If you’ve spent hours solo mining copper or running from the Shroud’s creeping fog alone, you already know Enshrouded hits different when you bring friends along. Figuring out how to play enshrouded coop doesn’t have to be complicated, even if you’ve run into weird connection errors or progression mismatches in other survival games. I’ve put over 80 hours into multiplayer runs with my regular gaming group, so I’ve worked out all the kinks to get your party up and running smoothly, no frustrating restarts required.
How to Play Enshrouded Coop: Step-by-Step Setup for All Platforms
Enshrouded supports crossplay across PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, so you can play with friends no matter what device they use. You can either join an existing world hosted by a friend, host your own world, or join a public dedicated server for larger groups. To host a private world for your friends, just load or create a new save, open the in-game menu, select “Invite Friends”, and adjust your privacy settings to match who you want to join.
You can play with up to 16 people on a dedicated server, but for most small groups, 2 to 4 players is the sweet spot. Any more than that and you’ll run out of resources fast, or end up with half the group standing around with nothing to do. Only players who have been invited or added to the allow list can join a private world, so you don’t have to worry about random trolls joining and destroying your base. Crossplay is enabled by default, but you can turn it off in your account settings if you only want to play with people on the same platform. If you’re playing on console, you’ll need to link your platform account to your Steam or Epic Games account to join crossplay parties, but that only takes a minute to set up.
Key Coop Rules to Avoid Progression Headaches
If you’re new to enshrouded coop, you might be worried about losing your progress if you join a friend’s world instead of hosting your own. The good news is that most of your progress travels with you, but there are a few key rules to follow to avoid headaches. Any items you pick up in a coop world stay in your inventory when you leave, so you don't lose progress if you join a friend's game instead of hosting your own. Your skill points and unlocked class abilities also stay with you, so you won’t have to regrind those if you switch between worlds. That said, there are a few common mistakes that can ruin your run, so keep these in mind:
- Don't delete your host world if other players have stored items there, as those items will be lost permanently
- Don't wander deep into the Shroud alone without telling your team, as you won't be able to respawn nearby if you get taken down
- Don't hoard all the upgrade materials, especially early-game iron and shale, since every class needs these to unlock key skills
You can also set up shared storage chests at your base that all party members can access, so no one has to beg for building materials or healing items every time they log on. Just make sure everyone labels chests for specific uses, like building supplies, food, or combat gear, to avoid mix-ups.
Optimal Team Roles for Smooth Coop Runs
You don’t have to lock yourself into a single role for your entire playthrough, but splitting up tasks will make your runs way more efficient than having everyone do the same thing. One of the biggest perks of enshrouded coop is that you don’t have to do every task yourself, so you can focus on the parts of the game you actually enjoy. For example, if you hate mining but love fighting enemies, you can leave the resource gathering to someone who likes that part, and spend your time clearing out Shroud dungeons for rare loot.
The best coop teams mix at least one tanky warrior build with one healer or ranged build to take down tough bosses like the Wraith or the Hollow King. Even if you only have two players, having one person focus on dealing damage and the other on support will make boss fights feel way less frustrating. If you have a full 4-person group, you can split into two teams: one working on base upgrades and farming, the other exploring new areas and unlocking fast travel points. My group does this all the time, and we’ve cut our playtime for main story quests in half compared to when we all tried to do everything together.
You can respec your skill points at any time for a small cost of essence, so if you get bored of your current role, you can switch to something else without restarting your character. I started my first coop run as a pure builder, then swapped to a ranged mage build halfway through when we needed more damage for boss fights, and it only took 5 minutes to adjust my skills.
Fixing Common Enshrouded Coop Issues Fast
Even if you follow all the setup steps correctly, you might run into the odd bug or connection issue that stops your group from playing. Most of these issues have super simple fixes, so you don’t have to spend hours troubleshooting instead of playing. The most common issue people run into is being unable to join a friend’s world. 9 times out of 10, this is because the host’s NAT settings are set to strict, or their firewall is blocking Enshrouded’s connection. You can fix this by adding Enshrouded to your firewall’s allowed list, or switching to a wired internet connection for both the host and joining players.
Another common issue is missing progress or items after leaving a coop world. If your skills or inventory don't save after leaving a coop world, make sure you manually save your game before exiting, instead of closing the app directly. If you’re getting constant lag during your runs, the host can lower the world’s view distance and turn off dynamic weather effects to reduce performance strain. If lag is still a problem, renting a low-cost dedicated server is worth the investment for groups that play regularly, as it removes the performance burden from a single player’s device, and lets anyone log in and play even if the original host isn’t online.
At the end of the day, Enshrouded’s coop mode is designed to be flexible enough to fit whatever playstyle your group prefers. You can spend 10 hours building a giant floating castle without touching a single main quest, or power through the entire story in a weekend, and both are equally valid ways to play. Once you know how to play enshrouded coop without the common setup headaches, you’ll wonder why you ever played the game solo in the first place. Grab your friends, stock up on healing potions, and go explore the Shroud together.