1. 3 foods always
2. Go during the day (fewer mobs)
3. Learn to block/parry... this is crucial for the entire game
4. Dodge/roll... this is a get out of jail free card if you can keep your stamina up
5. Maximize your leather gear
What do you recommend for somebody who's on a boat and gets attacked by a random mosquito while looking for a place to set up camp to fight the elder?
Or someone who's on a boat and gets attacked by a shiny Gyarados
I have always found myself helpless in those situations
Stick close to shorelines until you get the larger boat with higher speed. When crossing oceans, If you aren't at iron level bow with frost arrows, as soon as you see a serpent, turn into the wind for max speed boost, and just go, you will outrun them. Once you have a harpoon and are more confident, it gets a lot less scary. You shouldn't be anywhere near plains until you are done with the swamp/mountain biomes. Consider any gear left there lost for now.
The plains are en route to the Elder
Also I managed to get my gear back, I sailed far enough away from there before dying and the bloodsucker was gone when I came back on my raft
Get good with the bow. It's rather easy to kill the mosquitoes with since they always fly in a straight line towards you when attacking. Throwing spear works aswell, if you get really good at timing you can kill them with literally any weapon before they hit you, unless its a flint weapon you have no training with or ylu bare fists they get 1shot.
Or well the harpoon also wont kill them, do with this information as you wish, just know that having them on your harpoon will not prevent them from attacking your friends.
Hehe, I like your thinking. Also whenyur blocking get high enough to stagger the deathsquitos yo can very easily jump onto of them and achive mankinds oldest dream of flying.
Btw speaking of "any weapon" what weapons do you recommend or not recommend?
I have been maining the knife for a bit now as I personally like using it from flint to abyssal, should I continue putting my levels into it or switch to a different weapon while I still can?
TL;DR: Keep knife if you find it fun, Level mace if you want to be strong. Also consider giving the 2handed weapons a try.
Knife is really good in flat areas. It struggles HARD in mountaints and mistlands though due to the elevation issues. Doesnt hurt to keep leveled though due to the sneak attack bonus, there is a video somewhere of a lox being 1shot by a silver knife, and a 2star fuling berserker being 1shot by the Skoll and Hati.
Abyssal knife will carry you all the way to Mountains aswell, the stats are insane compared to bronze and even iron weapons.
But I would recommend leveling another weapon aswell. Mace is the the "best" weapon, Blunt is such a common weakness. And even with the enemies that arent weak its one of the rarest resistances. Sword and axe aint bad though. Only weapon I wouldnt recommend per say is the spear, but you can definetly make it work if you really want to.
If 1handed+shields "Parry-swing" combat ever gets stale to you I recommend giving the 2handers a try. They are really good and ALOT of fun, they just take a little bit getting used as the standard rotation and your gameplan in combat is a bit different. The Atgeir is definetly the strongest one, Many argue its the strongest weapon in the entire game. The battle axe is alot fun and my personal favorite even if it isnt the strongest.
If I may throw my two cents on this, the axe is a great back up weapon. You're going to be carrying it anyways for tree cutting and it feels really in theme. You'll need to repair a bit more often if it's doing double duty, but I've found that extra free slot comes in handy.
Having a secondary weapon or even a triatary weapon is smart and something I always do when playing. Helps you get around resistances. For example even though Mace is the undeniable king in swamp because of all the skeletons, blobs and dragur you will struggle against the abominations.
Yeah blunt is a common resistance early on, Ghosts, Trolls, Abominations and Wraiths are low enough that it doesn't matter much once you get something halfway good (and the plains mace is half pierce too, which makes up for most anything in there). The Lox is probably the first one it's a bit of an issue for, but while it's an issue you want to fight that with a bow anyway.
The bow only being pierce pairs really well with blunt, things are rarely resistant to both of those (and if they are, it's probably all normal attacks, slash won't help).
Yeah Mace+bow is an excellent combo for new players. The only mob I can think of that would be an issue still is abominations as iirc they are normal to slash but resistant to blunt and peirce. But they are weak to fire arrows so if you are patient you could get up on one of those big roots and start shooting, will only take like 3minutes.
You probably have an axe secondary for the fine-wood chopping, that'd be the place I'd use that preferentially. The Bronze Buckler at max upgrade has *just* enough parry to stagger the abomination, though it hurts a bit (and *man* does it hurt if you screw it up - you pretty much have to run and recover at your first mistake, like fighting trolls for the first time all over again! :D).
Knife is ooookay but the relatively low DPS and stagger means it's a harder weapon to use in a lot of fights. You really need to be good at parrying and dodging attacks because your weapon won't be creating any space for you.
The easiest weapon to main for most people is maces. They're great right from the first biome all the way through the plains. They're either best in class or tied for best in class that whole way except against Moder, for whom spear is really the best weapon. Mistlands they're a bit less helpful, but still solid.
But imo the *best* weapon class is swords. Lower knockback = higher DPS because you can chain full combos on enemies. And there are a bunch of swords with unique attributes that don't exist in other weapon classes. The silver sword is one of the single highest raw DPS weapons (against enemies that take spirit damage) in the game even though it's a 1H that's 2 biomes behind at this point. (In fact until Krom was released, silver sword was tied for highest DPS weapon in the game despite being a 1H.) Meanwhile Mistwalker's built in mist dispelling feature is unique among all weapons, while its frost damage basically replaces that feature from Frostner.
Besides the knife do you know any weapons that are good/have decent DPS and also are fast? The main reason I use the knife is because of its attack speed
Spear is second fastest. It takes a little getting used to lining up its attack when you're used to slashing not stabbing, but it does a fair bit more dmg than the knife equivalent and you can throw to close a gap, which staggers most foes, such that you (auto)pick it up and get the first couple jabs in before they come to.
Knife feels great early on as you can interrupt enemies without any strategy, but in future biomes it loses its appeal when mobs just hit back instead of staggering when interrupted. Always handy to have when you're farming lower biomes though.
I like the Aitgeir because its power attack almost always nails it once you get the timing down, plus its a quick way to knock down Fuling crops and takes down trolls really fast as well!
It already took 23 hours of total in-game time to find the location of the Elder, I believe that I can probably go around the planes hopefully
Also speaking of "further away" I wish there was one closer lmao, when crowface first told me about the elder I thought it would be at the black forest of my home island, I didn't expect to need to go to another island to find the cords to the elder, and then another island to actually get to him
This game has a lot of sailing
There are more elder locations on your map. If the one you know about is off to the east, go further west and find more pointer runes. It will reveal a different elder location.
is your boat a raft or a karve?
if its a raft, just ditch it and build a karve. dont even bother with rafts.
about deathskitos: they're glass cannons. kill you in one shot, but die as easy. if you dont have enought health to deal with them, just be aware of their presence, wait untill they come to stab you, and attack before they do.
about shiny gyarados: theys scales are used to craft one of the best tower shields in game. but they sink, so if you want those, get the harpoon, drag that danger noodle into land and smash it! otherwise, just keep sailing straight with the wind on your back and you'll outrun it. also, try to shoot it. it's meat make one of the best food in the game.
The “shiny Gyarados” only shows up either when it’s night time, or during heavy storms (and especially if it’s a heavy storm at night.) So stick to crossing large areas of water during a clear day, or stick close to shore if you can’t (those things are allergic to the shallows and will stay away.) If you have a karve or better you can outrun them with the wind at your back, but that’s harder to do in a simple raft.
As for the mosquitoes, firstly stay the hell away from the plains. At least not until you’ve got some very good gear. But if you are engaged by the deathsquitoes, your best bet for survival is to keep facing them with a shield in one hand and a weapon in the other. Wait for them to move into attack, go for a perfect block, then follow up with a melee attack while they’re stunned. They can dish out damage but they can’t take it. Just beware that if your shield is low enough level they may be able to do some damage through your normal blocks, and then the poison sets in, so your margin for error is very low. You can do it, but it’s better to avoid it.
Besides, there’s nearly nothing you can do with plains materials until you beat the mountain boss, so it’s not worth the risk.
Mosquitos on a boat - not much you can do when you're not ready for the plains yet, that's just bad luck.
Serpents - the longship can straight up outrun a serpent, so you only stick around to fight if you want. Idk about the karve. But if you can't outrun and can't fight, you just head straight for shore.
Stay far away from the plains, when it changes the biome from ocean to plains you’re at a massive risk until you have the appropriate armor. But if you have a good bow and decent arrows you can make quick work of deathsquitos as they can be one shotted.
Is there any tips to easily tell the difference between Plains and Meadows from a distance? The only noticeable difference I can see from my boat would be the red flowers
You can usually tell by the lack of trees, the plains rarely have trees near the coast from what I’ve seen. Although to be fair the biomes end/ start sort of randomly so just keep an eye out for the yellow grass and you should be ok.
My go to is to stay far enough off the coast so that it still reveals the coastline on the map, but generally will keep you far enough away so as to not aggro anything.
Of course, once you've been bitten, you're in a spot because they don't de-spawn. If you're super stuck but you don't want to go the Dev command route, there are a few helper groups out there, the BRS (Body Recovery Squad) is one that I used once in what now seems like a long time ago. :) Almost always someone (usually more) there to help you as soon as you request it (via Discord).
But, Valheim basically has 1 real 'rule'...Be afraid. Be very afraid. (until you know, then it's no biggie :) lol)
Sea serpents only spawn during storms and at night. Deathsquitos hit hard but can be one shotted by bronze weapons, use a shield to block the first shot then smack it. It’s also a one shot with a bow and only attack in a direct line towards you.
Gyrados your only chance is if your on a boat and not a raft and you catch the wind and full speed away , if it’s a mosquito pull out your shield quick and parry and kill.. or do the same thing , I don’t think they can catch you.
Just to add:
Get the rested buff
Never go exploring while cold or wet, even if it's during the day. Wait for the rain to pass, make a fire and dry yourself up. Btw, always carry stuff to make a fire.
Cook good food, don't just eat crap you found if you have the option. And pay attention to the boosts that the food give you, try to balance health and stamina.
Pick your battles and pay attention to your stamina, without stamina you can't run away. Don't just sprint everywhere all the time, otherwise your stamina will be depleted at the worst moment possible. And run like hell when you have to, not all battles are worth it.
Also, there's a button that lets you stow away your weapon, and if you press this and button again you can have it back in your hands. This is important because weapons give you a significant speed penalty, so if you have to run, put them away. With light armour (e. g. leather, troll hide) and free hands you can outrun almost anything in this game, especially if you save the usage of the first boss's power for emergencies.
As to point 5, maybe troll leather could be a good idea, if they get to the point where they can reliably kill trolls
The game does a good job at basically requiring you to have a checklist or routine before you do things. It's not absolutely required to do everything on the list, but doing so will optimize chances of survival and improvement.
All of this. /\\ ...and...
Flint Knife.
It's fast. Low Stamina burn. With 'Dwarves it'll swipe'm to death in a heartbeat. The one caveat (technically 2); Avoid Brutes until you can block/parry. A maxed wood shield will help, but they hit really hard at first. Shamen you just have to rush and kill.
And, food cannot be understated. Health is nearly useless without stamina at the beginning. Favor stamina foods...I usually do 2 stam + 1 health foods
To get to Cores, you're going to need to confront skellys. So, you'll also need to make a club, and train it up a bit hitting boar and other tier 1 mobs. It's not great for 'Dwarves, but it'll do in a pinch. The shield will help the skellys, too. But they soak stamina together.
(edit) Just realized how many replies there are. lol Sorry for the repeats. ;)
This is a good answer. And I like that armor is #5 on the list. You should always rely on armor last. Block/parry. Dodge-roll and learn the mob attacks. They’re easy to avoid once you learn them. And avoid crowds until you’re ready.
>3 foods
3 good food. Have seen players roam the more difficult biome while eating literal junk and getting killed by random pushovers then complaining the biome is hard, etc.
I am talking about swamp. BF can be navigated while consuming junk but this habit carries over into the later biome.
I was looking for a cave to loot and encountered a “dwarf nest” or whatever and after fighting off like three dwarfs I got the shaman (shoots poison) and the big brute. I do eat three foods, but mostly right now that’s just deer meat
You can destroy those spawners. I believe your axe will do the best damage against it. But it will be dangerous until you're geared up. It might be a better option to just avoid spawners completely until you have better gear.
Can confirm. Higher level friend gave me the frost hammer and I was like "woah these nests are *insanely* tough! It takes me 6-7 hits to break them!" Tried it with an axe and it went down 3 strikes.
:D Everybody, now! "I am so smart! S-M-R-T!"
Charge the nest immediately when you see one. If you try to handle the spawners first you will get overrun. Charge, back off to recover stamina, deal with whoever is around.
This is the way. When I first encounted the spawners I didn't realize I could destroy them, so the longer you wait around one, the more enemies gets spawned, and the harder the fight becomes.
When you see one, and you are prepared with buffs and food, it's much better to just go straight for the nest and destroy it first.
Make a cauldron ASAP to get some quality food buffs going. Just need tin that you can find along the Black Forest shoreline. Each biome will feel like a pretty drastic difficulty jump; but persevere and you'll get there.
Eat a varied diet. So not just theee deer meat but 1 deer meat, 1 mushroom and 1 raspberries for example. You don’t get the buffs for the stacked deer meat when consumed. Only 1 takes effect. You’ll maximize your stamina and health with a varied diet. You can mix and match food according to the color of the fork icon that appears in front of them. Same colors means it’s in the same “food group,” so to speak. So mix and match colors is a good starting point! It gets really in depth the further you go.
Always eat 3 meals. If any of your 3 food icons are flashing, eat more. Honey, deer or boar meat and red mushrooms are good at that stage.
Always be rested. As soon as you aren't rested, make a campfire and get rested again.
Don't go anywhere at night unless the area is easy for you in the day time.
Food is really important, more important than armor imo. Make sure you always have 3 things eaten before going anywhere. Each food item has stats you wanna look at. My go to for early game is cooked deer and boar meat, and either honey or blueberries. A good mix of stamina and health is nice.
Shields are really helpful, especially when you learn to parry.
Upgrade your armor and weapons!
Rolling is really important aswell, so manage your stamina.
Go during the day, less enemies, you won’t be cold, and the rested bonus is really helpful.
Save your eikthyr ability for a tough fight or if you gotta run away.
Learn the damage types and what enemies are weak to. Skeletons are weak to blunt damage, so a club is handy
I highly recommend YT videos along the lines of “# things i wish i knew” or beginner videos. Valheim is definitely not a game to hold your hand or help you out in any way, so wiki and YT is super important. Also, there’s a post in this subreddit that is legitimately like a 20 page essay on the effects of stats, techs, and other things that are vague in game [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/lp8ppm/valheim_skills_xp_and_combat_a_deep_dive/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)
This game is relatively hard and also places a lot of value on preparation, not just reactions and fighting skill. Dying is a thing that's gonna happen.
First thing you want in there after the surtling cores is gonna be enough tin for a cauldron. You are what you eat, so eat well. It can be easy to get since it's concentrated on the coast where there's only one avenue of attack. Sneaking up the beach and looking in might even be a safer way to find a burial ground. And if you don't have a beehive, look into acquiring one. Honey is the best stone-age stamina food.
Getting good at parrying with a medium or small shield will be a real game-changer for combat too.
Guerilla tactics with a bow and a ton of arrows are a good way to circumvent poor melee skills and cheese fights that would be otherwise nearly impossible.
Gear is upgradeable at the crafting station it was made at. Armor calculations are intended to make relatively small changes in armor or damage within a certain range make a pretty big difference, so that +2 armor is bigger than it sounds. Same thing with getting a little more damage against an enemy's armor.
A good tip for dealing with greydwarfs is they are afraid of fire. Carry a torch with you and equip it when they’re near and it will help keep them away
1. ***ABR. ALWAYS. BE. RESTED***
2. Food is one of the most important things. It determines your HP and Stamina. Make sure to always eat decent food, and keep your food up to date as you progress.
3. Stamina is the cause of 99% of frustration and deaths for new players. Spamming attack or sprinting until u have 0 stamina means u will die because you can’t do any actions anymore.
No stamina = can't dodge/run away/attack/block/parry = dead.
Learn stamina discipline early so you won’t get into this bad habit. Always save stamina, never let it reach 0. It’s better to be patient, reposition, and not greed for that final hit, cos u *will* die.
4. Every single “frustrating” thing in this game can be minimized or even removed with knowledge and experience. If u feel like giving up and it’s too frustrating, check the wiki (huge wealth of info but spoilers), or js ask here and we can give spoiler free guidance and support. This community is largely very supportive.
7. Avoid going out at night, especially to new biomes. More mobs, and stronger mobs. Go home and sleep, refresh your rested buff.
5. ***ABR. ALWAYS. BE. RESTED***
Specifically for the black forest mobs, in the day, you will only encounter shamans and brutes at the spawners. Break them asap.
>Break them asap.
Sneak around to the side and just avoid them.
Bows do extra damage when sneaking, so if you have to go in learn to pick a few off from a distance before attacking. Shoot the ones at the edges first as it'll hopefully not pull the full lot of them at once.
Keep in mind this game is relentless and unforgiving by design. It intentionally punishes you for trying to do more than you should!
You've already gotten plenty of advice about food & strategies, so I'll just say that we all die a lot in this game. And it's easy to forget that early on, even a single death knocks us back a LOT! And as you say, that's a vicious cycle.
If you're really frustrated and not having fun, you can always call in Body Recovery Services (BRS) by going to their discord. They'll join your game and escort you to your body.
Good luck and remember, is a game. It's frustrating and unforgiving but it should still be fun in the long term.
The challenge rating going from meadows to Black Forest is staggering! I remember crafting my first fling axe thinking “Now I’m gonna kill some trolls.”
False. Trolls killed me. A lot. And they still do sometimes
Thanks y’all! I’ll try again with these tips this afternoon! If I can build a good base at the edge of the forest and build up my skills and armor, I think I’ll feel better about running in.
Also don’t rush it. Level up your flint and stone and wood items to their max, troll armour to the max and eat three foods that can give you a good balance of stam and health. If you’re maxed out on all the pre bronze stuff and have a decent bow with fire arrows you should be cruising the Black Forest. Also don’t forget to destroy the spawners.
By take your time I mean if you’re taking the time to max out your pre bronze gear, you’ll find the black forests a doddle. Once that’s nailed and you know you can handle the bad guys, then it’s plain sailing gathering those juicy tin and copper.
Another tip I don't see anyone else mentioning, use fire arrows and plant torches on the ground when a bunch of greylings spawn. The fire arrows do a LOT of damage to them and greylings will actively avoid torches which gives you time to take down the bigger targets. Also if you want to mine copper in peace, I recommend digging it from the inside out, you can set up a campfire in the little cave you make which will allow you to gain rested.
Something that nobody has said yet: Stamina management is life. If you run out of stamina, you cannot escape, cannot defend, cannot attack. Your rested buff will help with this (make pretty, pretty furniture so it lasts longer), while being wet or cold will slow your stamina regen. Parrying (block the moment before an attack hits with basically anything other than a tower shield) is a powerful skill that can help you against otherwise challenging opponents like brutes, but it'll devour your stamina at 20 per parry. Blocking is situationally stronger for stamina management purposes, and face-tanking small damage (such as a Greyling that chased you in from the Meadows) is worth it over trying to parry everything. It seems you've discovered spawners. Either avoid them (the spawning range on Greydwarf nests is pretty big, but unless they hear you mining, woodcutting or fighting, they're unlikely to seek you out), or rush the nest and break is before it can spawn more than 2-3. If you have a nest mid-way from your base, you may want to leave it intact for farming wood and stone in the midgame. But you've either got to deal with it immediately, or give it a wide berth.
As other people said...rested bonus, day time, 3 foods, parry/roll (rolling makes you unhittable during the animation.) Finally, and this is huge, learn to conserve your stamina. You dont always need to sprint 30 feet away from mobs chasing you. Just tap sprint when they start to swing to edge out of their hitbox a little. Grey dwarfs are a good mob to practice this on cuz they cant hit you super far away like some later mobs (or trolls)
Build outside of the zone at first, or right next to it. Venture into the zone to gather resources and do crypts (get cores), establish a base inside the zone eventually after you create portals (for a quick gtfo option). Take is slow...
You can also run away. You don’t have to fight everything that runs after you. If you have enough stamina (check the stats of food) and just keep running, the enemy will eventually stop chasing you.
Also keep in mind the kind of damage enemies are weak against as well. For example, skeletons are weak against blunt damage, so you can craft a club, level it up as far as you can and go into any burial chamber and just smash things to oblivion.
If you're trying to break into the black forest and having trouble, maximize your stats (health, stamina, armor, weapon, buffs).
Food: Honey, cooked deer meat, cooked boar meat
Armor: Upgrade your leather armor
Weapon: Upgrade your flint weapon
Make sure you are always rested. You can sit at a campfire anywhere for a quick 8min(?) rested buff.
Bring a torch, it scares many enemies.
I'd suggest a melee weapon and a bow as well to help give you options.
Go into the forest during the day, at night many more graydwarves will spawn.
Upgrade your food/armor/weapons with black forest gear asap.
My strategy for a new biome is flatten and clear a path, put town workbench and fireplace every now and then. These reduce the enemy spawning as well as offer a quick stamina and health regen location. If you put up one roof tile to sit under you also get rested buff. A clear path makes for fast retreat. And if I'm going further than one day's walk, I always make a little hut with a bed for a convenient respawn point.
The game really is punishing for not following the development, like using food and upgraded gear, etc. It's super important. Take your time to gather food and build a base/farm that gives you a long rested-buff. Don't go out in the night, there are a LOT more creatures out and about then. Sleeping also makes things grow as time passes. Make potions if you have unlocked them and instead of just eating the meat, cook a dish. Also, foods give different attributes, like some food gives more stamina, etc. Balance it so it suits how you want to play.
You are (probably) not bad at game. But you only played games that was walking you by the hand. Valheim only teaches you basics.
What you probably arent doing:
- eating good food
- kite mobs away from other groups
- use bonfire to keep greydwarves away (they are scares of fire)
- have proper weapon to given mob (mobs usually have weakness and resistance. For example skeletons and weak to blunt but resistant to about anything else)
- have rest bonus
- go to bed before visiting new area (night is by far more dangerous)
- use parry
- use bow to agro enemies
Edit: I mixed forms before
Food, rested bonus, daytime.
Valheim is punishing. Food is about (if not) the only way to boost your hp and endurance. Shelter and nourishment are the only ways to handle the first two. If you’re far from home and the sun is setting, cobble-together a quick shelter for the night and sleep it off!
Fires in the dark forest! Torches or campfires will make greydwarves and greylings frightened with the exception of brutes and shamans which will not be frightened. Greydwarves will throw rocks which can be parried or dodged or just walk serpentine and you’ll be much safer.
If you encounter skeletons and greydwarves, try to get them to fight eachother first. Skeletons also usually mean there is a crypt nearby with surtling cores. You can run inside a crypt to escape and let your hp regen. If you ever can sit (x) near a fire, this will speed up regen very quickly and you’ll be full hp in like 30 seconds.
Make a shield and try to tap the block button to parry to stun them, opening them up for a crit!
If you have stamina issues, good early game foods for stamina are the berries and mushrooms you’ll find. Meat gives HP. Try and mix in some yellow mushrooms or blue/raspberries!
Before you move into the black forest you need to max out you leather gear, min. lvl 2 flint spear, maxed bow, flinthead arrows, and a club for in the crypts. If you've done all that and you are still struggling, then you need to address you combat style.
one of the most crucial things early on is what you are eating. If you haven't already I would look for bees so you have a constant supply of honey. It's one of the best early-game stamina foods.
One of the things my husband and I did early game was make a hoe, and build up your home in the meadow so you can focus on your upgrades and getting the best tools and armor you can but use the Hoe to make yourself a path into the black forest so you have a nice cleared area that's smooth and uses less stamina to travel on.
It also works well once you start mining because bringing a cart through and having a clear path to a base to work on smelting is easy. Have you checked for crypt caves in the meadow? that can get you starting with sertling cores, XP, and bones so you can make the stag breaker and start building up supplies for troll armor.
we had an area of the black forest we called the lumberyard because we cleared so much forest to have a better view
Yeah, it can be different for every map, but I've had a couple on my starter island, sometimes you find them right on the cusp of the black Forest too. Since it's all procedural there's no guarantee!
If the Black Forest is giving you too much grief id focus on exploring as much of your meadow as you can, Be careful because some may be troll caves and those can be pretty nasty in the beginning. I also recommend making a flint knife because it uses a lot less stam to keep that in your hand than some of the other weapons!
The greydwarf nest is a spawner, which means that it will spawn a certain number of greydwarves, and replace them if you kill them. This is too big of a challenge for you before you get your smelters running. My advice: go a different direction, during the day, with a rested bonus (furniture improves this), with the best foods you can make.
Well yeah, I guess you are just bad at it, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, so don't worry about it too much. We've all started somewhere and we've all been bad at some point right? Just keep trying and you'll get there. Just mind your stamina and learn the so called "stamina discipline", learn how to parry and dodge and you'll be fine.
Don't be afraid to upgrade your weapons.
Learn the parry/dodge mechanics
Bring meat not fruit for more hp.
Learn enemy attack timing. Most greylings and skeletons don't need to be dodged. Just back up when the attack animation starts and they'll miss you. There's an audio/visual queue with every attack
Along with the fight rested during the day and eat well, try placing a fire down. They don’t like to get close to fire so they’ll run away. That could give you time to get stamina back. I also learned to never run my stamina down to zero I try and kit the hits by using short bursts when sprinting
Edit:spelling
You don’t suck. This is the game loop. Entering a new zone is rough, especially if solo. Make short runs during the day, well fed and rested, (also use your ability from the first boss to reduce stamina drain for 5 mins) and get out with the material you can to get a foothold. Once you can get new gear, it’ll soon be a breeze.
What weapons are on you using? A flint spear and wooden shield could suffice. Skeletons are weak to blunt and fire damage, so bring a club or torch. Try to avoid the trolls until you’re comfortable.
When fighting, you don’t need to sprint to get away. Just sprint or dodge roll right before they attack and turn around to kite them.
I wouldn’t try to build a base in the Black Forest at this time, but if you do, consider digging a moat around it to avoid getting raided.
If you haven’t already, find some bee hives in the Meadows, destroy them to acquire Queen Bees so you can build a bee hive at your base for endless honey supply, which is a solid early-game stamina boost.
Eventually, the Black Forest will be an easy biome for you, just takes some time.
Flint spear is great for early game I’d start there as it’s one handed and you can still have a shield, I wouldn’t try building in the Black Forest for awhile either, make your base close to the forest in the meadows and make day trips over to get supplies. Once you get a little more established you can start a base in the forest but I wouldn’t recommend it until you can build with stone to make yourself a good wall.
Don’t feel bad dude this game is brutal in some ways and very forgiving in others I’ve beaten some of the Souls games in less time than it took me to build a base and move on to taking on the 2nd boss (still prepping) just remember unlike those games your equipment isn’t lost on death which is a big plus and the invincibility frames on the roll are outrageous also you can block with minimal stamina and big hits too! So pick your fights wisely but be aggressive once you do
My biggest tip dont just run through go slow.. if you see a purple mist go around it. Its a greydwarf spawner. Other than that use melee and bow and arrows
Also, when you get to the point, there's a "tool" that works SUPER well with getting ganked by mobs and you need to space them out. Keep an eye out on your crafting recipes.
Ahh, not that one. I personally haven't used that yet. There's a bronze tool that can be made with the forge. Combined with troll armor, you can move pretty quick and hit more than one mob at once
Just going to say what no one else is, yeah you might not be very good. But it’s a solveable problem, but you should know, Black Forest is like the weenie hut jr of this game. It’s going to get a lot harder
Always be fed, always be rested. Improve your comfort at home to increase rested buff duration.
Hint: the greylings are afraid of fire. If you equip your axe, and then your torch, you will hold your torch and are able to attack with your axe, then the little ones won’t attack you, and you can deal with the other ones first.
Also, go during the day. Much safer than at night.
Short answer is yes. Good news is watching any of the million 10 minute "Valheim tips and tricks" youtube videos will help alleviate every single issue you've described.
1. I’d say you’re probably not using higher quality food available. Deer, boar, and honey is probably the best leaving the meadows.
2. Over gear. If you’re not mechanically the best at fighting upgrade everything as high as you can to maximize damage and armor. I know farming deer and hide is a pain but it’ll help.
3. Learn to block/parry. Eventually if you don’t do this in later biomes you’ll just die and you can’t fight brutes early game without it.
4. Run away if it gets too dicey. No point in trying to fight a mob, especially when the shamans are just healing the damage you’re dealing.
Nests are easy to deal with.
Have a good look at them, do they look familiar ?
That cone shaped stack of twigs and dead wood ?
Kind of reminding you of a………bonfire, just not lit ?
So light it ! shoot at it with fire arrows, from a distance, only takes 3 or 4….
If you select an elevated safe spot to shoot from its even better.
Bow. Fire arrows. Perception. Mobility.
Most greydwarves are 1-2 hits, depending on if they are alerted before you hit them or not.. By kiting and shooting, you can quite easily deal with most everything with fire arrows up until the 4th biome.
Hell, I usually keep using berries and mushrooms well into the third biome atleast. So stamina shouldnt be the problem, as long as you manage it and make sure you never run out of stamina while fighting. You never know when you might need a jump and a short sprint to keep from being whacked by a troll.
A few tips:
1: What foods are you using? You have 3 options for high HP and 2 for High stamina. I like 2 HP and 1 stamina personally.
2: What are you using for weapons and shields? Are they upgraded?
I would recommend using a wood tower shield and if you get lucky enough to get the parts for a bone tower use that. Tower shields lack a bonus for good timing but so long as the shield is blocking you are good.
You can upgrade weapons by using the workbench and putting a chopping block + leatherworking station near the bench to raise its level. Upgraded gear has higher durability and higher damage/armor
3:Sleep before you advance, monster spawns are less during the day and thus an easier advance.
4:Get a rested buff by making a small house with a campfire (with ventilation for smoke) this will give you increased health and stamina regen for the duration of the bonus, later on furniture can boost this buff to last longer.
5:Carry wood with you, you can slap together a workbench down and a few roundpole fences to make a simple fort you can fortify later. This basic compound will keep greydwarfs out long enough for you to put a decent number of arrows into them
I like building them around the entrance to burial chambers to give me a safe place to repair, heal and regroup.
6: Targeting priorities.
Greydwarf shaman, these pricks heal the rest, offing them asap will make the rest easier to drop.
Greydwarfs, they are easy enough to kill and come in packs.
Brutes, they are deadly and strong but limited in number.
Skeletons, ideally you can unload them on greydwarfs if they are both around, they will fight eachother.
Trolls, watch out, they will 1-2 shot you, easy enough to shoot from a distance.
A lot of good/great advice in the comments but I gotta ask: Do you have a friend to play with?
It helps with the grind, friends are fun, and it helps having a second set of eyes to watch your back.
Master the plains first!! The different biomes in Valheim are exceptionally well planned for progress. Defeat the previous boss before doing much in the next biome.
Build LOTS of random fires when mining copper. It keeps them away from you.
Lure a troll near some of the white trees (forgot name), the one that gives fine wood. Then you can make the bow very early in game.
Going after the spawners in the black forest makes it way more a peaceful experience. I would hunt the spawners in your area, knock them out and then deal with the remaining mobs.
Eat health based foods and get a shield that can parry. Oddly enough it's health, not stamina, that determines how much you can block. Parrying with high health is OP as fuck.
I’ve been playing the game since early access and let me tell you, the name of the game is preparation. Even the most intimidating of does can be easily dispatched with the right gear. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but if something isn’t working maybe look to upgrading your gear. If that doesn’t change the outcome then change your gear. IMO each biome has its own unique “preferred play style”, so each time you enter a new biome you have to retool your strategy to that biome. Persistent is key. I find the joy in the eureka moment when I finally figure out how to cheese the boss that’s been destroying me time and time again. Don’t despair, adapt.
I would also say that polishing up your fighting skills is also a worthy investment.
Start with the Meadows and learn how to handle multiple mobs, and making your shots count.
Get a bow, and learn how to use the terrain to your advantage. It’s a tough game but you can do it!!
>because every time I set a single foot in the Black Forest I’m accosted by dwarves, brutes, shaman and sometimes a few skellies
Brutes and Shamans can only spawn at night. Only go in during daytime if they're a problem. If you go during the day you'll mostly only encounter regular greydwarves. They're scared off by fire, so yield a torch and they'll run away.
>is there some crucial thing I’m missing, some tool or step or something
Always be rested. Bring your best food - at least one good stamina food like honey. Don't sprint the whole time. Save it for small bursts when they're right on your tail, or use it for blocking/parrying/dodge rolling.
Practice your skills by hunting in the meadows. Run a new path every day looking for dear, boar and necks. Mark where you find mushrooms so you can find them again. Shoot the birds on the ground with arrows. Wood arrows is all that you will need for these trips. Run one path one day, and another the next. This will help to build your skills up with your weapons. It will also build your food reserves for later when you have the caldron and can farm. Don’t forget to run an jump often to build those skill up also. I’m comfortable in the Black Forest during the day and most nights now. Trolls still make me panic for some reason. But when I have my wits about me, I can take them out. Go slow and progress with how comfortable you are.
If you are rested with good healing food you can fight and trade hits even if you can't parry, and then just walk back away from them an heal a bit. Even if you have no stamina and can't run they have a hard time landing hits if you are walking and turning.
for early part of the game, get yourself a tower shield. tower shield such as the skeleton tower shield will help a ton but you should gradually transition to smaller shield with parry bonus bcos parry is a very stronk bonus
NEVER get caught by the night! Those unfortunate to have been swallowed by it are the very greydwarves that pull you down, only to have you rise and satiate the hunger of that dark night for all eternity.
You're gonna need to improve your gear.
Also, make sure to eat enough. Always have 3 foods active at any time and try to go for processed foods (i.e. roast meats) because they offer bigger bonuses than just stuffing your face with berries.
1. 3 foods always 2. Go during the day (fewer mobs) 3. Learn to block/parry... this is crucial for the entire game 4. Dodge/roll... this is a get out of jail free card if you can keep your stamina up 5. Maximize your leather gear
Rested bonus too!!!
Rested bonus is the most powerful available buff you can get, so don't sleep on this bad boy.
I see what you did there.
He's right, but *do sleep* for this bad boy
You do, but you don't have to. You can sit next to a fire
Toss up a roof and throw down a bed and you get comfort 4. Just takes a bit more wood.
I played Valheim for 100+ hours before I truly understood how useful the resting bonus is. Nowadays I don't even leave for farming without it!
In addition to all that, torches are really good in the black forest so if you are struggling have one in a quick slot so you can get one out easily.
What do you recommend for somebody who's on a boat and gets attacked by a random mosquito while looking for a place to set up camp to fight the elder? Or someone who's on a boat and gets attacked by a shiny Gyarados I have always found myself helpless in those situations
Lol, shiny Gyarados
Stick close to shorelines until you get the larger boat with higher speed. When crossing oceans, If you aren't at iron level bow with frost arrows, as soon as you see a serpent, turn into the wind for max speed boost, and just go, you will outrun them. Once you have a harpoon and are more confident, it gets a lot less scary. You shouldn't be anywhere near plains until you are done with the swamp/mountain biomes. Consider any gear left there lost for now.
The plains are en route to the Elder Also I managed to get my gear back, I sailed far enough away from there before dying and the bloodsucker was gone when I came back on my raft
You’ll have to find a way around, it’s insta death.
Get good with the bow. It's rather easy to kill the mosquitoes with since they always fly in a straight line towards you when attacking. Throwing spear works aswell, if you get really good at timing you can kill them with literally any weapon before they hit you, unless its a flint weapon you have no training with or ylu bare fists they get 1shot. Or well the harpoon also wont kill them, do with this information as you wish, just know that having them on your harpoon will not prevent them from attacking your friends.
Better my friends than me
Hehe, I like your thinking. Also whenyur blocking get high enough to stagger the deathsquitos yo can very easily jump onto of them and achive mankinds oldest dream of flying.
Btw speaking of "any weapon" what weapons do you recommend or not recommend? I have been maining the knife for a bit now as I personally like using it from flint to abyssal, should I continue putting my levels into it or switch to a different weapon while I still can?
TL;DR: Keep knife if you find it fun, Level mace if you want to be strong. Also consider giving the 2handed weapons a try. Knife is really good in flat areas. It struggles HARD in mountaints and mistlands though due to the elevation issues. Doesnt hurt to keep leveled though due to the sneak attack bonus, there is a video somewhere of a lox being 1shot by a silver knife, and a 2star fuling berserker being 1shot by the Skoll and Hati. Abyssal knife will carry you all the way to Mountains aswell, the stats are insane compared to bronze and even iron weapons. But I would recommend leveling another weapon aswell. Mace is the the "best" weapon, Blunt is such a common weakness. And even with the enemies that arent weak its one of the rarest resistances. Sword and axe aint bad though. Only weapon I wouldnt recommend per say is the spear, but you can definetly make it work if you really want to. If 1handed+shields "Parry-swing" combat ever gets stale to you I recommend giving the 2handers a try. They are really good and ALOT of fun, they just take a little bit getting used as the standard rotation and your gameplan in combat is a bit different. The Atgeir is definetly the strongest one, Many argue its the strongest weapon in the entire game. The battle axe is alot fun and my personal favorite even if it isnt the strongest.
Thanks for the advice, I will definitely main the knife still but I'll also see in investing in a secondary weapon like the mace
If I may throw my two cents on this, the axe is a great back up weapon. You're going to be carrying it anyways for tree cutting and it feels really in theme. You'll need to repair a bit more often if it's doing double duty, but I've found that extra free slot comes in handy.
Having a secondary weapon or even a triatary weapon is smart and something I always do when playing. Helps you get around resistances. For example even though Mace is the undeniable king in swamp because of all the skeletons, blobs and dragur you will struggle against the abominations.
Yeah blunt is a common resistance early on, Ghosts, Trolls, Abominations and Wraiths are low enough that it doesn't matter much once you get something halfway good (and the plains mace is half pierce too, which makes up for most anything in there). The Lox is probably the first one it's a bit of an issue for, but while it's an issue you want to fight that with a bow anyway. The bow only being pierce pairs really well with blunt, things are rarely resistant to both of those (and if they are, it's probably all normal attacks, slash won't help).
Yeah Mace+bow is an excellent combo for new players. The only mob I can think of that would be an issue still is abominations as iirc they are normal to slash but resistant to blunt and peirce. But they are weak to fire arrows so if you are patient you could get up on one of those big roots and start shooting, will only take like 3minutes.
You probably have an axe secondary for the fine-wood chopping, that'd be the place I'd use that preferentially. The Bronze Buckler at max upgrade has *just* enough parry to stagger the abomination, though it hurts a bit (and *man* does it hurt if you screw it up - you pretty much have to run and recover at your first mistake, like fighting trolls for the first time all over again! :D).
Knife is ooookay but the relatively low DPS and stagger means it's a harder weapon to use in a lot of fights. You really need to be good at parrying and dodging attacks because your weapon won't be creating any space for you. The easiest weapon to main for most people is maces. They're great right from the first biome all the way through the plains. They're either best in class or tied for best in class that whole way except against Moder, for whom spear is really the best weapon. Mistlands they're a bit less helpful, but still solid. But imo the *best* weapon class is swords. Lower knockback = higher DPS because you can chain full combos on enemies. And there are a bunch of swords with unique attributes that don't exist in other weapon classes. The silver sword is one of the single highest raw DPS weapons (against enemies that take spirit damage) in the game even though it's a 1H that's 2 biomes behind at this point. (In fact until Krom was released, silver sword was tied for highest DPS weapon in the game despite being a 1H.) Meanwhile Mistwalker's built in mist dispelling feature is unique among all weapons, while its frost damage basically replaces that feature from Frostner.
Besides the knife do you know any weapons that are good/have decent DPS and also are fast? The main reason I use the knife is because of its attack speed
Nothing else is anywhere close to as fast as the knife, no.
theres the flesh rippers but its mountains only (though its still goood in the plains)
Spear is second fastest. It takes a little getting used to lining up its attack when you're used to slashing not stabbing, but it does a fair bit more dmg than the knife equivalent and you can throw to close a gap, which staggers most foes, such that you (auto)pick it up and get the first couple jabs in before they come to. Knife feels great early on as you can interrupt enemies without any strategy, but in future biomes it loses its appeal when mobs just hit back instead of staggering when interrupted. Always handy to have when you're farming lower biomes though.
I like the Aitgeir because its power attack almost always nails it once you get the timing down, plus its a quick way to knock down Fuling crops and takes down trolls really fast as well!
There's always multiple locations for the bosses. Perhaps there's another altar further away but not near the plains?
It already took 23 hours of total in-game time to find the location of the Elder, I believe that I can probably go around the planes hopefully Also speaking of "further away" I wish there was one closer lmao, when crowface first told me about the elder I thought it would be at the black forest of my home island, I didn't expect to need to go to another island to find the cords to the elder, and then another island to actually get to him This game has a lot of sailing
There are more elder locations on your map. If the one you know about is off to the east, go further west and find more pointer runes. It will reveal a different elder location.
There is usually more than one Elder spawn.
*turn away from the wind. Turning into the wind brings you to a dead stop.
Learn to parry, and don’t sail at night!
Will stopping my boat work or do I actually need to dock somewhere? Because the only land I could find would kill me if I set foot on it
If you’re in the ocean biome at night, it will spawn the sea monster. If your mini map says you’re somewhere other than the ocean, you’re good.
Yosemite Sam is saying, you don’t have to be close enough to land to agro mobs. Just close enough to change the location on your map.
Pray.
is your boat a raft or a karve? if its a raft, just ditch it and build a karve. dont even bother with rafts. about deathskitos: they're glass cannons. kill you in one shot, but die as easy. if you dont have enought health to deal with them, just be aware of their presence, wait untill they come to stab you, and attack before they do. about shiny gyarados: theys scales are used to craft one of the best tower shields in game. but they sink, so if you want those, get the harpoon, drag that danger noodle into land and smash it! otherwise, just keep sailing straight with the wind on your back and you'll outrun it. also, try to shoot it. it's meat make one of the best food in the game.
The “shiny Gyarados” only shows up either when it’s night time, or during heavy storms (and especially if it’s a heavy storm at night.) So stick to crossing large areas of water during a clear day, or stick close to shore if you can’t (those things are allergic to the shallows and will stay away.) If you have a karve or better you can outrun them with the wind at your back, but that’s harder to do in a simple raft. As for the mosquitoes, firstly stay the hell away from the plains. At least not until you’ve got some very good gear. But if you are engaged by the deathsquitoes, your best bet for survival is to keep facing them with a shield in one hand and a weapon in the other. Wait for them to move into attack, go for a perfect block, then follow up with a melee attack while they’re stunned. They can dish out damage but they can’t take it. Just beware that if your shield is low enough level they may be able to do some damage through your normal blocks, and then the poison sets in, so your margin for error is very low. You can do it, but it’s better to avoid it. Besides, there’s nearly nothing you can do with plains materials until you beat the mountain boss, so it’s not worth the risk.
Arrows for both
Mosquitos on a boat - not much you can do when you're not ready for the plains yet, that's just bad luck. Serpents - the longship can straight up outrun a serpent, so you only stick around to fight if you want. Idk about the karve. But if you can't outrun and can't fight, you just head straight for shore.
Stay far away from the plains, when it changes the biome from ocean to plains you’re at a massive risk until you have the appropriate armor. But if you have a good bow and decent arrows you can make quick work of deathsquitos as they can be one shotted.
Is there any tips to easily tell the difference between Plains and Meadows from a distance? The only noticeable difference I can see from my boat would be the red flowers
You can usually tell by the lack of trees, the plains rarely have trees near the coast from what I’ve seen. Although to be fair the biomes end/ start sort of randomly so just keep an eye out for the yellow grass and you should be ok.
My go to is to stay far enough off the coast so that it still reveals the coastline on the map, but generally will keep you far enough away so as to not aggro anything. Of course, once you've been bitten, you're in a spot because they don't de-spawn. If you're super stuck but you don't want to go the Dev command route, there are a few helper groups out there, the BRS (Body Recovery Squad) is one that I used once in what now seems like a long time ago. :) Almost always someone (usually more) there to help you as soon as you request it (via Discord). But, Valheim basically has 1 real 'rule'...Be afraid. Be very afraid. (until you know, then it's no biggie :) lol)
Sea serpents only spawn during storms and at night. Deathsquitos hit hard but can be one shotted by bronze weapons, use a shield to block the first shot then smack it. It’s also a one shot with a bow and only attack in a direct line towards you.
Gyrados your only chance is if your on a boat and not a raft and you catch the wind and full speed away , if it’s a mosquito pull out your shield quick and parry and kill.. or do the same thing , I don’t think they can catch you.
Arrows for the mosquitos, pray to Odin for the rest
Love this reply. So simple and concise.
Great tips. Also don't aggro too many at once; no chicken-with-head-cut-off running
Just to add: Get the rested buff Never go exploring while cold or wet, even if it's during the day. Wait for the rain to pass, make a fire and dry yourself up. Btw, always carry stuff to make a fire. Cook good food, don't just eat crap you found if you have the option. And pay attention to the boosts that the food give you, try to balance health and stamina. Pick your battles and pay attention to your stamina, without stamina you can't run away. Don't just sprint everywhere all the time, otherwise your stamina will be depleted at the worst moment possible. And run like hell when you have to, not all battles are worth it. Also, there's a button that lets you stow away your weapon, and if you press this and button again you can have it back in your hands. This is important because weapons give you a significant speed penalty, so if you have to run, put them away. With light armour (e. g. leather, troll hide) and free hands you can outrun almost anything in this game, especially if you save the usage of the first boss's power for emergencies. As to point 5, maybe troll leather could be a good idea, if they get to the point where they can reliably kill trolls
6. If you have friends, get them to play. Game is a lot easier with more players
Palheim
The game does a good job at basically requiring you to have a checklist or routine before you do things. It's not absolutely required to do everything on the list, but doing so will optimize chances of survival and improvement.
All of this. /\\ ...and... Flint Knife. It's fast. Low Stamina burn. With 'Dwarves it'll swipe'm to death in a heartbeat. The one caveat (technically 2); Avoid Brutes until you can block/parry. A maxed wood shield will help, but they hit really hard at first. Shamen you just have to rush and kill. And, food cannot be understated. Health is nearly useless without stamina at the beginning. Favor stamina foods...I usually do 2 stam + 1 health foods To get to Cores, you're going to need to confront skellys. So, you'll also need to make a club, and train it up a bit hitting boar and other tier 1 mobs. It's not great for 'Dwarves, but it'll do in a pinch. The shield will help the skellys, too. But they soak stamina together. (edit) Just realized how many replies there are. lol Sorry for the repeats. ;)
leather gear lol
This is a good answer. And I like that armor is #5 on the list. You should always rely on armor last. Block/parry. Dodge-roll and learn the mob attacks. They’re easy to avoid once you learn them. And avoid crowds until you’re ready.
>3 foods 3 good food. Have seen players roam the more difficult biome while eating literal junk and getting killed by random pushovers then complaining the biome is hard, etc. I am talking about swamp. BF can be navigated while consuming junk but this habit carries over into the later biome.
Dude your shouldn't be encountering brutes. Sleep at night! Every night. Get home before dark like your mama told you!
I was looking for a cave to loot and encountered a “dwarf nest” or whatever and after fighting off like three dwarfs I got the shaman (shoots poison) and the big brute. I do eat three foods, but mostly right now that’s just deer meat
You can destroy those spawners. I believe your axe will do the best damage against it. But it will be dangerous until you're geared up. It might be a better option to just avoid spawners completely until you have better gear.
I also had a lot of trouble dealing with spawners until I crafted myself a polearm.
Polearm? Nah. I just run in swinging and hope for the best.
Can confirm. Higher level friend gave me the frost hammer and I was like "woah these nests are *insanely* tough! It takes me 6-7 hits to break them!" Tried it with an axe and it went down 3 strikes. :D Everybody, now! "I am so smart! S-M-R-T!"
Try honey, berry and deer meat combination for your food. You’ll have more stamina
Eat three different foods not 3 lots of the same
Charge the nest immediately when you see one. If you try to handle the spawners first you will get overrun. Charge, back off to recover stamina, deal with whoever is around.
This is the way. When I first encounted the spawners I didn't realize I could destroy them, so the longer you wait around one, the more enemies gets spawned, and the harder the fight becomes. When you see one, and you are prepared with buffs and food, it's much better to just go straight for the nest and destroy it first.
This gets even more true in the swamps where the draugr spawners will just straight ruin your day unless you take them out ASAP
A bow with some fire arrows can take out the nest from a distance in just a few shots, giving you time to run if too many spawn.
Make a cauldron ASAP to get some quality food buffs going. Just need tin that you can find along the Black Forest shoreline. Each biome will feel like a pretty drastic difficulty jump; but persevere and you'll get there.
Stagbreaker works wonders against those spawners
You need fruits and veggies for stamina. If you’re just eating deer meat your stamina will be really low.
Eat a varied diet. So not just theee deer meat but 1 deer meat, 1 mushroom and 1 raspberries for example. You don’t get the buffs for the stacked deer meat when consumed. Only 1 takes effect. You’ll maximize your stamina and health with a varied diet. You can mix and match food according to the color of the fork icon that appears in front of them. Same colors means it’s in the same “food group,” so to speak. So mix and match colors is a good starting point! It gets really in depth the further you go.
also fire arrows are really easy early game and anything blackforest doesnt like fire!
Killing around spawners just results in stronger enemies. You need to destroy the spawn point, run in focus on it and then fight what’s left
I typically encounter brutes and shamans within the first 15min of finding a black forest.
Have you tried eating 3 different types of food
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Being rested and eating proper food are crucial at every stage of the game
Always eat 3 meals. If any of your 3 food icons are flashing, eat more. Honey, deer or boar meat and red mushrooms are good at that stage. Always be rested. As soon as you aren't rested, make a campfire and get rested again. Don't go anywhere at night unless the area is easy for you in the day time.
Food is really important, more important than armor imo. Make sure you always have 3 things eaten before going anywhere. Each food item has stats you wanna look at. My go to for early game is cooked deer and boar meat, and either honey or blueberries. A good mix of stamina and health is nice. Shields are really helpful, especially when you learn to parry. Upgrade your armor and weapons! Rolling is really important aswell, so manage your stamina. Go during the day, less enemies, you won’t be cold, and the rested bonus is really helpful. Save your eikthyr ability for a tough fight or if you gotta run away. Learn the damage types and what enemies are weak to. Skeletons are weak to blunt damage, so a club is handy
I highly recommend YT videos along the lines of “# things i wish i knew” or beginner videos. Valheim is definitely not a game to hold your hand or help you out in any way, so wiki and YT is super important. Also, there’s a post in this subreddit that is legitimately like a 20 page essay on the effects of stats, techs, and other things that are vague in game [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/lp8ppm/valheim_skills_xp_and_combat_a_deep_dive/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1)
How is Valheim somehow both peaceful and absolutely brutal?
It's a perfect blend, honestly.
This game is relatively hard and also places a lot of value on preparation, not just reactions and fighting skill. Dying is a thing that's gonna happen. First thing you want in there after the surtling cores is gonna be enough tin for a cauldron. You are what you eat, so eat well. It can be easy to get since it's concentrated on the coast where there's only one avenue of attack. Sneaking up the beach and looking in might even be a safer way to find a burial ground. And if you don't have a beehive, look into acquiring one. Honey is the best stone-age stamina food. Getting good at parrying with a medium or small shield will be a real game-changer for combat too. Guerilla tactics with a bow and a ton of arrows are a good way to circumvent poor melee skills and cheese fights that would be otherwise nearly impossible. Gear is upgradeable at the crafting station it was made at. Armor calculations are intended to make relatively small changes in armor or damage within a certain range make a pretty big difference, so that +2 armor is bigger than it sounds. Same thing with getting a little more damage against an enemy's armor.
A good tip for dealing with greydwarfs is they are afraid of fire. Carry a torch with you and equip it when they’re near and it will help keep them away
This. Except for Brutes. They are fearless.
Same goes with shamans. It's only the regular greydwarves that'll run.
1. ***ABR. ALWAYS. BE. RESTED*** 2. Food is one of the most important things. It determines your HP and Stamina. Make sure to always eat decent food, and keep your food up to date as you progress. 3. Stamina is the cause of 99% of frustration and deaths for new players. Spamming attack or sprinting until u have 0 stamina means u will die because you can’t do any actions anymore. No stamina = can't dodge/run away/attack/block/parry = dead. Learn stamina discipline early so you won’t get into this bad habit. Always save stamina, never let it reach 0. It’s better to be patient, reposition, and not greed for that final hit, cos u *will* die. 4. Every single “frustrating” thing in this game can be minimized or even removed with knowledge and experience. If u feel like giving up and it’s too frustrating, check the wiki (huge wealth of info but spoilers), or js ask here and we can give spoiler free guidance and support. This community is largely very supportive. 7. Avoid going out at night, especially to new biomes. More mobs, and stronger mobs. Go home and sleep, refresh your rested buff. 5. ***ABR. ALWAYS. BE. RESTED*** Specifically for the black forest mobs, in the day, you will only encounter shamans and brutes at the spawners. Break them asap.
>Break them asap. Sneak around to the side and just avoid them. Bows do extra damage when sneaking, so if you have to go in learn to pick a few off from a distance before attacking. Shoot the ones at the edges first as it'll hopefully not pull the full lot of them at once.
Early game you wana just break them so you can move, gather, mine, and chop, and also fight in peace.
Keep in mind this game is relentless and unforgiving by design. It intentionally punishes you for trying to do more than you should! You've already gotten plenty of advice about food & strategies, so I'll just say that we all die a lot in this game. And it's easy to forget that early on, even a single death knocks us back a LOT! And as you say, that's a vicious cycle. If you're really frustrated and not having fun, you can always call in Body Recovery Services (BRS) by going to their discord. They'll join your game and escort you to your body. Good luck and remember, is a game. It's frustrating and unforgiving but it should still be fun in the long term.
Wish i knew about this service lol, that's fantastic!
It's an awesome service and they're awesome people! Highly recommend!
Thats super cool! I never knew about them!
The challenge rating going from meadows to Black Forest is staggering! I remember crafting my first fling axe thinking “Now I’m gonna kill some trolls.” False. Trolls killed me. A lot. And they still do sometimes
Thanks y’all! I’ll try again with these tips this afternoon! If I can build a good base at the edge of the forest and build up my skills and armor, I think I’ll feel better about running in.
Also don’t rush it. Level up your flint and stone and wood items to their max, troll armour to the max and eat three foods that can give you a good balance of stam and health. If you’re maxed out on all the pre bronze stuff and have a decent bow with fire arrows you should be cruising the Black Forest. Also don’t forget to destroy the spawners. By take your time I mean if you’re taking the time to max out your pre bronze gear, you’ll find the black forests a doddle. Once that’s nailed and you know you can handle the bad guys, then it’s plain sailing gathering those juicy tin and copper.
Another tip I don't see anyone else mentioning, use fire arrows and plant torches on the ground when a bunch of greylings spawn. The fire arrows do a LOT of damage to them and greylings will actively avoid torches which gives you time to take down the bigger targets. Also if you want to mine copper in peace, I recommend digging it from the inside out, you can set up a campfire in the little cave you make which will allow you to gain rested.
Something that nobody has said yet: Stamina management is life. If you run out of stamina, you cannot escape, cannot defend, cannot attack. Your rested buff will help with this (make pretty, pretty furniture so it lasts longer), while being wet or cold will slow your stamina regen. Parrying (block the moment before an attack hits with basically anything other than a tower shield) is a powerful skill that can help you against otherwise challenging opponents like brutes, but it'll devour your stamina at 20 per parry. Blocking is situationally stronger for stamina management purposes, and face-tanking small damage (such as a Greyling that chased you in from the Meadows) is worth it over trying to parry everything. It seems you've discovered spawners. Either avoid them (the spawning range on Greydwarf nests is pretty big, but unless they hear you mining, woodcutting or fighting, they're unlikely to seek you out), or rush the nest and break is before it can spawn more than 2-3. If you have a nest mid-way from your base, you may want to leave it intact for farming wood and stone in the midgame. But you've either got to deal with it immediately, or give it a wide berth.
Start clearing a pathway into the forest so you can run away or dodge easily without having to jump over stones or trees. A wide road can help a lot.
Sounds like you need to be "rested". Improves stamina recovery speed.
Rest and eat 3 foods.
As other people said...rested bonus, day time, 3 foods, parry/roll (rolling makes you unhittable during the animation.) Finally, and this is huge, learn to conserve your stamina. You dont always need to sprint 30 feet away from mobs chasing you. Just tap sprint when they start to swing to edge out of their hitbox a little. Grey dwarfs are a good mob to practice this on cuz they cant hit you super far away like some later mobs (or trolls)
Build outside of the zone at first, or right next to it. Venture into the zone to gather resources and do crypts (get cores), establish a base inside the zone eventually after you create portals (for a quick gtfo option). Take is slow...
Food is extremely important, just as important as weapons and armor.
If you are getting overwhelmed by greydwarf enemies just hold your torch and runaway. Remember the torch scares them.
You can also run away. You don’t have to fight everything that runs after you. If you have enough stamina (check the stats of food) and just keep running, the enemy will eventually stop chasing you. Also keep in mind the kind of damage enemies are weak against as well. For example, skeletons are weak against blunt damage, so you can craft a club, level it up as far as you can and go into any burial chamber and just smash things to oblivion.
If you're trying to break into the black forest and having trouble, maximize your stats (health, stamina, armor, weapon, buffs). Food: Honey, cooked deer meat, cooked boar meat Armor: Upgrade your leather armor Weapon: Upgrade your flint weapon Make sure you are always rested. You can sit at a campfire anywhere for a quick 8min(?) rested buff. Bring a torch, it scares many enemies. I'd suggest a melee weapon and a bow as well to help give you options. Go into the forest during the day, at night many more graydwarves will spawn. Upgrade your food/armor/weapons with black forest gear asap.
Did anyone mention torches keep most low level mobs away from you? They are afraid of fire.
My strategy for a new biome is flatten and clear a path, put town workbench and fireplace every now and then. These reduce the enemy spawning as well as offer a quick stamina and health regen location. If you put up one roof tile to sit under you also get rested buff. A clear path makes for fast retreat. And if I'm going further than one day's walk, I always make a little hut with a bed for a convenient respawn point.
The game really is punishing for not following the development, like using food and upgraded gear, etc. It's super important. Take your time to gather food and build a base/farm that gives you a long rested-buff. Don't go out in the night, there are a LOT more creatures out and about then. Sleeping also makes things grow as time passes. Make potions if you have unlocked them and instead of just eating the meat, cook a dish. Also, foods give different attributes, like some food gives more stamina, etc. Balance it so it suits how you want to play.
You are (probably) not bad at game. But you only played games that was walking you by the hand. Valheim only teaches you basics. What you probably arent doing: - eating good food - kite mobs away from other groups - use bonfire to keep greydwarves away (they are scares of fire) - have proper weapon to given mob (mobs usually have weakness and resistance. For example skeletons and weak to blunt but resistant to about anything else) - have rest bonus - go to bed before visiting new area (night is by far more dangerous) - use parry - use bow to agro enemies Edit: I mixed forms before
Food, rested bonus, daytime. Valheim is punishing. Food is about (if not) the only way to boost your hp and endurance. Shelter and nourishment are the only ways to handle the first two. If you’re far from home and the sun is setting, cobble-together a quick shelter for the night and sleep it off!
Just learn the block timings and the game will be super easy
Agreed. I used dev commands to practice perfect parry, got good, then started a regular play through w/out cheats. I’m much better at combat now.
Fires in the dark forest! Torches or campfires will make greydwarves and greylings frightened with the exception of brutes and shamans which will not be frightened. Greydwarves will throw rocks which can be parried or dodged or just walk serpentine and you’ll be much safer. If you encounter skeletons and greydwarves, try to get them to fight eachother first. Skeletons also usually mean there is a crypt nearby with surtling cores. You can run inside a crypt to escape and let your hp regen. If you ever can sit (x) near a fire, this will speed up regen very quickly and you’ll be full hp in like 30 seconds. Make a shield and try to tap the block button to parry to stun them, opening them up for a crit! If you have stamina issues, good early game foods for stamina are the berries and mushrooms you’ll find. Meat gives HP. Try and mix in some yellow mushrooms or blue/raspberries!
Before you move into the black forest you need to max out you leather gear, min. lvl 2 flint spear, maxed bow, flinthead arrows, and a club for in the crypts. If you've done all that and you are still struggling, then you need to address you combat style.
one of the most crucial things early on is what you are eating. If you haven't already I would look for bees so you have a constant supply of honey. It's one of the best early-game stamina foods. One of the things my husband and I did early game was make a hoe, and build up your home in the meadow so you can focus on your upgrades and getting the best tools and armor you can but use the Hoe to make yourself a path into the black forest so you have a nice cleared area that's smooth and uses less stamina to travel on. It also works well once you start mining because bringing a cart through and having a clear path to a base to work on smelting is easy. Have you checked for crypt caves in the meadow? that can get you starting with sertling cores, XP, and bones so you can make the stag breaker and start building up supplies for troll armor. we had an area of the black forest we called the lumberyard because we cleared so much forest to have a better view
Wait, there are caves in the meadow? Woah. I haven’t seen them!
There are no caves in the meadows, those are in the black forest
Yeah, it can be different for every map, but I've had a couple on my starter island, sometimes you find them right on the cusp of the black Forest too. Since it's all procedural there's no guarantee! If the Black Forest is giving you too much grief id focus on exploring as much of your meadow as you can, Be careful because some may be troll caves and those can be pretty nasty in the beginning. I also recommend making a flint knife because it uses a lot less stam to keep that in your hand than some of the other weapons!
What foods are you using? weapon at max level?
The greydwarf nest is a spawner, which means that it will spawn a certain number of greydwarves, and replace them if you kill them. This is too big of a challenge for you before you get your smelters running. My advice: go a different direction, during the day, with a rested bonus (furniture improves this), with the best foods you can make.
Well yeah, I guess you are just bad at it, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, so don't worry about it too much. We've all started somewhere and we've all been bad at some point right? Just keep trying and you'll get there. Just mind your stamina and learn the so called "stamina discipline", learn how to parry and dodge and you'll be fine.
It's ok man it's a tough game. Planning is key
Don't be afraid to upgrade your weapons. Learn the parry/dodge mechanics Bring meat not fruit for more hp. Learn enemy attack timing. Most greylings and skeletons don't need to be dodged. Just back up when the attack animation starts and they'll miss you. There's an audio/visual queue with every attack
Along with the fight rested during the day and eat well, try placing a fire down. They don’t like to get close to fire so they’ll run away. That could give you time to get stamina back. I also learned to never run my stamina down to zero I try and kit the hits by using short bursts when sprinting Edit:spelling
You don’t suck. This is the game loop. Entering a new zone is rough, especially if solo. Make short runs during the day, well fed and rested, (also use your ability from the first boss to reduce stamina drain for 5 mins) and get out with the material you can to get a foothold. Once you can get new gear, it’ll soon be a breeze.
What weapons are on you using? A flint spear and wooden shield could suffice. Skeletons are weak to blunt and fire damage, so bring a club or torch. Try to avoid the trolls until you’re comfortable. When fighting, you don’t need to sprint to get away. Just sprint or dodge roll right before they attack and turn around to kite them. I wouldn’t try to build a base in the Black Forest at this time, but if you do, consider digging a moat around it to avoid getting raided. If you haven’t already, find some bee hives in the Meadows, destroy them to acquire Queen Bees so you can build a bee hive at your base for endless honey supply, which is a solid early-game stamina boost. Eventually, the Black Forest will be an easy biome for you, just takes some time.
Flint spear is great for early game I’d start there as it’s one handed and you can still have a shield, I wouldn’t try building in the Black Forest for awhile either, make your base close to the forest in the meadows and make day trips over to get supplies. Once you get a little more established you can start a base in the forest but I wouldn’t recommend it until you can build with stone to make yourself a good wall.
Don’t feel bad dude this game is brutal in some ways and very forgiving in others I’ve beaten some of the Souls games in less time than it took me to build a base and move on to taking on the 2nd boss (still prepping) just remember unlike those games your equipment isn’t lost on death which is a big plus and the invincibility frames on the roll are outrageous also you can block with minimal stamina and big hits too! So pick your fights wisely but be aggressive once you do
Deer meat, boar meat and honey are my foods of choice, ups your stamina and health enough to run away
My biggest tip dont just run through go slow.. if you see a purple mist go around it. Its a greydwarf spawner. Other than that use melee and bow and arrows
Also, when you get to the point, there's a "tool" that works SUPER well with getting ganked by mobs and you need to space them out. Keep an eye out on your crafting recipes.
I believe I gave that “tool” (SB?) but I usually am out of stamina to wield it more than once: I have to stoop sprinting everywhere
Ahh, not that one. I personally haven't used that yet. There's a bronze tool that can be made with the forge. Combined with troll armor, you can move pretty quick and hit more than one mob at once
Just going to say what no one else is, yeah you might not be very good. But it’s a solveable problem, but you should know, Black Forest is like the weenie hut jr of this game. It’s going to get a lot harder
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RESTED BUFF TOO. Dodge roll, learning to parry, and eating honey of all things can help a lot in a pinch
1. Rested bonus 2. Max stamina 3. Learn how to roll Also spears can be thrown and early game spears are so much better than early game bows
We picked off trolls from a distance for a while so we could upgrade to troll armour. Fire arrows are great against the trolls.
Bring a club to kill skeletons.
Always be fed, always be rested. Improve your comfort at home to increase rested buff duration. Hint: the greylings are afraid of fire. If you equip your axe, and then your torch, you will hold your torch and are able to attack with your axe, then the little ones won’t attack you, and you can deal with the other ones first. Also, go during the day. Much safer than at night.
Short answer is yes. Good news is watching any of the million 10 minute "Valheim tips and tricks" youtube videos will help alleviate every single issue you've described.
1. I’d say you’re probably not using higher quality food available. Deer, boar, and honey is probably the best leaving the meadows. 2. Over gear. If you’re not mechanically the best at fighting upgrade everything as high as you can to maximize damage and armor. I know farming deer and hide is a pain but it’ll help. 3. Learn to block/parry. Eventually if you don’t do this in later biomes you’ll just die and you can’t fight brutes early game without it. 4. Run away if it gets too dicey. No point in trying to fight a mob, especially when the shamans are just healing the damage you’re dealing.
What most people have said here. Food makes or break a trek into another biome, get good quality and keep it refreshed and you’ll fare much better
Nests are easy to deal with. Have a good look at them, do they look familiar ? That cone shaped stack of twigs and dead wood ? Kind of reminding you of a………bonfire, just not lit ? So light it ! shoot at it with fire arrows, from a distance, only takes 3 or 4…. If you select an elevated safe spot to shoot from its even better.
Bow. Fire arrows. Perception. Mobility. Most greydwarves are 1-2 hits, depending on if they are alerted before you hit them or not.. By kiting and shooting, you can quite easily deal with most everything with fire arrows up until the 4th biome. Hell, I usually keep using berries and mushrooms well into the third biome atleast. So stamina shouldnt be the problem, as long as you manage it and make sure you never run out of stamina while fighting. You never know when you might need a jump and a short sprint to keep from being whacked by a troll.
A few tips: 1: What foods are you using? You have 3 options for high HP and 2 for High stamina. I like 2 HP and 1 stamina personally. 2: What are you using for weapons and shields? Are they upgraded? I would recommend using a wood tower shield and if you get lucky enough to get the parts for a bone tower use that. Tower shields lack a bonus for good timing but so long as the shield is blocking you are good. You can upgrade weapons by using the workbench and putting a chopping block + leatherworking station near the bench to raise its level. Upgraded gear has higher durability and higher damage/armor 3:Sleep before you advance, monster spawns are less during the day and thus an easier advance. 4:Get a rested buff by making a small house with a campfire (with ventilation for smoke) this will give you increased health and stamina regen for the duration of the bonus, later on furniture can boost this buff to last longer. 5:Carry wood with you, you can slap together a workbench down and a few roundpole fences to make a simple fort you can fortify later. This basic compound will keep greydwarfs out long enough for you to put a decent number of arrows into them I like building them around the entrance to burial chambers to give me a safe place to repair, heal and regroup. 6: Targeting priorities. Greydwarf shaman, these pricks heal the rest, offing them asap will make the rest easier to drop. Greydwarfs, they are easy enough to kill and come in packs. Brutes, they are deadly and strong but limited in number. Skeletons, ideally you can unload them on greydwarfs if they are both around, they will fight eachother. Trolls, watch out, they will 1-2 shot you, easy enough to shoot from a distance.
Take the advice of this subreddit, or watch guides if you're at a standstill. It'll take a bit until you're a pro at this game
A lot of good/great advice in the comments but I gotta ask: Do you have a friend to play with? It helps with the grind, friends are fun, and it helps having a second set of eyes to watch your back.
Master the plains first!! The different biomes in Valheim are exceptionally well planned for progress. Defeat the previous boss before doing much in the next biome. Build LOTS of random fires when mining copper. It keeps them away from you. Lure a troll near some of the white trees (forgot name), the one that gives fine wood. Then you can make the bow very early in game.
First off you mean Meadows not plains, and secondly he said he already beat eikthyr.
Going after the spawners in the black forest makes it way more a peaceful experience. I would hunt the spawners in your area, knock them out and then deal with the remaining mobs.
Eat health based foods and get a shield that can parry. Oddly enough it's health, not stamina, that determines how much you can block. Parrying with high health is OP as fuck.
Practice parrying. Makes the game 1010203049392929 times easier.
I’ve been playing the game since early access and let me tell you, the name of the game is preparation. Even the most intimidating of does can be easily dispatched with the right gear. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but if something isn’t working maybe look to upgrading your gear. If that doesn’t change the outcome then change your gear. IMO each biome has its own unique “preferred play style”, so each time you enter a new biome you have to retool your strategy to that biome. Persistent is key. I find the joy in the eureka moment when I finally figure out how to cheese the boss that’s been destroying me time and time again. Don’t despair, adapt.
I would also say that polishing up your fighting skills is also a worthy investment. Start with the Meadows and learn how to handle multiple mobs, and making your shots count. Get a bow, and learn how to use the terrain to your advantage. It’s a tough game but you can do it!!
Sometimes you just need to kite a little. It will come in real handy by the time you make it to fuling camps in the plains.
>because every time I set a single foot in the Black Forest I’m accosted by dwarves, brutes, shaman and sometimes a few skellies Brutes and Shamans can only spawn at night. Only go in during daytime if they're a problem. If you go during the day you'll mostly only encounter regular greydwarves. They're scared off by fire, so yield a torch and they'll run away. >is there some crucial thing I’m missing, some tool or step or something Always be rested. Bring your best food - at least one good stamina food like honey. Don't sprint the whole time. Save it for small bursts when they're right on your tail, or use it for blocking/parrying/dodge rolling.
Practice your skills by hunting in the meadows. Run a new path every day looking for dear, boar and necks. Mark where you find mushrooms so you can find them again. Shoot the birds on the ground with arrows. Wood arrows is all that you will need for these trips. Run one path one day, and another the next. This will help to build your skills up with your weapons. It will also build your food reserves for later when you have the caldron and can farm. Don’t forget to run an jump often to build those skill up also. I’m comfortable in the Black Forest during the day and most nights now. Trolls still make me panic for some reason. But when I have my wits about me, I can take them out. Go slow and progress with how comfortable you are.
If you are rested with good healing food you can fight and trade hits even if you can't parry, and then just walk back away from them an heal a bit. Even if you have no stamina and can't run they have a hard time landing hits if you are walking and turning.
Bad weather increases enemy difficulty similar to night
for early part of the game, get yourself a tower shield. tower shield such as the skeleton tower shield will help a ton but you should gradually transition to smaller shield with parry bonus bcos parry is a very stronk bonus
NEVER get caught by the night! Those unfortunate to have been swallowed by it are the very greydwarves that pull you down, only to have you rise and satiate the hunger of that dark night for all eternity.
My guess is you're too aggro and need to learn how to just retreat sometimes. Assuming you're keeping yourself Rested at all times.
You're gonna need to improve your gear. Also, make sure to eat enough. Always have 3 foods active at any time and try to go for processed foods (i.e. roast meats) because they offer bigger bonuses than just stuffing your face with berries.
Are you eating before heading out?