Valheim: Quick Tips & Tricks Guide for Surviving and Thriving

Chapter 1: First Steps in the Meadows – Mastering Valheim’s Fundamentals

Your epic in Valheim starts here, in the tranquil yet deceptive Meadows. This chapter is the foundation of your entire saga. It covers the essential knowledge needed to survive your first days, turning you from a vulnerable castaway into a capable survivor. Master these fundamentals, for they will serve you until your final battle.

The First Day – From Nothing to Shelter

Your first moments in Valheim are a race against the setting sun. The world is far more dangerous at night, and your primary goal is to establish a safe place to rest.

1. Listen to the Raven. Hugin, the raven sent by Odin, is your tutorial. He appears periodically to offer crucial advice. Always listen to what he has to say; his wisdom is invaluable for new warriors.
2. Gather Everything. Your first task is to collect basic resources. Pick up every loose Branch and Stone you see on the ground. Punch small, leafless bushes to get more Wood. You will need these for your first tools.
3. Craft Your First Tools. Open your inventory and craft a Stone Axe. This allows you to chop down trees for wood more efficiently. Next, craft a Club to defend yourself against the local wildlife and a Hammer to begin building.
4. Build a Workbench. With your Hammer equipped, open the build menu and place a Workbench on the ground. This is the heart of your base, allowing you to craft more advanced items and build structures within its radius.
5. Construct a Simple Shelter. Before night falls, use your Hammer to build a small hut around your Workbench. It doesn’t need to be fancy—just four walls and a roof are enough to provide the Shelter buff and keep you safe.
6. Make Fire. A Campfire is essential for warmth, light, and cooking. Place one inside or just outside your shelter. Be warned: if you place it indoors on a wooden floor, it will burn your house down! Place it on the dirt floor.
7. Survive the Night. Once darkness falls, stay inside your shelter. Cook any Raw Meat you’ve gathered from hunting Boar or Deer over the campfire. The night is filled with more aggressive creatures, so it’s safest to rest and wait for dawn. You can even build a bed and sleep through the night.
8. Repurpose Abandoned Structures. The Meadows are dotted with old, dilapidated shacks. Instead of building from scratch, you can repair these structures. Place a Workbench nearby and use your Hammer to fix the walls and roof. This can save a significant amount of time and resources.
9. Deconstruct for Free Materials. Alternatively, if you don’t like the location of an abandoned shack, you can deconstruct it with your Hammer. You will get back 100% of the building materials, giving you a free stockpile of wood to start your own base.

The Holy Trinity of Survival: Food, Rest, and Shelter

In Valheim, your power is not defined by levels, but by three core pillars: what you eat, how well you rest, and the quality of your shelter. Neglect them at your peril.

10. Food is Your Health and Stamina. You cannot starve to death in Valheim, but without food, your base health is a mere 25 points. Eating food provides temporary buffs that dramatically increase your maximum health and stamina.
11. Use All Three Food Slots. You can eat up to three different types of food at once. Their effects stack, so always keep three buffs active. Eating the same food twice will not work; it must be three unique items.
12. Balance Your Diet. A good early-game combination is two health-focused foods and one stamina-focused food. For example, Cooked Meat (health), Grilled Neck Tail (health), and a Mushroom or Raspberry (stamina) provide a solid, balanced boost.
13. The Rested Buff is Non-Negotiable. The single most important buff in Valheim is the Rested buff. You get it by being near a fire while under a shelter. This effect grants you +100% stamina regeneration and +50% health regeneration. It makes every single action—from chopping wood to fighting—vastly more efficient.
14. The Ultimate Secret: The XP Bonus. Valheim never tells you this, but the Rested buff also grants a massive +50% experience gain for all skills. If you want to level up your abilities quickly, never perform actions like running, jumping, or fighting without the Rested buff active. This is the key to rapid progression.
15. Increase Your Comfort Level. The duration of the Rested buff is determined by your base’s Comfort level. Each piece of comfort-providing furniture you add increases the timer.
16. Start with a Deer Rug. One of the first and easiest comfort items to build is a Deer Rug. It adds 1 comfort point, extending your Rested buff duration significantly.
17. Stack Comfort Items. You can continue adding different furniture items like chairs, tables, banners, and eventually a bed to increase your comfort level. A high comfort level can extend the Rested buff to over 20 minutes, allowing for long and productive expeditions.
18. A Simple Campfire is Comfort. Even in the wild, you can refresh your Rested buff. Simply place a campfire down and sit next to it for a few seconds. This is a vital tactic for staying efficient during long journeys.

Your First Valheim Base and Essential Mechanics

Your base is your sanctuary and your command center. Its location and your understanding of core game mechanics will dictate the pace of your entire adventure.

19. Choose Your Base Location Wisely. A perfect spot for a starting base in Valheim is in the Meadows, but near the border of a Black Forest. You also want to be close to the ocean. This gives you easy access to the resources of two biomes and prepares you for future sea travel.
20. Repairs are Always Free. The Workbench has a hammer icon in its menu. Clicking this will repair every single repairable item in your inventory for free, with no resource cost. Get into the habit of repairing your gear every time you return to base.
21. A Roof is Required for Upgrades. To use your Workbench for repairs and advanced crafting, it must be sheltered with a roof and have walls nearby.
22. Mind Your Weight Limit. You have a base carrying capacity of 300. If you exceed this, you will be encumbered and unable to regenerate stamina, making you extremely vulnerable. Only gather what you need for the task at hand.
23. Master Inventory Shortcuts. To quickly transfer an entire stack of items between your inventory and a chest, hold Ctrl and click the item. To split a stack, hold Shift and click it. A slider will appear, allowing you to choose how many you want to take.
24. Zoom Your Camera. Use the mouse wheel to zoom your camera in and out. Zoom in for precise building and intense combat. Zoom out for better situational awareness while exploring.

The early game of Valheim is not a sprint; it’s a lesson in building a sustainable rhythm. The game’s core systems—food buffs, free repairs, and the powerful Rested bonus—are designed to reward Vikings who are methodical. Your first base is not merely a place to respawn; it is your power-up station. The central loop that leads to success is simple but profound: return to your base to eat, rest, and repair. Then, with your buffs active, venture out to explore and gather resources. Finally, return to your sanctuary to deposit your spoils and begin the cycle anew. Mastering this efficient loop is the first and most crucial step to mastering Valheim.

Chapter 2: The Forged Viking – A Valheim Guide to Combat and Weaponry

The time for peaceful building is over; now, you must learn to fight like a true Viking. Combat in Valheim is a deadly dance of timing, positioning, and preparation. It is unforgiving to the reckless but rewarding to the disciplined. This chapter will teach you the steps to that dance, turning your fear into ferocity.

The Fundamentals of Battle

Before you learn to swing a sword, you must learn the footwork. In Valheim, combat is governed by a few unbreakable laws.

25. Stamina is Life. This is the golden rule of combat in Valheim. Every action—attacking, blocking, dodging, and running—consumes stamina. If your stamina bar hits zero in the middle of a fight, you cannot attack or defend yourself. This is the most common cause of death. Always keep an eye on your stamina bar.
26. Dodge-Roll for Invincibility. Performing a dodge-roll (right-click + spacebar) grants you a brief window of invincibility, known as “i-frames.” This allows you to roll directly through an enemy’s attack without taking damage. It’s a powerful defensive maneuver, especially against large area-of-effect attacks.
27. Master the Parry. This is the single most important combat skill in Valheim. A parry is a timed block, performed by raising your shield at the exact moment an enemy’s attack is about to land. A successful parry will produce a shower of sparks, stun the enemy, and make them vulnerable to double damage for a short period.
28. Practice Parrying on Greydwarfs. The Greydwarfs of the Black Forest have slow, telegraphed attacks, making them the perfect training dummies for practicing your parry timing. Mastering this skill will make you a formidable warrior.
29. Understand Damage Colors. Valheim provides instant feedback on your attacks through colored damage numbers.
    • Yellow numbers indicate the enemy is weak to that damage type. You’re using the right weapon!
    • White numbers indicate normal damage.
    • Grey numbers indicate the enemy is resistant to that damage type. You should switch to a different weapon if possible.

Know Your Enemy, Know Your Weapon

A Viking is only as good as their weapon, and a wise Viking knows which weapon to use for which foe.

30. Blunt Weapons Crush Skeletons. Skeletons, found in Burial Chambers and the Black Forest, are highly resistant to piercing damage but extremely weak to blunt damage. Your starting Club, and later the Mace, will destroy them with ease.
31. Pierce the Trolls. Trolls are massive, intimidating foes. However, they are weak to pierce damage. A bow, especially the Finewood Bow, is your best friend when fighting a Troll. Aim for the head for extra damage.
32. The Axe is a Versatile Tool. While primarily a woodcutting tool, the Axe is a decent weapon in a pinch. It deals slash damage and can be used to fight most early-game creatures effectively if you don’t have a specialized weapon ready.
33. Master the Bow. Ranged combat is a safe and powerful option in Valheim. Remember that arrows are affected by gravity, so you’ll need to aim above your target at long distances.
34. Craft Better Arrows. Wooden arrows are weak. As soon as you can, gather Flint from shorelines and Feathers from birds to craft Flinthead Arrows. Later, Fire Arrows are excellent for dealing extra damage over time, especially against creatures weak to fire.
35. Become a Shadow with the Knife. The stealth system in Valheim is simple but deadly. Crouching allows you to sneak, and attacking an unaware enemy from behind results in a massive backstab bonus. The Flint Knife has an incredible 10x backstab multiplier, allowing you to one-shot most early-game enemies.
36. Observe Enemy Attack Patterns. Every creature in Valheim has a unique set of attacks with distinct “tells” or animations. Watch them closely. Learning a Greydwarf’s wind-up swing or a Troll’s ground slam animation is the key to timing your parries and dodges perfectly.
37. The Stagbreaker is for Crowd Control. The Stagbreaker, a massive two-handed hammer, deals area-of-effect (AoE) damage. It’s fantastic for clearing out groups of weak enemies, especially inside cramped dungeons like Burial Chambers. Be careful swinging it indoors, as the AoE can damage your own buildings!

Advanced Combat Tactics and Preparation

Brute force will only get you so far. A true Viking fights with their mind as well as their axe.

38. Use the Environment as a Weapon. Lure enemies into difficult terrain. Kiting them around large trees or rocks can block their attacks and give you time to heal or fire arrows. This is a crucial tactic for fighting Trolls.
39. Fight from the High Ground. Most melee enemies in Valheim cannot attack upwards effectively. If you’re overwhelmed, find a large, steep rock to climb. From this safe vantage point, you can rain arrows down on your foes.
40. Fire is Your Friend. Many creatures in Valheim, especially Greydwarfs, are terrified of fire. Simply equipping a Torch can keep them at bay, giving you breathing room to deal with a more significant threat or to escape if needed.
41. Prepare Meticulously for Boss Fights. Do not challenge a boss on a whim. Before summoning one of Odin’s Forsaken, ensure you are fully prepared. This means eating the best available food, wearing fully upgraded armor and weapons, brewing any helpful meads (like poison resistance for the second boss), and bringing at least a full stack of your best arrows.
42. Let Enemies Fight Each Other. The different factions of creatures in Valheim are often hostile to one another. If you’re being chased by Greydwarfs and stumble upon a Troll, run past the Troll. With any luck, they will start fighting each other, allowing you to pick off the weakened victor.

To aid your combat prowess, consult this quick-reference chart for early-game creatures. Understanding these weaknesses is the first step toward battlefield dominance.

Table 1: Early-Game Creature Weakness Chart

Creature	Weakness	Resistance	Notes
Greyling	Fire	–	Easily scared by torches.
Greydwarf	Fire	–	Excellent for parry practice.
Greydwarf Brute	–	–	High health; parry or kite.
Greydwarf Shaman	–	–	Dodge their poison spray first.
Skeleton	Blunt	Pierce, Frost	Use a Club or Mace for huge damage.
Troll	Pierce	–	Aim for the head with a bow.
Boar	–	–	Can be parried easily.
Neck	–	–	Fast but low health.

Chapter 3: The Master Builder – Advanced Valheim Building and Base Design

Your home in Valheim is more than a shelter; it is a testament to your power and a fortress against the encroaching darkness. A well-built longhouse not only provides comfort and safety but also stands as a symbol of your dominion over this land. This chapter teaches the art of Valheim construction, from humble beginnings to impregnable strongholds.

The Laws of Valheim Physics – Structural Integrity

Every builder in Valheim must respect the laws of physics. Structures without proper support will collapse under their own weight.

43. The Color Code of Stability. When in the build menu, your Hammer will highlight pieces with a color that indicates their structural integrity.
    • Blue means the piece is a foundation, directly supported by the ground. It is 100% stable.
    • Green indicates very high stability.
    • Yellow and Orange show decreasing stability.
    • Red means the piece is at its breaking point and cannot support any more weight. Attaching anything else will cause it to collapse.
44. Level the Ground First. Before you lay your first foundation, use a Hoe to flatten the building area. A level surface makes construction immensely easier and prevents awkward gaps or terrain clipping through your floors.
45. Build a Strong Foundation. All stability flows from your foundation pieces. Start your build with a solid base of blue-colored pieces to ensure you can build tall and wide without issue.
46. Use Reinforcements for Height. To build taller structures, you must use vertical support beams. Core Wood log poles, obtained from Pine trees in the Black Forest, offer much better support than regular wood. Later in the game, Iron Wood beams are the key to building massive castles.

Beyond the Box – Aesthetic and Functional Design

A true Viking longhouse is both a work of art and a functional home. Learn these techniques to make your builds more impressive and practical.

47. Create Depth to Avoid Flat Walls. A simple box is boring. To make your buildings look more realistic and visually interesting, add depth. Use horizontal beams to create trim, build small overhangs for your roof, and consider an L-shaped design instead of a simple rectangle.
48. Build a Proper Chimney. An indoor fire is cozy, but it produces smoke. If your base fills with smoke, you will start suffocating and taking damage. You must build a chimney to vent the smoke outside. A simple opening in the roof directly above the fire, capped with another roof piece to keep the rain out, works perfectly.
49. Weatherproof Your Structures. In Valheim, any wooden building piece that is not covered by a roof piece will be damaged by rain, eventually degrading to 50% health. Always ensure your walls are protected by roof overhangs.
50. Darkwood is Water-Resistant. Building pieces made from Darkwood, a material found later in the game, are naturally resistant to rain and do not require a roof covering.
51. Use Small Beams for More Detail. Small 1m and 2m beams provide more snapping points than larger pieces. This gives you greater control and allows you to create intricate details, custom furniture, and unique decorative elements.
52. Build Circular Structures. You can create round towers and buildings by placing a wall piece, rotating it slightly, and snapping the next piece to it. Repeat this process to form a circle. This technique is excellent for creating wizard towers or grand halls.
53. Scaffolding is Your Best Friend. For large, tall builds, don’t risk falling to your death. Build temporary scaffolding with simple wood stairs and floors to give yourself a safe platform to work from. You can easily remove it when you’re finished.

Fortress Valheim – Defensive Architecture

As you defeat the Forsaken, the creatures of the forest will grow more aggressive, occasionally launching coordinated raids on your base. A strong defense is essential. The most powerful defenses in Valheim are not built on the land; they are carved from it.

54. Dig an Indestructible Moat. This is one of the most effective defenses in the entire game. Use a pickaxe to dig a deep, wide trench around the perimeter of your base. Most enemies, including mighty Trolls, cannot jump or walk across it, leaving them helpless on the other side while you pick them off with arrows.
55. Raise Earthen Walls. Using the Hoe, you can raise the ground to create massive earthen walls. Like moats, these are indestructible to enemies and form an impenetrable barrier. This is an excellent way to fortify your base without spending a single piece of wood or stone.
56. Create Choke Points. Funnel attacking enemies into a single narrow entrance fortified with Stake Walls (sharp wooden spikes). This prevents you from being surrounded and allows you to deal with attackers one by one.
57. Suppress Enemy Spawns. Player-made structures like Workbenches, Stonecutters, and Campfires prevent creatures from spawning within their radius (indicated by a white circle). You can create a permanent safe zone around your base by strategically placing hidden Workbenches or Campfires along your perimeter.
58. Use Campfires for Spawn Proofing. While Workbenches work well, enemies will sometimes target and destroy them. Campfires provide the same spawn-suppressing effect but do not draw enemy aggression, making them a superior and cheaper choice for securing a large area.

Chapter 4: Charting the Unknown – A Valheim Exploration and Navigation Guide

The world of Valheim is a vast, procedurally generated archipelago, a tapestry of islands waiting to be discovered. To conquer it, you must become a master navigator, explorer, and logistician. Your map and your ship are your most important tools for taming this sprawling wilderness. This chapter is your sextant and compass.

Mastering Your Map

Your map is your most reliable companion. It automatically records where you’ve been, but its true power lies in how you use it to mark what you’ve found.

59. Mark Everything of Interest. Get into the habit of marking your map constantly. Use the icons on the right side of the map screen to mark important locations. Good things to mark include:
    • Clusters of Mushrooms and Berries.
    • Deposits of Flint and other resources.
    • Burial Chambers and Troll Caves.
    • Abandoned villages and potential future base locations.
    • Your own home, of course!
60. Label Your Markers. After placing a marker, you can type a name for it at the bottom of the map screen. Clear labels like “Copper Vein” or “Berry Patch” will save you countless hours of searching later.
61. Ping Locations for Friends. When playing in multiplayer, you can quickly point out a location to your allies by opening the map and pressing the middle mouse button. This creates a temporary ping that everyone can see on their map and in the game world.
62. The White Arrow is the Wind. Look at your minimap. The small white arrow rotating around it indicates the current wind direction. This is absolutely essential information for effective sailing.

Taking to the Seas – Sailing and Logistics

Sooner or later, you will need to leave your starting island. Building a ship and learning to sail is a pivotal moment in any Viking’s journey in Valheim.

63. Build Your First Raft. The Raft is slow and clumsy, but it’s your first step to becoming a mariner. It will allow you to cross small bodies of water and begin exploring the coastline.
64. The Unspoken Rule of Sailing: Always Carry a Portal. Never, ever set sail for a new landmass without the materials to build a Workbench and a Portal in your ship’s storage or your inventory. The moment you land, your first priority should be to establish a portal link back to your main base. This is a critical lifeline.
65. Perform “Drive-By” Ship Repairs. Your ship will take damage from hitting rocks or being attacked by sea creatures. To repair it, sail to a shoreline, build a Workbench, and use your Hammer. You don’t even need to leave the boat; as long as the ship is within the Workbench radius, you can repair it from the deck.
66. Metal Cannot Be Teleported. This is a fundamental rule of Valheim logistics. Ores (like Copper, Tin, and Iron) and smelted metal bars cannot travel through portals. The only way to move them across the map is by hauling them manually with a cart or, more efficiently, by ship.
67. Build a Cart for Hauling. Once you can craft Bronze, make Bronze Nails to unlock the recipe for the Cart. This two-wheeled cart can be pulled behind you and has a large inventory, allowing you to transport heavy loads of wood, stone, or precious metals from a mining site back to your base or ship.
68. Pave Roads with the Hoe. Pulling a heavy cart through a forest or swamp can be slow and frustrating. Use your Hoe to level the ground and create smooth paths. This dramatically speeds up transportation by cart.
69. Lure Serpents to Shore. Sea Serpents are dangerous creatures that drop valuable meat and scales. If you kill one in the deep ocean, its loot may sink before you can collect it. Use an Abyssal Harpoon or carefully guide your boat to lure the serpent into shallow water near a shoreline before killing it.

The Portal Network – Your Inter-Continental Highway

Portals are the backbone of your exploration empire. A well-organized portal network makes the vast world of Valheim feel small and manageable.

70. Portals Link by Tags. Portals work in pairs. To connect two portals, simply give them the exact same name or “tag.” The tags are case-sensitive.
71. The “Explorer’s Portal” Trick. A highly effective strategy is to build a portal at your main base and give it a simple, unique name like “Explore” or leave it untagged. When you land on a new island, you can place a new portal and leave its tag blank. It will automatically connect to your “Explore” portal at home. You can then step through, grab supplies, and return to your new outpost. Once you’ve established the area, you can give both portals a permanent name (e.g., “North Island Base”).
72. Build a Central Portal Hub. As you discover more locations, your portal list will grow. To stay organized, build a dedicated room or structure at your main base to house all your main portals.
73. Label Your Portals. Use Signs next to each portal in your hub to clearly label its destination. This prevents confusion and saves you from accidentally teleporting to a dangerous location. You can also place a relevant trophy on an item stand above the portal as a visual reminder.

Chapter 5: Taming the Wilds – Valheim Farming, Breeding, and Resource Automation

A wise Viking does not live hand-to-mouth. They bend the land to their will, cultivating fields and taming beasts to create a sustainable and powerful homestead. Farming in Valheim is not an optional side activity; it is the key to unlocking the game’s most powerful food and potions, which are often more important than the armor you wear.

The Life of a Valheim Farmer – Cultivating Crops

Turning soil and planting seeds is the first step toward culinary greatness.

74. Craft a Cultivator. To begin farming, you will need a Cultivator. This tool is crafted at a Forge using Core Wood and Bronze. It allows you to turn regular soil into arable farmland.
75. Find Your First Seeds. Your first crops will be carrots. Carrot Seeds are found by harvesting the white-flowered carrot plants that grow in the Black Forest.
76. Plant with Proper Spacing. Use the Cultivator to plant your seeds in the tilled soil. For a plant to grow, it needs open access to the sky and must not be too close to other plants or objects. If a plant is too crowded, it will not mature.
77. Plant in Perfect Lines. A simple trick for neat and efficient planting is to aim your camera down at a 45-degree angle. Then, walk forward while spam-clicking the plant button. This will magically plant your crops in a perfectly straight line with just enough space between them.
78. Harvesting Gives You Produce, Not Seeds. When you harvest a mature carrot, you get a carrot. To get more seeds, you must plant a carrot (the vegetable itself) using the Cultivator. This will grow into a seed-flower, which yields three new carrot seeds upon harvesting. This cycle is the key to a sustainable farm.
79. Harvest Crops with an Atgeir. Once your farm is large, harvesting individual plants can be tedious. The secondary attack of an Atgeir (a polearm weapon) is a wide, spinning sweep that can harvest many crops at once.

Animal Husbandry – Taming and Breeding

Taming the beasts of Valheim provides a reliable source of meat and other resources.

80. Tame Your First Boars. Boars are the easiest creature to tame. First, build a small pen with wood fences and a gate. Lure a boar into the pen by getting its attention and running inside. Once it’s in, run out and close the gate.
81. Calm Them with Food. Taming begins once the boar is enclosed and can no longer see you. Throw food on the ground inside the pen—they love Mushrooms, Raspberries, and Carrots. Over time, yellow hearts will appear above their heads, and a taming percentage will grow.
82. Breed for More Boars. Once you have two tamed boars in a pen, keep them fed. When they are happy, they will occasionally mate and produce a piglet, which will eventually grow into an adult boar. This creates a self-sustaining source of Raw Meat and Leather Scraps.
83. Protect Your Animals. Tamed animals are vulnerable to raids and wandering creatures. Ensure their pens are within your base’s defensive perimeter. A bat raid can wipe out an entire unprotected herd.

The Sweet Gold – Your First Apiary

Honey is a vital ingredient for health and stamina meads, making beekeeping an essential skill.

84. Find a Queen Bee. To start a bee farm, you need a Queen Bee. These are found by destroying the Beehives that hang inside abandoned structures in the Meadows. Not every hive will drop a queen, so you may need to find several.
85. Craft and Place Your Hives. A beehive is crafted with Wood and a Queen Bee. Hives must be placed outdoors and have some space around them to function. When the bees are happy, they will slowly produce honey.
86. Honey is Liquid Gold. Collect honey regularly from your hives. It is a decent food on its own but, more importantly, is the base ingredient for almost all meads you will brew in the Fermenter.

Unethical but Effective – The Greydwarf Farm

For the Viking who values efficiency above all else, it’s possible to automate resource collection.

87. Automate Your Resource Gathering. In the Black Forest, you will find Greydwarf Nests, which constantly spawn new Greydwarfs. Do not destroy them. Instead, dig a pit around one and line it with campfires or sharp stakes.
88. Create a Killing Machine. If you stand nearby, the nest will spawn Greydwarfs, who will then immediately fall into the pit and be killed by the fire or stakes. This creates an automated farm that generates an endless supply of Wood, Stone, Resin, and Greydwarf Eyes with no effort on your part.

Chapter 6: Secrets of the Ancients – Lesser-Known Valheim Mechanics and Pro-Level Tricks

You have survived. You have built. You have conquered. But Valheim still holds many secrets. This final chapter reveals the hidden mechanics and advanced techniques that separate seasoned chieftains from true legends of the tenth world. This is the wisdom that turns a player into a master.

Hidden in the Earth – Advanced Prospecting

The earth holds treasures for those who know how to look.

89. Prospect with the Stagbreaker. The Stagbreaker‘s ground-slam attack can be used to find things buried underground. In the Meadows, look for stone formations that resemble a ship’s hull. Smash the ground nearby. If you see a damage number other than “0,” you’ve found a buried treasure chest. Dig it up!
90. Find Silver Without the Wishbone. This is a game-changing trick. In the Mountains, the Wishbone (a drop from a later boss) is normally required to find buried Silver veins. However, you can find them early by hitting the ground with a Stagbreaker or Iron Sledge. If a silver vein is nearby, you will see the message “Too Hard” appear on your screen.
91. Locate Iron in the Swamp. The same prospecting technique works in the Swamps. If you hit a patch of water and see a “0” damage number, it can indicate a buried Muddy Scrap Pile. Dig down to find a valuable source of early Iron.
92. Mine Ore Efficiently. Copper and Silver veins are massive boulders that extend deep underground. Do not waste time chipping away at them from the top. The fastest way to mine them is to dig a trench around the entire node and then tunnel underneath it, breaking all its connections to the ground. Once it’s floating, the entire vein will shatter, showering you with ore.

Exploiting the World – Clever Mechanics

The rules of Valheim can be bent by those with enough knowledge.

93. Reset the Leviathan Timer. Leviathans are giant, living islands that provide Abyssal Barnacles, a source of Chitin. When you start mining them, the Leviathan will begin to shake and eventually sink. To get all the barnacles, simply log out and log back in. This will reset the sinking timer, giving you more time to harvest.
94. Clip Through Crypt Gates. Don’t have the key for a Sunken Crypt in the Swamp? No problem. Carefully place a Chair right up against the iron gate. Sit in the chair, and when you stand up, you may clip through to the other side. It can take a few tries to get the positioning right.
95. Make Instant Coal. If you play with the “Fire Hazards” world modifier enabled, you can create coal instantly. Place a Wood Stack (which holds 50 wood) and hit it with a fire-based attack, like from the Staff of Embers. The entire stack will burn, instantly converting 50 wood into 50 coal.
96. Passive Taming. Animals will continue to be tamed as long as you are within the same general area of the map. You don’t need to stand and watch them. Build your taming pens near your main base, and they will become tame in the background while you craft, build, and organize.

Pro-Tier Quality of Life Tricks

These small tricks save time and effort, separating the efficient Viking from the amateur.

97. Cancel Animations with the Hammer. Many weapons have a long animation when you put them away. The Hammer, however, has no equip animation. You can instantly cancel the sheathing animation of any weapon by quickly equipping your Hammer. This allows you to start sprinting immediately after a fight, saving precious seconds.
98. Cancel Forsaken Powers with a Jump. Accidentally activated your powerful but long-cooldown Forsaken Power? Don’t despair. A simple jump will interrupt the activation animation, saving the power for when you truly need it.
99. Haul Heavy Loads with a Lox. Once you can craft a saddle, you can ride a tamed Lox. A Lox does not care about your inventory weight. You can be thousands of pounds over the encumbrance limit and still ride your Lox at full speed, making it the ultimate land-based cargo transport.
100. Store Resources in Stacks. Instead of filling chests with thousands of units of wood and stone, craft them into stacks of 50 and place them in your base. These stacks are compact, look great as decorations, and can be broken with one hit of your hammer to get the resources back.
101. Unleash Secret Attack Combos. For one-handed swords, clubs, and daggers, there is a hidden attack combination. Perform a normal primary attack, then instantly press and hold the block button. As soon as the block animation begins, press and hold the primary attack button again. This will unleash a rapid, multi-hit combo that deals immense damage.
102. Quickly Exit a Cart. Instead of coming to a full stop and pressing ‘E’ to exit your cart, simply perform a dodge-roll. You will tumble out of the cart instantly, allowing for a much faster dismount.
103. Use the Hoe to Level Ground to a Target. When using the Hoe to level terrain, it normally flattens the ground to the height of your character’s feet. However, if you hold Shift while clicking, it will level the ground to the height of the terrain you are aiming at. This is invaluable for creating smooth, perfect ramps.
104. Place Torches on Walls. You can’t place standard torches directly on walls. However, you can attach a 1×1 horizontal wood beam to a wall and then place the torch on that beam.
105. Jump Deeper into Water. To retrieve items from deeper water, find a high cliff or build a platform and jump from it. The momentum from a higher fall will allow you to sink much deeper before you start to float back up.
106. Quickly Sheathe Your Weapon. Pressing the ‘R’ key will sheathe or unsheathe your currently equipped weapon. This is faster than using the number keys and allows you to run at full speed, as most equipped weapons slow you down.
107. Boss Altars Point the Way. When you interact with a Vegvisir (a boss location runestone), your character will briefly turn to face the physical direction of that boss’s altar in the world. This can help you get your bearings.
108. Use Item Stands for Decoration. Item stands are not just for weapons. You can place food on them to decorate a dining table, place tankards and meads in your tavern, or use glowing yellow mushrooms to create magical-looking lighting.
109. Sit Down for Better Building Angles. Pressing ‘X’ makes your character sit down. This can be surprisingly useful for getting into tight spaces or achieving the perfect angle when placing a difficult building piece.
110. Trolls Can Be Your Lumberjacks. In the early game, you cannot chop down Birch or Oak trees for Fine Wood. However, a Troll can. Lure a Troll into a stand of these trees and dodge its attacks. Its powerful swings will smash the trees for you, letting you collect the valuable wood long before you have a Bronze Axe.
111. Weather is Not Random. The weather pattern in Valheim is the same for every single world seed on any given day. Day 1 will always have the same weather progression, as will Day 100. This predictability can be used to plan long sea voyages.
112. The Stagger Bar is Visible. When you take damage, a small bar appears next to your health bar. This is your stagger bar. If it fills up completely from taking too many hits in a short time, you will be staggered and left vulnerable, just like an enemy you have parried.
113. Destroy Beehives with a Bow. Getting close to a beehive to break it can be risky, as the bees will attack you. You can safely destroy it from a distance by shooting it with your bow.
114. Your Corpse Run has a Buff. After you die, you will have a “No skill drain” buff for 10 minutes. This means if you die again while trying to retrieve your items, you will not lose any more skill points.
115. Place a Portal Before Sailing. Before embarking on a long sea voyage, drop a portal at your departure point. If your ship is destroyed or you die far from home, you can use your main portal network to get back to that departure portal, making the recovery mission much shorter.

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial fan work, all trademarks and copyrights for Valheim belong to the developer Iron Gate AB.

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