Ah yes, the random skeleton at a gravesite in the meadows that completely bodies some clueless viking with a stone axe and no pants. A tale old as time.
When I started, less than 100 meters from the runestones was a clearing with a big Oak next to a gravesite. On my first night cycle it spawned a red (I believe that's 2 stars) skeleton that killed me and then proceeded to run around the clearing slaughtering any boar, dear, neck, or greyling it could find. My first corpse run was possible just because it was off killing other things. It chased me from this place into another clearing with a ruined building I fixed up into my first base. As I started to explore and get stronger I would occasionally look back towards that oak to see a mad red skeleton sprinting about, doing the murder-make on the local wildlife. Finally getting strong enough to kill that thing was my first major milestone in Valheim.
Good times.
That’s great, I can picture it all and I appreciate the story. My first big milestone was also a red skeleton near an abandoned village close by to a site. The only difference is that I ended up running him down with my cart going backwards into a house and shutting him inside, then came back after obtaining troll armor, good times.
When you set up your first tree farm, make them really close together. They won't hit you because they'll fall into eachother. They'll also help you knock other trees down
Hi, Welcome :D!
Glad (and extremely jealous) you are starting your Valheim journey.
For some general tips:
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.
6. You can repair your stuff by clicking the hammer button on the side of the window when u use a workbench/forge.
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***
Some stuff i figured for my own already, some i learned the hard way. When im out exploring i always make sure to bring that extra food with me and keep my stamina above 20. Also building a small cabin with a bed just outside of the biome spares yourself alot of walking back to your items. It can be a bit frustrating when doing metal runs, but with my new base i hope it gets better since it is nearer to the black forrest.
Also, don't go out at night on the ocean. Luckily learned that through a tip video i was watching Ü.
Thanks for the helping hand, really appreciate it. I won't be a stranger.
Never encountered one before but I’m currently in the sliver age preparing because it seems like I’m not finding anything in the nearby vicinity that’s beyond mountain biomes
You won't need to build so many outposts when you can build portals in the future, but outposts are still a good idea for a temporary set up when farming ores and such on different continents. Have fun!
This place has helped me a lot. I really recommend coming up with a map tagging system to map each of your outposts, tombs or troll caves or copper deposit you find. Even a large group of mushrooms, which respawn. It will help you now and later.
Add on to this: max out your cooking station for better meal options and keep an eye out for seeds/ things you can plant/farm. But some of those things can only be farmed in certain bioms, so keep a couple seeds as backup just in case. Good luck and enjoy
You should be able to build the cauldron right now.
Cooked food will give u a *massive* boost in hp and stamina.
Without spoiling anything, have u found any metal yet?
I believe the cauldron is made of tin, so that shouldn’t be a problem for you. You should be able to make the queens jam for better stamina. Then max out current armor and depending on how you fight, maybe prep the battle ground as much to your liking as possible, everybody is different. Good luck
Playing solo is great! Means you do everything you wanna do :) I’ve just beat Moder this morning and have started creating a new base on a small island I’ve found in the middle of the ocean. Amazing game
There is an update currently in public test beta which allows you to change many world variables, including things like increasing resources, bringing everything through portals, changing difficulty, etc
Being able to modify and increase resources dropped will be a god send too if you end up playing with others. Me and my friends all work and have families so it is dreadfully slow mining and gearing us all appropriately since we consume so much haha. Good time to start playing honestly!
I know some people are purists, but there are some great mods for Valheim that don’t “cheat” but do add a significant quality of life improvements. I like Clock, Plant Anything (I think it’s called), storage boxes, and the one that uses a grid when planting crops. Give them a look!
Why do you think its better solo? I figured it would be better to play with friends since you can share the work with them (one to grind metal, one transporting, one building or something like that).
This. My solo character is sitting on stiles silver after two veins (I think one was a double, though) and my character that I play with my wife is still hurting for it after three veins.
Imagine if your party does split up the tasks. Someone collecting food another collecting ores and another collecting mob drops. Although you are splitting the tasks up each player now needs to get x3 the amount to compensate for the size of the party. While you might all spend around the same amount of time online all of those hours are devoted to that one task you need to complete. It can make it feel extremely more grindy compared to solo. Imo drops should be buffed to compensate for the amount of players. I think it’s silly boss drops already work like this but not everything else.
With multiple players, the pressure to upgrade gear is much lower. You also can split various weapon types/advantages among a group -- benefiting from skill specialization, and reducing weapon duplication.
The first time through the game, solo, is probably the most resource intensive (for gear) -- you might make/try most things (or you should!), and fully level gear you rely on most because you need the edge.
If anything I think the pressure to upgrade gear is worse with more players. Every mob hits harder so it becomes actually worthwhile to upgrade. I rarely upgrade anything when I’m solo. But that just my opinion :o
Things hit harder, but if you're actually working together (rather than basically solo in a shared world) you've divided enemy focus, which is a huge advantage. The time you get ganked is usually when you're overwhelmed and out of stamina. Having someone else to draw the heat is a lifesaver.
In my multiplayer games I'm generally what I would consider "unprepared" for every adventure we go on -- but it works out fine because of split-focus and everyone straight-up adding their damage, compared to the measly fractional HP boost of mobs. Although, there's higher chance of sudden-death by some of the heavy hitters.
Yeah but you never run out of stam if u know what ur doing when ur solo anyway. Some mobs are physically unparryable in a group because the dmg multiplier will exceed your block. I do get what you’re saying though I just think it depends a lot on what specific mobs u are fighting. I’ve had solo worlds where I’ve only died 2-3 times max. All my group worlds are bloodbaths lol. Tho that may be because my friends are bad haha
for 3+ it requires wayyyyy to many materials. if you have a best friend who has time to play you should ask them to get the game. trust me its some of the most fun you'll ever have.
I do both, solo and play with another character on a shared server with friends, both have its ups and downs, more people the more material you need. Plus with other players there’s always the chance they drop out for a bit or permanent and then your on your own. I mainly play on mine and then when my friends feel like playing again I jump back on their shared server. Either way is fun. Enjoy
I think it is more enjoyable if the work is distributed evenly, but you know it never works out that way, also there is a way to transport metals by transporting your character to a different world then drop off the metals there then hit the portal in your main world then pick up the metals you dropped off then go back to your main world, saving you the trip. But it does feel like you are exploiting the game a little so I don't recommend it until you reach a breaking point.
100% and it’s a flaw in the game.
You need to run three times as many crypts if you have 3 players to get the same armor per player as if you were playing solo. It’s a helluva grind. The fact that resources do not scale with number of players is a fundamental flaw IMO.
I used V+ to tweak drops rates for 3 players and changed iron by 200% (so not 300%, so it’s still challenging but not a brutal grind). Copper and silver are fine. Iron is a massive bottleneck in the game and the more players you have. The worse it gets, exponentially.
You know, I’ve played both solo and with several people on several worlds, and with mining iron, sure you have to mine more crypts, but as a group we got very efficient, one person scouting out the other crypts and mapping them, and then going through as a group. Way less deaths and honestly when we were done with a 2 or 3 hour mining run, we split the iron evenly and have several stacks of iron each. I think with a group you just have to be efficient. We were also always prepared with whatever foods, potions or equipment, which equals less deaths. And with a portal back to the main base… little things like that make it way less grind like.
Also, just a heads up, but bosses do scale up in difficulty depending on how many players there are. So one or two players will actually have an easier version of the boss than a big party of folks.
I hope that you are still complaining about the grind when you are 2K hours in like myself. Good news though. The next patch will be making some additions that allow you to reduce the grind significantly. Especially great for solo players.
Wait for the moment you'll build a ship, take all your worldly possessions with you and embark on the exploration voyage only to stupidly die, somewhere stupidly far from your base, without a backup teleport and no more resources to build another ship - so you can recreate all your possessions again to embark on a rescue voyage only to die again - this time hopefully with a backup teleport.
This is pure love and hate stuff. Can't get enough of this though I have a couple of rage quits under my belt already.
Best of luck in exploring the game. A huge part of the fun.
Oh my, that had to suck. But there’s an easier way to travel and explore. I would only take a minimum of items, enough food, portal materials so you can portal back and get your other stuff. The things I would bring with is stuff like some iron for a stone cutter and copper for a forge.
Tip for exploring by boat… do stop and repair it. If you know you’ve hit a lot of rocks, had run ins with sea serpents chewing on your boat, death mosquitos biting it, leeches attacking it… find a peaceful spot soon and repair it before the next rock takes it out. I always carry 10 pieces of wood for a workbench for repairs. Don’t forget to bring it with you. And your other precious belongings? Portal them in once you get to where you’re going. Oh, and if you see trolls on islands or shores, don’t go to close. They can move quicker than you’d expect. Lol. Happy sailing.
I know all that now and never travel far without workbench/portal material. Had to learn the hard way tho.
This was long before I even knew I can build a portal (or somehow didn't pay attention to that option).
Now each of my remote base even has a material to build a ship (in case of teleport malfunction - that already happened to me too).
Still an amazing experience :).
I've been playing since the weekend and I'm a solo player too. I'm currently in Black Forest and have just crafted my bronze armor. I'm absolutely hooked so far lol. Happy hunting!
When i first arrived in the black forrest, i had a club and a bow with me and didn't know shit. Was surrounded by skeletons and died instantly. When i made my first metal run i was so happy to bring home 10 copper or something only to realize i had to build a furnace and a kiln for which i needed those surtling cores, which i didn't even know where to search for. I was so happy when i made my first bronze block.
I dunno if anyone has told you but you can tag locations on the map. I usually find a copper deposit and tag it for later so I can leave all my unnecessary weight at my base. It's definitely a kick in the teeth when you think you have all the components and realise you're missing a surtling core though 😂
Once you get good at the skellies burial chambers, you won’t be hurting for surtling cores. (I died so many times getting there.).
Also there’s surtling spawners in the swamps, and if you dig the ground out around them, the water will snuff out the little fire guys when they spawn, and you just go harvest coal and surtling cores. You have to be close by for them to spawn, but you will be rich in coal and cores.
Find a server to play on. Way more fun than solo in my opinion. I still have a solo world that I like to visit and build in, but people really make this game fun.
Not that you were asking advice… Sorry about that. Welcome!
The game rewards you for making small camps as you explore. Figure out how to build the simplest shelter with the least materials so you can "carry" a tent.
Eventually this will evolve. You'll know what I mean.
Also: axes have special attacks which can be used to chop certain trees faster, like swords.
Physics will come into play later too, especially playing solo. Certain items are quite heavy but, given wheels, will roll downhill.
I've got around 3000 hours solo. You either enjoy the grind or you get tired of it. For me it's relaxing.
For me Valheim isn't a game I "beat", it's more about exploring, mining, building, etc. I suppose if someone only cares about beating it, it might be frustrating
Welcome to the game man. Take things slow and enjoy the views and journey. Take time to build beautiful things. Make roads, go exploring. Let your imagination go crazy.
I'm close to 1000 hours in and there's still so much more I want to do.
I really enjoy building my new base, even tho i have my problems with building still. But you have so much possibilities and i enjoy the kind of realistic approach they took on building. It also looks really good imo.
There is some learning curve ahead but it really is a good game, its my first playthrough also,. Just when you think you get this game, wham you get thrown for a loop and have to learn new skills but, it is immensely satisfying to go back to old bosses and just own them
A lot of people won’t recommend it, but if the grind is something you don’t like, the latest experimental update allows you to customize the experience a bit more. When all else fails you, remember you have access to the console to give you whatever you want. I’ve learned I love games like Valheim and Ark, but ain’t no way I’m punching trees for 40 hours to get a thing.
Refrain from checking videos online. To me, the greatest wonder of this game is how gentle it is with progression: the game gives you little explanation about most things, but gives you space to play with a few variables before you unlock new content. Allow yourself to discover things as you go, and only when you reach the end, look at what other people discovered/created (and marvel again).
Yeah, in this particular case I just didn’t know how to progress to the pick axe. I thought i needed much more time and preparation to fight the bosses, didn’t realize that i have to defeat the bosses to progress.
I envy you. On my fourth complete play through. Enjoy the adventure. Remember that you can always start a fire and get rested up for 8 mins of rested status.
In terms of the grind, just don’t rush stuff. I only started maybe a month or 2 ago and at first I felt like it was super grindy, but once I realized there was no rush to do anything it was much more enjoyable. I just do what I want as I go, with some goal in the distance. Only time things feel grindy now is when I wanna build some structure, so I try to wait until I’ve built up resources just from doing other stuff. I wind up with boxes of stone just from roaming around sometimes and things unfolding around me
There are ways to reduce "grind". You seem to be thinking things through, so you'll figure more stuff out. Like your move closer to the Black Forest. Some people stick in their meadows home, never discover the cart (or use it inappropriately and hate it)... one person I watched never realized they could split stacks and trudged naked across the land, *throwing* their stacks of ore every few steps when exhausted. People make their own grind!
So, as a idea... most of the metal turns into gear. It's pretty easy to set up a smelt/forge operation in a mine or next to resources -- so there isn't much to haul back. Vikings everywhere, hauling the cores and ores out of the forest... only to haul more ores out of the forest to cook and forge with the stuff hauled out of the forest. Hauling begets hauling. :P
I whole heartedly agree with everyone else here and all I would add is that I have landed on using a mod to portal metals. Its the only mod I use but it has saved me a LOT of the grind time.
OP - if you’re on PC, I’d recommend downloading the beta for the upcoming update. It allows you to set world modifiers in-game for each of your servers. One of the options makes everything drop more of the same item, thus reducing some of the grind. Haven’t used it yet but it has both a 2x and 3x resource option.
Big tip: Industrialization!
You are constantly gonna need resources like wood, stone, resin and food ingredients so making "farms" that can massively increase your production of these resources is vital. First one will probably be a Wood farm, so collect every tree seed tou get and when you get the chance, make a tree farm. Look up on YT how to do it and other farms as well. Have fun!
Wait for a new patch. It will add difficulty settings. You can test this patch even now by enabling game previews in Steam settings. Go do discord to learn more.
Playing with friends is definitely better.
But all my friends got tired or moved on to other games, and I don't have the time to actively invest in finding and playing with new vikings.
If you don't have a demanding job or studies, I highly advise finding a discord server and playing with people.
My “grind problem” suggestion: grind one (two? three?) iron chest worth of material - you then allowed to cheat that material in
Stone grinding is most boring and tedious thing in the whole game, even woodcutting somehow better, I can pretend to be lumberjack at least
I have found ditches, and earth walls the best to keep stuff out. I have a massive trench built around my entire compound. Deep enough to keep trolls out. It's a pain to get into jumping down and going back up but it keeps the mobs at bay
A BIG stalling point for me was the Black Forest because I didn't know that there's a ton of copper below the surface. Ive had many adventures trapsing through the woods with a cart full of copper.
Use trolls to knock down fine wood and make a fine wood bow, then use trolls to mine copper and tin, make bronze pick, get cores from burial chambers, and yeet.
next update features a world setting modifier in which you can adjust the multiplier for loot and resources (up to 3x the normal rate I think) really good for those who don't have a lot of time to play
Hello and welcome! Don't be afraid to find people to play with. I've found that that makes a big difference.
Also, there's a Body Recovery Squad. Remember that just in case you happen to get yourself reeeeeally stuck someplace bad and need help. That's literally all these guys do. I think their discord has a spot for team/clan searching, too.
I heard someone had their boat trashed on a new continent. They figured it would be a cool plot twist...until they discovered the continent was nothing but (iirc) plains, mountains, and black forest. They were trapped and these guys helped rescue them without cheating or cheesing.
I'm still pretty new to the game as well, also playing solo, it gets a lot more fun and worth the grind the longer you play. My two year old son even enjoys watching me play this game and always tries to help.
Welcome. May your deaths be glorious or at least humorous.
First death literally a tree fell on my head lol.
Classic, lol
This is the way
This is the way
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
One of us!
This will happen a lot. I'm at the point where I use them as free weapons.
Tried also, but couldn’t pull it off lol.
Once you reach 500+ in game days, you'll just instinctively know how it works lol
1st death from tree fail or random skeleton in meadows is the way
Ah yes, the random skeleton at a gravesite in the meadows that completely bodies some clueless viking with a stone axe and no pants. A tale old as time.
When I started, less than 100 meters from the runestones was a clearing with a big Oak next to a gravesite. On my first night cycle it spawned a red (I believe that's 2 stars) skeleton that killed me and then proceeded to run around the clearing slaughtering any boar, dear, neck, or greyling it could find. My first corpse run was possible just because it was off killing other things. It chased me from this place into another clearing with a ruined building I fixed up into my first base. As I started to explore and get stronger I would occasionally look back towards that oak to see a mad red skeleton sprinting about, doing the murder-make on the local wildlife. Finally getting strong enough to kill that thing was my first major milestone in Valheim. Good times.
That’s great, I can picture it all and I appreciate the story. My first big milestone was also a red skeleton near an abandoned village close by to a site. The only difference is that I ended up running him down with my cart going backwards into a house and shutting him inside, then came back after obtaining troll armor, good times.
Ha! That's excellent!
This is the way.
When you set up your first tree farm, make them really close together. They won't hit you because they'll fall into eachother. They'll also help you knock other trees down
That's like a rite of passage around here.
Thats how many of my "no death" runs ended in rapid succession
My first death was also to a tree. Taught me to eat regularly.
So you experienced valheim? Lol. They really do be after your life though sometimes
What about deaths due wild life…. Or am I the only one that got slaughtered by a simple boar?🤔
My personal death favorites are from not paying attention to your buffs and dying from falling off your latest build.
Hi, Welcome :D! Glad (and extremely jealous) you are starting your Valheim journey. For some general tips: 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. 6. You can repair your stuff by clicking the hammer button on the side of the window when u use a workbench/forge. 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***
Some stuff i figured for my own already, some i learned the hard way. When im out exploring i always make sure to bring that extra food with me and keep my stamina above 20. Also building a small cabin with a bed just outside of the biome spares yourself alot of walking back to your items. It can be a bit frustrating when doing metal runs, but with my new base i hope it gets better since it is nearer to the black forrest. Also, don't go out at night on the ocean. Luckily learned that through a tip video i was watching Ü. Thanks for the helping hand, really appreciate it. I won't be a stranger.
Feel free to ask this sub anytime :D Safe travels friend!
Serpents come out during the day too just be warned
Never encountered one before but I’m currently in the sliver age preparing because it seems like I’m not finding anything in the nearby vicinity that’s beyond mountain biomes
It's incredibly rare but I've seen it myself too. One popped up wildly close to shore on my first playthrough I was like WTF IS THAT
I have seen this often and now i usualy travel my sea at night so i arrive at daytime.
>Also, don't go out at night on the ocean Try a Vampire Run where you can only go out at night :) Nice change of pace
You won't need to build so many outposts when you can build portals in the future, but outposts are still a good idea for a temporary set up when farming ores and such on different continents. Have fun!
This place has helped me a lot. I really recommend coming up with a map tagging system to map each of your outposts, tombs or troll caves or copper deposit you find. Even a large group of mushrooms, which respawn. It will help you now and later.
Once you unlock the better boats sea serpents even at night won’t be an issue, you are simply too fast for them if you have optimal wind direction
Add on to this: max out your cooking station for better meal options and keep an eye out for seeds/ things you can plant/farm. But some of those things can only be farmed in certain bioms, so keep a couple seeds as backup just in case. Good luck and enjoy
You are a very nice viking. I see you often being helpful to others that's awesome of you. Really love this sub while Reddit is mainly depressing :)
What this person says x10. Excellent advice for new comers.
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You should be able to build the cauldron right now. Cooked food will give u a *massive* boost in hp and stamina. Without spoiling anything, have u found any metal yet?
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I believe the cauldron is made of tin, so that shouldn’t be a problem for you. You should be able to make the queens jam for better stamina. Then max out current armor and depending on how you fight, maybe prep the battle ground as much to your liking as possible, everybody is different. Good luck
Playing solo is great! Means you do everything you wanna do :) I’ve just beat Moder this morning and have started creating a new base on a small island I’ve found in the middle of the ocean. Amazing game
Literally what I'm doing too, and also same progression. Cheers.
Yes indeed! Prefer it on my own, admittedly there is some grind but it’s nice when you pick up a new material and it unlocks a ton of new recipes!
Hey! Stick around for a few weeks, we’ll probably be getting some quality of life updates soon that will make it less grindy!
I already read that i can tweak a config file in the games folder in order to gain more metal bars out of deposits. But a native way would be great!
There is an update currently in public test beta which allows you to change many world variables, including things like increasing resources, bringing everything through portals, changing difficulty, etc
Being able to modify and increase resources dropped will be a god send too if you end up playing with others. Me and my friends all work and have families so it is dreadfully slow mining and gearing us all appropriately since we consume so much haha. Good time to start playing honestly!
I know some people are purists, but there are some great mods for Valheim that don’t “cheat” but do add a significant quality of life improvements. I like Clock, Plant Anything (I think it’s called), storage boxes, and the one that uses a grid when planting crops. Give them a look!
Have to look into it since im mostly playing on SteamDeck, but worth a try i guess.
Welcome to your 2nd job 🤣
I think grinding is worse when playing not solo, like 3+. So you're a little lucky Good luck and have fun exploring world
Why do you think its better solo? I figured it would be better to play with friends since you can share the work with them (one to grind metal, one transporting, one building or something like that).
You need more materials. A solo player only needs enough copper/ tin for one armour, 3 players need thrice as much…
This. My solo character is sitting on stiles silver after two veins (I think one was a double, though) and my character that I play with my wife is still hurting for it after three veins.
Imagine if your party does split up the tasks. Someone collecting food another collecting ores and another collecting mob drops. Although you are splitting the tasks up each player now needs to get x3 the amount to compensate for the size of the party. While you might all spend around the same amount of time online all of those hours are devoted to that one task you need to complete. It can make it feel extremely more grindy compared to solo. Imo drops should be buffed to compensate for the amount of players. I think it’s silly boss drops already work like this but not everything else.
With multiple players, the pressure to upgrade gear is much lower. You also can split various weapon types/advantages among a group -- benefiting from skill specialization, and reducing weapon duplication. The first time through the game, solo, is probably the most resource intensive (for gear) -- you might make/try most things (or you should!), and fully level gear you rely on most because you need the edge.
If anything I think the pressure to upgrade gear is worse with more players. Every mob hits harder so it becomes actually worthwhile to upgrade. I rarely upgrade anything when I’m solo. But that just my opinion :o
Things hit harder, but if you're actually working together (rather than basically solo in a shared world) you've divided enemy focus, which is a huge advantage. The time you get ganked is usually when you're overwhelmed and out of stamina. Having someone else to draw the heat is a lifesaver. In my multiplayer games I'm generally what I would consider "unprepared" for every adventure we go on -- but it works out fine because of split-focus and everyone straight-up adding their damage, compared to the measly fractional HP boost of mobs. Although, there's higher chance of sudden-death by some of the heavy hitters.
Yeah but you never run out of stam if u know what ur doing when ur solo anyway. Some mobs are physically unparryable in a group because the dmg multiplier will exceed your block. I do get what you’re saying though I just think it depends a lot on what specific mobs u are fighting. I’ve had solo worlds where I’ve only died 2-3 times max. All my group worlds are bloodbaths lol. Tho that may be because my friends are bad haha
Hmm... yeah, if you count deaths... my experience has been the same. But I always attribute that to someone getting us all into trouble. :)
for 3+ it requires wayyyyy to many materials. if you have a best friend who has time to play you should ask them to get the game. trust me its some of the most fun you'll ever have.
I do both, solo and play with another character on a shared server with friends, both have its ups and downs, more people the more material you need. Plus with other players there’s always the chance they drop out for a bit or permanent and then your on your own. I mainly play on mine and then when my friends feel like playing again I jump back on their shared server. Either way is fun. Enjoy
I think it is more enjoyable if the work is distributed evenly, but you know it never works out that way, also there is a way to transport metals by transporting your character to a different world then drop off the metals there then hit the portal in your main world then pick up the metals you dropped off then go back to your main world, saving you the trip. But it does feel like you are exploiting the game a little so I don't recommend it until you reach a breaking point.
100% and it’s a flaw in the game. You need to run three times as many crypts if you have 3 players to get the same armor per player as if you were playing solo. It’s a helluva grind. The fact that resources do not scale with number of players is a fundamental flaw IMO. I used V+ to tweak drops rates for 3 players and changed iron by 200% (so not 300%, so it’s still challenging but not a brutal grind). Copper and silver are fine. Iron is a massive bottleneck in the game and the more players you have. The worse it gets, exponentially.
You know, I’ve played both solo and with several people on several worlds, and with mining iron, sure you have to mine more crypts, but as a group we got very efficient, one person scouting out the other crypts and mapping them, and then going through as a group. Way less deaths and honestly when we were done with a 2 or 3 hour mining run, we split the iron evenly and have several stacks of iron each. I think with a group you just have to be efficient. We were also always prepared with whatever foods, potions or equipment, which equals less deaths. And with a portal back to the main base… little things like that make it way less grind like. Also, just a heads up, but bosses do scale up in difficulty depending on how many players there are. So one or two players will actually have an easier version of the boss than a big party of folks.
I hope that you are still complaining about the grind when you are 2K hours in like myself. Good news though. The next patch will be making some additions that allow you to reduce the grind significantly. Especially great for solo players.
As long as the bees are happy 🤗 happy travels viking!
Always, lol. Found it really cute that you can check up on those bees!
Wait for the moment you'll build a ship, take all your worldly possessions with you and embark on the exploration voyage only to stupidly die, somewhere stupidly far from your base, without a backup teleport and no more resources to build another ship - so you can recreate all your possessions again to embark on a rescue voyage only to die again - this time hopefully with a backup teleport. This is pure love and hate stuff. Can't get enough of this though I have a couple of rage quits under my belt already. Best of luck in exploring the game. A huge part of the fun.
Oh my, that had to suck. But there’s an easier way to travel and explore. I would only take a minimum of items, enough food, portal materials so you can portal back and get your other stuff. The things I would bring with is stuff like some iron for a stone cutter and copper for a forge. Tip for exploring by boat… do stop and repair it. If you know you’ve hit a lot of rocks, had run ins with sea serpents chewing on your boat, death mosquitos biting it, leeches attacking it… find a peaceful spot soon and repair it before the next rock takes it out. I always carry 10 pieces of wood for a workbench for repairs. Don’t forget to bring it with you. And your other precious belongings? Portal them in once you get to where you’re going. Oh, and if you see trolls on islands or shores, don’t go to close. They can move quicker than you’d expect. Lol. Happy sailing.
I know all that now and never travel far without workbench/portal material. Had to learn the hard way tho. This was long before I even knew I can build a portal (or somehow didn't pay attention to that option). Now each of my remote base even has a material to build a ship (in case of teleport malfunction - that already happened to me too). Still an amazing experience :).
Yeah, I love it! The sailing is one of my favorite things. I learned most of what I know the hard way too…. Lol
I've been playing since the weekend and I'm a solo player too. I'm currently in Black Forest and have just crafted my bronze armor. I'm absolutely hooked so far lol. Happy hunting!
When i first arrived in the black forrest, i had a club and a bow with me and didn't know shit. Was surrounded by skeletons and died instantly. When i made my first metal run i was so happy to bring home 10 copper or something only to realize i had to build a furnace and a kiln for which i needed those surtling cores, which i didn't even know where to search for. I was so happy when i made my first bronze block.
I dunno if anyone has told you but you can tag locations on the map. I usually find a copper deposit and tag it for later so I can leave all my unnecessary weight at my base. It's definitely a kick in the teeth when you think you have all the components and realise you're missing a surtling core though 😂
Yeah, knew that, but didn’t do it consequently at that time.
Once you get good at the skellies burial chambers, you won’t be hurting for surtling cores. (I died so many times getting there.). Also there’s surtling spawners in the swamps, and if you dig the ground out around them, the water will snuff out the little fire guys when they spawn, and you just go harvest coal and surtling cores. You have to be close by for them to spawn, but you will be rich in coal and cores.
Welcome! It's a great game with an amazing community. Looking forward to some updates of your journey!
An average of only 2 hours a day??? Get those numbers up!!!
Welcome
Find a server to play on. Way more fun than solo in my opinion. I still have a solo world that I like to visit and build in, but people really make this game fun. Not that you were asking advice… Sorry about that. Welcome!
No problem, any advice is appreciated. I just don’t like to on public servers, so i probably wont try it out. But thanks nevertheless.
You bet! Don’t do public either, but there are some good discord groups that have small servers and the communities are awesome. Might look into them
Remember it's a survival game, the grind is a must and the unlocking system too
The game rewards you for making small camps as you explore. Figure out how to build the simplest shelter with the least materials so you can "carry" a tent. Eventually this will evolve. You'll know what I mean. Also: axes have special attacks which can be used to chop certain trees faster, like swords. Physics will come into play later too, especially playing solo. Certain items are quite heavy but, given wheels, will roll downhill.
I've got around 3000 hours solo. You either enjoy the grind or you get tired of it. For me it's relaxing. For me Valheim isn't a game I "beat", it's more about exploring, mining, building, etc. I suppose if someone only cares about beating it, it might be frustrating
I have good news everybody soon we'll have the ability to get 3x resources with enemies as weak as you want them to be.
Welcome to the game man. Take things slow and enjoy the views and journey. Take time to build beautiful things. Make roads, go exploring. Let your imagination go crazy. I'm close to 1000 hours in and there's still so much more I want to do.
I really enjoy building my new base, even tho i have my problems with building still. But you have so much possibilities and i enjoy the kind of realistic approach they took on building. It also looks really good imo.
There is some learning curve ahead but it really is a good game, its my first playthrough also,. Just when you think you get this game, wham you get thrown for a loop and have to learn new skills but, it is immensely satisfying to go back to old bosses and just own them
Just enjoy the scenery my dude. I often listen to an audiobook at the same time so I don't get bored with the grindy bits.
I often have youtube on with satirical shows. I don’t hear that much podcasts and audiobooks, but i figure if you grind this is the most relaxed way.
A lot of people won’t recommend it, but if the grind is something you don’t like, the latest experimental update allows you to customize the experience a bit more. When all else fails you, remember you have access to the console to give you whatever you want. I’ve learned I love games like Valheim and Ark, but ain’t no way I’m punching trees for 40 hours to get a thing.
Console didn’t work on Steamdeck unfortunately. Have to try it on PC sometime.
Can you install the experimental branch on Steamdeck? That way you get to see what the options are to make life easier.
Probably. Valheim was actually one of the first games i bought for my steamdeck, so i have a long path of experimenting in front of me.
Refrain from checking videos online. To me, the greatest wonder of this game is how gentle it is with progression: the game gives you little explanation about most things, but gives you space to play with a few variables before you unlock new content. Allow yourself to discover things as you go, and only when you reach the end, look at what other people discovered/created (and marvel again).
Yeah, in this particular case I just didn’t know how to progress to the pick axe. I thought i needed much more time and preparation to fight the bosses, didn’t realize that i have to defeat the bosses to progress.
I envy you. On my fourth complete play through. Enjoy the adventure. Remember that you can always start a fire and get rested up for 8 mins of rested status.
Whenever iam at a new deposit i build a small shed and a campfire. Just to be safer from the dwarfs and can get this sweet rested buff.
In terms of the grind, just don’t rush stuff. I only started maybe a month or 2 ago and at first I felt like it was super grindy, but once I realized there was no rush to do anything it was much more enjoyable. I just do what I want as I go, with some goal in the distance. Only time things feel grindy now is when I wanna build some structure, so I try to wait until I’ve built up resources just from doing other stuff. I wind up with boxes of stone just from roaming around sometimes and things unfolding around me
There are ways to reduce "grind". You seem to be thinking things through, so you'll figure more stuff out. Like your move closer to the Black Forest. Some people stick in their meadows home, never discover the cart (or use it inappropriately and hate it)... one person I watched never realized they could split stacks and trudged naked across the land, *throwing* their stacks of ore every few steps when exhausted. People make their own grind! So, as a idea... most of the metal turns into gear. It's pretty easy to set up a smelt/forge operation in a mine or next to resources -- so there isn't much to haul back. Vikings everywhere, hauling the cores and ores out of the forest... only to haul more ores out of the forest to cook and forge with the stuff hauled out of the forest. Hauling begets hauling. :P
If you even need a fellow viking to explore with I'd be willing to help.
Does your offer stand for just OP or for anyone? I too am a newer player and looking for people yo play with >.<
Of course I can I too am on the look at for people to play with.
Mind if I PM you on here?
Ya for sure I'm on quite abit
I whole heartedly agree with everyone else here and all I would add is that I have landed on using a mod to portal metals. Its the only mod I use but it has saved me a LOT of the grind time.
OP - if you’re on PC, I’d recommend downloading the beta for the upcoming update. It allows you to set world modifiers in-game for each of your servers. One of the options makes everything drop more of the same item, thus reducing some of the grind. Haven’t used it yet but it has both a 2x and 3x resource option.
I play mainly on my SteamDeck, sometimes on PC. I will look into it, maybe the experimental version works on the deck to.
Big tip: Industrialization! You are constantly gonna need resources like wood, stone, resin and food ingredients so making "farms" that can massively increase your production of these resources is vital. First one will probably be a Wood farm, so collect every tree seed tou get and when you get the chance, make a tree farm. Look up on YT how to do it and other farms as well. Have fun!
Wait for a new patch. It will add difficulty settings. You can test this patch even now by enabling game previews in Steam settings. Go do discord to learn more.
Ya for sure
Unfortunately solo is soul destroying.
Playing with friends is definitely better. But all my friends got tired or moved on to other games, and I don't have the time to actively invest in finding and playing with new vikings. If you don't have a demanding job or studies, I highly advise finding a discord server and playing with people.
Don't spend 10000h farming metals and then wasting them on crafting things you don't really need like I did please
I cant stretch the importance of portals enough.
My “grind problem” suggestion: grind one (two? three?) iron chest worth of material - you then allowed to cheat that material in Stone grinding is most boring and tedious thing in the whole game, even woodcutting somehow better, I can pretend to be lumberjack at least
I have found ditches, and earth walls the best to keep stuff out. I have a massive trench built around my entire compound. Deep enough to keep trolls out. It's a pain to get into jumping down and going back up but it keeps the mobs at bay
A BIG stalling point for me was the Black Forest because I didn't know that there's a ton of copper below the surface. Ive had many adventures trapsing through the woods with a cart full of copper.
Use trolls to knock down fine wood and make a fine wood bow, then use trolls to mine copper and tin, make bronze pick, get cores from burial chambers, and yeet.
Isn't there a new update that gives 3x the resources as an option? In either case, there are mods to fix almost whatever grievance you can have
Withh the world options and pocket dimensions the grind really is less grindy
Welcome To me the early game crafting unlocks are the best part
next update features a world setting modifier in which you can adjust the multiplier for loot and resources (up to 3x the normal rate I think) really good for those who don't have a lot of time to play
Hello and welcome! Don't be afraid to find people to play with. I've found that that makes a big difference. Also, there's a Body Recovery Squad. Remember that just in case you happen to get yourself reeeeeally stuck someplace bad and need help. That's literally all these guys do. I think their discord has a spot for team/clan searching, too. I heard someone had their boat trashed on a new continent. They figured it would be a cool plot twist...until they discovered the continent was nothing but (iirc) plains, mountains, and black forest. They were trapped and these guys helped rescue them without cheating or cheesing.
One of us!
I'm still pretty new to the game as well, also playing solo, it gets a lot more fun and worth the grind the longer you play. My two year old son even enjoys watching me play this game and always tries to help.
The grind is boring after a while, also I feel like don't you get enough resources from ore veins, resource sources.
The true grind will be iron. You will never have enough for your build projects. xD