If you’ve spent any time upgrading your Enshrouded base or crafting advanced gear, you’ve probably hit a point where tar pops up as a required material, and you have no clue where to get it. I spent my first 10 hours of gameplay ignoring this niche resource, until I tried to build a better storage system and hit a wall without it. Figuring out how to make tar in Enshrouded is way simpler than it looks once you know what materials you need and which crafting station to use, and it unlocks dozens of useful upgrades you can’t get any other way. I’ve tested every method of getting tar in both solo and co-op play, so I’ll walk you through every step, common mistakes to avoid, and the best ways to use this resource once you have a stockpile.
What You Need to Make Tar in Enshrouded
The best part about crafting tar is that you don’t need any late-game progression or rare materials to make it. All you need are two common resources and one of the first crafting stations you unlock in the game. You don’t need any late-game crafting stations to make tar, even if you’re 30+ hours into a playthrough with all NPCs rescued.
First, you’ll need 2 pieces of wood per batch of tar. Wood is the most common resource in the game, and you can get it by chopping any tree, bush, or even abandoned wooden furniture you find in villages. I usually keep a stack of 100+ wood in my inventory at all times, so I never run out when I need to craft random resources.
Second, you’ll need 1 resin per batch of tar. Resin drops exclusively from pine trees, the tall evergreen trees that grow in dense patches on the western and northern edges of the starting meadow. You’ll get 1-3 pieces of resin per fully grown pine tree you chop down, so a 10-minute farming run will give you enough to make 20+ batches of tar. You’ll also need a placed Fire Pit, which you can build with 5 stone and 3 wood within the first hour of gameplay.
Step-by-Step Tar Crafting Process
Once you have your materials gathered, crafting tar takes almost no time at all. First, make sure your Fire Pit is placed down in a safe spot, either inside your base or near your farming area. You don’t need to add extra fuel to the Fire Pit to craft tar, as long as it’s placed and fully built, it will work for crafting.
Interact with the Fire Pit to pull up its crafting menu, then navigate to the “Basic Resources” tab. You’ll see the tar recipe listed near the bottom of the tab, right next to charcoal and cloth recipes. Select how many batches you want to make, and confirm the craft. Each batch takes 10 seconds to craft, so you can make dozens in just a few minutes if you have enough materials.
The most common mistake I see new players make is looking for the tar recipe in the Workbench or Smelter menus. Tar only shows up in the Fire Pit crafting menu, even after you unlock higher tier stations. This is the fastest and most consistent way to get tar in Enshrouded, even if you’re playing on the hardest difficulty settings.
Alternative Ways to Get Tar Without Crafting
If you’re still early in the game and haven’t found the pine tree areas yet, there are a few alternative ways to get small amounts of tar to cover your immediate needs. None of these methods are as efficient as crafting tar in Enshrouded at your Fire Pit, but they’re great for getting a small stockpile early on.
- Loot from abandoned bandit camps and chests: Most small bandit camps around the starting meadow have at least 2-5 tar in their storage chests, and you don’t have to fight high level enemies to get them. Most guards at these camps are level 1 or 2, so you can take them out with basic stone tools if you’re careful.
- Recover from destroyed wooden structures: If you tear down old torches, wooden fences, or pitch-covered roofs you find in abandoned villages, you’ll get a small amount of tar back as a refund. It’s not a lot, but it’s a good way to stock up while you’re looting other resources like metal scraps.
- Rewards from early NPC quests: The Farmer and Carpenter NPCs both have low-level quests that reward 10-20 tar for simple tasks like building a small farm plot or upgrading your first workbench. These are great for getting your first batch of tar before you have access to pine tree areas.
I only recommend using these methods for your first 20 or so pieces of tar. Once you need more than that, crafting it is way faster than running around looting random camps for small drops. Many new players underestimate how much tar in Enshrouded they’ll need for mid-game upgrades, so it’s smart to farm extra whenever you have free time.
Top Uses for Tar in Your Enshrouded Playthrough
Tar is one of the most versatile mid-game resources, and you’ll need it for everything from base upgrades to combat gear. The first and most important use is waterproof base building parts. Tar lets you craft shingle roofs and sealed wooden walls that don’t take damage from rain or the Shroud’s corrosive mist. If you build your base near the Shroud border, these parts are non-negotiable, because regular wood will break down in a couple of in-game days if it’s exposed to constant mist.
You also need tar to build the Smelter, the crafting station that lets you process iron ore into iron bars. Iron bars are the core material for all mid-game tools, weapons, and armor, so you can’t progress past the early game stone and wood tier without a Smelter. I usually craft 30 pieces of tar as soon as I can, just so I can build my Smelter right when I unlock it.
Tar is also useful for combat and exploration. You can craft tar-coated torches that burn twice as long as regular torches, and deal extra fire damage to Shroud enemies, which are naturally weak to fire. You can also craft fire arrows with tar, which are perfect for taking out flying Shroud enemies from a distance without having to get close to their corrosive attacks.
If you’re playing co-op, tar lets you build paved roads that increase your movement speed by 30% when you walk on them. That cuts down travel time between your base, farming spots, and NPC camps by a huge amount, especially if you’ve built your base far away from high-resource areas.
You don’t have to overcomplicate getting tar, even if you’re a brand new Enshrouded player. Stick to pine tree farming for resin, craft batches at your Fire Pit whenever you have extra materials, and you’ll never run out when you need it for upgrades. Taking a few minutes to learn how to make tar in Enshrouded early in your playthrough will save you hours of frustration later, when you’re stuck waiting for materials to build your first Smelter or repair your base after a storm. If you’re still struggling to find resin, head to the western edge of the starting meadow, where pine trees grow in large, dense patches that you can farm in 10-minute runs.