Sons of the Forest Best Bases | The best places to build in Sons of the Forest

Wondering where the best base locations are in Sons of the Forest?

Guide by Kelsey Raynor Guides Writer

Published on March 2, 2023

Sons of the Forest boasts a sprawling island, and it’s easier than ever to get lost.

Pair this vast space with cannibals, mutants, and the unforgiving presence of mother nature, and you’re in for a ride. When you first wake up, your main priority should be establishing a base.

With an island so big, knowing where to actually build your base is your initial challenge. You don’t want be too far away from all the action, and you want resources to be easily available, so where exactly should you build? In this guide, we detail plenty of tips for working out the best places to build in Sons of the Forest.

Where are the best places to build in Sons of the Forest?

Sons of the Forest is full of land worth building on. So while I won't be recommending an exact pixel that guarantees a perfect base every time, these are all the things you need to bear in mind when you start to build.

After all, scouting out a great base location in Sons of the Forest depends on how you plan to survive, what horrors you're willing to deal with and what you're willing to go without.

So, there are a fair few things to mull over before settling down. We’ve detailed a few pointers to consider before building your base, as well as ideas of areas to build in, to ensure things go as smoothly as possible.

Avoid building in the snow

First things first, it’s not worth building your base in the snowy mountains of Sons of the Forest. They’re cold, lacking trees, and food sources are scarce. You do, however, want to get your base down as soon as possible; the cannibals will only grow hungrier and more annoying each day.

The player places a log in the ground to make a defensive wall in Sons of the Forest — This is my base during winter, and you can see that the cold limits my stamina. Nobody wants this all year round.

Don’t hesitate to explore for a couple of days

As you go ahead and find the perfect spot to set up operations, don’t hesitate to have Kelvin set up some temporary shelter for you.

Traversing the island takes some time, and you might not find the perfect spot on your first day. A basic base can be built using two sticks and some tarp, and this will be a good enough home for your first few nights!

Just remember that cannibals and mutants will only spawn in larger numbers as the days go by.

Be mindful of where to get logs from

Ideally, you want to build your base near trees in Sons of the Forest. After all, you’re going to need plenty of them to even build your base.

That said, you don’t want to spend your time chopping down trees whose logs are going to fall into inaccessible areas, such as deep water or off a cliff.

You can still build by deep water, or on a cliff, but take caution what direction your tree may fall in when chopping it down. It's near impossible to grab logs from deep water, and who wants to haul logs back up a cliff?

The player looks at a dozen logs which have fallen into a lake in Sons of the Forest — The logs and the water have a weird relationship in Sons of the Forest... the logs will continually bounce, and are mainly inaccessible.

Build on a defensible cliffside

Mentioning cliffs, building on a cliffside isn’t a bad idea.

It isn’t necessarily perfect, as logs may be lost to the cliff’s edge and water might be harder to come by, but one less direction for enemies to approach from is one less direction to be surprised from.

So, even with those few flaws though, a cliffside base can be a good idea if you’re wanting a quiet life away from (but a good view of) the worst of the cannibals and mutants that lurk this island.

But just remember, if there's only one way in to your base, then there's only one way out too!

Consider a treehouse

Similarly to a cliffside base, making your Sons of the Forest treehouse is a viable idea, too. Especially if you like the idea of living out your time in a cool-looking treehouse.

While cannibals can still climb and infiltrate these bases, it’s a good way of keeping yourself safe from being obliterated by multiple cannibals at once.

I just recommend keeping Kelvin well away from it. He seems to have a habit of destroying player treehouses at the moment, so whatever you do, do not send him to collect logs if you want your base to remain intact.

The player looks at Kelvin beside a notepad reading the command 'destroy treehouse' in Sons of the Forest

Be close enough to a source of drinking water

As well as a strong base, you’ll need a few other things to survive in Sons of the Forest; water and food. While you’ll likely hunt for most of your food, feasting on cannibals who dare cross you, drinking water is only accessible from rivers and lakes.

The player drinks water from a river in Sons of the Forest — You can drink water straight from a river or lake in Sons of the Forest.

Energy drinks are scarce around the island, so you’ll want to be close enough to a river or lake so that you can drink or refill your Flask whenever necessary.

Avoid sprawling open areas

Across Sons of the Forest, there are some gorgeous patches of land that are barren of trees, bushes, and the like. They feel like the perfect spots for bigger bases, and are incredibly tempting. That said, don’t do it.

These spots seem like a nice idea, but ultimately, being out in the open like that is only going to attract more trouble to your base. You’ll also be further from trees and bushes than you need or want to be.

Build in caves to hide in plain sight

Believe it or not, you can set up camp in the caves across Sons of the Forest. This might feel risky seeing as these caves are mutant-laden, but it actually isn’t a bad idea. You’ll find that the entrances to many caves are free of any enemies, and if you build right there, you’ll remain unbothered.

The player looks out at a building in the opening of a cave while holding a flare in Sons of the Forest — If these guys can build underground facilities in caves, then they won't mind our base being here.

The cannibals or mutants further in the cave don’t seem to care, and the ones outside will never delve in. Alas, your base will be safest here.

Consider where you need to go

Ultimately, the first things we need to do in Sons of the Forest are grab the rebreather, rope gun, and shovel. Then we need to grab the Maintenance Keycard and VIP Keycard before venturing over to the other side of the island for some end-game endeavours.

Those five key items are actually on the northwest of the island, with the end-game bunkers being on the east of the island. There’s nothing all that interesting down south, so with this in mind, consider setting up camp in the north-west area of the map marked below.

All the things you need to reach the endgame are labelled... doesn't the north look appealing?

I personally built my base near the shovel cave, and feel this area has worked out pretty well.

Turn off structure damage

Last, but not least, if you’re having trouble getting started in Sons of the Forest, it can be well worth turning off structure damage in your game’s settings. While this is enabled, mutants and cannibals won’t be able to do any devastating damage to your base. You can also turn it back on whenever you’re feeling equipped enough to show them who’s boss.