Valheim Building Guide

Our Valheim Building Guide will teach you how Building works, how to unlock more Buildings, and how to increase your Comfort score!

Quicklinks: How Valheim Building Works | How to Make a Big Building
How to Unlock Stone Buildings | How Comfort Works | Comfort Score List
Building Pieces Crafting Recipes: Misc | Building | Crafting | Furniture

How Valheim Building Works

Valheim Building requires only three things: a Hammer, resources, and somewhere to Build. From there, your only limitations are your imagination and the structural integrity system.

Getting Started with Building

Your first step in Valheim building is to make a Hammer. The Hammer is a tool that lets you build objects in the game world and repair them -- you can't make a building without it!

If you have the resources to spare, you should upgrade it to Level 3 at your Workbench; this increases the durability and saves you from having to go back and constantly repair it. Once you have a Hammer, you're ready to get started with Building.

Selecting a Site and Planning Out Your Building

Your next step is to select a site for your building. The best way to do that is to ask yourself some questions:

1. What is this Building going to be used for? Is this your main base or is it just used for an overnight stay?
2. Is the Building in a dangerous area? What kind of monsters do you expect to fight?
3. Do you have enough materials nearby or do you need to bring them to the construction site?

Answering these questions is key to picking a good site. You can safely make structures out of wood in the Meadows, but a building in the Black Forest, Swamps, Mountains, or Plains should probably be constructed out of stone to be safe -- larger creatures like Trolls, Stone Golems, and Lox can shatter Stake Walls into splinters surprisingly fast.

If you do decide to go with Stone, it may be helpful to build a Cart and work near a Black Forest or Mountain biome. Both of these locations have abundant amounts of Stone. You can certainly find Stone in the Meadows, Swamp, Plains, and Mistlands, but you'll have a harder time collecting enough to get the job done.

Once you've decided where to build, you should clear out the land. Chop down any Trees in the way and break any rocks with your Pickaxe (unless you'd like to keep them around as a decorative feature). Your next step is to gather the resources you'll need for construction.

Gathering Resources and Building a Work Shed

Gathering resources is a simple affair -- you're going to need some Wood and Stone no matter what you're Building. Clearing the land around your construction site will probably provide some of the materials you need, but it certainly won't provide all of them.

I strongly recommend that you Build a work shed. Build a Workbench and, if necessary, build a Stonecutter next to it. Build a roof over it and put a few Chests nearby. You may also want to surround the work shed with a Stake Wall to protect it from enemies while you're away. You can even place a Bed in this area to respawn nearby, just in case.

Collect Wood and Stone from wherever is most convenient. If you have neither nearby, it may be helpful to build a Portal to an area where they are more abundant — while you can't take a Cart through a Portal, you can take trips back and forth and transport large amounts of resources very quickly that way.

Think about how much Wood and Stone you might need. On average, one wooden building piece will take 2 Wood and one stone building piece will take 6 Stone. Take that estimate and double it. It's not fun to run out of materials halfway through construction and you'll surely find a use for the leftovers.

Time for Construction!

Now it's time to actually start making your Valheim building! In this game, you can only build within the range of a Workbench, Forge, Stonecutter, etc. depending on what items you're building. Pay attention to the crafting requirements and ensure that you have the appropriate Workbench in range. You can always dismantle one and move it if you need to, but it may be easier to simply build a bunch of Workbenches and dismantle them when you're done.

An important note: Workbenches, Stonecutters, etc. that are exposed to the rain may take damage. Be sure to repair them with your Hammer before dismantling them or you might not get back all of the resources used to make them! That's not a big deal for a Workbench, but it can really hurt if you lose an Iron Bar because you dismantled a damaged Stonecutter.

Start with the floor. In the case of wood, it may be helpful to build some stilts and raise them up off of the ground so it looks nice. Stone floors can be built on the ground, even if the terrain is a little uneven — you can always use the Hoe to flatten things out a little more or the Pickaxe to lower the ground if you need to.

Next up is the walls for your first floor. Build out the walls however it makes sense. I recommend at least two blocks high — anything lower and it will be terribly cramped. A low ceiling also runs the risk of getting stuck in a wall or ceiling. There's no shortage of space in the world!

If you're building a multi-story building, you're going to want to work on one floor at a time. Build the first floor, then the walls, and then the second floor. You'll need a roof as well, of course — especially because wooden structures get reduced to 50% health when they're exposed to rain.

A Note on Campfires, Fireplaces, and Chimneys

Any building you plan to sleep in will require a campfire. Campfires can be placed outside of very small buildings or lean-tos if you don't have space. If you're making a proper home, however, then you're going to want to have your campfires indoors.

Campfires can only be placed on the ground or on Stone floors. A Valheim building made entirely out of Wood can't have a Campfire on the floor; your best bet, in this case, is to leave a hole in the floor for the Campfire.

You're also going to need a chimney. Campfires build up smoke and that will gradually cause damage to you over time. Your chimney should extend above the roof and have a covering on top to prevent the rain from putting out your fire, too.

Finally, consider building multiple Campfires next to one another. More Campfires mean more space for cooking and that can save you a lot of time in the end.

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How to Make a Big Building in Valheim - How the Structural Integrity System Works

Suppose you want to have a really big Building in Valheim. That's no easy feat -- Valheim has a "structural integrity" system similar to what you see in games like 7 Days to Die. The structural integrity system means that structures need to be properly supported from the ground up. If a supporting pillar is destroyed, you could very well see your entire roof collapse on top of you. Falling materials won't hurt you as a player, but it will mean that you'll have to rebuild the broken pieces.

It's good practice to ensure that your structure is properly supported with columns and pillars where necessary. Stone buildings can be reinforced with Wood Iron Beams to reach even greater heights, and you can build Wooden building pieces on top of that. You can create some truly impressive creations by properly mixing Iron-reinforced Stone and Wood. Angled Iron Beams (introduced in the Mistlands Update) are great for supporting roofs in large open areas.

How does the structural integrity system work? It's simple: a piece connected to the ground counts as a "foundation" piece and will be colored blue when you hover your cursor over it with the Hammer out. Pieces built on top of that are colored green, and each additional connected piece will gradually change color from green to red. A bright red piece is the absolute limit and you can't add anything else to it; you may want to consider adding additional supports if you want to Build bigger.

Because of this system, it's also possible to raise up the ground and use the terrain for support. It's a little cheesy, but raising up the land and using it as a support can help make a very large building if that's what you're going for.

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How to Unlock Stone Buildings in Valheim

You can unlock Stone Buildings in Valheim by unlocking the Stonecutter. Here's what you need to make a Stonecutter:

• Workbench in range
• 10 Wood
• 2 Iron Bars
• 4 Stone

The Iron Bars are the toughest requirement for new players -- you'll have to travel to a Swamp and dig up some Iron from a Crypt to get it. It's worth it, though, because Stone Buildings are some of the toughest structures in the game.

Why Stone Buildings Are Better in Valheim

Surviving in the harsher biomes will be nigh-impossible without Stone Buildings in Valheim, especially when it comes to certain situations. As one example, you might want to build a small base to respawn at if you die during a boss fight. Such a base in the Black Forest, Swamps, Mountains, Plains, or Mistlands could easily be destroyed by some of the tougher creatures if it's made out of Wood.

There's also the matter of more permanent settlements -- growing Flax and Barley can only be done in the Plains and some of the tougher creatures in that region can make short work of a Wooden base. Once you can build with Stone, you'll never want to go back.

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How Comfort Works in Valheim - How to Decorate Your Home

Comfort in Valheim is a measurement of how long you can maintain the "Rested" buff away from home. Comfort can be increased by Building certain pieces from the Misc and Furniture category, although some of them come with conditions.

Each piece of Furniture has a radius, too. If you have a massive hall, you won't be able to spread the Comfort buff to the entire area with just one piece of Furniture. You'll likely have to build several copies of items to ensure full coverage of the entire space (if you feel it's necessary, that is).

Finally, items providing Comfort fall into categories such as "Chairs" or "Banners," and 2 items from the same category will not stack their Comfort bonus. For example, you cannot build a Chair and a Bench and get Comfort from each; you will only get Comfort from the highest-ranking item in that category.

A Valheim Building is more than floors, walls, and a roof -- it's also what's inside. Bronze Nails can be used to make Item Stands. These Item Stands, in turn, can be used to place pretty much any item in the game on a flat surface or on a wall. Mount a sword on the wall! Put one of those dozens of trophies you have piling up in a chest above your fireplace! There are a lot of opportunities for creativity here.

Adding some light can make your home look nicer, too, but be warned -- having too much light can cause your FPS to drop pretty badly, especially on older computers. Sometimes, less is more! Don't be afraid to experiment and make the most of your new Valheim Building.

How to Get the Highest Comfort in Valheim

Here's what you need to get the highest Comfort in Valheim:

• Hearth (when Lit)
• Shelter buff (Roof overhead and enough side coverage from walls)
• Dragon Bed
• Raven Throne or Stone Throne or Black Marble Throne
• Round Table or Long Heavy Table
• Deer Rug
• Wolf Rug
• Lox Rug
• Hare Rug
• Red Jute Carpet
• Blue Jute Carpet
• Any Banner
• Armor Stand
• Hot Tub (when Lit)
• Maypole
• Yule Tree

All of these items combined will give you a Comfort score of 23, which gives you the Rested buff for 30 minutes. However, the Maypole and Yule Tree can only be Built during specific time periods in Summer and Winter, respectively -- that means that you'll only be able to get a Comfort score of 21 without them, giving you the Rested buff for a maximum of 28 minutes.

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Valheim Comfort Score List

Here is a list of all of the items that provide Comfort in Valheim, how much Comfort they provide, and which category each of these items belongs to.

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Valheim Building Pieces List

Here is a list of all of the Building pieces in Valheim, what Workbench is needed to Craft them, their Crafting Recipes, and any relevant notes.

Misc

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Crafting

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Building

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Furniture

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That's the end of our Valheim Building Guide. If you found it helpful, why not check out our other guides below?