Valheim Guide#

Valheim is a Norse-mythology cooperative survival game developed by Iron Gate Studio and published by Coffee Stain Publishing, in which 1-10 players explore, build and fight inside the same world. You play a Viking warrior killed in battle and dispatched by Odin, the Allfather, to the Tenth World — a wild frontier where the only way to prove yourself worthy of Valhalla is to defeat the Forsaken. The game entered Steam Early Access on February 2, 2021, and shipped its 1.0 version on September 9, 2026, bringing five years and seven months of Early Access to a close.

Game Information at a Glance#

Setting and Lore#

Core Gameplay Loop#

The spine of the game is not a quest list but a progression chain strung together by biomes and bosses: explore a new biome → gather resources → craft gear of the matching tier → summon and defeat that biome’s boss → offer its trophy for power → unlock the next biome. Several systems run alongside that chain from start to finish:

• Food system: you have three food slots, and food decays over time. Your maximum health and stamina are determined by your current food combination — if you want to survive meaner fights, start by eating better.
• Skill system: no classes and no stat allocation. Skills level up through use (0-100), and death costs you experience.
• Death penalty: everything you are carrying drops at the spot where you died, and you recover it by running your corpse. The best gear in the world does not make you death-proof, so corpse runs are a skill every player has to learn.
• Building and comfort: shelter, fire sources and decorations accumulate comfort, which extends the “Rested” buff (+50% skill experience gain).
• Portal logistics: portals block ore and metal ingots by default, so hauling metal is the central logistics problem from the mid-game onward (the Ashlands update added a stone portal that can carry ore).

Quick Start#

1. Survive the landing — you spawn in the Meadows. Follow Hugin the raven’s prompts to gather wood and stone and throw up a simple shelter with a workbench.
2. Solve food — pick berries and mushrooms, hunt boar and deer, and use the three food slots to push your health and stamina ceilings up.
3. Craft your first tool set — before moving from stone to bronze, build basic tools and weapons at the workbench.
4. Challenge your first boss — offer two Deer Trophies at the Sacrificial Stone to summon Eikthyr.
5. Enter the Black Forest — Eikthyr drops Hard Antler, used to craft the antler pickaxe, which lets you mine copper and tin and move into the Black Forest stage.

Biome Progression (Eight Land Biomes Plus Ocean at 1.0)#

Boss Ladder#

Once the first seven boss trophies are hung on the Sacrificial Stone, their powers last 5 minutes with a 20 minute cooldown. Full summoning requirements and fight breakdowns are covered in the boss guide.

Multiplayer and Platforms#

Sales and Reception#

What This Guide Does Not Cover#

The following has no reliable source even after verification. We make no guesses here; treat the in-game content as authoritative:

• The complete list of raid events and their trigger conditions;
• Per-item stats for weapons, armor, arrows and building recipes;
• Exact release dates for the “Hildir’s Request”, “Bog Witch” and “Call to Arms” updates (only their relative order is known).

Section Contents#

Getting Started and Systems#

• Beginner Guide — surviving the opening and your first tools
• Walkthrough — the eight-stage push from the Meadows to the Deep North
• Biomes — resources and enemies across the eight biomes plus the Ocean
• Skills and Proficiency — 22 skills and the death penalty
• Controls and Settings — control logic and recommended settings
• FAQ — corpse runs, the portal ore ban and other high-frequency questions

Combat and Builds#

• Bosses — summoning, weaknesses and Forsaken powers for all eight bosses
• Combat — stamina, blocking, magic and adrenaline
• Items and Crafting — material chains and gear progression

World and Building#

• Building and Home — structural stability and comfort
• World — world generation, portals and sailing
• Secrets — the trader, rare creatures and hidden achievements

Completion and Extras#

• Quests — the boss ladder and achievement anchors
• Achievements — the 53 achievements added in 1.0
• Practical Resources — material tiers and meads
• Tips — progression calls and survival techniques
• Challenges — community self-imposed challenges
• Gallery — a breakdown of the low-poly art style
• Lore and Worldview — the Tenth World and the sacrificial narrative
• Updates — the version line from Early Access to 1.0

All Pages#

• Beginner Guide
• Walkthrough
• Bosses
• Biomes
• Combat
• Skills and Proficiency
• Items and Crafting
• Building and Home
• World
• Quests
• Achievements
• Secrets
• Practical Resources
• Tips
• Challenges
• Controls and Settings
• FAQ
• Gallery
• Lore and Worldview
• Updates

Related Games#

• Lethal Company — a co-op horror survival game
• Terraria — a 2D sandbox adventure survival game
• Bookshop Simulator: Full Game Guide — a bookstore management sim
• Helldivers 2 — a co-op shooter survival game
• Splatoon Raiders — a colorful multiplayer shooter

Related Rankings#

Best Survival Crafting Games · Best Co-Op Games · Best Open-World Games

Full Guides#

In-depth sub-guides — beginner basics, the full walkthrough, all eight bosses, every biome, combat mechanics, skills and proficiency, items and crafting, building and comfort, world generation and portals, achievements, secrets, meads and material tiers — are available in Chinese on NTGame’s Valheim section.