When you begin your journey and are dropped off by Huginn , you will be on the starting island inside a ring of stones, these stones are spots to hang the heads of the forsaken after defeating them and will give the player a choice of power-ups to use. {see “Forsaken Powers” Section below.}
The first thing you will notice is Hugin (now smaller) standing on a stone waiting to talk to you, he will appear from time to time and offer helpful tips as you progress. Each of the stones will offer some information about each of the forsaken, it is up to you to travel the realm and find out the location of each and defeat them.
It should come as no surprise that like most survival games you start your journey in Valheim by collecting wood and stone to make your first tool – The humble stone axe.
You should start by looking around the area for branches and stones on the floor (Default use key is `E`), they will yield one wood and stone respectively. Small bushes can also be punched to destroy them and drop two wood, (make sure they aren’t fruit or berry bushes as these will regrow fruit allowing you to pick them again!) as well as saplings
Resources will appear in your inventory (accessed by pressing `Tab` by default), from this window you can see your current inventory on the left, the numbered boxes are your inventory hotbar slots allowing quick access to items while the inventory isn’t open.
Wisdom is welcome wherever it comes from.
~Bandamanna Saga, c.10
As you collect new and better materials you will be granted the knowledge required to fashion them into useful items and equipment to aid you in your journey. You will be able to review the recipes at the appropriate crafting station or while using the appropriate tool.
Items can be equipped or used with right click, split with Shift + click and the whole stack of items can be transferred to the box or container you have open with L.Ctrl + Click
You will also notice two smaller boxes to the right of your inventory: a small shield – current amour value, and a weight symbol – current inventory weight / max inventory weight (going over this number will stop stamina gain and moving will drain stamina until you run out and become immobile!)
On the right of this menu is (top to bottom):
- Your player name
- Four symbols
- Crow Icon: Valheim Compendium. This will show any active status effects as well as a message log for tips obtained from Huginn or runestones found randomly in the world.
- Skill Icon (Three interlinked upside down triangles) this shows your current skills and their level, mouse over the progress bar to see what each skill does)
- Trophy Icon (Current collected trophies)
- PvP Toggle (Two Swords) This will toggle PvP damage to your character it is off by default (swords pointing up) you can toggle it on by clicking it (the swords will cross to show PvP is active) BE CAREFUL: PvP cannot be disabled for a short time after taking PvP damage!
- Crafting Menu:
- The left box will show available crafting recipes
- The Right box will show detailed information of the selected item as well as the resource cost at the bottom.
NOTE: This guide will aim to show you the basics without holding your hand. Recipes will not be listed within this guide as it goes against the spirit of the game, and we fear Odin’s wrath!
So, now you can make tools to arm yourself as the divine instrument of Odin’s will! But before charging off and cleaving a path through Valheim, we need to get some food into your belly to keep you going on your merry way slaughtering everything that looks at you funny.
With an axe in hand you are starting to resemble the warrior you were before your arrival here!
The axe is a versatile tool and can be used to fell trees and foes alike, although this assortment of stone and wood is a far cry from equipment fashioned with the appropriate tools and materials, capable of felling the mightiest oak or hardest birch, you will still be able to fell the beech wood trees.
NOTE: Death by falling tree will NOT gain you access to Valhalla and will just serve to amuse any fellow Vikings.
Be warned by another’s woe.
~Njal’s Saga,c.13
Did you manage to avoid a painful death? Good! Once you have the wood collected be sure to chop the stump too for a few extra wood!
If you are familiar with most survival games you will know that these three mechanics are usually linked in some way, but in Valheim they are one and the same mechanic, your health and max stamina are directly tied to what food you have in your stomach.
In the bottom left of your screen you will notice two icons:
- A fork: This is the current nutrient content of your stomach. Eat a mix of different foods to see what food increases health/stamina (hover your mouse over food items to see their stats!).
- Tri-pointed symbol: This is your health (it will start at 25 with an empty stomach).
- Three blank boxes to the left of the fork: This is your stomach contents! Any food eaten will be displayed here and flash as it is close to being completely digested allowing more of that item or another to be consumed (you need to right click on the food in your inventory to eat it).
But wait! Where is my stamina?
No Loki hasn’t pulled the troll hide over your eyes, stamina is only displayed when it is being used! Anything from punching, sprinting (Default: Left Shift), to cutting wood and jumping(Default: Spacebar).
Can’t seem to catch a breath?: Some status effects affect the rate of stamina regen! Check your log to see which or try holstering your equipped items for slightly reduced stamina drain while sprinting (Default: “R”)
While having a full stomach is important while fighting and gathering a large amount of resources, you can survive indefinitely without a single morsel passing your lips! What? Did you think being dead you would remain bound by such trifles!
With easy access to wood and a means to defend yourself it’s time to think about shelter and a comfortable place to sleep.
It is time to raise your first hall! Using the wood you just collected, craft a hammer and equip it.
A simple act it may seem, however, you hold in your hand the single most useful tool in any Vikings arsenal.
Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of basic construction
~Odin…..Probably
Some tools will offer a selection of functions or buildables, access these with [Right click]
The right click menu will show you all of the items you currently know how to construct. The building in Valheim is very easy to use and can result in amazing structures limited only to your imagination and access to a workbench.
Find a floor piece and select it, at the bottom of the screen you will see the requirements that need to be satisfied before you can build it.
To build you will need to craft a workbench under the “Crafting” tab and place it down. All benches have an area of effect or range that satisfies the “Workbench” requirement for building when you are standing in it.
With this knowledge go forth and raise a hall to be proud of! It may take some time to find your style but with some practice you will!
A rotten branch will be found in every tree.
~The Saga of Olaf Haraldsson, c.148
Wait…. You didn’t mean to put that there did you? Just deconstruct it (Middle mouse button) and move it over, Odin doesn’t expect perfection.
With your hall built you now have a place to shelter from the cold, but no place to sleep!
Beds are under the “furniture” tab and once placed must be claimed, (be careful not to claim all the beds if you are with other Vikings or they must be replaced to re-claim) and acts as a respawn point for you should you die.
Finally, no self respecting Viking sleeps in a cold bed, heat is essential to a good night’s sleep. Build a fire nice and close to your hall to keep you warm while you sleep, this can be placed inside to prevent it being rained out but without a place for the smoke to go you will quickly learn the joys of smoke inhalation.
To repair your tools and craft more advanced items you will need to place the bench inside a building with a roof or build walls, a floor and a roof around your workbench on three sides.
Using the workbench opens its crafting menu (right) and your inventory (left), the crafting menu is much the same as the one you have seen before with new items but with two new additions, an upgrade tab and a hammer button.
The upgrade tab is just that, a place to upgrade your equipment.
The hammer button is how you keep all of your tools and weapons crafted from this bench in good working order at no extra cost! This means all of your resources can be directed to upgrading and expansion.
Buildings need support to stay up, the stability of each part can be viewed with the hammer equipped and hovering your mouse over the part in question. Keep this in mind if you want your building to stay up!
That which has a bad beginning is likely to have a bad ending.
~Hen-Thorir’s Saga, c.4
When you die, you will awake once more at the circle of stones that Hargin dropped you at unless you have set a bed as your spawn point, in which case you will wake at your bed leaving everything you were carrying at the location where you died contained in a tombstone.
The price to be paid is in the form of skill drain, you will lose skill progress after each death, this can become an issue if you aren’t mindful of your health and die frequently as any skill progress can quickly be lost! so be sure to enter fights or dangerous situations with a full stomach and the right equipment!
Gold is little comfort for the kinsman dead.
~Örvar Odd’s Saga, c.11
Time to set out, pick a direction and go!
Exploring the realm will uncover the unexplored area of your map (default: M) only, so if you are traveling with other Vikings they will have to do their own exploring too.
Within the map you can see all of the realm you have discovered. You can ping a location (Middle mouse button over location on map), share your location with all other Vikings(check box bottom right) and mark areas of interest (select an icon on the right then Double Left click, type a short annotation and hit enter)
Annotations can be left clicked to toggle a red X over them and right clicked to remove them from the map.
Explore and find the forsaken , clues to their whereabouts may lie in unexplored parts of the map.
Hunting:
Most monsters make sounds, listen out for them while exploring to avoid being caught off guard.
While hunting game or boars try to approach with the wind carrying your scent away rather than towards your quarry as it may alert them to your presence.
Extra tips:
- Once you have killed your first forsaken try revisiting the place Huginn dropped you off, with the items that the boss dropped.
- When it rains placed building pieces that aren’t covered by a roof will slowly decay, repair them with the hammer.
- Wards can be built to disable unwanted access to doors and chests within the ward’s range – while deactivated your fellow Vikings can add their names to the “allowed” list to maintain access.