Valheim Beginner Guide: Make Your First Base Usable

Edition: PC Steam base game (app 892970), standard survival in a new world. Normal World Modifiers, 1× resources, building costs enabled, map enabled, and normal death and portal rules. Solo controls are used as examples, with co-op differences identified separately. No mods.

Verification scope: Compared on 2026-10-04 against official standard patch 1.0.16 (2026-09-25). Version 1.0 was released on 2026-09-09. Public Test, old Early Access versions and mods are outside scope. Some early recipes were compared using retrieved portions of the pre-migration wiki and independent guides. The destination wiki was inaccessible, and a complete runtime/game-data comparison against 1.0.16 has not been performed.

Sources checked: 2026-10-04

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Learn pickup, crafting, equipping and building as separate actions

These are default PC inputs. If changed, prioritize “Keyboard & Mouse” bindings and on-screen prompts. Equipping the hammer changes right-click from blocking to the building menu.

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Learn pickup, crafting, equipping and building as separate actions: 7 entries
Goal	Tool/display check	Required input	How to confirm success
Pick up branches or stones	Name of the ground item	Approach and press E.	Its inventory quantity increases.
Craft early tools	I/Tab crafting list and ingredients	Select the item and craft.	The tool enters inventory.
Use a tool	Hotbar slots 1–8	Equip with its number, then left-click.	The held tool consumes durability/stamina.
Place a building piece	Hammer equipped	Right-click to choose a piece; left-click a valid placement.	Materials decrease and the piece remains.
Undo a placement mistake	Hammer and range of the appropriate station	Aim at the piece and use the default middle mouse button.	Only that piece disappears, and its drops can be collected.
Repair a tool	Open the appropriate station with E.	Hammer-shaped repair button in crafting	Damaged tools in your inventory regain durability.
Repair a building piece	Hammer repair function	Use on the damaged piece.	That piece regains durability.

Dismantling and repairing are separate actions. Check the target name before testing middle-click on an important pillar or floor. Inventory equipment cannot necessarily be turned back into materials like building pieces.

Prepare two tools and a workbench first

Start with branches and small stones on the Meadows ground. Before felling large trees, make a stone axe and hammer in inventory crafting.

Prepare 5 wood and 4 stone for the stone axe, and 3 wood and 2 stone for the hammer. Craft with materials on your person, not in a chest.
Equip the axe and fell a tree. Move out of the falling trunk’s path, then split the logs further to collect wood.
Equip the hammer and place a workbench for 10 wood. Use its building range to make a small roofed area nearby.
Once the workbench opens, repair the axe and hammer before gathering again.

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Prepare two tools and a workbench first: 3 entries
Item	Materials required	Crafting location	First use
Stone axe	5 wood, 4 stone	Inventory crafting	Felling trees; cannot cut every hard tree
Hammer	3 wood, 2 stone	Inventory crafting	Building/repairing building pieces/dismantling
Workbench	10 wood	Place with the hammer.	Early crafting, tool repairs and building range

The total is 18 wood and 6 stone, excluding the house, campfire, bed and fuel. This adds only those three items, not an entire base.

Inside the shelter, distinguish placed from usable

Separate the shelter’s goals into opening the workbench, claiming the bed and using fire/rest. Rather than fixing a shape or size first, add walls and roofs in response to actual missing-condition messages.

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Inside the shelter, distinguish placed from usable: 6 entries
Facility/state	Requirements	How to use it	Settings/co-op differences
Workbench	Roof and surrounding cover	Open with E and check crafting/repair.	Its building range works without a roof.
Bed	8 wood, workbench range, roof/cover	Claim with E and confirm the respawn point.	A bed claimed by someone else cannot be shared.
Campfire	5 stone, 2 wood, ground/stone surface, wood fuel	Check ignition, fuel and effects of wind/rain.	Place while holding the hammer; no workbench needed.
Sleep	Claimed bed, nearby fire, evening/night, not wet, no nearby enemies	Resolve bed messages one at a time.	In co-op, also check other players’ sleep status; one person may not advance time to morning alone.
Rest	Safe and dry, with fire and Shelter, or sitting beside a fire	Wait for Resting to change to Rested.	Each player must enter the effect area.
Chest	10 wood, workbench building range	Store food and spare tools separately.	Discuss placement of ordinary shared chests.

Setting a bed as a respawn point and meeting the conditions for sleeping until morning are different. Even without a fire for sleeping, check separately whether the respawn point is set.

Fire and cooking are not ready until ventilation works

Being able to place fire indoors does not make it safe without a smoke outlet. Leave ground or stone for placement instead of forcing it onto a wooden floor, and plan how smoke escapes above it.

Add wood to the campfire. Provide a roof to keep rain off without sealing the fire under a low ceiling.
Create an opening for smoke to escape and check for smoke at the bed and workbench. If the fire goes out, inspect fuel, weather and smoke in that order.
Place a cooking station costing 2 wood above the fire and hang raw meat. Watch color, cooking sounds and interaction prompts before collecting it.
Leaving cooked meat produces coal. Test collection with one cooking station before hanging large amounts at once.

The roof must keep rain out while allowing smoke to escape. An enclosed box-shaped room is not the same as a safe shelter with a usable fire.

Watch food slots and remaining Rested time

Hunger alone does not immediately starve you to death, but skipping food leaves less health and stamina. Combine available foods of different types, such as cooked meat, gathered berries and mushrooms.

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Watch food slots and remaining Rested time: 5 entries
Problem state	Display to inspect	Corrective action	Result to check
You have food but feel weak	3 food slots at bottom left	Use food in your inventory.	Food icons and maximum health/stamina change.
You cannot stack the same food	Food already active	Prepare a different type.	Another slot fills.
Your maximum is lower than before	Food time remaining/flashing	Replenish when eating becomes possible again.	The slot and duration update.
You do not become Rested near the fire	Wetness, enemies and Resting status	Dry off, secure safety and meet the fire + Shelter or sitting conditions.	Maintain Resting continuously for 20 seconds to gain Rested.
Recovery is slow on a long trip	Rested expired, Wet/Cold	Return to a safe shelter, dry off and rest.	Check icons and recovery.

Comfort affects Rested duration. Before adding furniture, check that fire and shelter conditions apply where you are standing. Regain Rested after logging in again too.

Distinguish repair from upgrading before remaking items

Repair restores lost durability; upgrading spends materials to increase quality. A low-level message does not mean every repair requires new materials.

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Distinguish repair from upgrading before remaking items: 5 entries
Symptom	Tool/display check	Required input	How to confirm success
Early tools have no durability	Carry the relevant tools.	Use the repair button repeatedly at a sheltered workbench.	Damaged tools regain durability.
Only metal tools cannot be repaired	Original crafting station and required level	Take them to the appropriate forge.	The item is repaired.
An item is absent from upgrade options	Possession of the actual item to upgrade	Take it from the chest and open the upgrade tab.	The item appears in the list.
The upgrade button is unavailable	Materials, station level and next quality tier	Prepare missing materials or a different extension.	Requirements are met.
An extension does not increase station level	Connection effect and station level	Move it closer and avoid overlap with other extensions.	The opened station shows a higher level.

Identical extensions do not stack levels. Even if one person builds the extension and another uses the station, judge it by the level of the nearby functioning station.

Restore preparations before running to your tombstone

These steps apply when normal death settings leave a tombstone. First check death-penalty settings and equipment retained on respawning. Reaching the tombstone does not guarantee safety.

With the map enabled, check the tombstone marker and recall where and what killed you. If night, wetness or expired food contributed, change those conditions first.
Eat food left in a chest and gain Rested. Take necessary spare equipment while leaving free slots for recovered items.
If enemies stand over the tombstone, prepare to fight, lure them away or ask a companion to escort you. Choose an escape direction after recovery instead of blindly repeating the dangerous route.
Open the tombstone. Transfer manually if everything will not fit, then re-equip somewhere safe. Also check the recovery effect from completely emptying it.
Instead of continuing combat immediately, check food, equipment and weight somewhere safe and return to base.

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Restore preparations before running to your tombstone: 4 entries
What happened	Check	Next decision
You died again on the way	The older tombstone remains separately.	Distinguish each location and its contents, then revise the recovery plan.
Not everything is collected automatically	Free slots/current inventory	Organize unnecessary spare items and transfer manually.
The recovery effect does not appear	Whether anything remains in the tombstone	Check the emptying requirement. Do not expect invulnerability.
You do not respawn at the original base	Last set bed/destruction	Set the respawn point again at the base.

An ordinary tombstone does not disappear merely with time. Prepare before repeatedly running back without equipment or food. Other people can open tombstones in a shared world, so agree who will handle recovery.

Frequently asked questions

The workbench is unusable even with a roof.

Read the use message and adjust walls or roof if surrounding cover is also insufficient. A visible building radius alone does not mean the station can be opened.

I lost wood when dismantling the campfire.

Dismantling returns stone, but not wood used in placement or as fuel. Do not assume every facility fully refunds fuel; check remaining fuel before rebuilding.

Does placing a bed make it my respawn point?

Claim it to set the respawn point; placement alone is insufficient. Check the last bed you set. A destroyed bed cannot be used, so recheck after rebuilding the base.

Does failing recovery erase the first tombstone too?

Under normal settings, the earlier tombstone remains after another death. Equipment handling differs with death-penalty settings, so check your own world settings first.

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