Voxhorde beginner's guide: your first 30 minutes
Updated September 25, 2026. Figures come from the live game.
The short answer
Spend your starting 130 scrap and 100 timber on the four corner pads: a Scrapworks, a Binding Pit, a Serum Lab and a Rot Garden. Bind two batches of zombies at the Pit, post a few guards, then raid a nearby village. After about 30 minutes you will run dry, and that is normal: come back in a few hours.
What you start with
Every new settlement is the keep alone, three bound zombies, 10 gold and a small stock of supplies. The keep produces 8 scrap and 8 timber an hour on its own, forever.
| Resource | Starting stock | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Scrap | 130 | Buildings, upgrades, research |
| Timber | 100 | Buildings and upgrades |
| Biomass | 30 | Binding zombies, hunts, cleanup |
| Serum | 8 | Binding, research, spores, live defense |
| Gold | 10 | Skipping timers and boosters in the Store |
Storage holds 960 of each material and 300 serum at first, about a day and a half of scrap from a keep and one Scrapworks. Anything produced past that is wasted, so a full store is a reason to spend, not to wait.
Meet Mort, your foreman
Mort was the first zombie you ever bound. After the walkthrough he waits in the bottom-left corner of the village with a speech bubble: one job at a time, a Show me button that opens the right screen and rings the spot, and a small reward when the job is done. Tap his portrait for the whole First Night checklist.
Mort's portrait, his line, the reward for the job, and Show me or Later.
| Job | Reward |
|---|---|
| Build a Scrapworks | 40 scrap, 20 timber |
| Build the Binding Pit | 30 timber, 10 biomass |
| Bind your first zombies | 10 biomass, 6 serum |
| Post guards at a gate | 30 scrap |
| Claim the daily reward | 30 timber |
| Build the Serum Lab | 8 serum |
| Start a research | 40 scrap, 4 serum |
| Upgrade a building | 40 scrap, 40 timber |
| Send a hunting party | 20 biomass |
| Train once in the Training Yard | 6 serum |
| Win a raid or hold your gate | 10 gold |
Step by step
- Name your village. The name is permanent and unique across the realm, so pick one you'll want to see on the leaderboard.
- Tap an empty pad and build a Scrapworks (30 scrap, 15 timber). It makes 24 scrap an hour and takes 2 minutes.
- Build a Binding Pit (40 scrap, 30 timber, 6 minutes). It is where you bind zombies and, later, mutate them.
- Build a Serum Lab (45 scrap, 25 timber, 20 minutes). Serum is the resource that runs out first; one lab makes 10 an hour, and it is where you research.
- Build a Rot Garden (20 scrap, 25 timber). It makes 18 biomass and 12 timber an hour.
- When the Pit stands, bind a batch: 3 serum and 8 biomass for 3 zombies (more with a good Serum Shot grade). Your starting 8 serum pays for two.
- After your first expansion, add a Watchtower (30 scrap, 35 timber). It widens your watch radius by 2 cells and shoots at attackers.
- Open the Map, tap a village in range and raid it. The fight happens when your horde arrives.
Tap any glowing pad to open the build picker. Only one thing builds at a time.
Why you run dry after 30 minutes
Voxhorde is built for a daily visit of about half an hour. The game's own pacing test plays a greedy first session: by the 30-minute mark it has four buildings, six new zombies and one raid out, and only 1.8 serum left. After four hours away it can act again.
- Wait for the timers and production to catch up.
- Play the Training Yard: three paid runs per mini-game per day pay materials back.
- Watch a rewarded ad to skip up to 30 minutes of a timer (five a day) or collect about an hour of a resource (eight a day). Ad rewards are paused now and then; gold still skips any timer.
- Spend gold: one gold finishes ten minutes of any timer.
Coins over buildings
Coins float over whatever needs you: Fix, Full, Bind, an upgrade, Build, Study or Grow.
- Bind: the Binding Pit is idle and a batch is affordable
- Full: a store is at its cap
- Fix: a wrecked building
- The Training Yard
At most three coins show at a time, most urgent first. Tapping one opens exactly the place where that action happens.
Questions players ask
Who is Mort in Voxhorde?
Mort is your foreman, the first zombie you ever bound. He guides new players through the First Night: eleven jobs from building a Scrapworks to winning a fight, each with a small reward, ending with 10 gold. After that he points at the next thing that needs you, and Options → Ask Mort brings him back.
What should I build first in Voxhorde?
A Scrapworks first, because it's cheap (30 scrap, 15 timber), quick (2 minutes) and takes your scrap income from 8 to 32 an hour. Then a Binding Pit (40 scrap, 30 timber, 6 minutes), where you bind zombies, and the Serum Lab, which takes 20 minutes, brews serum and runs research.
Is Voxhorde pay to win?
No purchase is needed to play. Gold only skips time or buys boosters; everything it buys can be earned by playing, and new players start with 10 gold and the daily calendar adds 30 more each week (5 on day 3, 5 on day 6, 20 in the day 7 Blood Crate).
How long does a Voxhorde session last?
The game is paced for about 30 minutes of decisions a day, then timers and production refill while you're away. Production keeps running for up to eight hours offline.
Can I change my village name later?
No. Village names are permanent and unique across the realm, so choose carefully on the first screen.