GRAVHOUNDS Base Building Guide: Layouts That Hold

A GRAVHOUNDS base is not a fort. It is a machine with three outputs: it protects the collector, it keeps the pipeline supplied, and it buys you the thirty seconds you need to reach the ship. Build it like a machine and it survives waves that outlevel you. Build it like a fort and it becomes a pile of walls the swarm walks around.

This guide covers where to place the collector, the four layers every base needs, how power and pipes fit into the layout, and the three layouts that work for solo, duo and a full pack. All of it assumes the launch build: 22 turrets and deployable systems, physics-driven structures, and a swarm that escalates on a timer.

Official source: GRAVHOUNDS on Steam ↗ — 22 turrets and deployables, 4 weapons plus the Grav Beam, and physics-driven base building.

Step 1: choose the ground before you place the collector

The collector lands where you call it, and that decision determines the next twenty minutes. Good ground has four properties:

1. One dominant approach. A ridge, a canyon mouth or a natural funnel. If enemies can arrive from three sides, you need three kill boxes.
2. Line of sight to the horizon. Turrets that cannot see the spawn cannot thin the wave.
3. Room behind you. The escape pipe needs somewhere to go.
4. Nodes nearby. Titanium within a short pipe ride, Electrium within a medium one.

Bad ground is flat, open and central. It looks convenient because everything is close, which is exactly why the swarm surrounds it.

Step 2: the four layers

Every base that survives past the second tier has the same four layers, regardless of size.

Layer 1 — the screen

One or two cheap turrets placed near the spawn side, outside the main base. Their job is not to kill. Their job is to start damaging the wave early and to pull aggro away from the collector for a few seconds.

Replace the screen when it dies. Do not repair it mid-wave; it is meant to be expendable.

Layer 2 — the kill box

This is where the damage lives: overlapping fields of fire on the single path to the objective. The kill box should be short — ten to fifteen meters of concentrated fire — not a long shooting gallery.

Place turrets so their arcs overlap at the entrance, not at the collector. Enemies should be dying before they reach your walls, not after.

Layer 3 — the hard point

The collector itself, plus the generator chain that powers the kill box. This is the part you defend with your body when the wave breaks through.

Keep the hard point small. A generator two pipe rides away from the turrets it powers is a liability.

Layer 4 — the exit

A pipeline from the hard point toward open ground, ideally toward a teleporter or shrine. This is not a resource line. It exists so that when the countdown starts, you are ten seconds from the ship rather than forty.

Players skip layer four because it produces nothing. It is the layer that saves the run.

Step 3: power before turrets

Power is the base's blood. A generator that dies takes every connected turret offline, and an offline turret is worse than no turret because it still blocks movement.

Rules that prevent most blackouts:

• Two generators minimum once you pass four turrets. One is a single point of failure.
• Separate the generator chain from the kill box. If the swarm reaches the kill box, it should not immediately reach the power.
• Keep Electrium within a short pipe ride. Refueling should take seconds, not a full trip.
• Repair the generator first. In a blackout, fixing a turret is pointless until the grid is back.

The power generator guide has the full outage checklist and the fuel math.

Step 4: pipe the base like a circuit

Pipes do three jobs: move resources, move power, and move you. They are also build platforms, because every segment ends in a node that can hold a turret or structure.

The layout principle is simple: one trunk, short branches.

• The trunk runs from the collector toward the resource field.
• Branches end at nodes with turrets covering the approach.
• The escape line branches off the trunk near the collector and runs the other way.

Never run a pipe through the middle of your kill box. It gives the swarm a raised path and gives your turrets a blind spot underneath.

The pipe layout guide has three full maps: power, resources and extraction.

The three working layouts

Solo corridor

        spawn
          |
     [screen turret]
          |
   [kill box: 2 turrets]
          |
   [collector] -- [generator]
          |
      [exit pipe]

One approach, two or three turrets, one generator, one exit. Solo players should pick planets with a natural funnel and never build a second front.

Duo split

   spawn A                    spawn B
      |                          |
 [screen]                   [screen]
      |                          |
 [kill box A] --- trunk --- [kill box B]
      |                          |
      +------[collector]---------+
                 |
            [exit pipe]

Two kill boxes sharing one trunk. The anchor owns the collector and the trunk; the runner extends the branches. If one side collapses, the survivor falls back to the collector rather than reinforcing the dead lane.

Full-pack kill box

Four players should build one large kill box rather than four small ones:

• Two players own the outer screen and the flanks.
• One owns the collector, generator chain and repairs.
• One floats between the kill box and the exit pipe.

The kill box itself is a shallow U shape with the open end facing the spawn. Turrets sit on the arms, not the base of the U. The collector sits behind the base of the U, close enough that its aura covers the turrets.

What to upgrade first

Upgrade order matters more than turret count. With limited Titanium:

1. The turret covering the shortest approach. It fires most often.
2. The generator. Uptime multiplies every turret.
3. The kill box floor. A raised platform improves line of sight for everything on it.
4. The second screen. Only after the kill box can kill a full wave alone.

Do not upgrade the collector's cosmetics or the walls. Walls buy seconds; damage buys the run.

Five failure patterns

• The donut. Turrets arranged in a circle around the collector. Every turret fires alone; nothing overlaps.
• The long gallery. A corridor of turrets that kills the first enemies and lets the rest through while the front reloads.
• The remote grid. Generators placed for safety, far from the turrets they power. The power line becomes the weak point.
• The private fort. In co-op, one player builds a separate base. It splits aggro and wastes turrets.
• No exit. A perfect kill box with no pipe out. When the wave breaks, everyone dies ten meters from safety.

Rebuilding after a wipe

If the collector survives but the base does not, do not rebuild the same shape. Walk the path the swarm took, find the gap it used, and put the new turret there. Most wipes are a single uncovered approach, not a lack of damage.

If the collector dies, the run is over. Bank what you can carry and take the lesson into the next drop. The extraction guide covers what to save first.

FAQ

Where should I place the collector? On high ground with one dominant approach, nodes nearby, and room behind for an exit pipe.

How many turrets do I need? Solo: 2–3 on one corridor. Duo: 4–6 on two. Full pack: 8–12 overlapping. Count approaches, not players.

Should walls surround the base? Only on the flanks. Walls across the firing line block your own turrets.

Do pipes make the base weaker? No, if they run outside the kill box. A pipe through the kill box creates a blind spot.

What is the best base upgrade? The generator. Uptime is damage.

Further reading

• Official GRAVHOUNDS site ↗
• Steam patch notes ↗
• GRAVHOUNDS on Steam ↗

Summary

Pick ground with one approach, build four layers, power the kill box before you expand it, and always leave an exit. The turret placement guide covers the geometry inside the kill box; the build guide covers the mods that make it stronger.