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Valheim Guide to Meadows, Black Forest & Swamp

Meadows

New Resources Available: Wood, Stone, Flint, Fine Wood*, Dandelions, Mushrooms, Deer Hide, Leather Scraps, Raw Meat, Feathers

Enemies: Greylings, Necks

General Guide

The Meadows is where your journey will begin, and is likely where you’ll want to build home and hearth. Until you have a bow and leather armor, it is recommended to stay here and not venture too far outside. Experiment with things, learn how to fight, run away, block, all that stuff. Experiment with building, and make sure you have a nice home with a bed and a decent amount of food stockpiled. At that point, take your bow and 200+ wood arrows, and fight the first boss. All this requires is going to the altar and sacrificing 2 deer trophies (not useful for much else up to this point anyway).

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After beating the boss, you’ll have the materials to make your very first pickaxe. This will draw you to the Black Forest so you can make good use of it.

Black Forest

New Resources Available: Copper, Tin, Core Wood, Greydwarf Eyes, Surtling Cores, Troll Hide, Thistle.

Enemies: Greydwarves, Trolls, Greydwarf Shamans, Greydwarf Brutes, Skeletons.

General Guide

Once you have a pickaxe, you’re ready for the black forest. You’ll also want to get yourself a club and a shield for the dungeons you’ll need to go into, as the enemies there are weak to blunt damage and dungeons are very cramped for using a bow. You’ll need surtling cores to smelt ore and make charcoal, and these are found in said dungeons. They are typically guarded by Skeletons, making them relatively easy to locate. The only other dungeon you may find is a Troll Cave, which is not recommended to go venturing into so early.

Surtlings themselves can be found in the Swamp, so if you can’t find surtling cores in the black forests near you but can find a swamp, this is an option but is not recommended.

Once you have a smelter, and probably a kiln, you’ll be looking for Tin and Copper. Tin can be found on the shore of the black forest, and has a distinct look compared to small rocks. Copper is similarly found where rocks would be, but instead in the place of the huge stones you may have seen in the meadows. Both can be distinguished visually, but the easiest way to tell is simply by mousing over it and seeing if the name pops up.

Once you’ve exhausted all you feel like making with Tin, Copper, and Bronze, and feel you’re ready, you can move on to the second boss. This one requires 8 ancient seeds to summon, and is similar in concept to say, an Ent or what have you. Once again, lots of arrows, good food, do your best. You will receive a Swamp Key from defeating The Elder, as well as his trophy and another power.

Swamp

New Resources Available: Blood Bags, Ooze, Entrails, Ancient Bark, Iron.

Enemies: Draugrs, Draugr Elites, Skeletons, Blobs, Oozers, Leeches, Surtlings.

General Guide

It is recommended to bring along some Poison Resistance Meads when you go to the swamp, but is not necessary. Leeches, Blobs, and Oozers can inflict a poison effect, which short of having rather high health, will typically end up killing you. But if you can avoid letting them hit you at all, you can’t die to it if you never get hit by it.

Making your way through a swamp, you may notice flame geysers. Surtlings gather around these, and killing them drops coal and surtling cores. If they go into the water, and they may do this accidentally sometimes, it will kill them or at least hurt them significantly. Fire damage is ineffective, obviously.

Otherwise, you will mainly be looking to bring along a bronze pickaxe and your swamp key. Look for slanted structures seemingly protruding from the ground, typically with two green torches at the front, guarded by Draugrs, Blobs, or an Oozer. Unlock the entrance with your swamp key, go in, and mine at the muddy scrap piles to find Scrap Iron. It can also be in the stone chests within. Smelt this to get Iron, and you’ll need quite a bit of it to get a full set going. Having a ship or cart nearby is recommended to avoid too much travel time, but be wary it doesn’t get destroyed while you’re mining.

Once you’ve had your fun in the swamps and are ready to move on, you’ll need 8 withered bones, and you’ll have hopefully found the location of the boss. Go there prepared with a poison resistance mead, preferably at least two, and a blunt weapon and shield. Skeletons and slimes are weak to blunt, and he’s both. This boss is one of the easier ones to parry, and the poison resistance will handle his other attacks. Defeat him to obtain the Wishbone and his trophy.

Written by Taylor

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