I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Enshrouded, and what’s kept me coming back isn’t just the combat, it’s the freedom it gives you to build and experiment. There’s a flexibility to shaping your base and the ground around you. I think it has the best building mechanic in a survival game, while combat could use more improvements, which is what developers are working on.

Combat changes are taking center stage in the upcoming Update 8, with developers outlining a mix of new mechanics and system tweaks that alter how fights play out moment to moment. The update introduces heavy attacks. By holding the attack button, players can trigger stronger strikes that deal increased damage and stamina damage, while also granting limited resistance to being staggered by smaller enemies. The intent is to give players more control in tighter encounters rather than large crowd situations.

A separate system, weapon-specific skills, builds on that foundation. These abilities are tied to the weapon type and require players to fill a meter through regular combat actions, including standard hits, heavy swings, and evasive moves. Once charged, the skill can be activated for a more powerful attack that provides full stagger immunity during execution. Some of these skills emphasize mobility or reach, while others introduce area damage, expanding options depending on the weapon equipped.

Several weapon categories are also being reworked, such as two-handed weapons, including greatswords, greataxes, and hammers, are receiving revised movesets. The greatsword now focuses on wider horizontal swings, while the others lean into diagonal attack patterns. These changes are based on player feedback and are meant to improve consistency in how attacks connect.

Defensive movement is seeing adjustments as well. Dodge rolls will now include invulnerability frames, a long-requested feature. At the same time, default movement behavior during dodging has been altered so characters no longer automatically circle around enemies unless that ability is unlocked through the ranger skill tree.

Other mechanical updates target responsiveness. Mid-air attacks have been simplified with clearer inputs for upward and downward strikes. Attacks performed near ledges now include safeguards to reduce accidental falls, though players can still move off edges deliberately. Targeting has been refined, allowing manual selection through mouse or controller input.

Enemy behavior is also shifting as some enemies will attempt to evade incoming projectiles, and targeting logic has been reworked to improve how enemies choose their focus. Adjustments to aggro are expected to support future stealth improvements, though those systems are still in development.

Additional tweaks affect movement and input. Players who trigger the glider unintentionally during combat can now rebind the control. Developers also noted ongoing work on magic systems, with plans to expand spell variety and crowd control options, though those changes are not tied to this update.

In all, the next update is looking pretty solid. I think the combat changes will be a significant step toward Enshrouded‘s 1.0 release.