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Building Tips
Want to unleash your inner longhouse architect? With these Valheim building tips, you can build sturdier, better-looking, and more creative Valheim bases. All you need is wood, a Hammer, perhaps some stone, and a bit of time on your hands.
The Best Location for Your Base
Where to place your Valheim base? Although it depends on your current progress, needs, and personal preference, it’s usually handy to stay close to a shoreline, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time running from ship to base and vice versa.
It’s also handy to build bases close to a Sacrificial Altar, so you can respawn nearby if a boss fight goes wrong. Finally, upon exploring a new biome, it’s wise to stay close to that biome’s border, to avoid dying before you’ve finished the build.
Destroy or Fix Existing Ruins
Valheim is full of old, decaying buildings. Whether they’re made of wood, stone, or marble, these ruins can provide many resources. Place a Workbench next to the ruin and use the ‘destroy’ option (middle mouse button) to demolish the building and pick up the materials.
Alternatively, you can use the ‘repair’ option in the build menu to fix the decaying structure and make it your home. Whichever you choose, it will save you a lot of time.
Alter the Terrain
Use a pickaxe to dig trenches and a Hoe to level the ground or increase terrain height. Leveling the terrain creates the best foundation for your building, so you don’t need wooden beams. Furthermore, if you build your base on higher ground, it’s much easier to shoot enemies from a safe distance.
And finally, as many enemies aren’t able to jump off ledges or climb walls, these terrain manipulation mechanics are a great way to keep them at bay.
Create Circular Forms
Not every base needs to be square. If you want to create more interesting-looking buildings, be sure to use round shapes as well. Before placing a build piece, you can use the mouse wheel to slightly rotate it and thus create different angles.
If you want to create a tower, place a single wall piece and rotate every additional piece by one tick, which will result in a perfect circle as shown in the picture. A slightly more advanced building trick is to create an outline on the ground, using wooden beams.
Increase the Comfort Level
If your base is comfy, your Rested bonus will last longer. To get the highest possible comfort level in early-game, place the following items in your home: a campfire, Bed, Deer Rug, Banner, Table, and a type of Chair or Bench.
Easy Building Decorations
If you don’t want to live in a plain building, there are several ways to decorate your Valheim base. The easiest build piece to use for this, is the Wood Roof Cross piece. You can start by simply placing them in a line across your outer walls, as shown in the picture on the right.
Alternatively, you can experiment with different materials, depth, and patterns. For example, the picture on the left shows Core Wood Logs placed on a plain wooden wall as a second layer.