Valheim is an incredibly popular survival exploration game with Nordic inspiration and fantasy. The game is still technically in early access, but has a lot to offer for it's players. With a current total of 5 different bosses already in the game, there is a lot of preparation and expansion players must undergo to progress.
This guide will include everything you will need to know to tackle your next challenges as you progress through Valheim. Most importantly, playing Valheim with friends makes the experience far more enjoyable. The enemies scale in difficulty as you have more friends, but it is always worth having someone to watch your back.
Valheim Crossplay
Currently the most recent patch to Valheim has added a public playtest of crossplay functionality to servers. This will allow players from different consoles to still play together on the same dedicated server (using IP). While crossplatform play is still in early stages of development, feel free to keep an eye on Valheim Server Hosting with Shockbyte in the days to come.
Learning How to Fight
The very first thing you will want to get familiar with in Valheim is the controls. A veteran to Valheim could fight the first boss Eikthyr with nothing but their fists right after spawning. This though is very difficult to do, and would take a massive amount of time.
Instead, gather some resources and focus on creating a small hut, workbench, and weapons. The best resources right now are wood, stone, and flint. Flint will allow you to craft your favorite weapon out of the first available options, and get used to it to prepare for your first boss.
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How to Parry in Valheim
Valheim features a rich combat system, allowing you to play in a variety of ways. If you are using a small shield or a two handed weapon, then blocking just as an enemy attacks you will parry their attack, stunning them. This is great for dealing with pesky greydwarves early on.
The only other thing you'll need for your first boss is some food in your stomach. You can eat one item with a yellow fork, one item with a red, and one with a gray. These items will stack together providing you with more stamina, max health, and health regen. Defeat enough deer to obtain two deer trophies, find Eikthyr's foresaken alter, and triumph over him!
Valheim Finding the Second Boss
You defeated Eikthyr, received his trophy and antlers, and are feeling warmed up! Make sure to bring this trophy to the spawn area, and mount it on the correct hook. This will give your party their first Forsaken Powers! Eikthyr's is by far the best one in the game too!
Your next boss will be in the Black Forest somewhere, but first you need to use the antlers you just received. Many players quickly wonder how to make a pickaxe in Valheim. Using Eikthyr's antlers you can do exactly that, allowing you to mine tin and copper ore deposits!
Valheim Hearth and Home
About now is the time when a proper establishment is in order. In order to even process Copper and Tin into bronze, you'll need a forge, workbench, and many more important furnishings anyway. Make yourself a hammer, and create your dream home at a safe location. Cover the roof properly and decorate it to gain the rested buff. The rested buff is the strongest buff in the game, giving you:
- Bonus Health Regen (based on the rested level, which rises with furnishings)
- Bonus Stamina Regen (also based on rested level)
- And best of all, 50% Bonus Experience Gain for all skills (always 50%)
Alongside setting up a home for yourself, you can now try taming Boars in Valheim! Build a small wooden pen or dig a hole in the ground with your pickaxe. Chase a wild boar into one of these areas, and toss in food of any kind. After the boar calms down, repeatedly keep it fed for 30 minutes and it will then be tamed!
Finding the Trader in Valheim
The world really opens up at this portion of the game! Speaking of the world opening, you will have to travel around your world for a small chance at finding Haldor, the trader. He is a small dwarf who spawns exclusively in Black Forest Biomes, but once you find him he will never move. A small bag icon will appear on your map as well, so keep an eye out!
If you want to fish in Valheim, you will have to find Haldor as buying a fishing rod from his shop is the only way to obtain one. He also sells bait, which is required to fish. Grab his Megingjord for 950 coins and head over to your next opponent, The Elder.
Getting Iron in Valheim
To get iron in Valheim, take the Swamp Key you received from defeating The Elder and open the crypts in the Swamp. Blocking doorways in these crypts are massive chunks of scrap iron which can be cleared with a pickaxe. Smelting the scrap iron rewards players with real iron, ready for all your equipment needs!
There are not many massive additions to the game beyond your newfound iron tools becoming available, so progressing to the next boss is very straightforward. The boss itself though, is absolutely not, so Shockbyte recommends an entire other guide to taking on Bonemass:
How to find Silver in Valheim
After defeating Bonemass, the cycle continues in a similar fashion to defeating The Elder. Bonemass will drop a new item called the Wishbone, hinting players towards secret items buried beneath the ground. Depending on the biome these secret stashes are as follows:
- Meadows: Treasure Chests (Minor Loot such as arrows and gold)
- Swamp: Scrap Iron Deposits
- Mountain: Silver Ore Deposits
Just like with scrap iron; mine the new silver ore deposits, smelt and craft them into updated equipment, and prepare for the next boss. The only difference this time is that players will require Frost Resistance Mead until they obtain cold-resistant clothing.
Valheim Early Access and Onward
After defeating Modor in the mountain biome, the bosses of the current game are almost complete with only a single one left. The last boss is hidden within the Plains biome, although conquering the biome alone is hard enough.
Modor will drop Dragon Tears, allowing players to make the Artisan Table and a brand new smelter. These will eventually lead to new weapons and shields, but there are no further upgrades to armor currently in the game. Even with this new equipment, Deathquitos and other plains-biome enemies will be incredibly difficult to defeat.
What to do in Valheim after The Forsaken
After the grueling process of fighting the final boss, players may be worried their experience is over. A group of friends may run out of progression goals for the game and be unsure if there is anymore content to explore.
Fortunately despite the game's main content ending here, there are many more things to explore with friends in the current build of the game. Here is a short list of incredibly fun experiences to still be had after the final boss:
- Take on the Kraken boss, found preying on boats in the deep Ocean biome!
- Explore the Mistlands, the next biome to receive an update with brand new enemies, loot, and bosses!
- Head north and explore the Deep North, a barren land with no current content but a very interesting Snowstorm mechanic.
- Heading south will lead players to the Ash lands, a wide expanse of volcanoes and lava, with tons of Surtlings (if you still need more cores for your teleporters)!
- And finally, to finish off your experience... Ride a boat with your friends into glory, off the side of the map. This world is flat and if you reach the edge of the circle...well, you should just find out.
Looking for more Multiplayer Gaming Ideas?
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About Shockbyte
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