Ultimate Enshrouded Backpacks Guide (All Backpacks & How to Get Them)

Lastest Update: August 6, 2026 – Categories: Enshrouded

This guide explains how to expand your inventory with backpacks, where all of them are, and how to get the best backpacks in Enshrouded.

Backpacks in Enshrouded are one of the most important upgrades for progression, increasing your inventory space and letting you explore longer without returning to base. In this guide, we break down the best backpacks, how to get them, and when you should prioritize upgrading.

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Enshrouded Backpacks Explained

In Enshrouded, Backpacks expand your default inventory slots allowing you to carry more loot and materials. There is no weight in Enshrouded, just slots, so getting more is critical to exploration. You can equip a backpack in your character screen with Backpack Extensions.

Backpacks are progression based, and as you unlock more materials and survivor NPCs, expect to run into more backpack upgrades. You will need materials, workstations like the Drying Rack, and generally a new ingredient to unlock better backpacks each time. Let’s walk you through all of them in order below.

All Enshrouded Backpacks

Tiny Backpack

• Materials: 3 Torn Cloth, 5 String
• Slots: +8
• How to get: discover Torn Cloth
• Crafting station: Manual Crafting

The first backpack upgrade you can get is the Tiny Backpack, formerly called the Pouch. You must discover the recipe by finding one Torn Cloth. Torn Cloth drops from Fell enemies and or destroying objects. At the start of the game, Longkeep should have crates or containers with Torn Cloth. If not, kill the enemies around the area and destroy crates to find one quickly.

The second ingredient needed is string, which is crafted via manual crafting. You will need to collect Plant Fiber which is abundant around the starting area. Once you have 3 Torn Cloth and 5 String, make the Tiny Backpack and equip it in your backpack extension slot on your character screen.

Small Backpack

• Materials: Torn Cloth 1, Dried Fur 4, String 1
• Slots: +16
• How to get: Must obtain Dried Fur recipe to unlock
• Crafting station: Workbench

The second backpack in our progression is the Small Backpack. This will require you to Rescue the Hunter NPC Craftsperson in order to learn the Dried Fur recipe via the Drying Rack. Once this is learned, the recipe will pop up allowing you to make the small backpack upgrade.

To unlock the Hunter, you must via the Ancient Vault Hunter during the quest Hunter Becomes the Hunted. She’s found in the vault, and once unlocked, you can summon her at your home base. The Drying Rack require 10 Wood Logs and 6 String, so craft it right away.

Once you craft the Drying Rack, you want to combine 1 animal fur with 3 salt for one minute to unlock the Small Backpack upgrade. The easiest place to get salt is north via Egerton Salt Mines. You will likely need a ton of salt early in Enshrouded, so it’s recommended to craft an additional Flame Alter and set it down just outside of the shroud. This allows you to quickly travel back and forth hauling a ton of salt.

Now that you have Salt, craft your backpack upgrade and then moving onto a +24 slot, medium!

Medium Backpack

• Materials: 6 Reptile Leather, 6 Linen
• Slots: +24
• How to get: Craft Linen
• Crafting station: Bard

The Medium Backpack gives a huge +24 boost to your inventory but it’s a bit more complex to unlock. You want to unlock the Bard Survivor and Linen. Let’s start with the Bard first.

The Bard can be found in the Blackmire area northwest on the map. North and slightly east of the Ancient Spire you will find the Sunken Ancient City vault where she is located inside. The Follow the Melody quest chain should prompt you to find here after reaching higher levels. She’s also used for the Large Backpack as well.

The next thing you need is Linen which requires the Hand Spindle and Flax to make. The Hand Spindle is unlocked during the Hunter’s Quest progression with the Hunter’s Hand Spindle quest. It’s located just north of the Revelwood Ancient spire in an Abandoned Hunter Camp.

Now you need the Flax plant, which is blue and is around the Revelwood biome. It’s best to go into wide open fields and you’ll find a bunch of it. You will need a massive amount of Flax for various crafting recipes beyond the backpack, so take a few and put them into a seedbed crafted by the Farmer. However, you just need two Flax to produce one Linen, and unlock the recipe.

The last ingredient is Reptile Leather, which is made at the Drying Rack workshop with Reptile Hide and Salt. Reptile Hide drops from Snapjaws reptiles that are found in the Blackmire area. Look for mud and tar pits to find these creatures and collect a few hides needed to make six Reptile Leather.

Large Backpack

• Materials: 5 Leather, 5 Linen
• Slots: +32
• How to get: Learn Leather Crafting material
• Crafting station: Bard

The final upgrade as update 7 is the Large Backpack with +32 slots. You will need the Bard, Linen, and a new material called Leather. Leather can be crafted at the Tanning Station which is unlocked in the Nomad Highlands via the In Need of a Tanning Station Hunter quest chain.

You can find it at the Lupa’s Lair location which is south of the Nomad Highland Ancient Spire. One of the crafting ingredients you will need to make leather is Ammonia Glad. These come from Fell Mushroom Crabs, which should be found in the same area, Nomad Highland Shroud. The Umber Hollow area also contains many of these creatures which look like a large glowing orange mushroom. Kill them and collect many Ammonia Glands.

Now craft your Leather at the Tanning Station and Linen to upgrade to the Large Backpack.

Enshrouded Inventory Management

The best way to manage your inventory is to constantly return to base and deposit items. You want to bring one or more flame altars with you and use them as a quick transport back to base, then return to the furthest point you discovered. Extinguish the flame, only to move further and rinse and repeat.

Next, you will want to load up your primary base with Magical Chest that allows you to deposit materials and use them in crafting at work stations. Enshrouded allows you to quick deposit items into stacks already in your chest, allowing you to quickly deposit all of your similar items (Shift + R). Each time you return to base go to each chest and quickly deposit everything to free up space.

Since you have two combat bars, make sure to fill those up with essential items. Materials on your bar do not disappear when you die. Therefore, if you discover and acquire new material you must keep, don’t keep it in your inventory but put it on you bar. This way if you die from fall damage or combat, you still retain the material.

Lastly, items like shields cannot be deconstructed for Gems, so delete them if you don’t need. If you have found one or more useless weapons, Salvage immediately to clear up some space. You can also hit the T key to reorganize your inventory in case you have two separate stacks of the same material.

Enshrouded Backpacks FAQ

1. How many inventory slots do you start with in Enshrouded, and what is the maximum?

Your default inventory is 24 slots with no backpack equipped. Equipping the Large Backpack adds 32 slots, bringing your total to 56 slots. There is no weight limit in Enshrouded, only slots, so every upgrade meaningfully extends how long you can explore before returning to base.

2. Can you equip more than one backpack at a time?

No. There is only one Backpack Extension slot on your character screen, so you can only have one backpack equipped at a time. Always upgrade to the highest tier backpack you can craft and replace your current one rather than trying to stack them.

3. Why is the Small Backpack recipe not showing up after I rescued the Hunter?

The Small Backpack recipe does not unlock automatically when you rescue the Hunter. You need to craft and place a Drying Rack first using 10 Wood Logs and 6 String, then produce at least one Dried Fur by combining Animal Fur and Salt inside it. Completing that step is what triggers the recipe to appear in the Hunter’s crafting menu.

4. What is the fastest way to get Salt for the Drying Rack early in the game?

The Egerton Salt Mines to the north are the most reliable early source of Salt. Because Salt is used heavily in multiple early crafting recipes beyond just the backpack, it is worth placing a second Flame Altar just outside the Shroud near the mines. This lets you teleport back and forth quickly and haul large amounts in a single trip.

5. Do you need to keep your old backpacks after upgrading, or can you delete them?

You do not need to keep old backpacks once you have upgraded. The new backpack simply replaces the old one in your Backpack Extension slot and the previous tier serves no further purpose. Salvage or delete the old one to free up an inventory slot.

6. Is there any way to manage inventory without upgrading the backpack?

Yes, and it is worth doing even after you have the Large Backpack. Placing Flame Altars as temporary waypoints while exploring lets you teleport to your base, quick deposit materials into Magical Chests using Shift + R, and return to where you left off without losing your position. Items placed on your action bars also persist through death, so put any rare new materials there rather than in your inventory slots to protect them if you die.

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