the pointy bit goes towards the zombie

A note: wood spikes are a relatively inexpensive, low-profile way to deal with screamers coming to check out your early-game heat generation. They'll prevent you having to risk an approach that would cause the screamer to aggro and summon backup.

I use shotgun turrets as backup defense behind my last trapdoor the knockback and damage can really save a botched horde night

I locked the ammo. I will always lock the ammo. If I'm unsure I locked the ammo, I will spend time making sure I locked the ammo. I will double check all turrets/dart traps 3 times (for a total of 6) to make sure I have LOCKED THE AMMO before horde nights. That situation will never happen to me again :x I tend to use the gun turrets as almost... 'Ambush traps' in my "Doom Arena" horde nights; setting up about 5-7 along the side of a path (and if I'm feeling extra cheeky, on the ceiling for giggles). Letting them get a dozen shots off while I'm stacking up on ammo, doing repairs, or healing some wounds. Effective? Not terribly. They help, but that's about it. I used them mostly because I kept finding them around and playing with them, just adding them to the 'arena' batch by batch and soon enough there were turrets around nearly every corner :x But the SMG turrets do feel better overall, I just kept finding more shotgun turrets and more shotgun ammo than I could ever use.

Fun fact: With two blade traps stacked, one hitting the legs/crawler/dog block and one at the head block, the game is rather over. They eat EVERYTHING. Edit: I locked the ammo.

I will remember to lock the ammo. I wish there was a way to tap into the "what the turret camera sees" without having to stand right next to it. Like those Ring(tm) doorbells that let you see who is there while you are deep underground in your bunker.

If I could stop backing into my own iron spike traps while doing repairs after horde night, that would be nice. It's not like the damage matters, it's just so annoying when that sound reminds me I've been an idiot. AGAIN.

I always load and lock, appreciate the reminder. I love the SMG Turret mainly because of it's longer range and the abundance of 9mm in the world. Thanks for the knowledge Iz, always awesome!

Dart trap and single wire across walkway is my go-to economic horde base setup, at least for first few ones. Wire stuns them so the darts get a guaranteed hit, saving you the precious gun ammo or in-case your don't have adequate guns for a horde.

I dunno about shottie turrets. Even in shottie builds, i tend to have a really bad surplus of ammo. Find the turrets also need less refilling than the smg ones, despite the shotties burst fire. Also i find the shottie turret a better like, " a home defense i can forget about" kinda thing. Having one or two is fairly cheap by the door and saves me time from killing stragglers and crawlers who follow me back from doing clears and supply quests when i live in the city

shotgun turrets in my experience work best at the opposite end of a very tight (like 3 blocks long) killbox set-up, blasting them in the back, and linked to a plate or wire because their targeting likes to get weird sometimes and try to shoot through walls, you can also reach it if you forget to lock the ammo :)

I will remember that the lock ammo button is key, but forget whether locked means "the ammo is locked up and can't be used" or "locked and loaded, ready to go" until the zombies swarm past it unmolested.

I'm not sure if there were recent changes to the spike traps, but last time I've played, zombies may climb on top of them and scale up the walls they normally couldn't. So that's something I'd give caution to when placing them.

You forgot the ultimate trap- Pack Mule. Never put points in Pack Mule.

I use a shotgun turret tied to a single trigger plate in front of the door of my bridge base. It is off to the right and my final door defense, aside from myself. My steps to the bridge hook off to the left and back towards my tower. I fight on the left side, so sometimes get distracted and don't watch the door. For zombies to get through the door they have to get past two sledge turrets (yes, robotics inventor is maxed out) and the shotgun turret. On the back of my tower I have another incomplete bridge and steps with one block left out, guarded by two shotgun turrets. Those turrets are turned off by a switch until needed. The idea there is if the front bridge and/or steps get destroyed, I can put in the single block in and coax the zombie pathing that way. I don't want them to start trying to destroy my tower.

I've always been apprehensive about SMG turrets and demos - but never really had any proof. I appreciate that tip.

Never knew I had to lock ammo. I am just starting to mess with traps/turrets/electricity. Thanks for the memo and consider it done (and subbed just because of that).

Great info, thanks! Love the 25 chickens dropped on the blade trap! 🤣🤣

how bout a part two where you show off some build ideas for use case on the traps?

I often use a shotgun turret to where I plan to funnel zombies too around a corner so they do roughly max damage possible.

See, I made what I like to call the "Pit of Death" I basically surrounded my base that I built from the ground up with a 3 wide 4 deep trench that fits (I think) 44 blade traps on the floor around my base. I've also put them on the outer wall of the trench, and I'm in the process of putting them in the inner wall of the trench as well. I have a couple issues with the blade traps though. One, they break way too easily, and the zombies can just sit on the ones on the wall and hit them WHILE THEY ARE RUNNING. So my first change would be to have at least vertically oriented ones ragdoll the zombies easier so they can't just sit on them and destroy them. Secondly, they don't have nearly enough durability. I'm on day 80 rn, and halfway through horde night several of them broke, so I had to jump down into the pit, fix them while getting hit by zombies and my own traps, then barely make it back out of the pit just to keep them running and stop the zombies from fully breaking them. Lastly, WHY THE HECK ARE THEY SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE TO REPAIR? just fixing one of them from 250 hp costs like, 10 forged steel, and yes I have advanced engineering. It costs 10 forged steel to make a 10000 HP steel block. To fix my entire trench, I'm spending about 300 forged steel. That doesn't even account for if they broke fully. My point is, I feel like the blade traps don't really work as well as they should for what I believe is a perfectly reasonable use for them. I would increase their hp to 5000, but keep the max repair cost to 10 forged steel. Doesn't seem like as much of a ripoff then.

Great guide! I will remember to lock the ammo.

I had no idea about locking ammo. We finally got turrets setup but were swamped by the horde cause they weren't doing anything

I miss the old wood spike cones

I actually use the lock/unlock ammo to turn my turrets on and off during horde night. I've got a master power button at my horde base, and the turrets are always hot when that's on. I'll generally shoot things myself for max XP until I start seeing demolition zeds, and then I'll turn on the turrets to take care of the big boys since they never set them off. I prefer the SMG turrets too, so I end up with a bunch of shotgun turrets after doing a few tier5 POI's. I'll set those up on the grounds around my base to help take care of wandering hordes. I have them about 10m away from the walls, pointing inwards so they'll start shooting anything that gets close.

Imma gon lock up de ammo luigi

Perfect tutorial. Informative, simple for watch. Like. And one question for you: How many blocks max range have SMG turret? It is my prefered pasive weapon. Very hungry for ammo, but no expensive.

I use shotgun turrets if I find them, either for anti-air or for door defense: a shotgun next to your base door is an effective point defense against unwanted visitors. Typically I'll stick to SMG turrets for horde base or a more general (aka anti-screamer) perimeter defense. A very important note: dart traps won't set off demos. Also I think it was JaWoodle who experimented and found that the dart traps have a range of 32.

now me can protect fence with spiky bits and inner area with shooty shoots! i have locked the ammos. thanks prebuildy man! For real though, I was a total newb when it came to trap knowledge. Thanks!

AskPrebuilt: Do you have any basic inventory management tips for Valheim?

Thank you for this ! 😊

Hey @izprebuilt so if I wanted to start an intellect build game and have Dart and electrical wire traps ASAP what skills would I have to take? Any parts impossible to get until late game? Skills/skill books required? Thanks!

Do blade traps do extra damage if you mount them at head hight? I normally mount them vertically using corridors to funnel them into it. Will lock ammo

I rarely use the shotty turret. It damages blocks and really isn't the best. I usually sell them to the trader.

Dropping 25 chickens on a blade trap made me spit my coffee out laughing.

Lock the ammo? Check ✔️ I honestly didn't know that lol

I disnt lock my ammo on my turrets and almost got shit on xD had to lock em halfway thru

What about having multiple electric fences in one lane of blocks? Would all said electric fences be triggered when zombies pass through, does one fence activate? I'd love to see a video about how each trap can be optimized on bases. Take the common base styles (turtle base, elivated base, elivated turtle base, elivated corridor base etc), and go over how each trap can be placed/used optimally, and how base designs can incorporate trap repairs/reloads and maximize damage to zombies. Love your videos!

are the turrets able to shoot through bars and arrow slits??

I always lock the ammo (unless I don't want it to fire) Shotgun turrets are okay for anti-air, but not as good as SMG turrets. Shotgun turrets are best as a close-range base security system. My favorite use is to have them pointing at whichever door the zombies like to smash, so they're getting a shotgun in the back while they attack my door. To keep that turret safe, I elevate it on a concrete post, or build a mini-bunker around it with an iron hatch for maintenance.

You would think razer wire would do more damage but I guess they need to give electric fence a real to exist.

Okay! Okay! I'll lock the ammo! Yeesh! hehe

wanted to ask, i'm on day 32 and for my life i can''t seem to get the last book of batter up (of course it's the one to make the steel club) do you have a vid i can watch or is there way to have higher chances at gettting it?

I wonder though. for the exp. Do you have to be the one to place it? Or does everyone get the exp?

are the spiked traps affected by AI damage to block multiplier ?

almost a year and im still upset those 4 holes on the dart trap is just for show.... but then again it would be stupid broken....

I will remember to lock the ammo.

Will remember to lock the ammo

I LOCK MY AMMO! Hence the phraze: "Locked and Loaded!"

Dear IZ I will never forget to lock the ammo again. Sincerely The guy who always wonders why his dart traps don't work

they do head shot dmg so shotgun turrets above a pathway pointed straight down do decent

I'll remember to lock the ammo.

fiiine, I'll "lock the ammo" for you

I will remember to lock the ammo

I always forget that I locked the ammo so I go back to double check

OK OK I will lock the ammo!

IzPrebuilt: "This homework is not optional" Me: "Ok ok, I'll lock the ammo!"

I always lock the ammo can’t say the same for my friends

i will remember to lock the ammo

My dart trap won't fire :(

"How to enhance your gameplay while losinig your fps".

I generally remember to lock the ammo

Shotgun turrets would be perfect on either side of your walkway facing you, they can't see anyone until they're close, shoots Demos in the back, shoots zombies that fall and smack your foundation. I always lock my ammo.

I remembered to lock the ammo

I herby promise to lock the ammo, forever and always

I’ve come here to admit something terrible. I have 3 points in pack mule bc I didn’t realize there were pocket mods …

Instructions unclear I have a bunch of weird guys with cuts and blood everywhere working for me now :(

I refused to lock the ammo

i seem to have forgot to lock the ammo

I will remember

I remember to lock the ammo.

the shotty turret is good for choke points and supporting an smg turret because i have so many shells it's not funny.

I definitely had to look up to lock ammo lol. I will lock the ammo.

Dont forget to lock the ammo

Got it unlock the ammo. xD

Has anyone seen the shotgun turret damaging your own building blocks?

I flocked the camel.

I will lock the ammo.

lock the ammo

I will lock the ammo

Ok , I'll lock the ammo

I'll lock the ammo.

Lock that ammo bud

im gonna forget to lock my dart trap :(

i will lock the ammo

I locked the ammo 😂😂

I would NOT recommend playing PoBx servers. The people on there are rude and kick you if you don't fit into their ideology. Which this doesn't bother me, the part that bothers me is they will just kick you and insert false claims in order to do so, jeopardizing your stature with steam valve, the online services basically. This, I have a big problem with and dastardly people like that need to be called out. All they had to do was ask and i would have left if they didn't like me. But now, i'm firing back.

Always: lock and load... And lock. I'm partial to junk turrets. Cheap to build, cheap ammo, and full xp. Put some points in engineering and they become game changers. But I understand not calling them traps since their best use is in the field.

ah, that's why my traps didn't work hahaha

I forgot to lock the ammo 😭

I locked the ammo

I wonder how to get XP from Trapkills? I never earn xp with trap kills :/

I locked the ammo.

I will lock my ammo

i locked the ammo

Ammo Locked

❤️👏

Alright Alright, I'll lock my ammo slots. I'm mostly here for the turrets anyway so I REALLY need to lock ammo.

I locked the Ammo

Lock the ammo🤣🤣