If you’ve ever gotten halfway through crafting your first cloth armor set or upgraded glider only to realize you’re out of flax, you know how annoying it is to drop everything and run across Revelwood hunting for wild plants. That’s why learning how to plant flax in Enshrouded is one of the first quality-of-life upgrades I recommend to every new player, no matter if you play solo or with friends. I’ve tested these farming methods across three separate playthroughs, including a hardcore permadeath run, and they work even if you’re still in the early hours of the game with limited base building unlocks. You don’t need any fancy late-game gear to get a steady flax supply going, just a few common materials and 10 minutes of setup time.
What You Need Before You Can Plant Flax in Enshrouded
You don’t need to beat any major bosses or unlock high-level crafting stations to start farming flax, but there are a few non-negotiable prerequisites you’ll need to check off first. Most of these are items you’ll already have access to within the first 5 hours of play, so you won’t have to put off building your farm for long.
The first thing you need is the Farmer NPC, which you can rescue from a small crypt in the northern part of the Revelwood biome, not far from the first Ancient Spire you unlock. Once you bring her back to your base, she’ll give you the recipe for the Seedbed crafting station, which you’ll use to process and duplicate crop seeds. You’ll also need to collect at least a couple of flax seeds from wild flax plants, which grow in open, sunny grassy areas of Revelwood, far from shrouded zones.
Finally, you’ll need a space to plant the seeds. Flax only grows on fertile farmland, which you can craft yourself using 2 dirt blocks and 1 unit of fertilizer per farmland block, or find pre-built in abandoned farmsteads scattered across the map. Before you start planting, make sure you have all of the following items on hand:
- 1x Seedbed crafting station (unlocked via the Farmer NPC, crafted with 10 wood and 5 rough stone)
- At least 2x Flax seeds (collected from harvesting wild flax plants in Revelwood)
- 1x Fertile farmland block per flax plant you want to grow
- Clear, unshrouded space with no overhanging structures blocking direct sunlight
That’s all you need to get started. You don’t need water, fertilizer after planting, or any special tools to tend to the crops once they’re in the ground, which makes flax one of the lowest-maintenance crops in the game.
Step-by-Step Process to Plant and Grow Flax Successfully
Once you have all your materials gathered, setting up your flax farm takes less than 10 minutes total, even if you’re starting from scratch with no existing farm space. First, place your Seedbed somewhere near your farm plot so you don’t have to run back and forth between your base and the farm when you want to duplicate seeds. Drop your collected flax seeds into the Seedbed if you want to make more seeds first – each flax seed will turn into 2 more seeds after 2 in-game minutes, so you can quickly scale up your farm without hunting for more wild flax.
Next, place your fertile farmland blocks in a flat, open area. I like to make mine 3x3 or 4x4, which gives me enough space to grow 9 or 16 flax plants at a time without taking up too much base space. Once your farmland is down, open your inventory, equip the flax seeds, and interact with each farmland block to plant the seeds. You’ll see a small green sprout pop up immediately if you did it correctly.
Flax takes exactly 7 in-game minutes to fully grow, so you can go off and do other small tasks like mining for iron or building upgrades while you wait. You’ll know it’s ready to harvest when the plants grow tall, wispy leaves and pale yellow flowers at the top. Hit each plant once with any tool (or even your fist) to collect the flax and extra seeds. On average, each fully grown flax plant gives you 2-3 flax and 1-2 seeds, so you’ll never run out of seeds to replant as long as you save a few from each harvest.
So if you’re playing co-op, make sure you mark your farm plot on the shared map so your teammates don’t accidentally trample your growing crops or harvest them early. I learned this the hard way when my co-op partner harvested my first batch of flax 2 minutes after I planted it, and I had to run all the way back to Revelwood to get more seeds.
Best Uses for Harvested Flax in Your Playthrough
Flax is one of the most versatile early to mid-game crafting materials in Enshrouded, so having a steady supply will save you hours of grinding over the course of your playthrough. The most common use for flax is making linen thread, which you craft at the Spinning Wheel station (another recipe you get from the Farmer). Linen thread is used for everything from cloth armor sets, which are perfect for rangers and mages who don’t want the movement penalty of heavy plate, to bandages that heal you twice as much as the basic rag bandages you start with.
You’ll also need linen thread to make upgraded glider sails, which double the distance you can glide without losing altitude. That’s a total game-changer for exploring large open areas or crossing deep shrouded valleys without having to climb every single hill or fight your way through shrouded enemies. I don’t even leave my base for long exploration runs until I have at least two upgraded gliders in my inventory, and that’s only possible if I have a steady flax supply.
Excess flax is also great for trading with the Farmer NPC. She’ll buy excess flax for a decent price, and you can use that coin to buy rare seeds like wheat, cotton, and even berry bushes that you might not have found while exploring yet. I used to sell half of my flax harvests early on to buy enough wheat seeds to start a full food farm, which meant I never had to hunt for berries or hunt wild animals for food again.
Late game, you’ll also need flax to make cloth for building decorations, banners, and even custom furniture for your base. It’s not a rare endgame material, but having a farm on hand means you won’t have to stop mid-build to go hunt for more flax when you run out.
Common Flax Farming Mistakes to Avoid
I’ve made almost every possible mistake when it comes to farming flax in Enshrouded, so you don’t have to. These are the most common errors new players make that waste time and resources, and how to avoid them easily.
The first mistake is trying to plant flax on regular dirt instead of fertile farmland. I did this my first playthrough, spent 15 minutes waiting for seeds to sprout before I realized I forgot to turn my dirt blocks into farmland. You can craft fertile farmland directly in your inventory once you have the Farmer unlocked, so there’s no excuse for this one once you know what to do.
Another big mistake is building your farm too close to shrouded areas or enemy spawn points. Shroud will occasionally spread to nearby unshrouded blocks, and if it touches your flax plants, they’ll die immediately and you’ll lose all your progress. Goblin raiders and wandering wraiths will also trample crops if they wander through your farm, so put up a small wooden fence around your farm plot to keep unwanted guests out.
Don’t harvest your flax early, either. If you hit a flax plant before it’s fully grown, you’ll only get 1 flax and no seeds, which means you’ll have to go hunt for more wild seeds to replant. It’s always worth waiting the full 7 minutes to get the full harvest, even if you’re in a hurry for a small amount of flax.
Finally, don’t use all of your flax seeds for crafting, no matter how badly you need extra linen. Always save at least 2-3 seeds per harvest to replant, so you can keep your farm running indefinitely. If you use all your seeds, you’ll have to go back to hunting wild flax, which defeats the whole purpose of building a farm in the first place.
Once you figure out how to plant flax in Enshrouded, you’ll wonder how you ever played the game without a dedicated flax farm. It’s such a small, simple upgrade to your base, but it saves you hours of grinding for wild resources over the course of your playthrough, and it gives you easy access to some of the most useful crafting materials in the early and mid game. I still keep a small 4x4 flax farm at every base I build, even when I’m deep into the endgame, because I always need extra linen for repairs, building projects, and trading. Give it a try on your next playthrough – it takes less than 10 minutes to set up, and it pays off for the rest of your time in Embervale.