In Valheim, you use the workbench to make and repair many of the core tools and weapons in the game, but you can also use it to upgrade them. Upgrading anything increases its durability, but upgrading weapons and armor also increases their damage and protection. Upgraded gear can be vital to your survival and a big help against the more difficult fights of Valheim. You can upgrade these tools and weapons once with the standard workbench, but if you upgrade the workbench you can upgrade them further. Here’s how you upgrade a workbench in Valheim.
How Workbench Upgrades Work
Workbenches, like the other crafting stations, are upgraded by placing specific buildable structures near the workstation. Each structure gives the same benefit and gives no unique advantage over the other. The workbench has four buildable structures that upgrade it when they are nearby:
- The Chopping Block (10 Wood, 10 Flint)
- The Tanning Rack (10 Wood, 15 Flint, 20 Leather Scraps, 5 Deer Hide)
- The Adze (10 Fine Wood, 3 Bronze)
- The Tool Shelf (10 Fine Wood, 4 Iron, 4 Obsidian)
Each buildable structure can apply to a workbench once, but can apply to multiple workbenches. So you can have a chopping block and a tanning rack upgrade your workbench by two, but two chopping blocks would only give you one upgrade. When you’re starting out, the easiest structure to build is the chopping block.
Collecting the Materials
The chopping block is made out of easy to get materials without the need for tools, though they do help speed up the process. It’s made from 10 wood, and 10 flint. Wood can be collected from chopping trees, picking up branches, and from killing Greydwarfs. The easiest method to gain wood is chopping trees with an axe. If you don’t have an axe yet, you can punch bushes and thin trees to gain wood.
Flint can be found on the ground of the Meadows biome by the shoreline, or dropped from destroyed tanning racks in Fuling Villages. You can check the biome you are in on the map if you are unsure if you are in the right place. In the Meadow biome, you want to find a shoreline then check the ground to find flint to pick up. This biome is safer and generally easier to get to so it’s the preferred method.
Fuling Villages are in the Plains biome. The Plains are wide open with few trees and many rock formations. Fuling Villages can be found there sporadically, but be careful. They are populated by Fulings, small goblin like enemies you will have to fight. If you do choose to get flint from them, you have to find and destroy their tanning racks to get flint.
Placing Your Upgrade
Once you have collected all the resources you need, return to your workbench and use your hammer to create a chopping block. While you have it selected but before you place it, you will notice that when you are near a workbench a dotted yellow line will connect between your workbench and where you have the chopping block set to be placed. This shows it’s in range of that workbench.
After placing your chopping block, you can go to the workbench and enjoy the fruits of your labor. The forge, which you need to make bronze, and other crafting stations can also be upgraded the same way.
