Defensive Spikes

Defensive Spikes are defensive buildings, they were added in update v0.08 of The Forest.

Gameplay
Defensive Spikes are can be used for preventing cannibals and mutants destroying your walls, if you build a base on ground. As of v0.12, defensive spikes no longer harm enemies. Simply position them in front of your walls, and the walls should then be much safer. They can also be used as a way to scatter the cannibals so they can't attack all together. They can also be used as a sort of wall to a base but they are more expensive than the defensive wall. Defensive spikes will usually keep enemies out, however, they can sometimes glitch over the top. It is unknown if this is intentional or a bug.

An interesting, but expensive tactic, is to combine Defensive Spikes with Deadfall Traps. Fast cannibals can usually run straight through them but having a set of spikes just behind the trap will always ensure a hit and stop them from triggering multiple traps. Because mutants are drawn to structures you can use these to pin them down long enough to hit them with arrows or explosives/molotovs. They are quite useful against Cowmen as it slows their charges down as they crash through them before they can breach your base.

As with all traps and defenses none are perfect, each has weaknesses and strengths. Defensive spikes are expensive and cannibals and Virginia can jump them. A combination of structures is always the better option.