Valheim Wiki

Gather Wood, Stone, and Food

Pick up branches and loose stone around the Meadows. Gather raspberries and mushrooms, and hunt small animals when possible. Keep multiple food types active because different foods stack their health and stamina bonuses.

Craft Your First Tools and Weapons

Craft a Stone Axe to cut trees and a Hammer for construction. A Club is an inexpensive first weapon, while a Crude Bow becomes extremely useful once you obtain Leather Scraps and can hunt deer more reliably.

Build a Shelter and Workbench

Place a Workbench and surround it with walls and a roof so it can be used for crafting and repairs. Add a bed, campfire, cooking station, and storage. Make sure smoke can escape through an opening above the fire.

Hunt Boars and Deer

Boars provide Leather Scraps, while deer provide Deer Hide and Deer Trophies. Deer Trophies are especially important because two are required to summon Eikthyr at the Mystical Altar.

Improve Your Food

Cook raw meat over a Cooking Station and combine cooked foods with gathered berries or mushrooms. Better food dramatically improves survivability, stamina for running and attacking, and the number of mistakes you can survive.

Upgrade the Workbench

Build nearby Workbench improvements such as the Chopping Block and Tanning Rack when their recipes become available. Higher Workbench levels allow you to improve leather armor, bows, tools, and other early equipment.

Explore the Meadows

Search abandoned structures, ruined buildings, burial markers, coastlines, and nearby forests. Mark berry patches, boar spawns, valuable buildings, and the location of Eikthyr's altar on your map.

Prepare for Eikthyr

Bring a bow or dependable melee weapon, upgraded leather equipment, cooked food, and two Deer Trophies. Eikthyr uses lightning attacks, charges, and close-range strikes, so manage stamina and avoid attacking continuously.

Reduce travel time while leaving room for farming and expansion.

• Build the first permanent base in or near the Meadows when possible.
• Look for flat terrain close to water, wood, stone, and useful neighboring biomes.
• Leave open ground for future crops, animal pens, storage buildings, and portals.

Create the first protected crafting and repair area.

• Place a Workbench to create a construction area.
• Build walls and a roof around the crafting space so the Workbench works normally.
• Add a bed once the shelter is enclosed and protected.

Prevent roofs, towers, and upper floors from collapsing.

• Use the piece color shown while aiming to judge support strength.
• Blue pieces are grounded; green, yellow, orange, and red indicate progressively weaker support.
• Connect important vertical supports to the ground instead of extending from weak upper pieces.
• Use Core Wood, stone, and iron-reinforced beams for larger structures.

Keep indoor fires active without filling the house with smoke.

• Place fires on suitable ground or supported hearth areas.
• Create a chimney, raised roof opening, or other clear path for smoke to escape.
• Protect the smoke outlet with roofing so rain does not extinguish exposed fires.

Keep crafting stations and upgrades close to relevant storage.

• Reserve one area for the Workbench and its upgrades.
• Create a Forge section once Copper and Tin progression begins.
• Leave room for later stations such as the Stonecutter, Artisan Table, Black Forge, and Galdr Table.
• Store common crafting materials near the station that consumes them.

Reduce time spent searching for crafting materials.

• Keep food and cooking ingredients near the kitchen.
• Store ore, metal, coal, and smelting materials near the furnace and Forge.
• Keep wood, stone, hides, and trophies in separate labeled storage groups.
• Place a small dump chest near the entrance for quickly unloading after exploration.

Maintain a strong Rested bonus before leaving the base.

• Group comfort-generating furniture around the sleeping and resting area.
• Upgrade the fire source and furniture as better materials become available.
• Rest before long mining trips, boss fights, sailing, or dangerous exploration.

Connect distant biomes, bosses, farms, and resource outposts.

• Place portals in a dedicated room or clearly labeled hub.
• Use matching portal tags to connect destinations.
• Keep one spare portal for temporary exploration links.
• Remember that standard portals restrict ores and metals under default settings.
• Late-game Stone Portals can transport materials normal portals cannot carry.

Keep enemies away from crafting, farming, and breeding areas.

• Use walls, gates, terrain, and elevation to control enemy movement.
• Moats and raised earth barriers stop most ground enemies.
• Keep valuable animals and crops away from the outer wall.
• Prepare extra protection against flying enemies because ground obstacles do not stop them.

Separate specialized activities while keeping a fast central workflow.

• Use a central hall for portals, comfort, and general storage.
• Create separate wings for crafting, cooking, smelting, farming, and magic equipment.
• Upgrade structures with stone, Black Marble, and iron-supported construction as available.
• Maintain small biome outposts instead of hauling every activity back to one location.