Last Ember camps guide: every defense and support
How Last Ember outpost camps work: lighting, fuel, health and repairs, all eight defenses and supports with real numbers, what attacks them and what to build.
By Mutiny Games
Outpost camps are the second line of defense in Last Ember. Every map has six of them in a ring around the home fire. A lit camp is a safe pocket of light, it slows the main fire's burn by 6%, you can cook at it, and it can hold one defense and one support structure, each upgradable to level 3. Camps also have health, and if one falls, the fire there goes out and its structures lose a level. Here is how to get the most out of them.
How do you light a camp?
Walk up to a dark camp and press E to open its panel. Lighting it costs 8 wood the first time and 5 to relight it later, and partial loads count, so you can drop off wood over several trips. Lighting a camp also gives Firemaking XP and counts toward the Light 2 camps objective.
A lit camp has 100 fuel and burns about 0.55 a second, which works out to around 3 minutes in clear daylight. That rate rises 30% at night and with weather like rain. Feed it with E in the panel: each log adds 9 fuel, more with Firemaking. When the fuel runs out the camp goes dark, but any structures stay where they are and work again once you relight it.
How do camp health and repairs work?
- A freshly lit camp has 150 health, plus 40 for every structure level built there, plus 120 for every Palisade level.
- It mends itself at 2 health a second whenever no enemy is close.
- Repair in the panel restores 25 health for every log.
- The first time a camp drops below half health, everyone gets a warning.
- At zero health the camp falls: its fire goes out, every structure there drops one level (a level 1 structure is destroyed), and 6 logs spill out. Bring wood to relight it.
What attacks camps?
Knowing who goes for camps tells you which ones you can afford to hold:
- Brutes are siege beasts. On the way to the fire they smash any lit camp nearby, and they hit camps at full strength.
- Wraiths go for the nearest light, a lit camp or the fire, and drain a camp's fuel when they reach it.
- Wolves, husks and other hunters go after a lit camp near them when no survivor is within reach. They hit camps for 60% of their damage.
- The Lantern Eater circles a camp's light and drinks 7 fuel a second from it while it feeds, and it snuffs torches along the way.
The lesson: a camp nobody guards gets worn down, so light the camps you can actually defend first, usually the two or three nearest your path.
What do the four defenses do?
Each level of a structure costs wood: 10 for level 1, 16 for level 2 and 22 for level 3, so maxing one costs 48. In the camp panel, keys 1 to 4 pick a defense.
| Key | Defense | What it does | Level 1 / 2 / 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballista | Shoots heavy bolts at the nearest enemy, piercing through | Range 320 / 360 / 400, a bolt every 2.0 / 1.6 / 1.2 seconds |
| 2 | Ward Stones | Burns and slows (35%) every enemy inside most of the camp's light | 10 / 15 / 20 damage a second |
| 3 | Palisade | Sharpened stakes: far more camp health, faster mending, and attackers get hurt and slowed 40% | +120 health per level; mends 50% faster per level |
| 4 | Flame Brazier | When enemies come within close range it erupts in a ring of fire and leaves burning ground | Fires every 6 / 5 / 4 seconds, ring grows each level |
Ballista bolts, Palisade spikes and Brazier fire all grow stronger as the days climb, so a camp built on day 2 still pulls its weight on day 12.
What do the four supports do?
Keys 5 to 8 pick a support:
| Key | Support | What it does | Level 1 / 2 / 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Healing Hearth | Heals everyone in the camp's light, and the light reaches 20% farther per level | 4 / 6 / 8 health a second |
| 6 | Woodcutter's Hut | Chops a log next to the camp, as long as fewer than 5 are lying there | A log every 12 / 9 / 6 seconds |
| 7 | Watchtower | The light reaches 25% farther per level, and enemies inside take more damage from everything | +8% / +16% / +24% damage taken |
| 8 | Larder | Puts up roast meat and bandages over time; walk past to grab them | One every 32 / 24 / 16 seconds, holds 2 / 3 / 4 |
Once you pick a structure for a slot, that slot is locked to it, and 1 (defense) or 5 (support) upgrades it. You can also cook at any lit camp with K, or with the Cook option in its panel.
How should you choose a camp build?
Pick each camp's job by where it sits and who is playing:
| Situation | Defense | Support |
|---|---|---|
| Your first camp, on the way to resources | Ballista | Woodcutter's Hut |
| A camp you fight beside at night | Ward Stones or Flame Brazier | Healing Hearth |
| A camp on the brutes' path that keeps falling | Palisade | Healing Hearth or Larder |
| A boss night kill zone | Flame Brazier | Watchtower |
| Sunscar or another wood-starved map | Ballista | Woodcutter's Hut |
| A long run or Expedition | Palisade | Larder |
- Woodcutter's Hut first is the classic opener: a level 3 hut drops a log every 6 seconds, which pays itself back fast.
- Ward Stones stack well with Frostweaver and Alchemist slows, and the Watchtower boosts everyone's damage, turrets and wolves included.
- Healing Hearth plus Ward Stones makes a camp a place to stand and fight, not just a light.
- The Larder is free food and bandages for a team that forgets to cook.
How can you make camps cheaper?
Several things cut the wood cost of lighting and building camps, and they stack:
- The Tinker pays 20% less for every camp, and torches cost them 1 wood.
- The Tinker's Camp Engineer talent takes 25% off, the Kitbash tree node takes 10% per rank, and the Efficient Builder class perk takes 8% per rank.
- The Mason camp upgrade, open to every class, takes 5% per rank, up to 6 ranks.
Camp tips
- Every lit camp slows the main fire by 6%, so even an empty lit camp is worth the 8 wood.
- Repair between waves. Mending is free when no enemy is near, but a log of repair is faster.
- Fight near a camp on boss nights: you get its light, its healing and its defense.
- In co-op, one player keeping the camps fed and repaired frees everyone else to fight. See the co-op guide.
Frequently asked questions
How much wood does it cost to light a camp?
8 wood the first time and 5 to relight it after it goes dark or falls. The Tinker, the Mason upgrade and several talents make it cheaper.
What happens when a camp falls?
Its fire goes out, every structure there drops one level (a level 1 structure is destroyed) and 6 logs spill on the ground. Relight it with 5 wood.
What is the best camp defense?
It depends on the job. The Ballista has the longest reach, Ward Stones burn and slow everything inside, the Palisade makes a camp very hard to break, and the Flame Brazier hits hardest up close.
Do lit camps help the main fire?
Yes. Every lit camp makes the main fire burn 6% slower, and you can cook at any lit camp.
