If you’ve spent even an hour messing around in Enshrouded’s post-apocalyptic fantasy world, you know how quickly basic crafting materials go from “useless junk” to “gatekeeping your entire base upgrade plan.” String is one of those easily overlooked items that pops up in dozens of recipes, from first-tier bows to farm plots to decorative wall hangings. If you’re stuck trying to figure out how to make string enshrouded, you’re not alone—most new players miss the super simple crafting method their first few hours of play. I’ve put in over 120 hours in Enshrouded across early access and full release, so I’ve tested every possible way to get string fast, no grind required.
How to Make String in Enshrouded: Basic Crafting Steps
The biggest surprise for most new players is that you don’t need any advanced workstations or unlocked recipes to make string. It’s available right from the start of the game, directly in your personal inventory crafting menu. You don’t have to track down a spinning wheel, loom, or any other specialized station to get your first batch done. That’s a common misconception I see all the time in new player forums, and it leads to so much unnecessary backtracking.
The process is straightforward once you know where to look. First, collect the required base material, then open your inventory, navigate to the “Materials” tab in the crafting menu, select string, and hit craft. You only need 3 pieces of plant fiber to craft 1 unit of string, which is way lower than the material cost for similar items in most other survival games. If you already have the hunter NPC set up at your base, you can also buy bulk bundles of string for cheap gold, but crafting it yourself is almost always faster if you’re near any grassy areas.
I still remember wasting 45 minutes my first playthrough running around looking for a crafting station to make string for my first bow. I ended up checking a random forum post and realizing I could have made 20 units right where I stood, if I’d just checked my inventory crafting menu thoroughly. Don’t make that same mistake.
Best Places to Farm Plant Fiber for String Fast
Since plant fiber is the only material you need to make string, knowing where to farm it fast cuts down your crafting time drastically. Plant fiber drops from almost every small, non-woody plant you harvest, but some locations give way more yield per minute than others. You can harvest fiber with your bare hands if you don’t have tools, but using a tool speeds up the process a lot.
Grassy fields near the starting Kindlewastes spawn point are the best early-game spot for plant fiber. You can run through a 50-meter patch and pick up 60+ fiber in 2 minutes, with zero enemy risk to worry about. It’s the perfect spot to stock up on fiber for your first 30 units of string before you head out to explore more dangerous areas. If you’re further into the game, other spots offer even better yields, as long as you’re prepared for occasional enemy encounters.
- Kindlewastes starting grasslands: Zero enemy risk, perfect for new players who need 20+ string for their first bow and workbench upgrades
- Revelwood fern patches: 2x fiber per harvest, ideal if you’re already in the area gathering wood for base builds or tracking down the alchemist NPC
- Nomad Highlands farm fields: Get fiber as a bonus when harvesting wheat or corn, so you can stock up on food and string at the same time
Don’t bother harvesting fiber in the Shrouded areas unless you’re already there for another quest. Most of the corrupted plants don’t drop usable fiber, and you’re wasting your limited Shroud timer for a low reward. Always carry a basic sickle with you when farming fiber—it cuts harvest time in half and gives you a 15% higher chance to get extra fiber per plant, per my own testing across 10 different farming runs. You can craft a basic sickle with 5 wood and 2 stone right at your first workbench.
Clever Ways to Use String to Progress Faster in Enshrouded
A lot of new players only make string when they need it for a specific recipe, but stocking up on 50+ units early saves you so much backtracking later. String pops up in more recipes than you probably realize, from combat gear to base upgrades to exploration tools. Having a stack of string in your inventory at all times means you won’t have to pause a dungeon run or base build to run back and farm fiber.
First, string is required for all early and mid-tier ranged weapons: the basic wooden bow, fire arrows, and even the hunter’s trap all need 2-5 string each. If you’re planning to explore any Shrouded areas, having a stack of fire arrows on hand makes taking down those floating wraiths way easier than trying to fight them with a sword. Ranged combat is also the safest way to take down the large scavenger camps scattered across the map, so extra string directly translates to safer loot runs.
For base builders, string is used for all rope railings, farm plot trellises, and even the hanging torches that keep low-level enemies away from your base. I made the mistake of only making 10 string for my first base, and I had to stop halfway through building my farm to run back and farm fiber for 20 minutes. String is also a key component for the glider repair kit, which you’ll need constantly if you’re fast traveling across the map using the ancient spires. Nothing is more frustrating than being stuck on top of a spire with a broken glider and no string to fix it.
If you have extra string lying around, you can trade it to the farmer NPC for rare vegetable seeds, which is a great swap if you have more fiber than you know what to do with. It’s way easier to farm fiber than it is to track down rare seeds in random ruin chests, so this is one of the best value trades in the game for early players.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Making String in Enshrouded
Even though making string is super simple, I see new players make the same 3 mistakes over and over again. These small errors can lead to frustrating delays in your progress, so they’re easy to avoid once you know what to look for. Most of them come down to not planning ahead for your material needs.
First, don’t turn all your plant fiber into string right away. You also need plant fiber for bandages, which are the only early-game healing item you can craft without an alchemy station. I once turned all 80 of my fiber into string right before a big Shroud dungeon run, and I had no way to heal when I got ambushed by a group of scavengers. I ended up dying and losing half my loot, all because I didn’t save 10 fiber for bandages.
Second, don’t waste gold buying string from random wandering traders unless you’re in a real pinch. Traders usually charge 10 gold per string, which is a ripoff when you can make 10 string for free in 5 minutes of farming. Save your gold for rare crafting recipes or NPC upgrade materials that you can’t farm easily on your own. Never leave string behind in a loot chest when you’re exploring ruins—it might seem like a boring common item, but you’ll regret passing it up when you’re 30 minutes away from your base and need to repair your glider.
Finally, don’t hoard string for some hypothetical late-game need. You can farm so much fiber so quickly that you’ll never run out if you take 2 minutes to stock up every time you pass a grassy field. I’ve seen players keep 100+ string in their storage chests and refuse to use it for basic builds, which just slows down their progress for no reason.
At the end of the day, figuring out how to make string enshrouded is one of the first small but important steps to mastering the game’s crafting system. You don’t need fancy tools or rare materials, just a little bit of time harvesting fiber and a clear idea of what you want to use the string for. Next time you’re running between quests, take 2 minutes to stop and harvest a patch of grass—you’ll be grateful for the extra string when you need to craft a new bow or repair your glider mid-exploration. If you have any other favorite ways to farm string fast, drop them in the comments below!