To endure and gain meaningful stat boosts in expansive open world games, players should seek out edible items and learn to cook them. In Enshrouded, there are three biomes offering a diverse range of ingredients that temporarily elevate attributes. This guide highlights the most practical items and the optimal loadout for each character class.
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How to use food
Food falls into several categories:
- Raw, edible – plants, roots, fruits, and vegetables found while exploring or grown on a player’s farm. They provide a small stat boost for a short duration and can be gathered by picking bushes in the wild.
- Raw, inedible – raw meat and poisonous mushrooms that cause negative effects when eaten.
- Cooked on fire – dishes you can bake yourself piece by piece. The process takes time, and overexposed ingredients may turn into tar. This includes cooked raw meat and mushrooms. To begin, place the item in the quick slot near a fire. After the Farmer’s Wife hearth becomes available, such ingredients can be baked passively and in any quantity.
- Cooked in a cauldron – completing the Farmer’s Wife quest line grants a home hearth for cooking. Set it up in your dwelling to craft more complex dishes while interacting with the farmer’s wife.
You can use raw foods immediately, dry them in a dehydrator, combine them according to the farmer’s recipe, or cook over a fire. More elaborate cooking yields stronger buffs and longer duration.
You may use any three dishes, four if the Survivalist tree’s Dessert perk is taken. It isn’t possible to eat identical food types simultaneously (for example, multiple vegetables offering different buffs). Buffs’ duration is shown near the top left, beneath the mana bar, and buffs end if health drops to zero.
The best food to start with
A practical list of affordable, nutritious options for a new researcher is provided here:
- Water – obtained from pits, with the closest source near Longkeep city. Grants +1 Fortitude (+10 Stamina) and +2 Stamina recovery for 10 minutes. Water is essential for maintaining momentum when exploring and running a farm.
- Purple berries – found on bushes throughout the first biome; recognizable by the blue berries on the stems. They restore +2 health for 30 seconds. After unlocking the Huntress and building a dryer, dried purple currant can be crafted, which takes about five minutes and offers an additional +1 health.
- Roasted lean meat – meat cooked over a fire sourced from local wildlife such as wolves. It provides +1 Constitution (+50 health) for 20 minutes.
- Honey – gathered from white beehives perched in trees, it delivers +15 stamina recovery for 3 minutes.
This foundational set is straightforward to assemble and upgrade. It yields greater stamina for faster exploration, plus extra health with steady recovery.
The best food for a wizard
Spellcasters prioritize Spirit and Intelligence. With the right mix of dishes, a caster can significantly increase damage and even defeat mini-bosses as they close in.
- Fried red mushroom – a fire-cooked mushroom found raw in grass. Despite the red cap, it is not poisonous and grants +2 Intelligence (+10% magic damage) for 20 minutes.
- Chamomile tea – prepared at the hearth by the farmer’s wife, this brew raises a stat by +5 and adds +2 Fortitude, plus +20 Stamina, for 35 minutes.
- Aureolin – a plant with yellow flowers common in the first biome. Seeds can be multiplied and grown around the home using water and bone meal. Raw aureolin provides +2 Ghosts (+40 mana) for 10 minutes.
- Fried azure russula – a mushroom cooked over fire, found in shaded regions. Raw, it is poisonous, but boiled russula grants +3 Intelligence (+15% magic damage) for 25 minutes.
The best food for an archer
A skilled archer benefits from high Fortitude and Agility. There are many more food options for this class, though most recipes unlock after setting up a hearth.
- Tomato – a vegetable from abandoned farms. When prepared with water, it provides +2 Dexterity (+10% ranged damage) for 10 minutes.
- Vegetable soup – can be prepared at Boerenvrouw with a suitable fireplace and cooking setup. It yields +4 Dexterity (+20% ranged damage) for 40 minutes; it can be replaced by vegetable puree, which requires only a fireplace.
- Chamomile tea – a versatile consumable useful for any class. It grants +5 stamina recovery and +2 Fortitude (+20 stamina) for 35 minutes. Chamomile grows plentifully in forests of the second biome after upgrading flame level.
- Grilled meat – the archer’s armor is lighter, so extra health matters. Depending on rarity, cooked meat increases maximum health.
The best food for a warrior
Warriors lean into melee power and party protection. Extra health and stamina help sustain longer engagements.
- Grilled meat – when wielding two-handed weapons or rarely using a shield, meat significantly boosts health reserves. Higher rarity meat amplifies this boost based on the slain creature.
- Hazelnut – a grain product found in the Razgulny forest. These tall bushes with brown seeds grant +3 Strength (+10% melee damage) for 15 minutes in raw form.
- Water – supports stamina recovery and adds more total reserve, enabling more sustained blocking and fighting without draining energy.
As the story unfolds, new ingredients and more potent recipes appear. If a hidden recipe or rare dish becomes available, the guide will be updated with guidance on how to obtain it.