you’re exploring deep shroud areas or large dungeons, these long-burning torches mean you don’t have to stop every two minutes to craft a new one, and they also keep low-level shroud enemies away from you so you can focus on looting. I always keep a stack of these torches in my inventory whenever I go dungeon diving, it’s saved me from getting swarmed by wraiths more times than I can count.
At the end of the day, learning how to make resin in Enshrouded is a simple process once you know what requirements you need to hit first, and it opens up a ton of new crafting and progression options that make the game way more fun. You don’t have to spend hours grinding for this resource if you follow the farming spots and tips we outlined, and you’ll be able to craft all the upgrades and builds you want without wasting time on trial and error. If you’re still struggling to find enough pine logs, try setting up a small outpost near one of the pine groves we mentioned, so you don’t have to travel far to farm and process your materials. Even 10 minutes of farming will give you enough resin to unlock most of the mid-game upgrades you need to keep progressing through the map.