This article is part of a directory: Valheim Complete Guide for Tips, Tricks, and General Help
Table of contents

Highlights

  • The best places to build bases in Valheim are on mountains, in the swamp, next to the sea, next to a river, and near the spawn point.
  • Bases should be located strategically to access valuable resources and provide safety against enemies.
  • Considerations like terrain, flat ground, defensibility, and expansion potential are important when choosing a base location in Valheim.

Valheim is a survival crafting game based in the eponymous Viking paradise. With well over 5 million total sales, Valheim was one of the fastest-growing and most popular survival games ever made. With so many people playing, there are bound to be many bases built over time.

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While it may seem that bases are both versatile and safe, neither of those assertions is true, as bases require constant maintenance and activity to make them worth it. The best places to build bases in Valheim combine a variety of favorable traits and, most of the time, require some searching to find the right one for new players.

Updated February 12, 2024, by Joe Grantham: Valheim is a game that is still in the early access stage of development and thus receives many updates, both large and small. With each update, players can come up with new ways to improve their bases or else are offered entirely new locations in which to build. The absolute best locations for a base in Valheim offer numerous advantages and should ideally pass most safety checks. After all, players will have to defend against raids that get progressively harder throughout the game. Bases should be within reach of vital resources to save players from constantly making long and impractical journeys.

17 On A Mountain

Mountain Bases Are Not Only Beautiful But Close To Key Resources

Valheim_mountain_biome_silver_wolf_armor_set

To survive in the mountains in Valheim, players will either need Frost Resistance Potions or a Wolf Fur Cape, both of which can be lost. Alternatively, by building a base or even just a small cabin in the mountains, players will be able to shake off the cold with the help of a fire. Here they can store extra potions and maybe some spare capes, and if they ever die while exploring the mountains, they will spawn in safety with the resources required to go back out and reclaim their gear.

Having a base in the mountain biome is also great for farming resources such as silver efficiently, and players might also raise their own wolf pack here after taming two wolves. On top of this, the snowcapped mountains are the most beautiful backdrop for a base, especially seeing as snow rests on the top of exposed building pieces.

16 A Tree House In The Swamp

Height Offers Players Safety From The Swamp Floor

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The swamp is one of the hardest Valheim biomes in the early game, and normally players don't want to linger there too long with poisonous leeches lurking in the murky water and massive abominations ready to chase them all the way across. However, if players want to farm more iron in the Sunken Crypts or perhaps attempt the Bonemass boss, then having a base in the swamp is ideal.

The only way to make a swamp base in Valheim, however, is to build above the dangerous ground surface, up in the trees. Swamp tree houses present a new challenge to even the most experienced builders, but by getting creative, players can create some surprisingly complex bases. The key thing is to build on indestructible trees, as these act like the ground in terms of how foundation and stability work in the game.

15 Next To The Sea

Players Can Easily Set Sail & Return With Loot

Valheim Viking Riding a Raft Morning

Traveling by sea might not seem to be the best way to progress, but Valheim does away with these survival game conventions. Think of the sea as the highway of the world, making normally inaccessible places ideal areas for acquiring resources. With portals, many things open up, but ore and ingots still require a boat to ferry them to productive areas.

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Ambitious players may want to avoid harvesting resources on their home continent, with the intention of acquiring important wood and stone on other islands and continents. Therefore, placing a base near the ocean is extremely important for stowing away valuable ships, not to mention fishing.

14 Next To A River

Rivers Can Be Used To Access The Sea

Valheim Viking Fishing On Riverbank Sunset

Rivers are a vital source of always necessary flint, stone, and, most importantly, food. Necks are the perfect food source for aspiring hunters as they provide a secondary health increase in the early stages of the game, with the primary one being cooked meat from boars and deer meat. Neck tails are plentiful and highly nourishing.

In addition to this, if aspiring boat captains miss out on the ocean, they can always use the river as a highway in a similar fashion. Just make sure it is fairly wide, enough at least to navigate with a ship, even a simple one. The best base locations carry with them a variety of water sources that make basic survival a relatively easy task.

13 Next To The Spawn Stones

Having A Mini Base With A Portal Allows Players To Change Buffs

If a player's dedicated bed is ever accidentally destroyed, then they will revert to spawning in the middle of the map, at the spawn stones. Thus, in the case of an emergency, it can be a good idea to have a small base here with a portal connected to the main base.

It is also a good idea as after killing new bosses, players will want to return to the spawn stones in order to place the offering and claim the new Forsaken Power. Players might also want to regularly switch between their powerups, and having a base with a portal nearby will make this possible.

12 Next To The Eikthyr Rune Stone

The First Base Should Be Near The First Boss

Valheim Eikthyr Boss Facing Off Against Lone Viking

Eikthyr is an extremely important boss to fight early, as it allows players to access antler pickaxes and start acquiring copper and tin ore. While this may not seem to be the most important, if large groups require a lot of antler pickaxes, making the base far away from the boss spawn point can be a pain.

Therefore, for ease of access, it is best to locate Eikthyr's location as soon as possible to make the experience of the early game more efficient and enjoyable. As long as players don't stray too far in their early exploration, they should naturally be near to Eikthyr.

11 In The Meadows

The Meadows Are the Safest Place In Valheim

valheim fine wood

While an experienced explorer might deem it prudent to construct their base in the black forest or swamp, these areas are far more dangerous and have considerably more enemies. Meadows are scattered around the world of Valheim, and so locating one isn't particularly difficult for anyone with a ship and some patience.

In addition to this, the spawn point is guaranteed to start in this biome, so players should not be afraid to use this as a primary and safe base for gathering berries, leather scraps, and other important materials. As always, the best place to build a base is somewhere surrounded by the fundamentals. Not only that, but it also gives players a place to ride their new Lox mounts around safely, and a lack of trees can make sprawling cities with new building materials look exceptional. In the later game, players should try to find a patch of meadows surrounded by other more lucrative biomes.

10 An Easily Defensible Area

Cliffsides Can Form Natural Defenses

valheim wood structure

While the inclusion of pickaxes allows players to terraform to their heart's content, the standard base is spread out and on flat ground, so finding a suitable area to construct defenses can be a challenge. Instead, go uphill and find a plateau to start building. The terrain will favor the player when the Greydwarfs begin to attack.

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The players have a choice between making defenses themselves and using the natural terrain to their advantage. While it may seem tempting to do the first, players should save time and consider the second.

9 Surrounded By A Pit

Attacking Enemies Will Get Trapped In The Moat

valheim moat pit fortress bulding

Moats may fit the medieval aesthetic more than the Viking one, but in Valheim, many enemies will stop at a large enough depression in the ground. This means that any strategic enough moat can stop the worst enemies from attacking at all, and the small ones won't chip at the durability of a main base.

It may be cumbersome to construct and live around, but in a proper invasion, the moat can mean the difference between the headache of a death loop and a small inconvenience. Building a ditch is particularly important to stop trolls, which can destroy parts of the base if given the opportunity.

8 Anywhere A Bed Is Needed

Beds Count As Respawn Points, So Build Them Where Ever You Go

valheim bed fire lighting with fur viking corner

Bases don't have to be singular objects, they can spread out and multiply over several biomes to give players safe havens in multiple areas. The swamp and plains are deadly to early players, so a base near those is ideal to stop death loops and unneeded frustration. The best base designs in Valheim centralize the location of the bed, minimizing anger at the difficulty of this Viking survival game.

Players should never be afraid to expand over the entire map; the world is theirs, after all. Workbenches and beds are a standard addition to any base, but fire and a forge are also very nice to have around. Portals make beds even more important, allowing easy access to storage and spawn points across the entire world, and the new cartography table adds an additional way to share information on new bases with other players.

7 Flat Ground

Flat Terrain Is Much Easier To Build On

valheim viking flattened flattens ground

While this may seem obvious, a flat area is ideal to avoid unneeded work in construction. While a mountain or cliff base might seem cool, these are prone to failure, and their pillars are obvious weak points. Players should never be afraid to make these bases for the novelty value, but the first and largest base should have a sturdy foundation for the remainder of the game.

Builders beware, buildings can decay or be damaged by attacks. Players should never rely on their terraforming to create their defenses for them, after all. Valheim bases are as fragile as they are necessary; any survival game player knows this and knows to do it right the first time. Players can use the hoe to flatten the ground, and where holes need to be filled in, players simply need some extra stone.

6 Borders Between Biomes

Biomes Offer Different Resources, Making Border Bases More Efficient

valheim black forest biome shift border

While it may seem odd to place a permanent base on the line between regions, an outpost between the main base and a valuable biome can make a huge difference in carting goods to different areas. Even quick stops with a fire, bed, chests, and a workbench can stop many headaches during exploration.

While outposts may take time, veterans of Valheim know that these can make the difference in terms of enjoyment of this Viking survival experience. If players can find a safe patch of land that is surrounded by multiple biomes, they will have easy access to a wide variety of crucial resources.

5 Underneath A Sturdy Roof

Roofs Are Required For Beds To Work

valheim viking style roof building

Roofs are an incredibly important part of building in Valheim. While creating a large expansive complex of forges and fireplaces may seem nice, any building created without protection from the elements will degrade over time. This is noticeable immediately upon placing walls around any base, as a lack of roofs makes them lose durability extremely quickly.

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Walls and floors are important, but any truly defensible, useful, and efficient base has a large roof to stop any unnecessary decay from occurring. Locations like overhangs make this tricky to do, so any wise Viking will make an active attempt to allow for the construction of roofs above their head, even when it seems useless. New furniture items and building choices do diversify the application of roofs, but without a stable base, any building will soon fall into disrepair.

4 An Area With Room To Expand

Players Will Unlock More & More Buildings Throughout The Game

valheim clover fields meadows base expansion

Cramming in all of the hard-won spoils of adventuring into a tiny shack is both inefficient and hard to manage as stashes increase in size. A wise player will always leave room to expand and avoid building in areas that are too closed-in. This can include trees and terrain, but also other buildings as well, or even the sea.

The area around a base should be flat, open, and easily defended. All of these are obvious, but most players fail to realize that even a small hill becomes a big problem when more storage becomes necessary. Adding on the many new furniture items and building choices from the Hearth and Home update, small bases become very crowded rather too quickly. As players progress through the game and unlock more, they will often wish they had more space.

3 The Plains

The Best Location For Mid To Late Game Bases

valheim plains biome bronze helmet

Following the Hearth and Home update to Valheim, there is a multitude of new materials for building and exploring that can only be found in this difficult biome. So, while newcomers should refrain from settling here, it can make an appealing outpost for veterans who can comfortably survive.

Just as an example, players may want to set up a ranch for Loxes that can be tamed and ridden. Alternatively, they may want an area for harvesting new black tar for use in buildings. Either way, this region is an excellent place to set up shop, and players can make a large base in the plains before venturing into the even scarier midlands.

2 On Top Of A Terrain Pillar

Custom Built Terrain Makes Bases Completely Safe

valheim terrain pillars safety mobs enemies greydwarfs building base

Enemies in Valheim lack a very complicated AI to dictate their movements and will often get confused or stuck on seemingly minor bits of terrain. Combine that with the fact that Valheim enemies cannot ever destroy sufficiently large pieces of terrain, and it becomes obvious that the best way to not get attacked is to make some modifications to the ground.

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Many Valheim veterans consider a base unsafe if it doesn't sit upon a wild array of pillars made out of wood and dirt. Not only does this avoid damage from random enemy spawns, but it also provides a clear size indication for the growth of a base. To build a terrain pillar, players will need their hoe and lots of stone.

1 On An Island

The Sea Is The Most Impenetrable Defense

valheim island forest fortress base

While creating fortifications is definitely one of the most conventionally fun parts of playing a survival game like Valheim, creating a base where enemies can't spawn is also a change of pace that will make any playthrough just a bit more peaceful. The ocean biome fits that description, and small islands in this biome can create an ideal starting point for a large multi-floor base.

Sea serpents may harass players' ships, and they may be a bit isolated, but the island fortress is an exceptional addition to any world in Valheim and a nice change of pace from normal architecture. With enough stone and some patient terraforming, players can also increase the size of their island.

valheim game
Valheim

Released
February 2, 2021
Developer(s)
Iron Gate AB
Genre(s)
Sandbox , Survival