Valheim quick guide: Meadows to Mountains Solo. Get Started, Make progress.

A concise progression guide to help you get going with Valheim.
No fluff, direct and to the point.

It's for Solo players, from the beginning in the meadows through Black Forest and Swamp to the mountains.

If you need more detail on anything, see the wiki[valheim.fandom.com].
This is not supposed to be an "everything" guide, the wiki is that, so use it, it's great.

If you find this useful please leave me a like to let me know it helped.

WORLD SETUP ETC

• WORLD MODIFIERS In the "select world" list just before you launch your game, you can customise the settings. For a "normal" playthrough I recommend
  - Death penalty: somewhere from Casual to Normal
  - Resource rate: at least 2x for reduced grind for a Solo game. This is really important and will TRANSFORM your gameplay for the better. (However, there are a couple of things which do perhaps make gameplay a little too easy on your first playthrough - most notably surtling cores in the Black Forest Crypts, so feel free to use 1x, but I recommend increasing it to 2x once you get to the swamp)
  - Portals: I recommend normal. If you choose to nerf the game mechanics to take metal through portals, you'll miss out on the supply chain gameplay required to move metal, which is an important part of the game design and drives exploration and strategic thinking to work with the geography. (It also drives some interesting historical accuracy.) but if you'd rather shortcut that, its up to you of course.
  You can go back and edit all these settings at any time.
  
  
• SAVE FILES= C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\LocalLow\IronGate .... zip this to backup your saves ...There are two kinds of savefiles, character save and world save.
  
  
• SOUND= You really need sound for this game. You'll hear the type and direction of enemy attacks even if you dont see them. Headphones help with the direction. It's much harder without sound.
  
  
• BRIGHTNESS= This can be a really dark game, so sort out those screen reflections.

BASIC CONTROLS AND HINTS

• MOVE & FIGHT = WASD, mouse and space / E = use / F=forsaken power / mouse buttons = fight / Autowalk <Q or L > / V=toggle autopickup.
  
  
• NAVIGATE = mouse wheel or (, .) to zoom / E at bed to set spawn point / M = map
  
  
• EAT or EQUIP= Tab= inventory / RH click in inventory or keys 1-9 at any time= equip tools or weapons, wear clothes or eat food
  
  
• BUILD = Equip hammer for build mode, then right click = build menu / middle mouse = remove built item / scroll wheel=rotate / shift= no snap / Q-E= snap options
  
  
• BENCH = Hammer in the corner repairs your tools, weapons and armour.
  
  
• SAIL = E to climb the ladder from the water / E = grab rudder to sail / W = move forward & drop sail (3 speeds, first is rowing for no wind) / S= sail up or reverse. Use mouse wheel to zoom out, it's generally easier. Destroy a boat to take it through portals by chopping the mast (you can rebuild it as you don't lose any resources). Make sure you are in shallow water though or you'll lose the nails and deer hide.
  
  
• GROW = Equip Cultivator > cultivate the ground first > carry seeds or carrots > Left click soil > right click & choose seed > Click the ground to plant > leave space between > when picked you can replant as seeds.
  
  
• ESCAPE = If youre stuck anywhere, destroy your bed to return to the boss stones next time you die. ...

MEADOWS & FOREST

1. USE THE WIKI = This is a "quick guide" - it gives you quick notes so you know whats next and to keep you humming along, but the Wiki has depth on anything you need. If you are completely new to Valheim, or for more depth on anything, please use the wiki as much as you can.. https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Meadows ..
   
   
2. SHELTER = Pickup stones & wood > Craft the Axe (inventory) & chop trees > hammer > campfire, workbench & bed > roof & walls on 3 sides minimum (+chimmney) > claim bed > build a chest > explore & collect > better tools/ weapons
   
   
3. DEER = bow > kill deer (aim above and right) > cooking rack > roast deer for better energy > upgrade workbench (Chopblock > Tanning rack) > armour > weapon upgrades
   
   
4. HONEY = find an empty hut & get a queen bee (bow) > beehives > balance stamina/ health food (honey is a great energy food right up til plains).
   
   
5. BOSS FIGHT= start of a day (to avoid other night creatures) > bring 2 deer trophies to summon EIKTHYR > use arrows & run. THEN eikthyr trophy on sacrificial stone. You're now fully ready for the Black Forest.
   
   
6. BRONZE & FINEWOOD = burial chambers (use the axe for skeletons) > surtling cores > forge> smelter > kiln > antler pickaxe > mine copper/ tin (copper goes deep) > bronze axe > fine wood (unlocks karve) > bronze pick, spear, armour.
   
   
7. EXPLORE MORE = Use the raft minimally (it's terrible!) > Copper > Karve boat > explore in Karve and build Portal network > Metal ports near black forest > Metal transport in Karve > upgrade bench/ forge/ bow.
   
   
8. HALDOR = Get runes for haldor at a burial chamber or tower > buy Mengingjord (capacity upgrade) & Cultivator > Plant carrots > cauldron > processed food > fermenter > meads
   
   
9. MEADOWS MAIN BASE HINTS= build coastal (shallow water for destroying boats), near the boss stones (its your emergency exit), have a portal room, have the farm a small distance away to avoid enemy damage, stake wall, tall gates are stronger, label chests and portals, rooftop archery platforms.
   
   
10. ROUTINES = Leave to explore in the mornings (when the sun is in the east). Days are 9 mins, nights are 9 mins. At night you can farm, build, cut trees, smelt, cook, plan, or sleep.
    
    
11. TROLLS = firearrows & bronze spear (if you have one) & forsaken power > chase round a rock or shoot from a tower > troll armor set = fast & light, sneaky effect (but bronze is stronger).
    
    
12. ELDER = ( need 3 ancient seeds & 200 firearrows) , beware trolls > use altar pillars for cover / block with bronze shield (also maybe get him tangled in trees)
    
    
13. FOREST MAIN BASE HINTS= Elder temple makes a great base footprint, and I recommend it, but as a minimum, in the forest you only really need satellite ports for ore storage and transport to meadows. As your base storage grows (wherever it is), you'll want your chests on shelves, ideally with food near the fire, metals near smelters, the rest near portals.

SWAMP (& MOUNTAIN)

1. MAIN BASE UPGRADES = troll moat and stake wall (2m buffer). Aim for max rested effect with fire, rug, table, banner, chair, bed, (and later hot tub, armour stand, maypole, xmas tree)
   
   
2. BOAR TAMING= lead into pen in meadows > throw food > no fires/ fights near > stay near for 2 days to tame > feed carrots/turnips when tame > max 5 per pen > butchers knife > kill elsewhere
   
   
3. COOKING = 3 food types .. mincemeat sauce / carrot soup / cooked deer = 119 health 117 stamina. Also make anti-poision mead until you get the root mask.
   
   
4. SWAMP ENTRY BASE = treehouse (temporary) near the edge of a large swamp.
   
   
5. SWAMP ENEMIES = Draugrs are slow & blind, use arrows when far, then shield parry & spear or sword > WRAITHS at night: Arrows then parry & sword > 5 chains > forge bellows
   
   
6. ABOMINATION = either (a) arrows and run round tree or (b) shield & sword & stay close to lighter leg to avoid stomps or (c) shoot from tower > get POISON MASK (& then root armour for plains)
   
   
7. BETTER FOOD = turnip seeds > plant them > spicerack cauldron upgrade > sausages from draugr / carrot soup / mincemeat= 140 health 120 stamina for mountains
   
   
8. SUNKEN CRYPTS = use rested effect, poison mead/ root mask > get muddy scrap > build swamp-based smelter > iron > forge to L3 > Stonecutter > grinding wheel > stone base building.
   
   
9. SWAMP MAIN BASE HINTS= Since youve unlocked stone and will need lots of iron and coal, a large swamp base is very useful. Stone swamp base, coastal (ideally in deep-ish but walking-depth water for longboat with shallow area for boat breaking), ideally close to Bonemass (the treetop walkways you'll bulid remain useful for kiting away troll attacks - no need for a moat) but not too close to Bonemass, surtlings nearby (to farm), a few smelters, you can connect things to large trees, use long fireplaces for light indoors, bonfires outdoors, surtling trophies for wall lights, yellow fungi for table lights.
   
   
10. METAL LOGISTICS & POWERUPS = Longship (nails+bark) > bring copper and tin to swamp and/or export iron > iron pickaxe (for obsidian) > sword & upgrade > shield > armour/ helmet (most people could probably skip iron armour and go straight to the wolf armour, but it depends how many hits youre taking trying to mine silver in the mountains after bonemass) ..
    
    
11. MOUNTAIN EXPLORE = leech bloodbags > frost mead > build base (to warm up) > iron pickaxe > obsidian (frost arrows and bench toolshelf) > Drake dragon (bow & strafe) > frost gland (for frost arrows) > wolves= firearrow or Shield parry (for better furniture), tame with wood covered pits & trap by breaking the wood > look in buildings for onion seeds (great stamina) > If you see a Golem, run.
    
    
12. BONEMASS PREP = build a treehouse near bonemass with a chest containing a spare bow, 2x100 frost arrows (or 10x100 if you're using firearrows - they cause very little damage and he regenerates fast), spare wood for ladders, a portal. (*Another approach is to whack him with a mace if you have mountain armour, but you probably already know you dont need to follow this guide exactly :) ).
    
    
13. BONEMASS = Start at dawn > eat stamina food (speeds things up) > wear full root armour (for archery boost) > offer bones then up to the treehouse and delete the ladder so spawns can't follow > Beware Wraiths > Be fast because Bonemass self-heals (which is why you have so many arrows). When you're done, go display the trophy in your stone circle, then it's off to the mountains... You also have a Root Harnesk to protect you from Deathsquitos on the plains.
    
    
14. MOUNTAIN MAIN BASE HINTS= Walking distance to a port (downhill from your base) for exporting silver, choose peak with good vantage and archery platforms for wolves & dragons, be aware the highest peaks and area centres are spawnhubs, build outwards with supports (repair them if wolves attack them) or tall agains the cliffs, killbox for wolves, roof platform for dragons with space to dodge, ideally close-ish to the boss. Also, now you can use the wishbone to find 4 silver for the wolf cape (frost resistance) > maybe even wolf armour at this stage.
    
    
15. MULTIPLE MAIN BASES= You only need one main base, but at this stage, to have a fully upgraded workbench, forge and cauldron at each base, you only need SILVER 2, TIN 15, IRON 41, COPPER 26 (plus extra for furniture and cosmetics if you want), so one boat trip is enough to set up several entire main bases if you want to - everything else can be portalled in. All other metal usage is for weapons and armour which can be done anywhere. So it's not too hard to have multiple main bases (especailly if youre using resource multipliers) and the design and build challenges are interesting. Each biome brings different enemy raids and drops so you can spend time at whichever main base gives you the enemy drops you need next.
    
    
16. MOUNTAIN NAVIGATION= Eat high Stamina food (onions, honey, cloudberries), pickaxe to dig steps on well-used routes, set up mini bases to shortcut climbs by putting a bench & portal in a dug cave/ on a narrow peak/ in an oldhouse or tower, dig all around silver veins to get it all then one-hit them, explore multiple mountain areas to get enough silver, for fun build a boat on a slope (shift key) to sledge resources down the mountainside!!

Have fun!

A BIG CAVEAT

This does not describe the game. It's a quick guide to help you, but there is a lot more to the game than the progression. The most joy I've had in this game is when I ignore the progression and just go exploring and build stuff. So don't forget to enjoy the journey, that's the whole point.

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[NZ.Zero]

thanks for helping to make the guide better (and therefore helping others)

[NZ.Zero]

Awesome,, ive added a new "point 1" for MEADOWS as well just to make it super clear.. youre right, it must have been confusing.. .. now says
"USE THE WIKI = This is a "quick guide" - it gives you quick notes so you know whats next and to keep you humming along, but the Wiki has depth on anything you need. If you are completely new to Valheim, or for more depth on anything, please use the wiki as much as you can.. https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Meadows .."

[Bagpipe]

Hey, yeah i missed the bit about the wiki. I will do as you suggested :)
I am really early in the game still, just getting to black forest exploration.
Some of your guide is already starting to make more sense as I thought.
Will keep it favourited so I can reference once I know what the stuff is as it is a handy list of general directions, first read just had me a bit ... @_@

[NZ.Zero]

OK @Bagpipe I can guess why you think that, this isnt supposed to replicate the Wiki, that already has a great overview of pretty much everything you need in long wordy form, so you should use that. I already linked that in the intro but Ive clarified in the intro so now it says "This is not asupposed to be an "everything" guide, the wiki is that, so use it, it's great. " .. so have a look at the wiki, hopefullly that meets your needs and then you can use this as a quick guide alongside that. Hopefully this answers your question??

[NZ.Zero]

ok which bit in particular? where are u in the game?

[Bagpipe]

I get it is no fluff but I aint got a clue what half of what any of the stuff even means XD
Maybe as i play more it will make sense but as is with very little experience of the game half of this may as well be written in old Norse ;)

[조이서™]

Ahh Alrighty Thx u For The Info

[NZ.Zero]

조이서
Ive clarified this in the guide now, thanks for the feedback.

[NZ.Zero]

조이서
Because you can't take metal through portals, you need to build a supply chain to move metal around by boats (ports and trade routes) to get it back to your base where the smelters are. This forces you to explore and make strategic choices related to the geography that's around you.

As a side note, it also forces some interesting historical accuracy: https://steamcommunity.com/app/892970/discussions/0/3818536354788363570/

[조이서™]

Wdym by "you will miss supply chain gameplay" if i change the Portal to Casual?