Best Enshrouded Server Settings and Difficulty Presets

The best Enshrouded server settings preserve meaningful progression while removing the friction your group does not enjoy. Start with Default for a first playthrough. Use Custom only after the group agrees which systems to change.

Built-in difficulty presets

Enshrouded provides Default, Relaxed, Hard, Survival, and Custom presets. Default is the intended baseline. Relaxed reduces pressure, while Hard and Survival make combat and survival systems more demanding. Custom activates the individual values inside gameSettings.

The key rule is easy to miss: individual gameplay values only apply when the server has:

"gameSettingsPreset": "Custom"

Back up the world, stop the server, edit enshrouded_server.json, validate the JSON, and then restart. Use the server config generator for the core file and the dedicated server setup guide for installation.

Best balanced co-op settings

This editorial profile keeps combat close to Default while making gathering and long nights less disruptive for a group with limited playtime:

{
  "gameSettingsPreset": "Custom",
  "gameSettings": {
    "resourceDropStackAmountFactor": 1.25,
    "miningDamageFactor": 1.25,
    "plantGrowthSpeedFactor": 1.25,
    "factoryProductionSpeedFactor": 1.25,
    "dayTimeDuration": 1800000000000,
    "nightTimeDuration": 420000000000
  }
}

These are recommendations, not official defaults. Values omitted from a custom configuration should be checked against Keen Games' current defaults before deployment.

Best relaxed building settings

For players focused on construction and exploration, increase material output and remove corpse recovery without making the character invulnerable:

{
  "gameSettingsPreset": "Custom",
  "gameSettings": {
    "enemyDamageFactor": 0.75,
    "enemyHealthFactor": 0.75,
    "resourceDropStackAmountFactor": 1.5,
    "miningDamageFactor": 1.5,
    "plantGrowthSpeedFactor": 1.5,
    "factoryProductionSpeedFactor": 1.5,
    "foodBuffDurationFactor": 1.5,
    "tombstoneMode": "NoTombstone"
  }
}

If death should still carry a small recovery cost, replace NoTombstone with AddBackpackMaterials.

Hard group settings

For an experienced party, modest increases are usually better than extreme multipliers. This keeps boss mechanics readable and makes enemy groups more dangerous:

{
  "gameSettingsPreset": "Custom",
  "gameSettings": {
    "enemyDamageFactor": 1.25,
    "enemyHealthFactor": 1.25,
    "bossDamageFactor": 1.25,
    "bossHealthFactor": 1.25,
    "aggroPoolAmount": "Many",
    "enableDurability": true,
    "tombstoneMode": "Everything"
  }
}

Raise one category at a time. Increasing enemy health, damage, group size, and death penalties simultaneously can turn ordinary travel into a grind rather than a tactical challenge.

Settings worth changing first

Keen Games documents the complete list and accepted values in its official Server Gameplay Settings reference. Recheck it after a game update because new systems can add settings.

Avoid these configuration mistakes

• Editing the file while the server is running and letting shutdown overwrite it.
• Selecting a built-in preset while expecting custom values to apply.
• Using smart quotes, trailing commas, or comments in JSON.
• Changing many difficulty factors at once without recording the old values.
• Increasing slots without checking CPU, memory, and upload capacity.
• Skipping a world backup before an update or host migration.

Once the server is stable, document the agreed rules for players and keep a known-good configuration alongside the latest world backup.