Struggling to haul all your hard-earned loot in Nightingale? Unlocking the secret to boosting your carrying capacity can transform your gameplay, letting you gather more without slowing down. From crafting your first Simple Pack at the Simple Sewing Bench to upgrading with rare materials and magical infusions, this guide reveals the essential steps to carry heavier loads and explore the Fae wilds unburdened.
How to increase carrying capacity in Nightingale
To increase your carrying capacity in Nightingale, the primary method is to craft and upgrade backpacks. Early on, focus on crafting the Simple Pack using the Simple Sewing Bench, which you unlock by progressing through the story and trading with the Essence Trader. The Simple Pack significantly boosts your base carrying weight, allowing you to carry more without becoming encumbered. As you advance, you can upgrade your backpack at Upgrade Benches to further increase its capacity. Additionally, using Charms, Infusions, and Realm Cards can provide bonuses that increase carrying capacity or reduce item weight, enhancing your overall inventory management. Recruiting survivors and borrowing their packs can also temporarily boost your carrying capacity. Combining these methods ensures you can carry more items and weight efficiently while exploring the Fae wilds.
Increasing your carrying capacity with a backpack in Nightingale doesn’t add any inventory slots, but it does increase the weight you can carry before becoming weighed down. You have to take a lot of steps before you can craft one, though:
- Use a hunting knife to collect hides from animals
- Build a tanning station and sewing bench
- Craft a simple pack
Let’s go through each step.
Craft a hunting knife
To craft a hunting knife in Nightingale, you first need to hunt animals to obtain hides, which are essential for creating leather. Use the hunting knife to efficiently collect these hides from defeated wildlife. Once you have enough hides, build a tanning station to convert them into leather. This leather is then used, along with plant fibers, at the Simple Sewing Bench to craft backpacks that increase your carrying capacity. Crafting and upgrading your hunting knife and related tools is a crucial early step to gather materials needed for enhancing your inventory space and weight limit.
Before anything else, you’ll need to start getting hides from the animals you hunt (or the animals that attack you). To do that, you’ll need a hunting knife that lets your harvest resources from their bodies.

A makeshift hunting knife takes 3 rocks, 3 sticks, and 6 plant fibre. If you want to upgrade that to a simple hunting knife at a simple workbench, you’ll need 1 stone block, 1 wood bundle, and 2 straps. You’ll make straps at the simple tanning station.
Build a simple tanning station
To build a simple tanning station in Nightingale, you need to gather basic materials such as 6 sticks and 10 plant fibers. This station allows you to refine hides into useful materials like leather, which is essential for crafting items that increase your carrying capacity, such as backpacks. The simple tanning station is a Tier 1 crafting station and can be obtained early in the game by purchasing its recipe from an Essence Trader in any realm. Once built, it serves as a foundational crafting station to process hides and unlock further crafting possibilities.
In order to turn animal hides into something more useful, you’ll need a simple tanning station (6 sticks, 10 plant fibre).

The first couple things you’ll use it for is making 2 straps from 1 hide (to make better tools like the simple hunting knife) and 1 leather from 2 hides. Just remember that the hides you use to make leather both have to come from either a predator or prey animal – you can’t mix and match (for some reason).
Purchase the simple sewing bench plan from the Essence Trader
To increase your carrying capacity in Nightingale, start by purchasing the Simple Sewing Bench plan from the Essence Trader located at the Sights of Power or various realms like the Forest Antiquarian. This bench allows you to craft wearable clothing and essential items such as the Simple Pack, which significantly boosts your inventory space. Once you have the plan, gather the required materials like wood bundles, fiber, and bones to build the bench. Crafting and equipping the Simple Pack from this bench is a key step in expanding your carrying capacity early in the game.
Head to your Abeyance realm’s Essence Trader and pick up the simple sewing bench plan for 55 essence. You’ll find it in the Crafting: Basics & Repair section.
To build one in your estate, you’ll need 10 wood bundles and 4 plant fibre. The sewing bench will let you make new gear to wear and improve your gear rating.
Craft the simple pack
To craft the Simple Pack in Nightingale, start by unlocking the Simple Sewing Bench, which requires 10 Wood Bundles, 15 Plant Fibre, and one Bone. Next, gather two Leather and six Plant Fibre to create the Simple Pack at the sewing bench. Leather is obtained by hunting animals and processing their hides at a Simple Tanning Station, which you first need to craft using sticks and plant fibre. Equipping the Simple Pack will increase your carrying capacity by 50 to 75 units, allowing you to carry more weight and resources early in the game. This simple upgrade is essential for managing inventory and exploring efficiently before progressing to more advanced backpacks and upgrades.

What is the most effective way to double my carrying capacity in Nightingale
The most effective way to double your carrying capacity in Nightingale is to craft and upgrade your backpack, starting with the Simple Pack. First, unlock the Simple Sewing Bench by locating the Essence Trader and purchasing the recipe. Then craft the Simple Pack using two Leather and six Plant Fibre, which alone can increase your base carrying capacity by about 75 kg, effectively doubling it from the starting 50 kg to around 125 kg or more.
After crafting the Simple Pack, you can further increase your carrying capacity by upgrading your backpack at Upgrade Benches, which become available after progressing to the Forest Antiquarian Essence Trader. Upgrading the pack raises its stats, including carrying capacity, allowing you to carry significantly more weight-players have reported reaching around 180 kg or more through upgrades.
Additionally, infusing your backpack with magical infusions and using charms can provide further boosts to carrying capacity, but the core and most reliable method remains crafting and upgrading your backpack through the Simple Sewing Bench and Upgrade Benches.
What is the fastest way to double my backpack’s capacity in Nightingale
The fastest way to double your backpack’s carrying capacity in Nightingale is to craft the Simple Pack as soon as you unlock the Simple Sewing Bench by trading Essence with the Essence Trader early in the game. This initial backpack alone roughly doubles your base capacity from about 50 kg to around 125 kg. Then, immediately upgrade your backpack at the Upgrade Bench, which becomes available after progressing to the Forest Antiquarian Essence Trader. Upgrading the pack boosts its carrying capacity further, often pushing it well beyond double the starting limit. Additionally, infusing your backpack with carry weight-enhancing infusions and using Charms can provide quick supplementary boosts. Combining these steps-crafting the Simple Pack, upgrading it promptly, and applying infusions-is the fastest route to effectively doubling your carrying capacity.
