Bifröst Bonuses

This guide provides an overview of Northgard Bifröst mode. Understand the different realms and the power ups (weapons, towers, barricades) provided by clearing the portal tiles as well as other special tiles.

Introduction

SPOILER ALERT: This guide reveals information, that can be explored while playing the game. If you don't want to be spoiled on this content, don't use this guide!

The Bifröst game mode consists of 4 realms to be conquered. Each realm contains special tiles which can be cleared from hostile creatures and can be activated as a bonus objective. Boni are granted in form of weapon power ups, special tower or barricade types and other special boni.

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the available boni.

Realms

You will do 4 Bifröst runs. The are different realms with specific conditions. The first run can be done in the standard (Midgard) or one special realms. Two special realms follow. The fourth and last run is Vanaheim.

Name	Conditions	Additional info
Midgard (Standard, first realm)	This realm has fewer special rules and is a good introduction to Bifröst.	No special conditions apart from the restriction of limited buildings available in Bifröst mode.
Nifheim (Frost)	The map is composed of several separate islands. You start at the center of the land. You start on one of five different islands on the map. Find portals leading to the other island to explore and expand. Winter lasts 6 months. Portals allow military and exploring units to travel between different islands once discovered. If two linked portals are colonized, civilians can traverse them as well. On the islands, additional Town Halls can be repaired and used to expand.	Straight forward Explore other islands via portals and clear the map. Take care of longer winter periods.
Muspelheim (Fire)	You won't consume any Wood Volcano is at the Center of the land, already discovered (well actually not discovered) Rimstell can be used to forge powerful runes affecting all the Clans at the Anvil of Gods. Stock of Rimestell is common shared accross all Players	No Iron / Stone Deposits, needs to be acquired from foes (by defeating them and harvesting their armor). Rock golem for +5 stone, Iron golem +5 Iron, Rimsteel golem for +5 rimsteel (can be used to forge upgrades) Stone Golems can land on area and cause burning damage in area for 2 minutes. Attacking waves unfortunately don't provide iron or stone
Idavoll (Heat)	Most zones in the realm have few Building slots and are impacted by oppressive heat, making resource production more difficult. Some rare fertile oasis have more building slots, more resources, and Benefit from increased production due to Breath of Fresh air. Colonized oasis will periodically attract grafvitnir. This realm is the homeworld of the Ljósálfar.	Restrict production Buildings to Oasis zones, build houses / military camps in non-oasis zones Chance of bonus resources closing grafvitnir hole, but might cause grafvitnir to appear. Defeating grafvitnir can be tricky early on (AOE damage), but provides 10% attack bonus if defeated. Stacks if multiple grafvitnirs are defeated. Sadly bonus does not carry over not next realm.
Nidavellir (Cave)	Ore deposits block building slots in zones. Use miners to destroy them and increase the building capacity of the zone. Miners can extract kröwns from Gold deposits. Every clan starts with a mine. Miners can move and mine to any zone without the requirement of a Building. Exploring units can dispel the fog instantly by entering a zone. After a zone is unvisited for some time, it fades into darkness again. Mines do not required a building Slot,	Regularly appearing stone depots (5 stock) Easy mining, only one mine needed, go anywhere to mine Easy scouting
Vanaheim (Jungle, final realm)	All wild creatures on the map are primitive, more dangerous versions of the animals found on Northgard. Wild creatures expand outside of the Zone they're in, progressively regaining Control over cleared zones. Wolf Dens and Fox Burrows cannot be colonized or closed.	Hazardous map with frequent and strong attacks. Build strong economy and fasten your zone defense. Don't wait too long to start the first phase of the boss battle.

Portals

The realms each contain a portal, which is chosen randomly and has to be cleared from its guards. After clearing the portal, one can choose a bonus. The bonus will persist in the following games in other realms in the same Bifröst run.

Icon	Name	Powerups
	Portal from Idavoll	Idavoll Towers, Idavoll Barricades, Thunder Blades, Holy Blades
	Portal from Muspelheim	Muspelheim Towers, Muspelheim Barricades, Fire Blades, Storm Blades
	Portal from Nidavellir	Nidavellir Towers, Nidavellir Barricades, Terror Blades, Venom Blades
	Portal from Nifheim	Nifheim Towers, Nifheim Barricades, Frost Blades, Blood Blades
	Portal from Vanaheim	Vanaheim Towers, Vanaheim Barricades, Vanaheim Blades, Confusion Blades

Blades (Weapons) Powerups

The following table lists all the available blade (weapon) power ups selectable after clearing a portal.

Even though the blades are only previed with a standard axe fighter icon for selection they offer different effect blades.

Icon	Name	Ingame description	See also
	Blood Blades	Military units have a chance to heal when inflicting damage .	(adds life steal, part of life is restored when attacking, short cooldown)
	Confusion Blades	Your military units can turn their enemies against their allies temporarily.	Clan: Squirrel (Ratatoskr), Relic: Yggdrasil's root, Description: Enemy units in an eldritch zone have a chance to pick a fight with their own kin for 5s.
	Fire Blades	Military units have a chance to burn enemies.	Clan: Lynx (Brundr & Kaelinn), Stealth Path: Fire Arrows, Description: Your Tracker Trackers use fire arrows that inflict +50% damage to buildings. Target has a chance to suffer 0.04 damages for 3 sec.
	Frost Blades	Military units freeze the enemies they attack and the area around them.	Clan: Bear (Bjarki), Relic: Scabbard of Gram, Description: Chilling Aura: Enemies hit by Gram are frozen for 2 seconds, along with the area around them. They are slowed and their attack speed is reduced.
	Holy Blades	Military units have a chance to blind their enemies.	Clan: Eagle (Hræsvelg), Lore: Blood Eagle, Description: A blinded unit will miss all its attacks for 3 seconds.
	Storm Blades	Military units have a chance to inflict area damage	(simply adds area of effect chance (AOE) to attack. Very powerful if combined with other blade, since the effect is then applied as aoe)
	Terror Blades	Military units have a chance to fear their enemies.	(enemy is feared, running away for few seconds and cannot attack)
	Thunder Blades	Military units have a chance to proc a lightning strike.	Clan: all, Relic: Mjölnir, Description: When landing a strike, upgraded units have a 20% chance of summoning Mjölnir's wrath on their opponents. Mjölnir's wrath deal around* 5 damage reduced by armor in a small area around the target.
	Vanaheim Blades	Your military units have a chance to root enemies.	(enemy is stunned, cannot move and attack for few seconds)
	Venom Blades	Military units have a chance to poison enemies.	(enemy loses health over time for a few seconds)

Tower upgrades

The following table lists all available advanced tower building types selectable after clearing a portal.

Icon	Name	Ingame description	See also
	Idavoll Tower	Protects this zone with thunder arrows	Thunder blades
	Muspelheim Tower	Protects this zone with burning arrows.	Fire blades
	Nidavellir Tower	Protects this zone with terror arrows	Terror blades
	Nifheim Tower	Protects this zone with frost arrows	Frost blades
	Vanaheim Tower	Protects this zone with confusion arrows	Confusion blades

Barricade upgrades

The following table lists all available advanced barricade building types selectable after clearing a portal.

Icon	Name	Ingame description	See also
	Idavoll Barricade	A defensive building summoning lightning damages	Thunder blades
	Muspelheim Barricade	A defensive building inflicting burning damages.	Fire blades
	Nidavellir Barricade	A defensive building poisoning the enemies it touches	Poison blades
	Nifheim Barricade	A defensive building freezing the enemies it touches	Frost blades
	Vanaheim Barricade	A defensive building rooting the enemies it touches	Vanaheim blades

Other bonuses

Beside the portal providing tower, barricades or blades upgrades, there is also always one other special tile providing a bonus. The following table lists all available bonuses.

These special tiles need to be cleared from hostile creatues and following action to be done.

• Beacon of Light - Colonize for 400 kröwns
  
• Pillar of Glory - Colonize (standard colonization with food)
  
• Wyverns Den - Defeat the wyvern

The bonuses are granted immediately when selected, and are also provided on each following realm start. E.g. if you gained a resource bonus, you will have these resources at the beginning of the next realm game.

Tile	Tile name	Icon	Name	Ingame description
	Beacon of Light		Population bonus	+2 villagers and +4 max population
	Beacon of Light		Lore	+150 lore
	Beacon of Light		Tower double shot	Your towers fire 2 projectiles at once on the same target. The next 0 upgrades are free. (actually 2 upgrades are free)
	Beacon of Light		Exploding towers	Upon destruction, your towers explode and inflict damage to nearby enemies. The next 0 upgrades are free. (actually 2 upgrades are free)
	Pillar of Glory		Colonization cost reduction	-30% Colonization cost
	Pillar of Glory		Fame bonus	+100 fame
	Pillar of Glory		Damage reflecting towers	Towers inflict damage when attacked. The next 2 upgrades are free.
	Pillar of Glory		Mulitshot towers	Your tower arrows ricochet on up to 3 targets. The next 0 upgrades are free.e. (actually 2 upgrades are free)
	Pillar of Glory		Free military units	First 3 military units are always free. (This also affects the cost of the 4th, 5th and so on military unit, as if they were the 1st, 2nd etc.)
	Wyverns Den		Bonus Resources (minerals)	+10 stone and +5 iron
	Wyverns Den		Bonus Resources	+100 food, +100 wood and +75 kröwns
	Wyverns Den		Military experience	+250 military experience
	Wyverns Den		Double towers	You can have up to 2 towers in the same zone. The next 0 upgrades are free. (actually 2 upgrades are free)

Neutral factions

Following neutral factions can be befriended to rectruit units of these factions.

Befriending them unlocks a new building, which needs to be built to recruit the unit. You will not automatically get a unit for befriending as in classic game mode. This bonus persists among realms, hence in following realms the building is already unlocked and can be built to recruit.

Tile	Icon	Name	Ingame description
		Befriend the Jotnar	Recruit Jotnar to join your army Realm Midgard Befriend by trading with food Unlocks Jotnar camp buildable for 100 wood and occupies 3 building slots Allows to recruit a single, giant Jotnar for 500 food
		Befriend the Myrkálfar	Recruit Myrkálfar to join your army Realm Muspelheim Befriend by trading with wood Unlocks Myrkálf camp, buildable for 80 wood Allows to recruit up to 2 Myrkálfar fighters for 80 kröwns each. Myrkálfar units have the ability to poison enemies.
		Befriend the Kobolds	Recruit Kobold fighters to fight for you Realm Niflheim Befriend by trading with food or wood Unlocks Kobold camp, buildable for 50 wood and 30 kröwns Allows to recruit up to 4 kobold fighters for 30 kröwns each.
		Befriend the Dwarves	Recruit dwarven units to work with you and fight alongside you. Realm Nidavellir Befriend by trading with food (favorite) or wood Unlocks dwarf camp, buildable for 50 wood and 5 stone Allows to recruit up to 3 Freelance Dwarf fighters for 60 kröwns each and one Dwarven Operative for 100 kröwns, who can mine, forge and fight.

Miscellaneous

This guide was created based on Northgard release version 3.6.15.40566 (as of 2024-12-05).
Following versions might introduce differences from this guide.

The guide is still work in progress and will be completed over time.
Feel free to comment to add information (e.g. on the missing "see also" parts).

Last but not least: Enjoy Bifröst :)

[HeXor]

@??? Yes the bonus persist. I added a hint:

Befriending them unlocks a new building, which needs to be built to recruit the unit. You will not automatically get a unit for befriending as in classic game mode. This bonus presists among realms, hence in following realms the building is already unlocked and can be built.

[???]

Do bonuses from befriending persist?

[grawli]

Thanks for creating this guide, it's been a big help.

[HeXor]

@Rogulair this is not a comprehensive Bifröst guide, but a guide on Bifröst Bonuses.
I mainly played Bifröst in Solo Mode and focused on the bonuses. Hence also no building selection or yearly bonuses are added here, which are shared among clans when playing multiplayer mode. There are nice guides and videos out there on this topic.

[Rogulair]

No clans shared start-with ?

[LordNRG]

You're welcome! I will return and add more that I discover over time myself, though this time all my new ones you already have updated :)

[HeXor]

Thanks LordNRG for adding missing info.

I updated the guide
* Added realm info (tbd)
* Added Beacon of Light lore bonus
* Added Pillar of Glory free military unit bonus
* Added Wyvern military experience bonus
* Added neutral faction Kobolds (icons tbd)
* Added neutral faction Dwarfes (icons tbd)
* Added realm hint for neutral factions

I started this guide when I was 80% with Bifröst runs, hence I was not remembering every bonus and missing some.

I also thought about adding the waves boni, but these are too many for now, and there are nice youtube video guides on this part.

Work in progress.

[LordNRG]

Great guide, keep it up!

Maybe list which "Realms" the "Befriend Neutrals" side quests are linked to, and list the rewards of each? I have seen the Jotnar in the "Midgard" realm (recruit 1x Jotnar for 500 (?) food).

Also, maybe list the wave bonuses you can unlock, like the +60% villager arrival buff, or some of the clan specific ones such as starting with the bear.

Missing currently:

- "Befriend Dwarves" in the underground realm; can recruit 1x operative (mining and defending), as well as 4x(?) Dwarves that can attack with your army (random ranged/melee), for a Kröwns cost.

- "Befriend Kobolds" in the Frozen realm, (unlocks Kobold Camp - recruit up to 4x Kobolds to join your army at 30 Kröwns per.

- "colonise the pillar of glory" reward was "First 3 military units are always free". This also affected the cost of the 4th, 5th and so on, as if they were the 1st, 2nd etc - knock on lower cost effects.

- Reward, I think from Wyvern was +250 Military XP.