Our Top Picks
Pros & cons
you unlock it by building the Workbench first, then spending 8 Iron Ingots, 20 Stone and 15 Wood to craft and place….
The anvil in 99 Nights in the Forest is a craftable station rather than a fixed landmark — you unlock it by building the Workbench first, then spending 8 Iron Ingots, 20 Stone and 15 Wood to craft and place it at your base. The fastest route is to bank your wood and stone during the first two days, then make one dedicated cave run around night 3–5 for iron, because the anvil is what gates every metal tool, weapon repair and the upgraded pickaxe the mid-game assumes you have. If you would rather skip the smelting grind, a pre-placed anvil does generate inside the ruin structures and cave interiors on some maps, but it stays where it is — you would be crafting at a location you do not control.
Where the anvil actually comes from
There are two routes, and they are not equal. Crafting it at your base is the only one that scales; finding one is a shortcut that solves the recipe problem but not the location problem.
Mastering 99 Nights in the Forest (2025 Update): The Ultimate Official Game Guide for Beginners & Pros — Expert Strategies, Fast-Track Mission Tips, and the Most Comprehensive Updated Walkthrough
Chosen because it specifies Fast-Track Mission Tips and and the Most Comprehensive Updated Walkthrough.
View on Amazon
99 Nights in the Forest: The Unofficial Player Guide (2026 Edition)
Picked as a relevant option in this category.
View on Amazon
99 Nights in the Forest: The Complete Survival Guide to Reaching Night 99
Picked as a relevant option in this category.
View on AmazonRoute 1: Craft it at the Workbench (recommended)
The Workbench is the prerequisite — the anvil recipe simply does not appear in the crafting menu until a Workbench is placed and powered by being inside your base footprint. Once it is, the anvil shows up as a station recipe. According to the game’s official patch notes, station costs have been rebalanced more than once since launch, so confirm the current numbers in the crafting menu before you commit a whole night’s haul to them. The table below reflects the costs most players see in the current 2026 build.
Route 2: Find a pre-placed anvil
Ruin structures that generate in the outer forest ring and the deeper cave interiors can contain a working anvil as set dressing you can interact with. Two caveats: these anvils cannot be picked up or relocated, and the ruins they sit in are usually far enough from a defensible base that you will be crafting in the open. Treat a found anvil as a way to craft one emergency metal tool early, not as your permanent workshop.
Resource checklist before you start
Do not start an anvil run half-prepared. The single most common failure is arriving at the cave with a full inventory and no room for ore.
| Material | Where to farm it | Amount for the anvil | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | Trees, anywhere on the map | 15 logs | Also covers ~8 logs of smelting fuel; cheapest resource, farm it first |
| Stone | Rock piles and cave walls | 20 units | Shares a trip with iron, so gather it on the cave run |
| Iron Ore | Cave nodes (grey-brown rock with orange flecks) | 8–10 ore | Nodes typically drop 2–4 ore each, so 3 nodes is the realistic minimum |
| Smelting fuel | Same trees as above | ~8 logs | Roughly 1 log per ingot in the current build |
| Workbench | Crafted first | 1 placed | Hard prerequisite — no bench, no anvil recipe |
Step-by-step build order
- Bank 15 wood before anything else. Wood is the only resource with no travel cost, and you need it for the bench, the anvil and the smelting fuel. Chopping near your spawn point on day one costs you nothing but daylight.
- Place the Workbench inside your base footprint. The reason is mechanical, not cosmetic: the bench only unlocks recipes when it is placed as a structure, so building it in the open wastes the materials if you later move your base.
- Find a cave entrance on day two. Caves solve three problems at once — iron ore, stone in bulk, and shelter from the night mobs if you get caught out. Mark the entrance with a torch or a dropped item so you can find it again in the dark.
- Clear your inventory before you enter. Drop surplus food and tools at your base. The default carry limit means one full trip is worth roughly 3 iron nodes plus a stack of stone; if you arrive loaded, you will be making a second trip you did not need to make.
- Mine iron ore first, stone second. Ore is the scarce resource and stone is everywhere, so if you run out of inventory space on the way out, you want the ore in your pockets.
- Smelt the ore into ingots at the bench. Do this at base, not at the cave — smelting is a stationary task and standing still in the open after dark is how runs end early.
- Craft the anvil, then place it against an interior wall. Two reasons: anvils are a raid target in multiplayer lobbies, and placing the anvil next to the Workbench and forge cuts down the walking loop between smelting and crafting.
The iron math, worked out
Here is the budget in full, so you can see whether your run is viable before you leave base. The anvil needs 8 Iron Ingots. Smelting runs roughly 1 ore per ingot, so you need 8 ore minimum, and cave nodes in the current build drop about 2–4 ore each — call it 3 nodes if you are lucky, 4 if you are not. Add 8 logs of fuel, and add 2 extra ingots if you also want the metal pickaxe on the same trip (you almost always do, because it roughly doubles your future ore yield per node). That gives a realistic single-trip target of 10 ore, 20 stone and 23 logs — which is why the checklist above is heavier than the anvil recipe alone suggests. On a roughly seven-minute daylight window with a three-minute round trip to the cave, that is two trips, not one. Plan for two.
Is the anvil worth rushing?
| Your situation | Rush the anvil? | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Solo, nights 1–3, no walls up | No | Wooden tools and a palisade. An anvil with no base to defend is a liability |
| Solo, walled base, night 4+ | Yes | One dedicated cave run; the metal pickaxe pays for itself within two days |
| Duo or squad | Yes, immediately | Split roles — one mines ore, one farms wood and fuel; you can finish in a single cycle |
| You found a ruin anvil | No, but use it | Craft one metal tool there, then build your own once the base is secure |
| Playing on mobile or console | Yes, but expect a slower run | Same priorities; mining is just slower with touch or controller input, so budget an extra day |
What to craft at the anvil first
Priority order for most players: the metal pickaxe first (it multiplies every future resource run), then tool and weapon repair (repairing is almost always cheaper than recrafting), then metal weapons, then cosmetic or base-decoration recipes last. Repair in particular is the quiet reason the anvil matters — without it, every broken axe and pickaxe is a full recraft, and that cost compounds faster than the anvil ever does.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where exactly is the anvil in 99 Nights in the Forest?
There is no single fixed anvil location. The anvil is a craftable station you build at your Workbench after placing it inside your base. Pre-placed anvils do appear inside ruin structures and deep cave interiors on some maps, but they cannot be moved, so they are a convenience rather than a replacement for your own.
What do I need to craft an anvil?
A placed Workbench, plus roughly 8 Iron Ingots, 20 Stone and 15 Wood in the current build. You also need smelting fuel — about 8 logs — to turn iron ore into ingots. Station recipes have been rebalanced in past patches, so check the crafting menu for the live numbers before you spend a night’s haul.
Can you move an anvil once it is placed?
Yes, your own crafted anvil can be picked up and repositioned as a placed structure, though you should expect to walk it rather than teleport it. Found anvils inside ruins are static and cannot be relocated at all. That difference is the main reason crafting your own is worth the iron.
Is the anvil worth building before night 10?
Usually yes, if you already have walls up. The metal pickaxe it unlocks roughly doubles your ore yield per node, so the earlier you build it the more nights of compounding benefit you get. If your base is still open to the night mobs, build the palisade first — an anvil outside a wall is easy to lose.
Do anvils spawn in caves or in ruins?
Both can contain one, with caves being the more reliable of the two because the same trip also gives you the iron ore you need. Ruin anvils generate in the outer forest ring and are more of a lucky find. Neither can be picked up, so plan to build your own regardless.
What should I craft first at the anvil?
The metal pickaxe, then repairs for your existing tools. The pickaxe increases how much ore and stone every future run returns, and repairing is consistently cheaper than recrafting a broken tool. Metal weapons and decorative recipes come after those two.
