Why You Should Settle In The Black Forest | Valheim 

I was born in the Black Forest, back in 1980 in the south of Germany. It is indeed a magical place!

I have 1,547.9 hours played in Valheim now and I have now built a base in every biome (except Mistlands) over various different playthroughs with new characters every time starting from scratch. I think it's a progression thing... when I first started playing the game my base was only in Meadows, then I progressed into building in Black Forest as I played more... so I think it's just a comfort thing. As you get more comfortable with the game, you get braver and decide to build in the next biome.

The lighting in the black forest at night is really nice, as well. I remember making meadows bases and feeling like the lights just weren't bright enough at night, everything was _so dark._ The black forest has a much brighter atmosphere at night (perhaps to make up for all the trees blocking out the sky?) which makes it a really nice place to base, especially early on.

I highly recommend breeding a bunch of 1 or 2 star wolves and setting them free in the forest. They will survive and breed on their own while leaving you lots of random loot lying about

Another way to do this is to build your home on the boundary between zones. Like build in the meadows but close enough to the black forest that you can see the pine trees from your house. Then your base essentially gets the best of both worlds. You could also wait until you have the Elder location on your map and building something close to the boss. You're going to want to have a portal there anyway. Troll caves also may good hidey holes. Especially if you find a troll caves that has one or two chests in it, that's a great spot.

I'm a lazy builder, I only make 2 bases in each playthrough and I want them to be as quick, cheap and easy as possible. That starts with having a clear, flat area that is easy to terraform. So that eliminates Black Forest, Swamp and Mountain proper from the get-go. Meadows and Plains are the only biomes flat and empty enough to me to consider building in them. With one exception: often starting islands will feature low and small Mountains. They're usually no good for anything because they're not high enough to spawn Silver, Obsidian, Dragon Eggs, Drakes, Stone Golems or Caves. At most, you'll just get the odd Wolf spawn. If I can find a nice flat clear area in such a Mountain (and that's a big IF) then that's where I build. It's very peaceful. You're high enough to avoid all the Greydwarf trash that spawns at night in Meadows/BF, and low enough that you don't get Drakes and Stone Golems. It's just Wolves. I generate a lot of excess Deer Meat in the game because I need a lot of Deer Hides. So I scatter excess Deer Meat around the base. The Wolves spawn in numbers at night, and get tamed while I'm crafting/cooking/pottering around in my base. I soon have a sizeable pack of Wolves which I can either harvest for resources or leave intact as base defense for raids. In more than fifty playthroughs of the game, I've only managed to find about five such spots for a Mountain base. But each and every one of them has been brilliant, and those playthroughs have been among the easiest and most successful. If I find such a spot on my starting island, I know I'm in for a good time this playthrough.

I build a very compact storage unit with lots of storage at spawn and haul everything that can go trough portals to that storage (smallest circel you can make with 2 meter wood beams). That storage also holds a upgraded workbench and a portal. In the meadows i mostly sleep in fixed viking huts to save time and effort. A hut in the meadows bordering black forrest for smelting (at coast preferred to transfer what is not used later to the plains). I do something similar at the swamp at the coast to clear out the swamp and also the mountains for silver, and use only a little and save the rest for pickup later. Then in the plains i build first proper base. If you are lucky you can find mistlands biome in the ocean right at the coast of a plains. If so that most likely has no fog. If you can raise the terrain in the ocean to get a combined pains/mistlands bases that way. Reason is that with that much water no mistlands creatures spawn and you can have a combined plains/mistland farm. If you cannot find such a rare place just build in plains and have a farm without a proper base (just a portal) in the mistlands. You do not want a complete base next to a farm in the mistlands because you want your crops to grow in peace, meaning you cannot live next to it as that causes to much activity in that area. When building the plains base i sail to the plains with enough material for a workbench,forge, stone-cutter and portal. Set up the portal to the meadows storage. Build the base with the stuff from the meadows storage. When the build is far enough to call it safe and it has storage space. I sail to collect all my metals. I hardly use carts as they need "roads" or "flat" terrain without bushes and stumps in they way. So using them in BF is a no go. You can sometime use them in the mountains when you have a straight cliff to the bottom. Build them on top where you mine silver, put all your silver in it. And push the cart over the edge and pick it up at the bottom.

Dude ive been playing a couple days, spent like 5 hours today fiddlyfucking around in the black forest making a base. Only I didn't realize there's more than one forest. And I spent all that time building in a spot where there's NOTHING. 1 crypt that's it. Glad I watched this so I can tear that shit down n get out of there and find a bigger piece of real estate. Thanks man. 👍

I built my 2nd base in the plains. I don't know why but I love how it looks with the golden fields and birch trees all around me. And those rock pillars are so majestic!

Black Forest base but make it on a nearby small island. That's my ideal setup I have done. A small bridge across to make it so I don't have to swim, barricades and spikes to protect against the greys, and just enough distance away to keep the trolls from agro. When it is a stormy night in Valheim, the waves rising and falling just below your island walls, looking out into the dark forest as the fire crackles nearby... That right there is the best feeling ever.

You should settle wherever your heart desires. Face your challenges with courage, and enjoy the journey through Valheim as much as possible.

I would add that if you can find a decent size black forest, next to a large swamp/mountain/plains, then you will be even happier later in the game.

I tended to just repurpose the random buildings that are throughout the map as it's quick and easy but finally decided on 2 bases, 1 a conquered draugr village cause I needed somewhere up north and the 2nd is the main home base... I had a maypole spawn within 3 minutes of spawn, near water, surrounded by blackforest and a mountain just a lil bit further away... absolutely crazy and I love it. Now if only iron wasn't such a pain (I've pretty much skipped the iron age... got enough on another server for axe and pickaxe, some more for some tools and everything else is silver)

I just started playing valheim a couple days ago. I've decided my first main base was gonna be a small coast outpost. Within a day I expanded up and down the coast with heavy walls and now I'm eating away every resource on the hills. I have 3 burial chambers within an easy walk to farm. The copper and tin is plentiful and the boars that spawn all up and down the coast here is great, pine is everywhere. I ended up after a long day turned my main first building into a 3 story storehouse and I have towers setup and ready. I have heavy fires all along my walls, which is trash cause of the coast rains. I've had so much fun farming that I've nit started the boat. But about to send off ready rather than Un ready. Today I'm going to terrace up the hillside that I emptied of 4 copper nodes. Gonna build workbench locations in each hole where the nodes were and then terrace off the entire hillside and turn it into a heavy black forest farm kingdom. Then from the coast sail raid everything. I'm rather enjoying the game so far. Going in 90% blind was the best idea.

A thing I've been doing is aking a mental checklist when Building bases in different Biomes 1. Build near Water (When you're ready best way to travel with metals) 2. Is it a safer biome between two worse biomes (My first case, based in the meadows between Swamp and Plains Biome) 3. Always build mini-bases in each Biome, best way to travel and stay safe 4. First base is main Hub, has all the teleporters, and farms, and storage and the best defended (Most hours worked on), every other base is mainly resources hubs

That draw bridge idea is genius

I build bases all over the place. I usually build at least one in every biome because it is easier to just build a smithy on site than haul ore all the way home every time. But I'll just as often build somewhere just because I like the spot. In my main game I've got two different nice houses in the meadows, a homely Inn at spawn, a mining camp in the forest, a restored tower in the swamp, a cabin in the mountains, a nice farm and a sombre tomb in the plains. And I have a half dozen little houses here and there all over the map where I've turned a ruin into somewhere to rest.

Take a shot every time he says Black Forest

1:41 that obligatory tea-bagging. cultured.

Great video my dude, it's the only zone i've not built a base in after 800 hours, might need to give it a go!

I dont find copper too hard anymore. I build a hut nearby for the rest bonus and dig out under the entire vein and usually 2-3 veins is all I need. I remember I use to mine from the surface and you just get so much less copper its crazy. Would have been a big help back when me and like 6 of my friends played, we had to really spread out to get the copper and tin needed to upgrade everyones gear.

I tried making that "drawbridge" with doors but found it was awfully fussy, and didn't work that well as some mobs walk across beams like you have on yours. It is also tedious to close and open the doors. I found what works better is just to make a short bridge with floor tiles across a trench and leave a narrow gap all the way across the bridge nearest to the side the mobs will be coming from. The mobs can't get across it and you can just jump over it easily. If you need to get a cart across, it is a simple matter to equip a hammer and slap down a floor piece or two, and break them down afterwards...

In the seed I played I use an huge part of earth where is only separated by one river who has 2 rivers interconnected, when I obtain the most copper and tin, I use the karve to obtain copper, tin and stone (love the sail, hate the f*cking cart) then go to the swam obtain the most iron I can get (120 with the Karve and 26 with me) and make the longboat (it was exiting to go back to your home with the boat full of metals just to upgrade your home and your equipment), the thing about the biomes is that you have to build your settle in the biome you most acomadate you. Meadows: Peaceful and beautiful Black forest: Magical but annoying with greydwarfs, trolls and skeletons Swam: ANNOYING AS HELL Mountain: Just if you need to make items who need plate in other case is useless. Plains: Obligatory in order to grow flax and wheat Mistlands: You will need a TON of materials to even get rid of the mist.

I’m soloing on Xbox and supper new. Love the advice and the strategy! I’ve had some really fun builds but your base made me go ohhh $#it!! Super cool!!! The drawbridge gave me the confidence I need to dominate the next stage!!! 🔥🔥🔥🎉

Hmmm I dont fully agree or disagree. You make good points but in terms of the longevity of the game - I recommend in each direction you explore setup an outpost to refine and craft. Either way youre going to end up clearing the area of resources and traveling around for more. Setup your meadows main base with portals leading to your southern outpost, or northern outpost. I think this would be the optimal advice.

Definitely great points I’m early on man right about to fight the elder and I think now I’m making a base in the Black Forest closer

I primarily build in the ocean. Mostly because I am an asshole to my friends but also because it makes serpent hunting really easy. Depending on how good the spot I find is it can also support farming to a minimal extent although underground rock farms connected with portals are almost always better. My personal favorite farm strat is to just stick a portal under each elder spawn I find and then when I need plant I just teleport to whichever one has the plug. I also like living in the black forest as you can build an arena around a dwarf spawner. Or build a prison block to max out the amount of enemies in an area safely and negate any risk of attacks. A good firetrap on top of a spawner can easily fill your stone/wood needs forever too once set up. The only downside to the black forest biome is that it has the word black in it which is unlucky.

My starter base always starts at the stones. But my main base will shortly begin after I have plotted meadows near water and near black forest. I won't build a base in the black forest for any efficiency reason but asthetically from boredom maybe. A base at elder spawn is desirable as well. Kudos to your style tho. Like your base set up too.

Or you can make the base wherever you want and when you want to transport ores log out go to another world put a chest down with all the ores and go back to your world and use the teleport. After this you can go back to the other world and get your ores from the chest done!

Im new to valheim only 40 hours in and searching for content to help, ive subscribed keep the begginer guides going im along for the ride

I found a completely intact tower next to water, the Meadows, plains, a few copper, and mountains. I surrounded it with spikes, and never had any issues. 10/10, will black forest again.

Building a base on elder spawner allows you to have a nice multi story base with a nice protected basement.

So I'm on my first playthrough of Valheim and I actually decided to build a forward/mining base in the BF before seeing this video. I have no idea what I'm doing and establishing a base there has been a HARROWING experience. Haven't died, but the whole time I've been wondering "Is this even viable? Is this how people even play this game?" Turns out I have done almost exactly what you are suggesting, except I haven't been able to dig a trench yet. Also, I didn't repurpose a prefab like a smart guy. I leveled a spot and built foundation from scratch lol. The challenge of building there has been rough, but I definitely feel like I carved myself out a spot in a hostile environment and earned it.

I do a minimal starter base in the Meadows that becomes my farm once I find the elder boss location. My main base is an underground base under the Elder. As long as it's high enough that you don't hit water there is enough room for everything if you lay it out well. It's basically raid proof. Even the Elder boss fight doesn't damage the base.

Found a really cool spot to ser up base which borders a snowy mountain, Black forest and meadows also its not to far from the ocean so fishing ain't a problem 😅

Good vid, when you showed that draw bridge I really sat up straight in my chair. lol thats an awesome idea

Super solid advice! Hate trekking that sled back and forth so many times.

the door drawbridge is genius as fuck I've had 250+ hours in this game and I never thought of that wow

I have my base in the meadows but the Black Forest is literally next door like a few feet a away and the other side is the ocean. Plus the mountain region is close by too. It’s a perfect location of my first base.

Me and my friends have a different problem we originally settled in the black forest and constantly have to go back and forth to the meadows for fine wood and boars

As someone with over 2k hr in the game I 100% agree. I play Moddod Hard Mode and it just make life 10x easyer when getting set up and pushing that 1st big gap in stat, gear and food

I really like the black forest as well. I made a base on the beach of a spot before realizing it was just copper out there and no chambers, so found a new spot, but made my base in the meadows right near by and backed up to the ocean with a trench-wall around 3 sides. And there's a swamp biome close by, haven't explored it yet, but it seems like a fair size as it spans from the top edge of where the black forest is nearby and goes across the ocean to what looks like a swamp island. Just barely started playing a week ago, and just hit the bronze age.

If possible I build under the elder platform. Dig deep enough and you don't need to worry about chimneys. You also have the benefit of a unbreakable walls and a roof!

Yeah black forest is a nice spot to set up your base. I recomand to build it on a greydwarf spawner. I usualy use skeleton archer from near stone tower to clear it .

I don't have a home there yet. I got 2 spawner slaughter plants with a live in house lol😂 loved the video

I started a new game and my first base in the Meadows is an old village with a couple of houses and 2 groups of rasberries (1 of 3 and one of 4 for 7 spawns total). I usually don't build in the Black Forest but next time, I would select a spot where I can have blueberries and thistle spawns in the base or close around. i might also consider building a base close to the merchant so you can benefit from his magical sanctuary zone and access your base with a cart without the need of a drawbrige. That being said, nice video btw!

We've built our base in BF since our second world, it's so much more convenient! The only thing I really miss tho, which makes me want to go back to meadows is the music

I simply set up my base on the meadows for the least amount of base harassment. Though I’ve several outposts and a portal hall. Basically I’ve the Dragon Inn in meadows for rested buffs and resources, outposts for doing Viking things like raid biomes and villages, and a plains castles 🏰 for maximum protection of vital plains resources. With a portal hub to provide ease of access.

I hated fighting trolls for a while, but they’re really helpful for farming materials. My current base is right in the boarder (Meadows/Black Forest) near tons of ore and the ocean. I can’t wait to get started for real on it.

Hello, i really apreciate my spot in the black forest, maybe because it's situated neat the merchant! :)

Hey, old Valheim player here, i know what you trying to say, you mean the base in the Black Forest when you only started the game and it makes sense, i just wanna say the best spot to build a base in Black Forest is around the Elder's altair, basically, eternal flame in your house. But yeah it takes some time before you get there.

Just watched a couple of your vids. I really enjoy your perspective and pacing. Not to be weird but your voice is nice too lol. Subbed. Liked. Keep it up! 🤘

I'm still in the 'getting wrecked' stage.

Your next video “why you should set up base in the swamp”

i never would lose time on building big struktures early game. my main base pre mistlands was on a double-island with meadows and plain-ground. safe from most the raids, all needed ressources.

I've found that building in the black forest is ideal for mining copper and collecting tin along water ways.. The next best thing is to build in the black forest close to a swamp area for iron access... and as you mentioned, digging a trench around is beneficial for keeping trolls and others at a distance... I like to incorporate a stone tower if possible as it is free walls as well.. and after you get some iron, you can repair the stone if needed.. If you can find an ideal location, Cuts down on all the running back and forth..

I highly recommend setting up your first base in a meadows biome on the border of a black forest that's close. You get the benefits of both biomes

I left the guy I play with alone at the base in the meadows for ~15/20 minutes. In that time he chopped off everything his axe could reach and increased his chopping skill by 40 points. This guy just loves grinding ressources like a wild wood-chopping-stone-cutting-berserker. I was deer hunting.

i built 3 fortresses, inching them closer to blackforest as i got stronger, then final fortress next to the copper deposit i made a super fortress. heaps a fightin but was worth it once i got triple line a stakes goin and linked fortresses for a retreat to safer fortress while sleep at night workd well, i didnt think of a moat tho, might add it, nice.

i imagine once the game is fully complete most people will have a main base in the middle and outposts spanning north and south.

The only base in the black forest that I'll want is the one that is by the merchant :)

Wow nice video! I will definitely build my next base in black forest.

Honestly, the best way for me, after defeating Eikhtyr at least, to grind my bow skill is to hunt trolls. If you lure them in a more opened place, it's ridiculously easy to kill them with a bow and dodge them when they get too close. I would do it melee but i am still reluctant because i might not parry them right and 2 hits can still kill me, so now i stick with the bow until i get access to better food.

base game the drawbridge is a genius idea. I use a mod called more gates that adds 3 or 4 bridge variants and door/wall/window types so never really got that creative with vanilla build pieces.

Not possible with a last gen console 😅 but I do plan on seeing how this goes with my series x when I finish moving

I kind of unknowingly did this, I am on my first playthrough and I built my first base on a cliff face right at the edge of the meadows and black forest. Seems to work pretty well as I don't get too much harassment from the black forest mobs but I still have the resources in my back yard.

A lot of good points are made in this video. The black forest could work for a base location once players have enough materials to set up there. But for new players (like me) I would be dying left and right during the early game. I do have to say that a big part of this is tied to proximity. Portals would make it easy to get back and forth but since ore can't be teleported it's not viable. Or is it? I found a way to transport ore between bases using portals and another game feature. For this method, the ore must be in a chest. Since the player keeps all items on them when entering a world, all you have to do is drop the items in a chest in one world, go through the portal, then grab the items from the chest and bring them back to the world.

I set my first bases in plains every play through :).

You could also setup your base on the edge of the meadows/black forest - saves all the hard work

So you can make a bridge with a one stone gap and run across it, but the creatures will not be able to cross it due to pathing. I'll post a vid on my channel about it, good stuff by the way.

I like to setup my staging bases in the black forest. whenever i'm heading into a new biome i setup a little fort in the closest black forest

Just a heads up, this may cause issues later in the game. In the time between, after you kill Yagluth and before you kill the Queen, you will run the risk of getting the "seeker raid". They can tear down your base very quickly, especially if its made of wood. Also they fly. This will not happen in the meadows.

My first base was smack in the middle of the black Forrest and the meadows. In a stone tower lol.

my main base is between meadows, black forest and mountain. Very good for may types of resources.

Since i grew up in upstate NY in Adirondack Park. The black forest makes it really homey for me.

Love this game. After muting the music.

currently doing a black forest island that's in the middle of my friends's crews, its kinda nice having the random stuff that happens while i build, and i get a nice supply of wood and resin lol fuck the trolls tho, takes me a while to fix shit

Recommend mining stone then use the hoe to raise ground above for a base just took over a tower giant wrecked part of tower raise ground and bow

And now for a walk in the black forest

Next run, I'll do this

Schwarzwald sehr schöne Gegend ,in good old germany.

Honestly.. playing solo on the Xbox series x, this is my first time with the game, and I ended up Resorting to using the dev commands to reveal the map, no cost, and fly... The first one I used was no cost, as I was tired as fk of running for trees and seeing my base slowly decay. It took me breaking the whole base to realize I actually needed to build it with structural integrity. So I used the, hold LB, RB, LT, RT and start to bring up the dev tools screen.. Then pressed A to type in devcommands then enter then hit A and type in nocost and enter.. Just to build a new base. Now I'm kinda "addicted" to the nocost cheat..

try to play with the spear, the best weapom on every stage of game

I set up a base in the Black Forest immediately after defeating the first boss. Managed to build a quaint little borgring style ringfort, but after dying 160 times in 4 hours 😂😂😂 I'm playing on an ancient Xbox One at roughly 0.05fps.

Great content!!! Love this!!!

fighting skeletons with a bow is literally the worst way to fight them. they are resistant to pierce. it's like eating soup with a fork

New subscribers here , enjoyed the video keep up the good work bro

How are you cutting pine with a stone axe? Doesn't it require at least bronze to damage?

I don't think the biome you set up shop matters as much as the surrounding ones. Cuz other than the initial ones you will need to revisit lots of biomes in the future so it makes much more sense to find a place where you have easy access to the other biomes.

Settling in the forest is a trap, you're still gonna get assaulted by the suffocating amount of greydwarf loot. Swamp settlement ftw

Subscribed and notified muhfaqa

Black forest I feel you get invaded every night. Since I moved there in my 7 days so far, I been invaded 5 times already.

I'm just wondering whether I should set up my base in the meadows firsts to get established. What do you think?

You should of did a video build tutorial of the base

At moment my base is a movable stoneship that I move to each biome it actually pretty awesome never worry about raids. I’m working the mountain and found my first dragon egg but no silver yet.

Best reason to make a base in the Black Forest: Ewok tree villages.

Where is the video to this base build with that fire place in the middle of the floor, nice effective base build, i needs that?.

For early game, its worth it to build in or close to the black forest considering you'd be spending a lot off time mining and raiding there till your ready for bonemass.

Build a base in meadows. Log out near a chest. Log in on another world. Run to blackforest. Mine until inventory full. Log back into main world. Deposit ore.

Black Forrest, Black Forrest, Black Forrest