Sons of the Forest: Best Base Locations

The best base locations in Sons of the Forest will vary depending on what your priorities are for a settlement’s features. Perhaps you’d like to be at the edge of the ocean for the view, or maybe you’d rather be in a field to keep an eye on enemies and gather resources more easily. While your choice of base location is ultimately up to you, we’ve created a list of the 10 best base locations in Sons of the Forest, all while considering the top priorities you might be searching for.

Best Base Locations in Sons of the Forest

What location you want for a base is going to depend on factors like the resource types you prioritize, if you want open space, or if you want to be hidden in the trees. I prefer to be in the middle of a forested area for the sake of food and water supply, even if that means I have a higher risk of being ambushed by cannibals climbing through the brush or in the trees. I find this to be a worthwhile trade-off so that I can keep my Food and Water meters filled and avoid having lowered Stamina.

Base Location 1: North Beach

There are several benefits to making your base on the North Beach, but it’s not without drawbacks.

The North Beach is close to the Rebreather and Machete locations, and it’s possible that your helicopter crash site is there as well, giving you access to crates filled with supplies that replenish when you log back in. The open space also means that enemies can’t climb trees and ambush you. You’ll be able to see them coming and get ready to fight.

You’ll need to build Water Collectors since fresh water isn’t nearby. Logs can take longer to gather, too, since you have to transport them to the beach. Many important items will also require a bit of hiking to get. Overall, the negatives to this site aren’t bad. I’ve made a base here in one save file before Water Collectors were added, and keeping my Water Meter up was the most difficult part of this location.

Base Location 2: West Beach

The West Beach has most of the same positive and negative aspects as the North Beach base location. It’s closer to a 3D Printer, and you can grab a Pistol from the nearby raft. If I had to pick between beach locations, I’d go with North Beach. It may have been bad luck, but I felt like I encountered more cannibals while on the West Beach.

Base Location 3: Lake Island

Aside from sharks, enemies won’t swim, and since this island is in a lake, there are no sharks! This is quite possibly the safest location to build your base — plus you have unlimited fresh water to drink. The overall area isn’t bad, and you have access to everything you need for survival. But naturally, it isn’t a perfect spot.

Getting logs to this little island when outside of winter is difficult. Since you can’t carry logs while swimming, you’ll have to either use the Rope Gun and create zip-lines to send the logs across the water, or wait until winter and haul them across ice. Enemies could attack you during this period since they can run on ice. But the biggest drawback of this location is the lack of space to build a base on the island. It’s on the small side.

Base Location 4: Lakeside

Instead of building a settlement on the island, constructing something on the side of the lake is another option. The Lakeside area has the same resources, but you don’t have to put in extra effort to get logs across the water. It’s also closer to many caves that have useful items when compared to the beach bases, and that means less running around the larger island.

The drawback here, compared to the island base, is it’s easier for enemies to attack you. Overall, I prefer building on the lakeside instead of on the island because the convenience outweighs the small amount of extra safety.

Base Location 5: Northeast Clearing

This clearing gives you plenty of space to build a large base, and you don’t need to haul logs across the water. It can take time, but it’s much easier to move resources over land and into this clearing. There’s also a good deal of safety in building here because enemies can’t hide in trees and jump down on you. You’ll have plenty of warning when you’re about to be attacked.

However, you’ll be in for a bit of traveling to get many of the weapons hidden on the island since this clearing is only close to a few key items. There’s a spot with a small bit of water here, but with Water Collectors and a Flask, you should be okay even if you aren’t right next to it.

Base Location 6: Forest Crash Site

This is one of my personal favorites. It’s right next to the water, plus it’s a short distance to the Stun Baton, a 3D Printer, and some caves with key items. Its position feels central enough that running to collect items doesn’t seem to be too much of a hike (in most cases). There are plenty of trees around to use for materials as well.

But if you want a large space to build, you’ll need to clear out quite a few trees because the forest is dense here, which also means that enemies will climb them and jump down at you. Similar to The Forest, enemies seem drawn to the crash site after a certain amount of time has passed. Since enemies don’t respawn, I find it useful if they come to me and I don’t have to deal with them later.

Base Location 7: Frosty Cave

Near the southern part of the giant mountain in the middle of the map, there’s a little cave that you can build inside. You won’t have to worry about being attacked, but I find that this location is very situational since it has quite a few drawbacks given the low temperature of the area.

You’ll be pretty far from a lot of resources and key items, so building a base here means you’ll be running around the island quite a bit.

Base Location 8: Abandoned House

This is the perfect option if you want a base but want to put minimal effort into building it. You can use these abandoned houses and either add to full rooms and levels, or just add smaller buildables like shelves for storage and a bed. Depending on what you want to build on, you’ll need fewer resources, too.

If you decide to make your base here, you’ll want to get the Shovel, Maintenance Keycard, and Guest Keycard first because they’ll be out of the way from this location. However, it’ll be easier to get to the Katana and the final bunker of the game if you’re looking to complete it.

Base Location 9: Mountaintop

I personally wouldn’t choose the Mountaintop Base, but it seems to be pretty popular with other players. You have a great vantage point from this location, plus you can use the Rope Gun to get up to the mountaintop and to travel down to various points on the island.

The space you have for building is limited, though, and you’ll also need to use the Rope Gun to get logs and other resources to this location. I find it to be a fall hazard, as well. This mountain has killed me more times than any cannibals or mutants.

Base Location 10: Waterfall

The band TLC once said, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls,” but I disagree when it comes to Sons of the Forest. This Waterfall Base is another of my personal favorite locations. It’s central enough that there aren’t many items you have to hike across the island for, there’s plenty of water, and trees aplenty. Adding to the allure, there are also crates and boxes that will respawn every time you log in, which means you can keep getting supplies like medicine and Solar Panels easily.

Again, this location has limited space unless you make your own clearing by cutting down trees, which could also help you avoid being ambushed by enemies. It can take longer to set up if you want an area for a large base, but the result is a high level of convenience.

Those are currently the best base locations in Sons of the Forest. As the game updates, there will certainly be changes to which areas make for the best settlements, and we’ll update as we find them. For more content, visit our Sons of the Forest guide page and find out how to befriend Virginia or how to get the Compound Bow.