The Valheim workbench is one of the most important things you’ll need to build if you want to get anywhere on your adventure. You’ll need to learn how to craft one early on, as it’s required to build all kinds of other items and structures.
Once placed, the workbench will let you build structures within a 20-meter radius. You can also repair tools with it for no cost, provided they’re not made of metal. You’ll need to cover the workbench with a roof to do the latter though. Be sure to stock up on wood for a workbench, and keep an eye out for new materials for upgrades. Now let’s learn how to craft and upgrade a Valheim workbench!
How to craft a Valheim workbench in Valheim
The Valheim workbench requires just 10 wood to build. Wood can be obtained from all over the Meadows, which is the first biome you set foot in, so you should have no trouble finding the materials to build one.
Before you can craft it though, you’ll need a hammer. This can be created with just 3 wood and 2 stone. Stones can be found on the ground, and you can simply press A to pick them up. Later you’ll be able to mine rocks with a pickaxe, but before that you’ll just need to do some scavenging in the wild.
With the hammer in your possession, equip it and select the workbench, then place it where you want it. You can then build more objects and structures in its vicinity, including beds, wooden walls or doors.
By placing workbenches, you’ll reduce the monster spawns in the area. Having a base with workbenches will prevent any monsters from spawning around it, but they can still roam towards it from afar.
How to repair items with a Valheim workbench
If you’re using your tools a lot, eventually they will break and you’ll need to repair them. To do so, you’ll need a workbench with at least 70% cover protecting it.
Firstly, to cover a workbench just place wooden walls around it and give it a roof. Each of these will require you to have wood in your inventory. If your workbench is too exposed, you won’t be able to use it properly. Then, once you’ve got enough cover, just interact with the workbench and you’ll see an option to repair tools. Simply press the repair button a bunch until all your gear has been repaired. You can do this as many times as you want, and you can also repair the workbench itself by using your hammer.
Some tools or items will require higher-level workbenches to repair, and eventually, you can upgrade the quality of your tools too. To do this, you’ll need to build various items to upgrade the workbench.
How to upgrade a Valheim workbench
Upgrading a workbench in Valheim can be done by building various items and placing them around it. For example, you can build a chopping block and place it next to your workbench to upgrade your workbench by one level.
The possible upgrades include the Chopping Block, the Tanning Rack, the Adze and the Tool Shelf. Each unique placement will upgrade the workbench by an additional level, but you can place them in any order. You’ll most likely find the materials for a Chopping Block and Tanning Rack before the rest of the items listed above, so be sure to build those first.
Placing the upgrades around your workbench can be a little tricky, as they all have to be fairly close to it. Make sure you have enough room for multiple items when you build your main workbenches or you may have to move them around. You’ll likely want one fully upgraded workbench at your main base/home, but you can upgrade multiple workbenches if you want.
Here’s how to craft each upgrade in the game right now.
- Chopping Block – ten wood, ten flint
- Tanning Rack – ten wood, 15 flint, 20 leather scraps, 5 deer hide
- Adze – ten fine wood, three bronze
- Tool Shelf – ten fine wood, four iron, four obsidian
Flint is found along the coast of the Meadows or Black Forest. Leather scraps can be obtained from killing boars, and deer hide can be obtained from, you guessed it, deer.
Fine wood is a little trickier to get, as you’ll need an upgraded axe. You won’t be able to get the Adze until later as a result. Once you have bronze, you can build a bronze axe and cut down birch or oak trees to get fine wood. These trees are found in the Meadows biome you start out in. Oak trees are huge thick trees and can be hard to come across. Birch trees are the white trees you’ve probably seen before, and they’ll be your best way to get fine wood initially.
The Tool Shelf will probably come last, as it requires iron and obsidian. Valheim Iron is found in the Swamp biome, while obsidian is found in the Mountains. Don’t worry about this upgrade until you’ve progressed past the first couple of bosses.
Those are all the upgrades currently available for the Valheim workbench. As the game continues to get updated, the workbench may have even more upgrades in the future, so we may be able to upgrade it even further as we explore more of the Valheim map.