Embervale opens up the moment you finish the first stretch of the Enshrouded main quest walkthrough, because the glider and grappling hook turn a slow survival crawl into real vertical exploration. This guide traces every story beat from the first Flame Altar to the tools that redefine how you move.
How the Enshrouded Main Quest Walkthrough Begins
Your journey starts the instant you awaken as a Flameborn at the ruined Springlands altar. The opening quest chain is deliberately gentle: you gather wood and stone, drop a Flame Altar, and learn that the Shroud fog is lethal once your timer drains. According to the the official Enshrouded website, Embervale is a lost kingdom where every mountain, desert, and body of water hides a secret, and the early quests exist to teach you that exploration is the real reward.
The first major objective is rescuing the Blacksmith, a survivor trapped inside a Shroud pocket. Freeing him unlocks crafting stations, which in turn unlocks the armor and weapons you need to survive deeper fog. This is the moment the game stops being a tutorial and becomes a survival action RPG.
The First Three Quest Beats
The opening chain follows a predictable rhythm that rewards preparation: Awakening hands you the Wooden Logs, String, and Stone needed to plant your first Flame Altar, and that altar is what carves out a safe zone from the Shroud. From there, Survivor Rescue sends you into a nearby Shroud pocket to free the Blacksmith, whose crafting bench converts those same starter materials into weapons and armor. Only then does Flame Upgrade make sense — feeding the altar Shroud Cores and resources to raise your Flame Level and widen the build radius. Rush the Blacksmith rescue without a stocked altar and the Shroud's timer will outlast your health bar.
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Awakening — collect basic resources and place your first Flame Altar.
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Survivor Rescue — locate and free the Blacksmith from a nearby Shroud zone.
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Flame Upgrade — feed the altar resources to raise your Flame Level, which expands your safe build radius.
Each step feeds the next. You cannot upgrade the altar without materials, and you cannot safely gather those materials without the gear the Blacksmith crafts. Skipping ahead usually ends with a corpse run, so follow the order the quest log gives you.
Why the Early Quests Matter
Community reports consistently note that players who rush the main story without upgrading their Flame Level hit a wall around the second biome. The reason is simple: higher Flame Levels unlock better crafting tiers, and the 1.0 changelog on the Enshrouded 1.0 announcement archive confirms that Flame upgrades now automatically unlock the armor sets of the following crafting tier. That change means you no longer miss recipes by skipping a resource or a quest, but you still need to progress the story to reach those tiers.
Enshrouded How to Unlock the Glider
The glider is the single biggest quality-of-life unlock in the game, and it arrives through the main quest rather than a hidden collectible. You earn it by completing the quest chain that sends you to the Ancient Spire in the Springlands and then to a survivor who teaches you to craft the Glider.
Once you have it, holding the jump input while airborne deploys the glider and lets you cross gaps, descend cliffs safely, and reach ledges that were previously unreachable. The glider does not grant infinite flight, so you still need height to travel distance.
Glider Unlock Steps
Here is the practical sequence most players follow: you must first climb the Springlands Ancient Spire to reveal the surrounding map and activate its fast travel point, then complete the survivor quest chained to that Spire to earn the Glider recipe, craft the Glider at any workbench using Wood Logs and Animal Fur, and finally leap from a high ledge to deploy it — the same unlock path that gates full traversal access across Embervale. Skipping the Spire climb means no fast travel anchor, so the two are deliberately linked in the enshrouded main quest walkthrough progression.
| Step | Objective | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reach the Springlands Ancient Spire | Map reveal + fast travel point |
| 2 | Complete the survivor quest tied to the Spire | Glider recipe |
| 3 | Craft the Glider at a workbench | Glider item |
| 4 | Jump from a high ledge and deploy | Full traversal access |
The Spire climb itself is a vertical puzzle. You will use basic jumping and a bit of patience before you have the grappling hook, so treat the ascent as a preview of the movement system you are about to unlock.
Glider Basics You Should Know
The default glider has limited air time and a slow descent, which makes it ideal for controlled landings but poor for long-distance travel. Stamina does not drain while gliding, so you can chain a glide into a sprint without penalty. Wind currents near Spires and cliffs will push you further than a flat jump ever could, and learning to read those currents is the difference between a smooth crossing and a long walk back. If you want the full breakdown of how altitude, stamina, and updrafts interact, the Flame Altar and Shroud survival guide covers the timer mechanics that pair with gliding.
Enshrouded How to Get the Grappling Hook
The grappling hook is the second pillar of traversal, and it unlocks later than the glider through a quest that pushes you toward the Revelwood and the Nomad Highlands. You receive it after completing the survivor quest chain that introduces the Hunter and the Alchemist, both of whom expand your crafting options.
Unlike the glider, the grappling hook is a targeted tool. You aim at a valid surface, fire, and pull yourself toward it. It works on wooden beams, stone ledges, and specific anchor points marked by the game, and it is the only reliable way to reach several chests and Spire platforms.
Grappling Hook Unlock Steps
Unlocking the Grappling Hook is a multi-stage quest line that sends you across several biomes, so budget enough playtime to rescue two named NPCs and finish their combined quest chain before you can craft it at a Workbench. Unlike the glider, which you obtain early through the main quest, the Grappling Hook is gated behind the Hunter and Alchemist rescue objectives — meaning you will first need to reach Revelwood for the Hunter and the Nomad Highlands for the Alchemist, then complete the follow-up tasks they hand out. Once crafted, test it on the marked anchor points found on cliffs and ruins to confirm the pull-and-swing timing before relying on it for traversal.
| Step | Objective | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rescue the Hunter | Revelwood |
| 2 | Rescue the Alchemist | Nomad Highlands |
| 3 | Complete their combined quest chain | Multiple biomes |
| 4 | Craft the Grappling Hook | Workbench |
| 5 | Test it on marked anchor points | Any cliff or ruin |
Rescuing survivors is itself a core loop that feeds directly into the Grappling Hook grind, and the NPC summoning and survivor quest guide explains how the Summoning Staff lets you relocate these allies to your base once they are safe. That relocation matters for efficiency: the Hunter and Alchemist both hand out their follow-up quest steps from your base after being summoned, so parking them beside your Workbench and Flame Altar cuts the back-and-forth across Revelwood and the Nomad Highlands. Keep spare Shroud Wood and Resin on hand too, since each summoning drains a small cost and you will want to re-summon any ally who wanders off during a Shroud-survival run.
Grappling Hook Tips for New Players
Aim slightly above your target, because the hook arcs downward as it travels. You can grapple mid-glide to extend a jump dramatically, which is the fastest way to climb a Spire without a staircase. The hook has a short cooldown, so chain two grapples in quick succession only when the anchor points are close together. Finally, remember that the hook does not work inside heavy Shroud, so clear the fog before you try to swing across a gap.
Enshrouded Glider Upgrade Guide
The base glider is functional but slow, and upgrading it changes how you approach the entire map. Upgrades come from Flame Level progression and from specific crafting recipes tied to later survivors, so a glider upgrade guide is really a guide to pushing your Flame Level higher.
Higher-tier gliders increase air time, improve glide speed, and reduce the height you lose per second. The practical effect is that you can cross entire biomes in a single glide instead of landing every few hundred meters. Each upgrade tier compounds all three stats at once, so the jump from a mid-tier glider to the top-tier one is far larger than the jump from the base glider to the first upgrade — a distinction that matters when you're deciding whether to spend Flame Level resources on glider recipes or on unlocking the grappling hook, which covers vertical traversal the glider can't.
Glider Tier Comparison
| Glider Tier | Air Time | Best Use | Unlock Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Glider | Short | Short hops, safe descents | Springlands survivor quest |
| Improved Glider | Medium | Biome crossing, Spire descent | Mid-game Flame Level |
| Advanced Glider | Long | Long-distance travel, exploration | Late-game crafting tier |
The jump between tiers is noticeable. Basic Glider tops out around a few seconds of glide, Improved Glider roughly doubles that window, and Advanced Glider sustains air time long enough to clear an entire biome without touching ground — which matters when you're chaining main quest objectives like the Spire descent or the Kindlewastes traversal and don't want to burn stamina climbing back up. Players who upgrade early report spending far less time walking between points of interest, which compounds into faster quest completion across the whole campaign.
When to Prioritize Glider Upgrades
Upgrade your glider before you push into the Nomad Highlands and the Kindlewastes, because both biomes feature wide gaps and tall cliffs that punish a weak glider. Pair the upgrade with a higher Flame Level so your crafting tier keeps pace. If you are still deciding where to spend early skill points, the leveling and skill points guide explains how movement perks stack with glider upgrades.
Enshrouded Fast Travel Guide
Fast travel in Enshrouded is tied to the Ancient Spires and to your Flame Altars, and understanding the difference saves enormous travel time. Spires act as fixed fast-travel nodes that reveal the surrounding map, while Flame Altars let you teleport back to your base from almost anywhere.
You unlock a Spire by climbing it and interacting with the beacon at the top. Once activated, it becomes a permanent fast-travel point you can select from the map screen. Flame Altars work differently: they are your respawn and return point, and you can build additional altars as your Flame Level rises.
Fast Travel Node Types
| Node Type | Function | How to Activate |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient Spire | Fixed fast-travel point + map reveal | Climb and touch the beacon |
| Flame Altar | Base teleport + respawn | Craft and place it |
| Shroud Root | Clears fog in a local area | Destroy the root |
The 1.0 changelog notes that unlocking Flame Level 11 raises the maximum number of Flame Altars in the world to 16, and that most areas previously marked as no-build zones are now fully accessible. That change makes a sprawling fast-travel network far more practical than it was during early access, because you can now place altars in regions that used to be off-limits.
Building a Fast Travel Network
Place altars near biome borders so you can hop between regions without a long run. Prioritize Spires that sit close to quest objectives, and clear Shroud Roots along your travel routes to keep the fog from blocking your path. A well-placed altar network turns a twenty-minute trek into a ten-second teleport, which is the real reward of the Enshrouded fast travel guide.
Enshrouded Side Quests Guide
Side quests are not optional filler in Enshrouded; they are the primary source of survivors, recipes, and Flame Level materials. A focused Enshrouded side quests guide should treat them as parallel progression rather than distractions, because many side quests gate the gear you need for the main story.
Survivor quests are the most valuable category, and the reason is mechanical rather than cosmetic. Every rescued NPC — the Blacksmith, the Alchemist, the Hunter, the Carpenter, and the Farmer — unlocks a dedicated crafting station plus a personal quest line that ends in unique gear you cannot craft or loot anywhere else. The Blacksmith's chain, for example, gates the Rising Fighter armor set and higher-tier metal recipes, while the Hunter's quests supply the ranged weapons and arrows that make the Hollow Halls and Kindlewastes fights survivable. Collection quests, by contrast, tend to reward resources, XP, and Flame Altar materials rather than equipment, so treat them as a low-priority background task you complete while gathering for survivor quests. Prioritize survivor quests first whenever a new NPC appears at your base, because their gear rewards directly raise the power ceiling you need for the main quest's later Shroud zones.
Side Quest Categories
| Category | Typical Reward | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Survivor quests | Crafting stations, unique gear | High |
| Collection quests | Resources, experience | Medium |
| Exploration quests | Map reveals, lore | Medium |
| Combat challenges | Skill points, loot | Low to medium |
Community data suggests that completing survivor quests early pays off the most, because each new NPC compounds your crafting options. The Umber Hollow biome guide is worth reading before you chase side quests into the northern regions, since that area hides several high-value objectives behind tough enemies.
Balancing Main and Side Quests
A practical rhythm is to clear every survivor quest in a biome before moving to the next one, then sweep the remaining side quests on your way out. This keeps your Flame Level and crafting tier ahead of the difficulty curve, which matters more than raw level numbers. Skipping side quests entirely usually leaves you under-geared for the Shroud-heavy story missions that close out each region.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does the Enshrouded main quest walkthrough take?
A focused run through the main story takes roughly 20 to 30 hours, depending on how much you explore. Completing survivor quests and upgrading your Flame Level along the way adds time but makes the later Shroud missions far more manageable.
Do I need the grappling hook to finish the main story?
Not strictly — the main quest can be finished without it, but the grappling hook removes a lot of friction. Without it, reaching Spire platforms and cliffside objectives tied to the story means gliding from higher ground or taking long detours around Shroud pockets, which slows your Flame Level pacing. With the hook, you can climb straight to ledges that gate later quest steps, so grabbing it early keeps your main quest walkthrough on schedule.
Can I fast travel before unlocking the glider?
Yes. Ancient Spires become fast-travel nodes the moment you complete the climb to their summit, and your first Flame Altar — placed at the starting camp — doubles as a permanent return point from the very beginning of the Enshrouded main quest walkthrough. The glider mainly speeds up reaching those Spire nodes and lets you skip Shroud pockets between them, but it is not what enables fast travel itself; you can already teleport between any activated Altar or Spire before the glider is unlocked.
What is the fastest way to upgrade the glider?
Raise your Flame Level by feeding the altar resources and completing survivor quests, then craft the next glider tier at a workbench. Higher Flame Levels unlock the crafting tiers that contain improved glider recipes, so progression and upgrades move together.
Are side quests required for the main story?
They are not strictly required, but survivor side quests unlock the crafting stations and gear that the main story expects you to have. Treating them as optional usually leads to an under-geared character in the late-game Shroud zones.