Survival is key if you want to be a good Viking, but you won’t achieve anything if you don’t have a home. And a real one, without leaks or holes in the walls that can fit half a boar. That is why we have prepared this Valheim building guide with which we will teach you how to make your base (and other constructions) in the best possible way.
Build a base in Valheim to serve as protection
It may seem obvious, but first of all you need a flat and firm place to build the beginning of your home in Valheim. To start building you need a hammer that you can build with 3 woods and 2 stones. You will also need to place a workbench that will allow you to access the Valheim construction menu.
The game generates its world procedurally, so that no two games (or two worlds) will be the same. It may take some exploring to find relatively flat terrain early on. Avoid mountains and very rugged scenery, because this will not be productive in the long run.
Once you’ve created the hoe, you can level and raise the ground to your liking. Haz a good flat space to build your house, do not be crappy and do it anywhere because then the walls will be uneven.
Start building your house by laying wooden tiles. This not only makes it look good visually, but it is functional by ensuring that the ground you are building on is level. Your first home in Valheim may not be your last, but it’s good that you have good building habits right from the start.
As Valheim offers unlimited building combinations (you can build whatever you want) it can seem a bit overwhelming at first. Like in other survival games, building houses requires putting individual pieces together. Fortunately, the game has a system that allows you to easily connect the pieces by snapping their edges.
This allows the structure to be more uniform and also ensures better structural integrity, which means you can build taller and wider without the risk of pieces collapsing.
For the pieces to come together, you simply need to rotate the desired piece with the scroll wheel to align it and it should automatically snap to the closest pieces as it gets closer.
Understanding the Valheim structural support system
Valheim uses a structural support system that can be overlooked at first glance. However, understanding this system is key to building a proper foundation.
When joining pieces, you may notice that some sections change color before placing the new one. Most of the time they should be blue, indicating that the structure has a solid foundation to build on.
However, some pieces may turn green, yellow, orange, or red, depending on how much structural integrity exists.
When the pieces are green indicates strong support. You can continue to build safely.
The yellow pieces indicate that the structure is weakening. You can build, but it’s not going to hold a lot of extra weight.
The orange pieces indicate a very weak structure. Arrange the pieces at your own risk, as they can fall apart at any time.
The pieces that are red they indicate structural failures and no more can be built. If you attach something to a red piece it will immediately fall apart.
As we have stated above, a solid foundation is extremely important when building a home. This will ensure that you can build your foundation without fear that it will literally crumble under its own weight.
How to level the ground in Valheim
To be able to level the ground in Valheim it is best to start building on level ground. Fortunately, Valheim provides a tool to help you. You can make a hoe on your workbench with 5 woods and 2 stones.
The hoe will allow you to level the ground as long as you have resistance available. The area that can be worked with will be indicated by a series of yellow circles on the floor.
When leveling the ground, lower the height at your character’s feet. The easiest way to make sure the ground is perfectly level is to look down and do it while walking forward.
You can also lift ground if you have 4 stones and a workbench nearby every time you want to do it. This is useful if the ground is too low and you need to bring it to a certain height.
How to repair structures in Valheim and prevent deterioration of buildings
Over time, the structures will begin to deteriorate. It is usually accelerated by the weather (rain) and reduces the general health of each hit piece to 50%. Enemies can also attack your base, dealing damage to individual pieces.
You can see the general health of each piece by equipping the hammer and hovering over a specific piece. This is indicated by a small yellow vertical bar.
As parts deteriorate or become damaged, they begin to take on a worn appearance. This can result in a discolored appearance.
Fortunately, you can repair structures in Valheim easily (and for free) by equipping your hammer and selecting the repair option in the upper left corner of any of the hammer categories.
Once you have selected the repair option, simply left click on the affected item. If it can be repaired, you only need to click once to bring it back to full health. If it can’t be repaired, nothing will happen.
It’s not a bad idea to regularly repair items around your base to make sure they are not destroyed.
How to build and ventilate indoor fires
Fire is essential to keep warm and is required for sleeping at night. While it is easy to put a fire outside your home, sometimes it is easy to have a fire inside. This protects the fire from the elements and allows cooking indoors. To light a fire inside your home, you will need to remove a tile from the floor as they can only be built on natural soil.
However, with fire comes smoke. If you have nowhere else to go, your home will eventually fill with smoke, obstructing your vision and potentially killing you.
A simple remedy is build a fireplace in Valheim to guide the fire out of the house, or simply leave a hole in the ceiling for smoke to pass through.
We hope that these building tips in Valheim have allowed you to start creating your bases without difficulties. Experiment, try different materials, use other objects … the limit is in your own imagination, as many players have already shown.
If you need more help, here we show you how to increase your inventory space in Valheim so that you can carry more weight easily, and here we show you how you can back up your world so there are no problems or you lose any data.
