Valheim Beginners Guide: Tips For Getting Started

If you’ve already purchased Valheim, you may be confused about how to get started. Our Valheim beginners’ guide will get you equipped with the basics.

Valheim is one of the latest survival games to sweep gamers off their feet. Especially during the Coronavirus pandemic, players have been waiting for an affordable game like this to put their free time to good use.

You can play Valheim in single-player or co-op. Even with friends, Valheim can be a hard game to get started with. It’s essential to understand how to begin your first few days in Valheim.

We’ve put together this Valheim beginners’ guide to help you begin your Norse adventure. Our tips and trips will help you survive, thrive, and take over the land and all the threats which lay within it.

1. Harvesting Resources and Crafting Tools

In this Valheim guide, we’ll show you how to create a basic set of tools to get through the introduction.

To begin crafting your first set of tools, you’ll need to harvest some resources. My recommendation is to start with wood and stone, both of which can be found easily.

You can harvest wood from branches, plants, and bushes. Simply punch the environment and collect the wood that’s left on the ground. Stones can be found on the ground, so have a little wander and press E to pick up a stone when you come across it.

Once you’ve gathered enough wood and stone, you can craft your first beginner’s axe. Once you’ve made a simple axe, you can harvest wood more easily from trees.

A club is a useful tool to defend yourself against any enemies, so this should be your next priority. Following this, you can craft a hammer to start building.

Craft a workbench with the hammer and place it. A workbench allows you to craft more advanced tools that can help you later on.

2. Managing Hunger

Although you can’t starve in Valheim, you should keep yourself fed. Why? Because the more food you eat, the fuller you become, and the higher your maximum health and stamina are (much like 7 Days to Die).

Food can help you heal over time, so it’s useful to keep some food on you if you get attacked. At the start of Valheim, your food resources are likely to be mushrooms and raspberries. These can be found all across the Meadows biome.

3. Understanding Different Areas

Valheim’s map is divided into biomes. Each biome has something different to offer. For example, the Meadows are the safest of areas and provide a good basis for a starter base.

Once you’re ready to move on, you can visit the Black Forest, where you’ll find Core Wood and Copper. The Swamps can provide Iron Ore, which is useful for more advanced building and crafting.

When you load into a map, it’s generated with a starting seed. Similar to 7 Days to Die and Minecraft, you can find different Valheim seeds that people have generated.

4. Building a Base

To survive in Valheim, you’re going to need a base of operations. You can start by building a beginner’s base once you’ve crafted a hammer and a workbench.

At the start of the game, a base can be a handy location to store loot, tools, and food. It also provides essential protection from the dangers that lurk in Valheim.

5. Combat Practice

Combat in Valheim is skill-based. The more you practice your combat, the better you’ll be. Similarly, the more you run or perform other actions, the higher your skill points in these areas will be.

It’s wise to start with the weaker creatures of Valheim as a beginner. You can find these in the Meadows, including Boars, Necks, and Greylings. Here you can practice your attack, block, and roll-dodging techniques.

If you prefer long-range combat, the bow in Valheim is a useful weapon. There are various types of bows you can craft in the game, including different arrows. These can be made at the workbench.

If you want to PvP with other players, you’ll need the right weapons and equipment to protect yourself. If you’re new to the game, you could set up your own server with your friends and practice your combat skills on each other.

6. Boss Battles

While these won’t necessarily concern you as a beginner to Valheim, it’s important to understand the bosses in the game. Part of Valheim’s story progression focuses on finding, summoning, and battling the Forsaken.

Before you even consider taking on a boss, you’ll need to be extremely well prepared. The first boss you will encounter is Eikthyr; blocking and dodging are the keys to defending against its lightning attacks that will otherwise obliterate you.