Valheim Walkthrough
Writing a Walkthrough for Valheim is kind of tricky since the entire game is different each time you play it. World seeds are randomly generated which means where you find resources and where you build your base is going to be completely different each time. This raises a difficult question to answer for me - what kind of information do you need in a Walkthrough for Valheim?
I believe I have the answer to that question in this guide.
Meadows, Black Forest and Swamp
When you first begin the game all of your time will be spent gathering resources and building your first structure. I strongly recommend you pick a base location next to the ocean because you will be sailing to and from your base to bring metal and other items there. Don't worry if you've started building inland already, by the time you reach Swamp you will be ready to tear down your entire base anyway and build a new one.
Once you reach the Black Forest you'll unlock a new crafting station as well as Smelters, Charcoal Kilns, Fermenters, Cauldrons and a Mead Ketill which will take up a lot of space around your base. You will also unlock Portals which are very helpful in traveling large distances instantly. For all of my playthroughs I normally end up with over a dozen portals at minimum and they're normally put into a Portal Nexus. Once you reach Swamp you'll really want to start taking base security more seriously too.
I recommend you read over my How To Keep Your Base Safe Guide and also the How To Make Biomes Safe Guide for more information about how you can secure your main base. Swamp raids aren't very dangerous in and of themselves but once you advance past Swamp you're going to start getting some raids you'd rather not deal with.
Ocean, Mountain and Plains
At this point the game will start to take a jump in difficulty, Mountain can be a rough biome depending on your weapon choice and Plains is even harder. Starting with the Mountain you'll be able to tame Wolves which you can use in combat to help you beat foes, they're useful until Mistlands at which point they start to get wrecked pretty easily. However, building a wolf army to tackle goblin cities in Plains is completely viable! Lox work too for that, but you have less control over them as a whole.
Game Progression List
Meadows
- Get Leather Scraps to make a Crude Bow
- Collect Flint (Shorelines) & Deer Hide to make Workbench Upgrades
- Upgrade your armor & cook meat to prepare for Eikthyr
- Tame Boars if you find a 1 or 2 star
- Use Deer Trophy to summon and defeat Eikthyr
- Hang Eikythr's Trophy on Sacrifical Stones for a buff unlock and to progress the world
Black Forest
- Collect Surtling Cores from the Crypts in the Black Forest
- Mine Copper & Tin to make Bronze; craft all new items and upgrade your crafting stations
- Use Bronze Axe to collect Fine Wood from Birch and Oak trees in the Meadows
- Make a Cauldron to craft better food, Collect Carrot Seeds and use a Cultivator to grow them
- Tame Boars, you need lots of meat for Boar Jerky
- If you don't have any Beehives, explore Meadows and search abandoned buildings for Bee nests. Destroy one for a Queen Bee, the more you get the better
- Use Greydwarf Trophy to summon and defeat The Elder
Swamp
- Use the Swamp Key to open Crypts in the swamps and collect Scrap Iron
- Make a Portal in the Swamps to make the process easier; Iron can't go through but everything else can
- Scrap Iron gives access to Stone crafting which allows you to remake your entire base
- Use Iron to upgrade gear and crafting stations
- Collect Guck from Gucksacks (green things on trees), Chains from Wraiths, Ancient Bark from the Ancient Trees, Surtling Cores and Turnip Seeds. Use all these things in crafting
- Find Withered Bones and use them to summon and defeat Bonemass, the boss of the Swamp
Mountain
- Use Wishbone (optional) from Swamp to find Silver in the Mountain
- Collect Onion Seeds from chests, Obsidian from the rock nodes and all enemy drops
- Explore the Mountain Caves for the optional loot, destroy objects on walls/braziers for more items
- Find Dragon Eggs to summon Moder and beat her for Dragon's Tear
Plains
- Use the Dragon's Tear from Moder to make an Artisan Table
- Make a Blast Furance to smelt Black Iron Metal, a Windmill to process Barley and a Spinning Wheel to process Flax
- Raid a Goblin Village for Barley and Flax, plant it in the Plains (you need to make a Plains base now or soon) <<<<<Add Link>>>>>
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Base Building
<Base Picture>
The first place that almost everyone needs help is when it comes to building a base. When you first start this game you can only build with Wood and Core Wood; eventually you'll reach the Swamp which gives you Iron and that allows you to build with Stone. Iron also allows you to build things called Wood Iron Beams, these will give your structures significantly more stability and allow you to build higher and/or further than you could without them.
Each time you progress to a new biome you'll almost always get new crafting stations too and each set of new crafting stations means you'll have to make room for them in your base. This is where things start to get a little complicated because unless you make a base big enough for your needs you'll constantly be adding to it and expanding every time you get new stuff.
Below I have created a list for you that covers all of the areas you need for your first base. It's up to you how you want to organize and build each of these areas, I will give you some insight for some of these things but most of how to build it is up to you.
Areas Your FIRST (real) Base Needs:
1. Storage
2. Workbench Crafting Area
3. Forge Crafting Area
4. Charcoal Kiln/Smelting Area
5. Vegetable/Plant Farm (Carrots, Turnips, Onions)
6. (Semi-optional) Animal Farm (Boars/Wolves)
7. Sleeping Area
8. Portal Area
9. Cauldron/Cooking Area
The list I created above will cover all biomes up to Plains and Mistlands; once you get to Plains you need to make a farm specifically in that biome to grow Flax and Barley. You'll need these crops for making new recipes (including the armor) for the Plains biome. When you're making your first base this shouldn't be a concern of yours since Plains is a midgame biome. Depending on your desires you can avoid making a Plains base entirely too and just do a small area that you section off with a portal to farm. As with many things in Valheim you do you.
We'll talk more about Mistlands, Ashlands and the Deep North later in this guide when we reach those biomes.
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