Is there any way to reduce the amount of enemies that attack your base while you're inside trying to build?

[:HIT: Rheves]

Maybe this is because I am on the convergence of meadows/black forest/swamp but I cannot go 2 minutes without a 5-pack of graydwarves attacking me, or a skeleton/draugr combo, or a troll attack, or anything else you can imagine. I am in the meadows but it's mostly the graydwarves that never stop attacking.

I wanted to spend some time just building up a cool hall but couldn't do much of anything without spending more than half my time beating these enemies, chasing them down because they run around like idiots wasting your time but still being ready to attack once you try to go back to what you're doing.

I built a bonfire since I read the graylings are at least scared of that, NOPE. I ran inside to deposit some stuff and come back out and one is strolling right by it without a care in the world.

So then I build a spiked wall, now they're throwing rocks at it while I work, or the slimes are hopping over the fence. Enough of the rock throwers build up where the noise is bothering me to no end so I have to go clear them out every so often. I can't sleep at night without running around the fence and killing all the enemies there.

I have checked the surrounding area and there are no spawners. I don't remember it being this bad when I first played awhile ago. Are things different now and you're not allowed to have any peace?

[Gnollmar]

Place a bunch of workbenches around the area, they stop spawning. The spawning is stopped for everything within the crafting circle.Then heighten the ground around your base, they cannot destroy terrain and they cannot climb it.
Ps. sleep at night, they keep on spawning then, at day time only a set amount seems to spawn daily.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Dig a moat

[76561198097107304]

Yes its probebly because you are on the convergence of bioms.
Both Black Forest and Swamp are "boarder garded".
Now when the spawn rate seems higher than normal, i think you are trying to build on the wrong place. There will be no peace there.

[RequiemsRose]

I usually use earth walls and a ward for outpost setups. They cant actually damage the earth walls (trolls have long reach, they can damage THROUGH the earth walls still, but not the actual earth walls themselves) so if the ward pings damage that's about the only time i care, otherwise it's not my problem.

In larger or later game bases I am not opposed to a wolf or lox filled murder moat as well, but be aware that some animals, the lox especially, are surprisingly good at stacking and they can get out of said moat with that...but that's also why I tend to use the ones i don't care much about (0 or 1 star basically, the 2 stars of both get a bit more respect from me). That way if they end up escaping I just chuck some more food in the pit for healing/breeding purposes and let the escapee run lose to patrol the area for me (they will chain aggro on mobs though so they may wander off into the ether never to be seen again). Troll is the biggest problem for the pit strategy (fliers can be annoying for it later on as well), they have massive reach and high damage that usually means they take out a good number of your murder moat critters before it dies, especially for the raid with 2 of them. That one you still want to intercept.

[Cap'n Bells]

I also built platforms in swamp trees and hid workbenches in them (walled and rooved) to minimise spawns u can also bury work benches within walls so they are almost indestructible :-)

[Rhapsody]

If only there existed some automatic defensive feature... hm...

I've found border locations to be risky build sites.

Edit: You can also use other objects in place of workbenches, if you wish: https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Player_base

[:HIT: Rheves]

Thanks for replies all, I'll try them out.

[Tanyon]

Sounds like night time.

The only time I get attacked by a 5 pack of graydwarves is if it is night time.. OR if there is a spawner near by but then it's usually a slow trickle of one at a time.

As others have said work benches/camp fires should reduce nearby spawns.

[SumatranRatMonkey]

Defensive terrain modifications (e.g. trenches) make you 99% safe with only flying stuff to worry about. Just make sure to cover the inner perimeter with workbenches.

[:HIT: Rheves]

Originally posted by DarthTanyon:

Sounds like night time.

The only time I get attacked by a 5 pack of graydwarves is if it is night time.. OR if there is a spawner near by but then it's usually a slow trickle of one at a time.

As others have said work benches/camp fires should reduce nearby spawns.

I'm not active at night and will go to sleep when it gets cold out. I wasn't thinking of it when I made my post but this base was started with an abandoned stone tower at the center of it.

I don't have stone tech yet so I haven't been able to repair any of the pieces, maybe that means it's still seen as 'owned' by the graydwarves and that's why they're attacking so frequently?

[Frostrazor]

Originally posted by :HIT: Rheves:

... but this base was started with an abandoned stone tower at the center of it.

I don't have stone tech yet so I haven't been able to repair any of the pieces, maybe that means it's still seen as 'owned' by the graydwarves and that's why they're attacking so frequently?

That's not a thing.

They are attracted to the sounds you make while building. That's all. Advice provided from others is spot on to reduce spawning critters nearby.

[Foxglovez]

Move away from the convergence zone. It might not be a great place for a main base if you want peace and quiet. Fun spot for a mini base though with defenses noted below. But since you are pre stone tech maybe just keep it on the back burner for now.

When you are ready for all that action then consider digging both a trench and inside the trench build an earthen wall fairly high, higher than the blobs can hop. Otherwise you will get no rest and the fun starts when you get drake events, well actually it will be good pickins after they kill all the locals.

[steveamato]

At night they'll spawn a lot and powerful ones. If you make a ditch around your encampment they can't touch you, and they can be trapped in the pit.

When you get better armor and weapons they'll pose no real threat and be a good source for eyes which you'll need to create portals. But they can still be annoying.

[Maelstrom]

A stakewall helps a ton when building outside meadows. A stakewall is fast, easy, cheap, and doesn't require any landscaping. It breaks the mobs' line-of-sight and without being able to see you they won't actually aggro, they'll just wander around alerted outside. For the same reasons, stake walls are also very good for concealing little portal outposts in hostile biomes.

It's very important that the mobs never see you or any base structures or they'll aggro and you'll have to go kill them.

Stone walls are glorified stake walls. They serve the same function (blocking LOS) but can take a few punches from a troll and you can walk on top of them.

If you can't sleep your perimeter is too close your bed.

[Zep Tepi]

For places where you are going to be for awhile, dig a hole and bounce the mobs into it with a shield or atgeir. They don't respawn if they don't die. Only works on daytime mobs, and don't mix factions in the same hole or they will kill each other.