Valheim Comprehensive Guide

by Prof. Tots

First things to do: The first thing you’ll want to do is to register Eikthyr’s position by clicking on the small red stone tablet in the alter circle. Once that’s done, you’ll know where he is. At this point in the game, you’ll be limited to the starting island and the main meadows (Don’t venture into the black forest yet) I’ll discuss all the items and things to do for this section of the game before the first boss

Wood and stone: you’ll find branches and stones on the ground, pick these up and get the ability to craft your starting tools. You’ve begun your adventure!

Crafting: hitting tab will open your inventory and crafting menu, you’ll be able to craft an axe, hammer, club and torch. If you want to use an axe to cut down trees and as a weapon then ignore the club, or you can use the club as your starting weapon, either works as the game works with skills that level based on your playstyle.

Skills: you’ll notice when you start first running and jumping around that you’ll get skill increases, if you hit tab and look at the top right there’s a section for skills, the more skill progression a skill has, the more efficient you’ll be (Lv1 bow charge time is abysmal while lv100 bow is instantly nocked w a charged shot). Choose your style of play and grind that skill up.

Base Building: figure out somewhere to build, this could be temporary for efficiency or take 20 hours and build yourself a grandiose home. All you need now are walls and a bed to call spawn, you’ll need a fire near the bed to sleep and a fire will stay lit as long as there’s a roof over it (rain will get rid of any open fire) if you put a campfire inside your home make sure there’s an opening for the smoke to go out of because you can suffocate from the smoke. As well, making your first workbench is super important.

Workbenches: At this point in time, you’ll only have access to a Lv1 bench. No matter, if you put a roof over it you’ll be able to repair any item from the workbench for free as many times as you want. A workbench is also required to build but doesn’t need a roof to do so. The best way to make a working Workbench is to make a “Lean-To structure”. Basically 2 walls in the back and 1 Wall on each side coming inwards to make a box shape with a opening, Putting roofs over the back walls and covering the opening and Placing the Workbench inside will make the easiest working WorkBench system (Put Picture) I’ll explain upgrading it in a little bit – 

Hunt Gather and Hunt: after you’ve settled it’s time to get to work, there’s a few creatures you’ll meet at this point in the game mainly Boar and Deer. You’ll have to go after ALOT of boar to get a lot of leather scraps, this allows you to make the crude bow at your work bench. You’ll also unlock some other recipes but for now it’s best to focus on the bow, arrows and whatever weapon you’re using. Once you acquire a bow it’s time to sneak up on deer (just don’t get close) and bow them as they’ll run if you get too close. The bow angling at first is tricky so get some practice in to learn the trajectory. It’s also super important to get meat from this as meat will be your main food source in this section of the game. Deer also drop trophies which are used to spawn in the first boss. You’ll need at least 3. You’ll also want to forage around for razzberries and red mushrooms as you’ll want as much food as possible (they’ll also be used in an upcoming section).

Go to the Meadow’s Coast: along the coastline of a meadows is a resource called flint. It’s a smooth white rock that’s distinguishable from regular stone, simply pick it up and you’ll get the recipe for flint arrows and your first workbench upgrades, the chopping block and tanning rack. As a side note there’s an enemy called a neck that is great for food, getting cooked meat and neck tails gives you the best food combination at this point.

Upgrading Stations: This is VERY Important!!! If you want to unlock new recipes and upgrade your gear, you’ll need to upgrade your workstation. Use your hammer and go to the crafting section, there should be the recipes for the chopping block and tanning rack, both of which require flint. Simply gather the resources and place them close to the workbench (doesn’t matter where) you’ll see the star on your workbench go from 1 to 2 and then to 3 when you crafted both. This is the max at this stage, but it allows you to craft leather armor from the deer hide which makes the tutorial boss a cake walk.

Side note “Honey and Beehives”: while exploring you’ll notice broken down structures. If you’re lucky and know what they look like you can find beehives attached to the buildings. If you find one, shoot it with a bow and it will drop a queen bee. SUPER IMPORTANT for a later section but I’d recommend getting at least 3 before continuing. When crafting a Beehive you need to make sure you’re putting it in an open space with no roof over it. When it is placed press E on it for the status, if it says “The Bees are Happy” or “The Bees are sleeping” (At night) then you have correctly placed the hive and it will produce Honey (Stores 4 max). If it says “The bees need more space” then that’s exactly what they need :)

Getting ready for the first boss: so, it’s been a few hours you’ve been gathering, building and exploring. The main things you’ll need for the fight is your armor, I highly recommend taking the time to craft leather armor (upgrading it is not necessary) a bow with about 50 flint arrows and your main weapon (and shield if you crafted one)  Also having the best food combo of Cooked Meat, Neck Tail and (if you really want the best, Honey, otherwise a red mushroom or razzberry is fine) is a must. Other than that grab your 2 deer trophies and head to the spawning location, it’s time for a boss fight!

The First Boss: Eikthyr – Alrighty time for some fun! Once you’re ready and have 2 deer trophies, go to the spawner with the deer trophy in your hot bar. Once at the Altar click the button that the deer trophy is in your hot bar (If it’s 4 then click 4 where it says “Offer sacrifice”) Once you’ve done so get ready as Eikthyr will begin to spawn in. Now Eikthyr is a perfect tutorial boss as it looks hard to defeat (and is if you’re not prepared) but actually gives a great tutorial on the various mechanics of fights and if prepared, can be defeated easily. Eikthyr has 3 attacks, a simple run up to you and swipe with its antlers, a lightning beam attack that is shown as a quick stomp on the ground shooting lightning in whatever direction it’s facing. And lastly its AOE shock orb that is shown when it charges up to slam the ground. Do not worry if you are in Leather these attacks will do barely any damage. If you want to train your block you can parry its swipe attack and that can be easily baited out by staying right on top of him. If you want to train bow, then simply be at a distance and bow spam him. Either way this boss will go down quickly, earning yourself the hard antlers and your first boss trophy.

• Well, that’s the game tutorial, in this guide I’ll be recapping how to play throughout the entire game. But if you just needed a tutorial lesson then there you go, welcome to the world of Valheim and enjoy hours and hours of fantastic gameplay. SPOILER WARNING! If you read ahead there will be spoilers, I highly recommend playing the game first and trying to figure it out for yourself. This guide will be written in a way that goes over each section as you would progress to them in the game. Be careful if you read too far ahead.

DISCLAIMER! This is your last Spoiler Warning! Proceed ahead with caution

WHATS NEXT? – Well the first thing you’ll want to do is to head over to your worlds alter with Eikthyr’s trophy and place it on the hook next to Eikthyr’s stone tablet, this allows you to gain his power (Which is amazing I highly recommend using it) by clicking E to Acquire power, and then F to activate it. The next thing you’ll want to do is head back to base and craft yourself the Antler pickaxe. Upon doing so unlocks the ability to go mining for ore!

  The Black Forest: It’s best to have stuck in the meadows until defeating Eikthyr, now that you’ve done that it’s time to go explore this wonderful not terrifying Biome :). Simply explore until you notice different trees than the Beech trees with a fog presence. You’ll get a notification upon discovering one for the first time. The enemy here are tougher, spawning in tougher Greydwarf like the Brutes and Shaman. Brutes are hard hitting but can be parried easily being slow. Shamans will attack with Poison against you so make sure to dodge this attack. It can also heal itself and other enemies by throwing the same material into the air. Lastly, the Black Forest is home to the game’s most definitive noob killing enemy…. The Troll… Giant blue creatures that walk super slowly but will instantly kill you if you get hit (You’re extremely lucky if you live a hit at this point). However, these trolls are very easy to kill with a bow, simply walk backwards while firing, let it get close, it’ll charge up an attack, that’s when you just walk backwards and you’ll dodge the hit, rinse and repeat until it’s dead. Trolls drop coins and a trophy but most importantly Troll-hide. This can be used to craft Troll armor which is highly recommended for this point. There are also items here that are important to get. Thistle is a blue flower that glows just simply press E to pick it up. You’ll also find Burial Crypts that are buried into the ground and have an opening. These are normally guarded by skeletons so be careful. Inside though is probably the most important ingredient at this stage. The surtling core. These cores are used to make your Smelter to smelt ore and the Charcoal kiln for coal. They’re also used to make portals so it’s best that you stock up as much as you can on these. You’ll also find treasure so make sure to explore a few of these before doing anything else. The main thing though in the Black Forest is the ores, they spawn both Copper and Tin which is basically your next step for the next 5 hours.

Mining Time (Copper and Tin): Alright so you’ve crafted a pickaxe, your Smelter and Kiln. It’s time to find ore but where the heck is it? Do not worry the Black Forest is filled with ore, you just need to know where to look. Copper is easy enough; they’re big rocks with shiny metal detail in them. Hovering over it will also show “Copper Deposit”. Tin is found like Flint near coasts along the Black Forest, simply walk along and spot a shiny rock, hovering over it once again will show “Tin Deposit” (https://prnt.sc/103bm0h – Picture of Tin vs Stone). Mining Copper sometimes will give you stone (Don’t worry because copper can go into the ground so make sure to dig up the entire vein) Mining Tin will always give you tin. You’ll notice that the ore is extremely heavy. A great way to get a ton of ore (While it feels like cheating and what I am dubbing “The Double World Strat”) is to make a new world with nothing but chests near the spawn, every time you get encumbered by the ore, go to the chest world and dump your ore, rinse and repeat until you’re satisfied. Then have your player travel back to your base in your Main world. Once back Log into your chest world, take all the ore and then log back into your main world. You’ll be at base with all the ore you just collected. Ore Cannot be teleported through portals so don’t try that. Otherwise, if you’re legit just keep running back and forth until you’ve stocked enough or build small smelting bases near ore veins. When ready to smelt the ore This is when you put the copper and tin in your smelter and coal to smelt it. It takes 2 coal for every 1 ore and the smelter holds 10 ore slots and 20 coal slots. Using a Charcoal Kiln is essential for getting coal, feed it 25 wood and you’ll get 25 coal. This process is slow so bring up your favorite Valheim Youtuber and let your ore smelt. Now there’s a few things you can do with the refined copper and tin. Copper gives you the ability to craft the forge and the tin will let you craft the cauldron, both extremely important items. You’ll need a forge to progress so craft one and put it under a roof like the workbench, it functions the same as a workbench just for metal tools and armor. You won’t have any recipes until you’ve smelted both tin and copper. Once you have done this go to your Forge and you’ll get the ability to make bronze. And oh boy you’ll be making a lot XD 

Side Note “Cauldron”: Using 10 tin to make a cauldron is essential to Valheim. It must be placed over a fire and is basically your potion brewing station. At the moment it’ll give you some recipes like queens jam, I’d recommend not making this as the razzberries will be used for something more important but if you want to go for it, it gives great stamina for this stage. As you unlock more brewing ingredients you’ll uncover more recipes. (Save the Poison resistance recipe for later as it will be life saving).

Side Note “Merchant”: You may have acquired some coins and valuables such as ruby and amber and are wondering what to do with it? In your world there exist multiple of the same biome, meaning multiple Black Forest. “The trader only spawns in one single place randomly anywhere in an entire given world save state. He only appears in the Black Forest biome, and if you come within 2km of him a coin bag marker will appear on the map marking his location (in the Current Game State)  – Andrew wrote this “Credit where credit is due :)” When meeting the merchant press E on him for his inventory. He’ll sell a variety of items. Most notably, The Megingjord. Get this IMMEDIATELY! It raises your carry capacity by 150 and takes 1 inventory slot like a piece of armor would but it’s separate. It also costs 950 coins so save up! Other items are The Fishing Rod and Bait and that’s used for well… Fishing (Will touch on the mechanics in a separate section of the guide). A tiny red hat with no use other than to look absolutely stunning. Ymir’s flesh which is a crafting item for some later weapons. And a helmet that emits a small light (Honestly I would save the coin on this it’s not the most useful) 

The Bronze Age: So you’ve smelted a bunch of Tin and Copper and crafted Bronze. You’ve finally hit the metal tier, congratulations you still got a long way to go :) The truth is Bronze is used very quickly and I don’t recommend using it against the 2nd boss in terms of armor (Although you can if you want). Bronze I feel is mainly used for weapons as you unlock the Sword and Atgeir (Atgeir being my personal favorite) you also get major upgrades for weapons and tools in Bronze like the pickaxe which you will need to mine a later ore. The Axe which is used to cut down birch trees and get fine wood for portals. The Mace if you’re a club wielder, the Buckler for parriers and the Knife if you’re a sneaky sneak. Bronze is also used for workstations and upgrades like the next three you get, one for the workbench (The Adze) and two for the Forge (The Forge Cooler and the Anvils) (For some reason you don’t need bronze to craft the Cooler it takes copper but it doesn’t unlock until you get bronze, this may of been my personal playthrough though). Regardless, make sure to craft these two and unlock new recipes. You’ll be able to finally start farming with the cultivator and crafting bronze nails will unlock the Cart, a very useful tool that makes wood or stone gathering a cakewalk, holds 18 spaces so you can get wood for days. Nails also craft the first actual ship, The Kaeve. 

Side Note: “CoreWood” and “FineWood”: Core and Fine wood are very important for later stage crafting. In order to acquire Core and Fine Wood you need just a stone axe to cut down Pine Trees in the Black Forest for Core Wood and a Bronze Axe for Birch Trees in the Meadows for Fine wood. Pine trees can be chopped down by any axe but Birch trees can only be cut down by a Bronze axe or higher. 

Farming: Let’s begin with Farming, by using 5 bronze at the forge you’ll be able to craft the Cultivator. This item allows you to till soil and make it plantable for seeds. At this point in the Black Forest you may have seen a carrot seed plant by picking it up gives you 3 seeds. Collect these to begin your first farm using Carrots. When placing the seeds make sure you are not planting them too close to each other otherwise the plant will not grow. This can be seen when the plant looks wilted and will say “Plant needs more space to grow”. The space between though is generous and is something you will need to tinker around with. It takes a couple in game days for carrots to grow and can be picked up with E. I recommend saving half of your carrots to turn into carrot seeds plants and half to make into Carrot Soup, a great food upgrade at this point. There are also turnip seeds but these are quite rare and not worth the effort since you cannot plant the seed plant yet. 

Sailing: If you have tinkered with the crafting menu you may have noticed you can build a raft. Honestly ignore this, the raft may get you across very small oceans but anything larger and you will be in danger…(Will cover later) It also has no storage so you can’t transfer (Or build) on it. Once you acquire the bronze nails you’ll get the option to craft the Kaeve, the true first ship. Make sure to craft this over water because well… It’s a boat. Any contact with land in movement will do some damage to the boat. The boat can be repaired for free when in the radius of a workbench (Good for pulling over and repairing quickly when sailing around). It has 4 storage slots for whatever you want (Mainly ore). Sailing the boat for the first time can be confusing. On the right side you’ll see a wheel and some lines representing the wind. Much like actual sailing you need the wind to move faster. By hitting the turn keys it will move the boat’s rudder, the more you turn it the more the boat will turn in that direction. When the wind is behind you hit W to bring down the sails. Hitting W twice will bring the sails down even more and a third hit will bring them down fully. When in open waters it’s important to always have the wind at your back for maximum speed. If you’re going into the winds bring the sails up as you will not move if they are down. Bringing the sails fully up will allow you to travel against the wind, although very slowly. When exiting the boat if it’s moving, as soon as you leave the boat it will cease moving. Sailing is all about learning the combination of steering and speed with the wind. With some practice you’ll be a Captain in no time. 

Side Notes “Fermenter”: If you want that extra boost of power I recommend building a Fermenter before fighting the 2nd Boss. In your Hammer’s Crafting Menu using Bronze, Resin and Finewood. Doing so allows you to take mead crafted at your Cauldron and Ferment them into Potions. Simply craft the mead in the Cauldron and place it into the Fermenter. Let a few days pass and the potions will be ready. Each Mead recipe makes 6 potions so it’s a bargain. At this point in the game you’ll be able to craft Minor Healing Potions Using Dandelion, Honey, Raspberries and Blueberries. These will heal you for 50 health over the span of a few seconds. You then won’t be able to consume another health potion for 2 minutes (You can drink multiple different potions). You can also craft Stamina potions using Honey, Yellow Mushrooms and Razzberries which are very helpful for getting out of situations and you have no Stamina. Use this potion when you’ve run out of stamina and watch as you gain it back instantly upon using the potion. When Fermenting a Mead Base it takes 40 minutes real time for the Potions to Brew (Tested by “Crazy”)

Gearing up and Locating the 2nd Boss: So you’ve been mining copper and tin for hours, making new Bronze weapons, exploring Dungeons and slaying Trolls, What now? Where’s the 2nd boss? Well as you have been exploring the various Black Forest in your world and if you get lucky, while you are exploring a Dungeon you may come across the Vegvisir for the 2nd Boss, The Elder. Doing so unlocks the spawn area. You can also find the Vegvisir in Broken Stone Towers but Dungeons are your go to. Fantastic you know where he is. But now what. Well you could go on a mad dash to wherever he is but you’ll soon learn that like Eikthyr, The Elder needs a Sacrifice. Reading the Tablet near the spawner gives the player a hint (add hint here). This basically means that you’ll need a seed. While exploring the Black Forest you may have noticed Purple Smoke Effigy looking things. These are Greydwarf spawners and will spawn Greydwarfs endlessly. However you can break them with a weapon and they’ll drop Ancient Seeds. You can also farm Greydwarf Brutes because they have a small chance to drop Ancient Seeds. Whatever way you choose you need 3 of these to summon The Elder. Great you now know where he is and how to summon him. All that’s left is gearing up. For Weapons I recommend a Lv3 Bronze weapon of your choice (He is weak to Axes) a Finewood Bow, about 100-200 Fire Arrows (He is weak to Fire) and at least Troll or Bronze Armor. (I recommend Troll Armor because mobility is key during this fight. In terms of Food I recommend Cook Meat, Cooked Neck Tail and Carrot Soup. Health and Stamina Potions are optional but highly recommended. Once you’ve gathered your items it’s time for The Elder.

Side Note “Portals”: Putting a Portal at your base and connecting it to one at The Elder’s spawn area (And other boss areas) is a smart move. It allows you to prepare and when you’re ready to fight him you can just Portal to him immediately. This helps as well with wanting to fight The Elder multiple times (Not that you need to but grinding your Bow/Weapon and Block skill on him is a little tip if you want to grind skills legitimately). To connect a Portal make sure the tag of each portal you’re trying to connect is EXACTLY the same (caps and spaces). 

The 2nd Boss: The Elder: Slow, this boss is Slow! Use that to your advantage which is why I recommend Troll Armor. The Elder has 3 attacks like Eikthyr. If you get close it’ll do a long wind up stomp (this is easily blockable or can be parried). He’ll cast root torpedoes at you in a volley and will do damage upon contact. If you’re moving you shouldn’t have a problem but standing still can get you hit hard or even killed if you’re not careful. if you’re at a distance. His last attack is the one you’ll need to watch out for the most. He’ll lift his hand and summon roots from the ground surrounding and whipping at you. These can be killed easily but dealing with the roots and the boss can be a little challenging. Maintain your distance with your bow and bow spam for easiest results. Use Health and Stamina potions when either is low. It’ll take quite a bit more hits than Eikthyr but sure enough it’ll go down. Just like Eikthyr, The Elder will drop his trophy to be used at spawn and as well a Skeleton Key. What does this key go to? Well read on because we’re heading into the Iron Age and the Dreaded Swamp…

Prepping for the Swamp: Well we’re making some real progress now. We’ve beaten The Elder and now we’re ready to go beyond. Now would be a great time to start crafting some Poison Resistance Potions because the Swamp is filled with Poisonous enemies. Stock up on food and arrows and get the sails ready. It should take a little bit of exploring to find a swamp, look for huge dead trees (A fitting atmosphere for what’s to come). Sailing around provides the best results. Make sure to have a Portal set up so you can set up a small base outside the Swamp and be able to return to main base quickly. Building in the Swamp is not a good idea as the enemies here hit very hard and are abundant. Once you have found the Swamp and prepared your Portal base, it’s time to head in.

The Swamp: Now as deadly as the Swamp is in the early stage of the game, it also provides many upgrades to your loadout. First up the enemies. There will be your usual Skeletons as well as some new faces. The 2 most important enemies are the Draugr and the Leeches as these 2 enemies drop very valuable items. Draugr will drop Entrails which can be made into Sausage at a Cauldron (Yum…) Using 2 Entrail, 1 Raw Meat and 4 Thistle will get you 4 Sausage. This is the best Food item now available so make sure to stock up. Be careful though as Draugr will hit very hard at this stage. Leeches will drop BloodBags a VERY useful item in crafting potions and food. Once acquired you’ll get the recipe for Medium Healing Potions which take the same ingredients as small ones but instead of Blueberries it’s now 4 BloodBags. (There are also used in the best food in the game but that will be covered later). Leeches are also very dangerous as they will poison the player if they hit them. (This is why Poison Resistance is a must). The Swamp is also home to Blobs. Green slime balls that will slither and hop towards the player. If near they will release an AOE Poison gas attack that will poison the player upon contact. They drop Ooze when killed which is only used to make Ooze Bombs. Not really the most useful item (Certainly not against the 3rd Boss) but there if you want to craft them. There are also Surtlings, remember how we would collect the Cores in Dungeons? Now we meet the enemy that drops these cores (Also coal). Very useful for farming since they spawn in very small areas that are easily seen in the swamp (They spawn near literal fire geysers it’s not that hard to see). There are also bigger versions of enemies that drop the same things as their normal counterparts. There are Draugr Elites which will absolutely pummel you but their Trophy is used in a very special craft. And Oozers which are yellow and will spawn 2 Blobs upon death. At night though holds the scariest enemy at this stage, The Wraith. They don’t take many hits but oh boy are they scary. They’ll drop Chain which is used in some furniture items and a Forge Upgrade (Put Upgrade here). That’s it for the enemies and besides from a few other things the Swamp provides (will talk about that shortly) it’s time to go Crypt Hunting.

Side Note “Other Swamp Things”: The Trees in the Swamp provide us with a new type of wood, Ancient Bark. This is used in a variety of Different crafting recipes and grabbing some is a smart thing to do. There is also Guck (Lovely name…) This material is a green blob that grows on the sides of the Swamp’s trees. Once located make sure to have some wood because you’ll have to build yourself a staircase next to the tree and mine it from that with an Axe or Pickaxe. This material isn’t used now but is used in the Best bow in the game’s crafting recipe (More on that later). Other than some thistle and stone structures that will house Skeleton and Draugr, the Swamp doesn’t have anything else. It’s time to go find our first crypt.

Swamp Crypt’s: There is no real trick to finding Crypts you just got to be lucky. You’ll notice a brick type structure with torches outside the front. There will be an entrance with a locked gate. Hopefully you brought your newly acquired Skeleton Key because that’s what will unlock the gate. The key has infinite uses; you only need 1 in a playthrough, just don’t lose it :). Upon entering it has a Dungeon vibe in its room layout. You’ll notice some areas are blocked by Muddy Scrap Piles. So the obvious answer to this is to sling your pickaxe into it. I recommend making an upgraded Bronze Pickaxe but a bunch of Antler Pickaxes do fine too. You’ll have to break each pile piece by piece. If you’re lucky, you’ll find Scrap Iron! (AKA Iron once you smelt it). Oozer’s can also drop Iron as confirmed by the updated wiki so technically you can get Iron before fighting the Elder. However it is a rare drop and isn’t a good source so I wouldn’t recommend it. Explore the Crypt and break as many piles as you can. Watch out for Draugr and Blobs as they will spawn inside the Crypts. Other items of notice (In Chests or laying around) are Ancient Bark, Chain, Amber, Ruby, Coin and a new item called Withered Bones (You can guess that this will be the item used to Sacrifice for the 3rd Boss). If you’re really lucky you can find the Vegvisir for the 3rd Boss, Bonemass. And that’s Valheim’s Swamp, Keep exploring the one you found or find multiple in order to get the material you’ll need. That will be covered in our next section.

Enter the Iron Age: – Well Congratulations Viking, you have found Iron and conquered the Swamp. What do you do with the Material you have found? Well let’s start with your gear. By now you’ll be begging for an upgrade over that Troll Armor or Bronze armor. So now it’s time to make Iron Armor! By this point in the game you’re going to want to upgrade that for the Boss fight and for the next section after The Swamp. You’ll also want to Upgrade your Bow to the Huntsman Bow]. Your weapon (And shield if using) also need an Upgrade to Iron. You’re also going to want to get an Iron Pickaxe as this is the last tier of Pickaxe in the game and will be needed to mine later tier ore. You’re going to want to get at least 10 Iron so you can craft the Longship, the last ship you can make and oh boy is this worth it. 18 Slots of Storage! This is realistically the first thing you want to make (if you’re not doing the double world strat) because you can fill the ship up with Iron and bring it back to your base all in one shot. Finally there are the last 3 Forge Upgrades you’re going to have to make (The Billows, The Tool Rack and the Smith’s Anvil). The Tool Rack and Smith’s Anvil (Not to be confused with “Anvils”) Both require just Wood and Iron to make. The Billow Requires Deer Hide, Wood and 4 Chain so make sure not miss any chain in your Swamp exploration. All in all with crafting and upgrading you’re going to need to mine hundreds of pieces of Iron. Quite the grind but well worth it as this is the first step towards preparing for the 3rd Boss, Bonemass. There is also an item called the StoneCutter that is important to build because it allows you to craft stone building material and has an upgrade to the Forge, The Grinding Wheel. To craft this simply craft a Sharpening Stone from the StoneCutter. This will then give you the Crafting recipe for the Grinding Wheel. (Make sure to craft this if you want a max level Forge). There are other decorative items you can make with Iron but at the moment it’s best to focus on these items.

Prepping for the 3rd Boss: Bonemass: So you’ve upgraded your Gear to Iron and gotten it to Lv4 with your new Forge Upgrades. So what other steps should you take to fight BoneMass? Well you can start farming Leeches for BloodBags and start brewing Medium Health Potions. These are super important as they are the best health potion in the game. Craft more Poison Resistance and Stamina Potions as well. Cooking Sausage is vital for this fight as it’s the best food item up to this point in the game. Carrot Soup is also still very good so continue to farm Carrots. If you were lucky enough to find Turnips in the Black Forest,cook them into Turnip Stew. If you don’t have Turnip Stew, Cooked Meat is fine as well. 

BoneMass Weaknesses: So Bonemass has a couple different Weaknesses. The main weakness being Blunt Damage. This is where a Mace and Shield shines. However if you were lucky enough to have killed a Draugr Elite and it drops its Trophy, you can craft an amazing weapon, The Iron Sledge. This weapon is ridiculous having the highest knockback of any weapon in the game. Its Blunt Damage is fantastic and a very useful weapon against Bonemass. If you really want to go that extra mile you can craft Frost Arrows. Bonemass is weak to Frost Arrows, however the ingredients to craft these are found in the next biome that you would visit. If you kill a certain enemy in this biome it will drop an item called Freezer Glands. There is also a rock that you can mine in this Biome called Obsidian that is needed to craft Frost Arrows. (Make sure to craft Frost Potions now as it’s a chilly trip. You will take damage when stepping foot in the biome if you do not). And that’s all there is to it. You’ve upgraded your Armor, Weapons, Arrows, Tools, WorkStations, Food and Potions to the highest point they can be at this stage. All that is left is to Find Bonemass.

The 3rd Boss: Bonemass: Just like the Previous two you will need to find a Vegvisir in a Swamp Crypt that shows the location of Bonemass. Make sure to set up your Portal before leaving so you can have easy access back home. To summon Bonemass you will need 10 Withered Bones. Just like the others, place the summon item in your hotbar, go to the sacrifice prompt and press the corresponding number key. Immediately upon summoning Bonemass activate a Poison Resistance Potion (he’ll be poisoning you a lot). Bonemass has 2 attacks unlike the previous bosses, instead he will periodically spawn blobs to attack you. His 2 attacks consist of a simple swipe where you up close and also doing a toxic puke AOE attack, when you’re caught in this you’ll take increased Poison damage. Like The Elder, Bonemass is incredibly slow so go in with your melee, back out when you’re low on health or stamina and just bow spam. Rinse and repeat and you will claim victory eventually. Killing Bonemass will drop its trophy and an equipable item called the Wishbone. Hugin will stop by and tell you that it locates Silver and treasure. But how it does is confusing to some. Join me in my next section, Climbing the Mountain!

Prepping For The Mountain: It’s finally time to explore those massive snowy mountains that get in your way when you would be traveling in the Black Forest. However before we go bulldozing in we need to prep. Doing so is going to require some crafting and exploring a biome that not many would think there would be things to get, The Ocean. Before covering that let’s talk about what to craft. If you haven’t upgraded your Iron gear to Lv4 now is the time to do this as The Mountain can be brutal. The enemies here can swarm you and do insane damage. (Getting one shotted by 2 stars of these has frustrated me too many times….) I referenced this earlier during Preparing for Bonemass when I mentioned he was weak to Frost Arrows. If you haven’t been there yet (and haven’t already guessed by now), The Mountain is what I was referring to. You need to craft Frost Resistance Potions because without you will take damage from the cold. You’ll be able to craft something soon that makes Frost Resistance obsolete so only make a few. Stock up on your food and arrows, repair your armor and tools. It’s time to go…. Explore the Ocean because there’s a sick way to get one of the best foods in the game now. Getting this for the Mountain makes the trips sooooo much easier. We only have to go fight some Krakens and Sea Serpents… What are we waiting for? Let’s go!

The Ocean: The Ocean is a Biome that is not required to be explored nor is there really any actual point that you need to explore the Ocean. You could literally build a raft and go find Islands even though you’ll probably be destroyed by a Sea Serpent so I try to avoid that. Once you’re able to make the LongShip when you acquire Iron and Ancient Bark is “in my opinion” the moment you’ll be able to explore the ocean properly. The LongShip can take a ton of damage and has 18 storage spaces to hold whatever you want. Now you may be wondering what to actually do in the Ocean. Just sail around in open waters and, if you’re lucky you’ll find an island… Only something is off, it’s bouncing up and down like it’s a… Creature? Well you’d be right it is. You’re staring at a Kraken my friend. Best to prepare all the fire power you got and get ready for war. Well wouldn’t that be awesome because that’s absolutely not what’s going on.  The Kraken Island is non hostile and merely exists. It does not harm the player or interact in any way. But here’s the fun part. You can sail up to these islands and station your boat next to it and jump onto the island itself. You’ll first notice Barnacles scattered around the island, these can be mined with a Pickaxe and it will drop Chitin. Be careful though while on top of the Kraken it will begin to shake. It will shake once before stopping where you have about 30 seconds before it shakes again. This time it will not stop shaking and it will begin to descend into the Ocean. This is the moment to book it back to the ship so you’re not stuck in the Ocean with no stamina and begin to drown. Acquiring Chitin will give you the recipes for The Abyssal Knife and Harpoon. The Knife is pretty cool if Knives are your thing, but the star of the show (and the whole game tbh) is the Harpoon. This amazing piece of gear is a Spear that when thrown at ANY (and I mean ANY) enemy in the game, it will stick a rope into them basically making a leash. I have turned Eikthyr and The Elder into my personal pets towing them around wherever I want because of this Tool. Besides this stunning revelation, the Harpoon is used to acquire one of the Best foods in the game, Serpent Stew. 

Side Note “Sea Serpents”: Now you may have encountered a Serpent at any point in your travels in the ocean (If you’re the guy in the raft I feel for you that must’ve been horrifying…). However at this point those terrifying monsters are going to become our prey. Using the Abyssal Harpoon, if you sail at a Serpent and throw the Harpoon at it you can essentially drag it to land where you hop out of your boat and beat the snot out of the defenseless creature. Upon killing the beast you will get 6-7 Serpent Meat which is used to cook the Serpent Stew. Cooking this on a cooker and then going to the Cauldron with 1 Serpent Meat, 1 Red mushroom and 3 Honey you will get 1 Serpent Stew. This food will increase your Health and Stamina by 80. This is the 2nd highest Value of any food. (the two others have 90 Health or Stamina and 50 of the other stat meaning Serpent Stew is the Most Balanced of the foods). Killing the Serpent will also drop Scales which are used to craft a Serpent Scale Tower Shield. (Personally not a fan but a beautiful decoration piece). Now if you’re lucky you’ll get a Sea Serpent Trophy when killing one. If you’re going for all the trophies then this will definitely be a challenging one to get. (Scales and the Trophy will sink to the bottom if the Serpent is killed in the ocean, make sure to bring them onto land so you don’t waste these drops)

That concludes the Ocean section of the guide. It’s optional to come here before the Mountain but you don’t have to. I recommend killing at least 1-2 Serpents to get the Stew because the Health gain is unlike anything at this point in the game. Either way it’s your choice whether you want to or not. Regardless, we’re beginning our journey to climb the Mountain.

Climbing The Mountain: Explore your map until you find… Well a huge mountain? They are distinguishable by snow leading up the Mountain. You’ll also get the usual notification of discovering the Mountain. You probably have found one by now but if not well this is what you’re looking for. Like always it’s smart to set up a Portal before leaving and set up the other Portal at the foot of the Mountain. This is also the time to drink your first Frost Resistance Potion. Holding Shift while running up the Mountain allows you to go up steep hills easier. Keep climbing until you get to the top. Congratulations you’ve made it to the Mountain Biome. You are rewarded by 6 Wolves coming after you immediately and chasing you back down the Mountain… Let’s start with the enemies. We’ll begin with Wolves, you’ve probably met them before I could even introduce them. Normal Wolves can be a little challenging doing a decent amount of damage. However if you are able to hit them before they hit you you will stun them. This is your moment to go in and slay them. They will drop Raw Meat but more importantly they will drop Wolf fangs and Wolf Pelts. These ingredients are used to craft the Wolf Armor, essentially the next step of armor. They will also drop Wolf Trophies which are one of the few trophies used in crafting recipes (The Wolf Cape). You will need to kill quite a bit of these to get enough Pelt to craft and upgrade the armor. But before you go and try to craft it you’re still missing an Ingredient (We’ll get to that later). Other enemies include Drakes. Little ice dragons that will shoot a triple burst ice projectile and fly around. Hopefully by now your bow skill is leveled up a lot because aiming at these can prove a challenge. Drakes will drop Freezer Glands (Which is what I was alluding to earlier in the Bonemass section; you’ll need to kill these if you wanted Frost Arrows). Drakes will also drop Drake Trophies which is used in the crafting of the Drake Helmet (The Silver Armor helmet). The Last two enemies are just terrifying, the Fengling and The Golem. At the moment however Fengling only drops wolf teeths as well and Golems drop Crystal which have no use at the moment. These Two enemies will pack quite a punch (Especially the Golem which will take 100 hits). Well that concludes our Mountain enemies. Now let’s go over the various things there are to do in the Mountain which isn’t much but will probably eat up your next 10 hours of gameplay

Silver and… well more Silver (Using the Wishbone): You acquired the Wishbone from Bonemass upon defeating it and probably wondering how it works. Well that’s exactly what I’m here to tell you. Equip the Wishbone like a normal equippable item (If you have Megingjord you cannot equip both). Once equipped the Wishbone will act like a metal detector. While you’re walking around the Mountain you may get lucky and notice a green light that slowly flashes around the player. This will act as your “locator” so to speak. Basically keep walking around the Mountain and watch the green light, as you get closer to the vein the light will begin to blink faster and faster until it’s flashing rapidly, this is your signal that you have found silver, but where is it? Well the only way to go is down so start mining. A couple swings into the ground will unearth the Silver Vein (A cool note about Silver veins is that they’re always shaped like a Wishbone). This is essentially how you will be getting all of your Silver for the game. The Wishbone can also show where treasure is located. If you’ve explored the Meadows and noticed a huge oval of small stones there will be a chest located somewhere inside the oval. Using the Wishbone makes locating the chest extremely easy. You’ll also discover that Muddy Scrap Piles in the Swamp are underground and can be located using the Wishbone. And that’s Silver mining in Valheim. Make sure to grab A LOT. If you have noticed the ore progression when upgrading to the next tier, the amount of ore needed to craft and upgrade the armor/tools keeps increasing. Luckily this will be the last time you will need to mine for ore (Except for the last stage where it may require some backtracking). So gear up and get to mining.

Side Note “Other Mountain Things”: As I mentioned prior when getting ready for Bonemass a weakness of his is Frost Arrows. Now if you didn’t get Obsidian before Bonemass here’s your time to finally acquire Obsidian. Obsidian is also used to craft the last Workbench upgrade, The ToolShelf (This is different from the Forge ToolRack). Make sure to acquire Obsidian for at the least this Workbench Upgrade. Other than some Ruined Towers there isn’t too much else. 

Where/How to Find Moder: We’re getting so close to the end Viking! You only have one more Biome to explore after this and you will have Vanquished the Forsaken from Valheim for good!. For now we need to prepare for the next boss (And I think is the coolest boss in the game) Moder, The Ancient Dragon. Now who doesn’t love a good Dragon Boss fight (Dark Souls 3 Ancient Wyvern anyone? Yeah me neither). Trust me this fight is waaaaaay better. To find Moder at this point you’re a pro and know “I need to find the Vegvisir”. The Ruined Towers and Structures will maybe hold a Vegvisir if you’re lucky. Once you’ve found one, register that sucker on your map and head on over to whatever Mountain it spawned in. Set your portals up as always and make your portal base around where the boss is. You’ll want to be near the spawner because of the item that summons Moder, her eggs. (This is hinted at by the tablet saying “Offer her Young”). Scattered around the Mountain you’ll stumble upon a Crystal Nest Structure. In this will be a Glowing Purple Dragon Egg. Make sure you have weight to spare because this thing weighs a whopping 200 pounds! (Also cannot be teleported but being near home). My strategy if you’re doing this legit is to just the three eggs you’ll need, mark them and then do whatever quick strategy you can think of to get the eggs back to the Spawner. (Carts may work well if you can maneuver them efficiently on the Mountain). Otherwise if you don’t care just do the Double World Strat I explained earlier (And be shamed for it >:). Regardless of what you do bring 3 of the eggs to the spawner and put them in the slots. You’ll have the option to then sacrifice the eggs to summon her, DON’T DO THAT YET!.  Instead we’re going to prepare first because my golly she can absolutely one shot you if you’re not careful. 

Prepping your Gear for Moder: Wolf Armor Lv4 is a must during this fight (And will need it for later anyways). You’re also going to want to get the Wolf Cape as it’s much better than the Troll cape you’ve been using up to this point. There are 2 new weapons that I definitely recommend crafting. One is the Draugr’s Fang, the best bow in the game. I teased this earlier when talking about Guck in the Swamps. You’re going to want to go get some if you haven’t already (refer to my earlier section of the Swamp). If you have gotten Guck already then just acquiring Silver will give you the recipe for the Draugr’s Fang. This bow does the most damage of any bow in the game and also does Poison Damage regardless of what Arrow you’re using (So don’t use Poison arrows). The next weapon which isn’t as important but if you’re a club wielder then you have found your end game weapon, The Frostner. The Frostner is essentially an Ice version of Thor’s Mjolnir, doing Frost instead of Lightning. It also does Spirit damage which is very effective against undead type enemies. On top of Blunt Damage this weapon does 3 different types of damage! Regardless of what weapons you use (Definitely make the bow since she flys), make sure they are max upgraded. Lv4 is the highest point you can upgrade gear to in the game so it’s well worth it. For Arrows I recommend making Obsidian Arrows, they are the 2nd most powerful arrows in the game. She is weak to fire but at this point Fire Arrows are too weak. For Food I recommend Serpent Stew, Sausage and Carrot/Turnip Stew. Medium Health and Minor Stamina Potions are a must. If you want to go the extra mile you can set up the spawner area by flattening out the area around it. This way you don’t have to worry about hills or trees getting in your way while fighting. (If you want to cheese her build a little trench with flooring over it, Moder is unable to attack downwards so you can just sit in the trench and spam arrows at it, I don’t recommend it as this is very boring for what is an exciting boss fight). Regardless of what you do, get your Gear ready because it’s time to spawn in Moder, The Ancient Dragon.

Moder, The Ancient Dragon Boss Fight: Oh boy it’s time to slay a dragon! Now you can press E where it says “Offer Sacrifice”. Doing so will begin to summon Moder. She will Spawn in the air and a cheeky timed Arrow shot as she’s summoned will do a Critical hit. Other than that prepare yourself because she’s coming in hot. Moder has 3 attacks and 2 “Stances” (Flying and Grounded). While she is flying she will do the Drake attack but with a ton more ice projectiles coming at you. When they hit the ground they explode into Frost Crystals, getting hit by this will slow you. While she is grounded she will do a normal swipe attack when you’re close and a Frost Breath attack similar to Eikthyr’s Lightning beam from any range. The strategy here is to be nimble while she is flying and avoid the volley attack. Shoot arrows whenever you are able to and wait until she is grounded. If you’re a true bow only player then just keep spamming grounded or flying until she’s dead. If you’re a melee combat guy wait until she is grounded, a great tip to fight here up close is to nuzzle yourself into her shoulder and turn whichever way she’s turning. She sort of dragged you to the side as if you’re stuck to her. At this point just wail away (Make sure to block the swipe/breathe attack with a shield). Watch out for enemies during this fight too, ESPECIALLY GOLEMS! They can make this fight a living nightmare (Even fighting with end tier weapons and armor). Other than that just keep fighting until she goes down! You’ll be rewarded once again with a Trophy and 10 Dragon Tears. Upon picking these up you’ll get the crafting recipe for the Artisan Table, Congratulations you’ve made it to End tier crafting and the last biome… the Plains…. Oh god why is it so beautiful yet so deadly….

End Game Crafting: The Artisan Table: When returning back to your base it’s important that you craft this right away as it unlocks the recipes for the last stages of crafting. At the moment there is nothing inside the table to craft; it is just used like a workbench’s radius to craft the stations from your hammer. Placing down the Artisan Table will unlock the last 3 crafting recipes in the hammer section, The Windmill, The Blast Furnace and The Spinning Wheel. These don’t need to be crafted yet and I will go into more detail on each as the material needed for these workstations to be used are only found in the Plains. Congratulations you have a Lv5 Workbench, a Lv7 Forge and now an Artisan Table, there is nothing else in terms of crafting or upgrading that you need. Restock on items and get those sails hoisted, it’s time to find a Plains!

The Plains: You’re looking for something similar to the Meadows but the Plains is more Beige than green. They also have very little trees and the trees it does have are all Birch (Fantastic for Fine Wood gathering). As per usual you’ll get the discovery notification when you enter one (From land or ocean). Set foot on the last biome and admire the absolute beauty of it. Only for 5 seconds later for 2 Deathsquitos to come flying in, hit you for 50 each and maybe even one shotting you :) Reality is going to settle in very quickly, this biome is TOUGH. Absolutely the toughest biome in the game for that fact. Let’s start with the enemies. I already mentioned the Deathsquitos, these are so incredibly annoying at how fast they fly at you and in numbers will ambush you with attacks from the side. And the damage they do especially in Silver Armor is insane. However if you time it just right you can attack and kill them in one shot as they fly at you and are about to attack you. They have very low health so they’ll be one shotted by pretty much anything (It’s basically the definition of a glass cannon). They will drop Needles which are crafted into the best arrows in the game. You’ll also find Lox here, basically this game’s version of Buffalo. They are neutral to the player unless they get too close or attack it from any range. Killing Lox will give you Lox Meat, basically the end tier version of Meat and is used to craft one of the best foods in the game (Lox Pie).  They’ll also drop Hide which can be crafted into a Cape. (For some reason the Durability of the Lox Cape is Lower than the Wolf Cape even though being a higher tier item, this will probably be fixed soon). But what makes the Plains so deadly are the Fulings… Oh my lord do I hate Fulings! Even in max end tier armor they still do a stupid amount of damage. They are basically goblins who live in the Plains in settlements. Fulings come in different varieties. The normal versions can wield spears, knives and shields and torches (WATCH OUT FOR THE TORCH WIELDERS AT THIS STAGE!). Fulings also have Brute and Shaman Varieties (Because why not!) Brutes are just typical brutes doing powerful combos and will squash you like a bug if you’re not careful. Shamans will do an annoying move where they can shield Allies and themselves, basically taking a couple of hits with no damage being done. It’s best to snipe these first as they can make a mob of Fulings even more terrifying. But Fulings are also the most important enemy as they drop the last metal in the game, Black Metal. They will drop 1-3 scraps and like every other ore, it cannot be teleported. However Black Metal can only be smelted in the Blast Furnace and not regular smelters. As mentioned previously Fulings live in Settlements, these can be very small to gigantic housing dozens of Fulings. Here though are the last important item in the game, Flax and Barley. All this time of just farming Carrots and Turnips and now you finally have something else to Farm. DO NOT PLANT FLAX OR BARLEY IN ANY BIOME BESIDES A PLAINS! The crop will not grow and will die. Harvesting and what to do with these new plants are what the Windmill and Spinning Wheel are for. The Windmill turns Barley into Barley Flour and this is used to make the best tier food in the game (More on this later). The Spinning wheel takes Flax and makes thread out of it. Congratulations you now possess the way to make the best weapons and armor in the game. As per usual you’ll want to explore the new biome and gather a ton of new resources, you’re going to need them because we’re prepping for the final boss of the game! Yagluth

Where/How to find Yagluth: So you’ll be exploring the Plains Biome Pushing your Manifest Destiny onto Lox (Yes I tried to make a RDR reference dont @ me) and destroying Fuling Settlements and looting them for their metal and plants. What now? Well as always we start with the Vegvisir. Now I’m not sure if this was in my playthroughs or if this is everyone’s but the Vegvisir for Yagluth spawned randomly next to a big stone in the middle of the Plains. I heard they can be found in Settlements so realistically explore the WHOLE Plains to make sure you don’t miss the Vegvisir, Find one and get that mark on your map, head over with Portals and establish an area near the Spawner. As always there is a hint on the tablet for Yagluth’s spawner explaining what item is needed. The note “Burn his Young” shows. Now this makes sense if you know that Yagluth is essentially the father of all the Fulings. When Yagluth was defeated his “soul” was separated for his children. Basically this is referring to an Item dropped by Fulings rarely and is also found in Fuling Structures and Settlements, The Fuling Totem. This item glows purple and can be spotted from afar if you see it in a Settlement. It’ll stand on a totem itself (kind of Ironic). Grab 5 of these and you’ll have the items required to summon Yagluth. You can store them (and teleport with them) or you can put them at the altar similar to Moder’s eggs. Either or we’re definitely not summoning him yet. For now we do what we do and that’s to prepare!

Prepping for the Final Boss, Yagluth: So you have been Smelting Black Metal and Farming Flax and Barley and turning that into Flour and Thread. It’s time to craft the last weapons, armor, food and potions. It’s important to note that Black Metal is only used for weapons and Thread is only used for armor. Black Metal will make the most powerful weapons in the game so make sure to craft whatever style you’ve been using (There is no Blackmetal bow so don’t worry about that). Thread is combined with Iron to make Padded armor (Hopefully you got some spare Iron laying around or else it’s back to the swamp. The requirements for Padded armor are less than Silver so let’s be thankful for that. Of course upgrade your weapons and armor to Lv4. For potions grab your Health potions but while exploring the Plains you may have noticed CloudBerries, these are used for Medium Stamina potions (Finally!). Grab a few to make these new potions. Upon getting Barley you’ll get the recipe to craft Fire Resistance Potions. (Spoiler Alert: the Final Boss has all Fire attacks) so this makes the fight a cakewalk. For Arrows I recommend stocking up on 100 Needle Arrows. Lastly for Food I recommend either Serpent Stew or Lox Pie (Both have the same effects) but for the last two we’re going to get the best foods in the game, FishWraps (Yum!) and Blood Pudding (Yum…?). Both foods are crafted with Barley Flour. Blood Pudding gives 90 Health and 50 Stamina while Fish Wraps give 60 Health and 90 Stamina (90 being the highest value for any food). They also give the highest health regen per tick in the game (this value being 4hpt; health per tick) Only Serpent Stew and Lox Pie also give 4hpt and all 4 last the longest (2400 seconds) so it’s absolutely best to combine these 4 foods into whatever combo you want. (Obviously the Fish Wraps require fish to make but I will cover how to Fish in a later section of the guide covering various game mechanics). But for now you have done it Viking. You have reached the end tier of the game. You have the best armor, the best weapons, the best potions and food. All that stands between you and Glory is the last Forsaken. It’s time to Vanquish Yagluth.

The Final Boss: Yagluth: This is it! Prepare yourself because Yagluth has the coolest summoning animation by far, literally digging himself out of his own grave. Once you see him open fire! Make sure to take your fire resistance potion too because Yagluth won’t wait for you as he has 4 attacks. The first like all other bosses is its normal swipe attack when close. His next 3 attacks are all fire related so you’ll definitely want those fire resistance potions ready. His first fire attack is an AOE Slam attack with a fireball that goes out. Back up a bit when you see him ready to slam his fists down. Get caught in the blast and take some damage with burning damage after that. His 2nd attack is a fire beam similar to Moder’s Frost breath and Eikthyr’s Lightning attack, same premise here. His last attack which is the most terrifying thing in the game is when he goes Sephiroth on you with a Kingdom Hearts 2 Meteor shower attack. Get hit by it directly or the explosion it causes and expect to take massive damage. Other than that it’s a balance of hiding behind the giant stone fingers surrounding Yagluth’s arena, bowing him and then going in with melee. Your skills by now should be high thus doing a ton of damage in whatever style you play. Keep fighting until you see that last bit of health drain and it’s finally over. Yagluth will drop it’s trophy and an item that has no use yet (check back when it has been updated).  Congratulations, You have Vanquished Yagluth from Valheim and earned your way into Valhalla. Take a moment to reflect on your journey. All those hours you spent. From starting in leather scraps eating berries and crafting wood and stone tools to being the absolute best of the best. You’ve done it all, and as the sun sets on Valheim you can rest knowing you have conquered the land. BUT GOOD NEWS! There’s still a bunch you can do. Things I didn’t cover yet because there’s no “Progression” towards these mechanics. Regardless, you have become a legend. Now enjoy yourself by doing whatever you want!

Side Note “Other Game Mechanics: 

• Taming/Breeding: There are 3 Animals in the game that can be tamed. These are Boar, Wolves and Lox. Boar and Wolves can also be bred but Lox can’t (This will probably change in the future). The reason why I chose to talk about Taming/Breeding until after the game is because at the moment, Taming/Breeding doesn’t have anything to it, just the actual taming/breeding itself. You can do this to have unlimited resources from whatever you’re taming/breeding but to be honest this way is too slow and a waste of other resources. Tamed animals also cannot follow you so if you tame a Lox in the middle of the Plains it will just sit there. To tame an Animal you need a specific food for the Animal to eat. If you’re taming a boar you’ll need either Red Mushrooms or Carrots, For Wolves you’ll need Raw Meat and Loxes will need Cloudberries. Simply throw the food onto the ground near the animal (Make sure you’re not around because the animal will aggro towards you). This process will take a long time so boot up Youtube. I’d recommend building a platform above the animals you’re taming (especially wolves as they will always be aggro’d on you if you’re nearby). You’ll know the animal is taming when you see a Gold Heart appear above the animal’s head. The animal will keep eating the food you drop and slowly raise a taming bar. Once the bar reaches 100% you will have tamed the animal fully. Like I mentioned tamed animals don’t follow the player so make sure you’re taming the animal in an area you want (You can use the Abyssal Harpoon for Wolves and Loxes to drag them into a cage before starting the taming process, Boar unfortunately are too weak and will die if you hit them with the Harpoon). In order to breed the animals you will have to have 2 of the type (Boar or Wolf) and throw the corresponding food into the area. After a while one of the animals will start giving birth to a new Boar or Wolf (If the animal you tamed are starred then the baby will also be starred). 

• Other Biomes: Sounds exciting because we have more biomes to explore! Unfortunately at the moment there really is nothing to do in these biomes but there will definitely be content added in a later update. There are 3 Biomes, The Ashlands, The Deep North and The Mistlands. The Ashlands is probably the most developed of the 3. In this Biome it will spawn nothing but Surtlings (The best way to farm for cores is here). There is also a Metal called Flametal, however there is no current use for it. The Deep north doesn’t spawn any enemies, however throughout the Biome there will be Mountains to explore (They are just like regular mountains). Lastly the Mistlands which looks like a bigger Swamp with cobwebs (Likely hinting that this will be some sort of Spider Biome. You should definitely take a sailing trip to visit these biomes. The Deep North covers a portion of the north side of the map while the Ashlands covers the south. The Mistlands are strewn through the map far away from your spawn island so there’s very little chance you will visit one before nearing the end of the game. Check back to this guide on Updates to these Biomes. 

• Starred Enemies: Throughout the game you’ll notice the enemies you’re fighting may have 1 or 2 stars above them. You’ve found a rare variant of the enemy. Every enemy in the game has a Starred version. The Starred version will do more damage than regular enemies. They’ll also take a couple more hits and lastly they will drop more loot. 

• Fishing: (Written by Swaap)

If you have acquired the fishing rod and bait from the merchant (check merchant section) it’s time to start fishing. Put the fishing rod on a hotkey (1-9) and if you have bait in your inventory you left click to start powering up your throw, much like shooting with a bow. Once released you throw out the line, you’ll get a notification telling you how far you threw. If you right click you will reel in the line, 3-4 meters at a time. Keep an eye on the bait, and if you’re in shallow water you can see the fish in proximity going for the bait. When the fish takes the bait, you will see the bait get pulled down underwater, at this point you have to right click to reel the line closer, as it will hook the fish. Then you simply reel in by right clicking and eventually you will have the fish dangling in front of you. You can then either keep right clicking to collect or press E. Important note, sometimes the fish struggle so much that the line will break, this will also happen if you run too far on the shore while the line is in the water. A pro gamer move is to simply run/drag the fish onto land once it gets close, thus giving access to the fish on the ground even if the line breaks in the end.The fish come in different sizes, they will yield between 1-4 depending on the size of the fish. Do note, the bigger fishes have a higher chance of breaking the line.

• Building: (need someone to write)

Valheim Item Guide: A Description (And crafting recipe) for EVERY item 

In this section I’ll be listing and organizing every single item into categories and give you their recipe to craft and a description of each.

Hammer Crafting (Misc):

• Campfire: A fire placed on the ground, allows you to cook meat and sleep in a bed when the fire is nearby (Crafted: 5 Stone, 2 Wood)
• Bonfire: A much bigger campfire, will not go out in rain (Crafted: 1 Surtling core, 5 Ancient Bark, 5 Fine Wood, 5 Core Wood)
• Hearth: A stone fireplace, is more effective at cooking meat with cooking station due to the size (Crafted: 15 Stone; needs a StoneCutter)
• Wood/Stone Stack: A stack of 50 Wood or Stone in a pile, can be broken to get those material back (Crafted: 50 Wood or Stone)
• Portals: Connecting Portals allows for “Fast Traveling” to wherever the portals are set up (Crafted: 2 Surtling Cores, 10 Greydwarf Eyes, 20 Fine Wood)
• Ward: When places it prevents other players in your world from opening doors or constructing in the area of the ward (Crafted: 5 Finewood, 5 Greydwarf Eyes, 1 Surtling Core)
• Cart: Has 18 storage spaces, can be dragged anywhere (Crafted: 10 Bronze Nails, 20 Wood)
• Raft/Karve/Long Ship: Gives ability to sail across oceans
• Raft: 20 Wood, 6 Leather Scraps, 6 Resin (No Storage)
• Karve: 30 Fine Wood, 10 Deer Hide, 20 Resin, 80 Bronze Nails (4 Storage)
• Longship: 40 Ancient Bark, 40 Fine Wood, 100 Iron Nails, 10 Deer Hide (18 Storage)

Hammer Crafting (Crafting): 

• Cooking Station: Placed over a fire, holds 2 meat to be cooked (Crafted: 2 Wood)
• Cauldron: Crafts different meads and foods, needs to be placed over a fire (Crafted: 10 Tin)
• WorkBench: Unlocks ability to repair tools and place building pieces (Crafted 10 wood)
• StoneCutter: Unlocks ability to build with Stone (Crafted: 10 Wood, 2 Iron, 4 Stone)
• Artisan Table: Unlocks ability for end tier crafting stations (Crafted: 2 Dragon Tears, 10 Wood)
• Forge: Unlocks ability to create/repair Metal tools, Craft specific workstations (Crafted: 4 Stone, 4 Coal, 10 Wood, 6 Copper)
• Smelter: Unlocks ability to smelt ore (Tin, Copper, Iron, Silver) (Crafted: 5 Surtling Cores, 20 Stone)
• Charcoal Kiln: Unlocks ability to turn Wood into Coal (Crafted: 5 Surtling Cores, 20 Stone)
• Blast Furnace: Unlocks ability to smelt Black Metal (Crafted: 20 Stone, 5 Surtling Cores, 10 Iron, 20 Finewood) *Needs Artisan Table*
• Spinning Wheel: Unlocks ability to turn Flax into Thread (Crafted: 20 Fine Wood, 10 Iron Nails, 5 Leather Scraps) *Needs Artisan Table*
• WindMill: Unlocks ability to turn Barley into Flour (Crafted: 20 Stone, 30 Wood, 30 Iron Nails) *Needs Artisan Table*
• Beehive: Unlocks ability to produce Honey (Crafted: 10 Wood, 1 Queen Bee)
• Fermenter: Unlocks ability to turn meads into Potions after a few days (Crafted: 30 Fine Wood, 5 Bronze, 10 Resin)

Workbench Upgrades

• Chopping Block: 10 Wood, 10 Flint
• Tanning Rack: 10 Wood, 15 Flint, 20 Leather Scraps, 5 Deer Hide
• Tool Shelf: 4 Iron, 10 Fine Wood, 4 Obsidian
• Adze: 10 Fine Wood, 3 Bronze

Forge Upgrades

• Forge Billows: 5 Wood, 5 Deer Hide, 4 Chain
• Anvils: 5 Wood, 2 Bronze
• Grinding Wheel: 25 Wood, 1 Sharpening Stone
• Smith’s Anvil: 20 Iron, 5 Wood
• Forge Cooler: 25 Fine Wood, 10 Copper
• Forge Tool Rack: 15 Iron, 10 Wood

Hammer Crafting (Building):

• Finish this later

Hammer Crafting (Furniture): 

–  Finish this later

Cauldron Recipes

• Fire Resistance (Barley Wine): 10 Barley, 10 Cloudberries
• Blood Pudding: 2 Thistle, 2 Bloodbags, 4 Flour
• Bread: 10 Flour
• Carrot Soup: 3 Carrots, 1 Red Mushroom
• Fish Wraps: 2 Cooked Fish, 4 Flour
• Lox Meat Pie: 2 Cloudberries, 2 Cooked Lox Meat, 4 Flour
• Mead Base: Frost Resistance: 10 Honey, 5 Thistle, 2 Bloodbags, 1 Greydwarf Eye
• Mead Base: Medium Healing: 10 Honey, 4 Bloodbags, 1 Dandelion, 10 Raspberries
• Mead Base: Minor Healing: 10 Honey, 5 Blueberries, 1 Dandelion, 10 Raspberries
• Mead Base: Poison Resistance: 10 Honey, 1 Raw Neck tail, 10 Coal, 5 Thistle
• Mead Base: Medium Stamina: 10 Honey, 10 Cloudberries, 10 Yellow Mushrooms
• Mead Base: Minor Stamina: 10 Honey, 10 Raspberries, 10 Yellow Mushrooms
• Mead Base: Tasty: 10 Honey, 10 Raspberries, 5 Blueberries
• Queens Jam x4: 8 Raspberries, 8 Blueberries
• Sausages x4: 2 Entrail, 1 Raw Meat, 4 Thistle
• Serpent Stew: 2 Honey, 1 Cooked Serpent Meat, 1 Red Mushroom
• Turnip Stew: 3 Turnips, 1 Raw Meat

Workbench Recipes (Armor)

• Rag Pants: 5 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv1)
• Rag Tunic: 5 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv1)
• Leather Pants: 6 Deer Hide (Workbench Lv2) 
• Leather Tunic: 6 Deer Hide (Workbench Lv2)
• Leather Helmet: 6 Deer Hide (Workbench Lv2)
• Deer Cape: 6 Deer Hide, 5 Bone Fragments (Workbench Lv2)
• Troll Hide Tunic: 5 Troll Hide (Workbench Lv3)
• Troll Hide Pants: 5 Troll Hide (Workbench Lv3)
• Troll Hide Helmet: 5 Troll Hide, 3 Bone Fragments (Workbench Lv3)
• Troll Hide Cape: 10 Troll Hide, 10 Bone Fragments (Workbench Lv3)
• Wolf Cape: 6 Wolf Pelts, 4 Silver, 1 Wolf Trophy (Workbench Lv4)
• Lox Cape: 6 Lox Pelts, 2 Silver (Workbench Lv4) 
• Linen Cape: 20 Linen Thread, 1 Silver (Workbench Lv4)

Workbench Recipes (Arrows)

• Wood Arrow x20: 8 Wood (Workbench Lv1)
• Flint Arrow x20: 8 Wood, 2 Flint, 2 Feathers (Workbench Lv2)
• Fire Arrow x20: 8 Wood, 8 Resin, 2 Feathers (Workbench Lv2)
• Poison Arrow x20: 8 Wood, 4 Obsidian, 2 Feathers, 2 Ooze (Workbench Lv2)
• Frost Arrow x20: 8 Wood, 4 Obsidian, 2 Feathers, 1 Freezer Gland (Workbench lv2)
• Obsidian Arrow x20: 8 Wood, 4 Obsidian, 2 Feathers (Workbench Lv3)
• Needle Arrows x20: 4 Needles, 2 Feathers (Workbench Lv4)

Workbench Recipes (Weapons/Shields)

• Stone Axe: 5 Wood, 4 Stone (No Workbench Needed)
• Flint Axe: 4 Wood, 6 Flint (Workbench Lv1)
• Crude Bow: 8 Leather Scraps, 10 Wood (Workbench Lv1)
• Finewood Bow: 10 Finewood, 10 Corewood, 2 Deer Hide (Workbench Lv2)
• Club: 6 Wood (No Workbench Needed)
• Abyssal Razor: 4 Finewood, 20 Chitin, 2 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv3)
• Flint Knife: 2 Wood, 4 Flint, 2 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv2)
• Wood Shield: 10 Wood, 4 Resin, 4 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv1)
• Wood Tower Shield: 10 Wood, 6 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv1)
• StagBreaker: 20 Core Wood, 5 Deer Trophies, 2 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv2)
• Abyssal Harpoon: 8 Fine Wood, 30 Chitin, 3 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv3)
• Flint Spear: 5 Wood, 10 Flint, 2 Leather Scraps (Workbench Lv2)

Workbench Recipes (Misc)

• Ooze Bomb: 5 Leather Scraps, 10 Ooze, 3 Resin (Workbench Lv3)
• Hammer: 3 Wood, 2 Stone (No Workbench Needed)
• Hoe: 5 Wood, 2 Stone (Workbench Lv1)
• Antler Pickaxe: 3 Hard Antlers, 10 Wood (Workbench Lv1)
• Tankard: 5 Finewood, 2 Resin (Workbench Lv1)
• Torch: 1 Wood, 1 Resin (No Workbench Needed)

Forge Recipes (Armor)

• Bronze Leggings: 5 Bronze, 2 Deer Hide
• Bronze Cuirass: 5 Bronze, 2 Deer Hide
• Bronze Helmet: 5 Bronze, 2 Deer Hide
• Iron Leggings: 20 Iron, 2 Deer Hide
• Iron Scale Mail: 20 Iron, 2 Deer Hide
• Iron Helmet: 20 Iron, 2 Deer Hide
• Wolf Chest: 20 Silver, 5 Wolf Pelt, 1 Chain
• Wolf Leggings: 20 Silver, 5 Wolf Pelt, 4 Wolf Fangs
• Drake Helmet: 20 Silver, 2 Wolf Pelt, 2 Drake Trophy
• Padded Chestplate: 20 Thread, 10 Iron
• Padded Leggings: 20 Thread, 10 Iron
• Padded Helmet: 15 Thread, 10 Iron

Forge Recipes (Weapons & Shields)

• Bronze Atgeir: 10 Wood, 8 Bronze, 2 Leather Scrap
• Iron Atgeir: 10 Wood, 30 Iron, 2 Leather Scrap
• Blackmetal Atgeir: 10 Finewood, 30 BlackMetal, 5 Thread
• Bronze Axe: 4 Wood, 8 Bronze, 2 Leather Scrap
• Iron Axe: 4 Wood, 20 Iron, 2 Leather Scrap
• Battle Axe: 30 Ancient Bark, 35 Iron, 4 Leather Scrap
• Blackmetal Axe: 6 Finewood, 20 Blackmetal, 5 Thread
• Huntsman Bow: 10 Finewood, 20 Iron, 10 Feather, 2 Deer Hide
• Draugr’s Fang: 10 Ancient Bark, 20 Silver, 2 Deer Hide, 10 Guck
• Copper Knife: 2 Wood, 8 Copper
• Blackmetal Knife: 4 Finewood, 10 Blackmetal, 5 Thread
• Bronze Mace: 4 Wood, 8 Bronze, 3 Leather Scrap
• Iron Mace: 4 Wood, 20 Iron, 3 Leather Scrap
• The Porcupine: 5 Finewood, 20 Iron, 5 Needles, 10 Thread
• The Frostner: 10 Ancient Bark, 30 Silver, 5 Ymir Flesh, 5 Freezer Gland
• The Iron Sledge: 10 Ancient Bark, 30 Iron, 4 Ymir Flesh, 1 Draugr Elite Trophy
• Banded Shield: 10 Finewood, 8 Iron
• BlackMetal Shield: 10 Finewood, 8 BlackMetal, 5 Chain
• BlackMetal Tower Shield: 15 Finewood, 10 BlackMetal, 7 Chain
• Bronze Shield: 10 Bronze, 4 Wood
• Iron Tower Shield: 15 Finewood, 10 Iron
• Serpent Scale Shield: 10 Finewood, 4 Iron, 8 Serpent Scales
• Silver Shield: 10 Finewood, 8 Silver
• Bronze Spear: 5 Wood, 6 Bronze, 2 Deer Hide
• Ancient Bark Spear: 4 Troll Hide, 10 Iron, 10 Ancient Bark
• Fang Spear: 10 Ancient Bark, 4 Wolf Fang, 2 Leather Scrap, 2 Silver
• Bronze Sword: 2 Wood, 8 Bronze, 2 Leather Scrap
• Iron Sword: 2 Wood, 20 Iron, 3 Leather Scrap
• Silver Sword: 2 Wood, 40 Silver, 3 Leather Scrap, 5 Iron
• BlackMetal Sword: 2 Finewood, 20 BlackMetal, 5 Thread

Forge Recipes (Misc)

• Bronze Nails x20: 1 Bronze
• Iron Nails x10: 1 Iron
• Bronze Pickaxe: 3 Core Wood, 10 Bronze
• Iron Pickaxe: 3 Core Wood, 20 Iron

List of Every Enemy Item Drop (Every Enemy besides Greyling and Oozers will drop a trophy)

• (Meadows) Boar: Raw Meat, Leather Scraps
• (Meadows) Deer: Raw Meat, Deer Hide
• (Meadows) Neck: Neck Tail
• (Meadows) Greyling: Resin
• (Meadows/Black Forest) Greydwarfs: Resin, Wood, Greydwarf Eye
• (Meadows/Black Forest) Greydwarf Brute: Resin, Greydwarf Eye, Ancient Seeds
• (Meadows/Black Forest) Greydwarf Shaman: Resin, Wood, Greydwarf Eye
• (Black Forest/Swamps) Skeleton: Bone Fragments
• (Black Forest Invasion) Rancid Remains: Bone Fragments
• (Black Forest) Trolls: Troll Hide, Coin
• (Swamp) Draugr: Entrails
• (Swamp/Ashlands) Surtlings: Surtling Core
• (Swamp) Leeches: Bloodbag
• (Swamp) Blobs: Ooze
• (Swamp) Oozers: Oozer
• (Swamp) Draugr Elites: Entrails
• (Swamp) Wraiths: Chain
• (Mountain) Wolves: Raw Meat, Wolf Fang, Wolf Pelt
• (Mountain) Drakes: Freezer Gland
• (Mountain) Fengling: Wolf Fang
• (Mountain) Golems: Crystals
• (Plains) Lox: Lox Meat, Lox Pelt
• (Plains) Deathsquito: Needles
• (Plains) Fulings: Black Metal, Fuling Totem
• (Plains) Fuling Brutes: Black Metal, Fuling Totem
• (Plains) Fuling Shaman: Black Metal, Fuling Totem
• (Ocean) Sea Serpent: Serpent Scales, Serpent Meat