Valheim 1.0: Boss Order, Powers and Strategies

Valheim’s bosses mark the biggest steps in your progression. Defeating them gives you materials for new tools and crafting stations, while their Forsaken Powers provide useful bonuses for combat, gathering and exploration.

This guide covers summoning, preparation and combat strategies for the first seven bosses, from Eikthyr in the Meadows to Fader in the Ashlands. The new Deep North boss is mentioned at the end.

If you’re still getting established, start with our Valheim beginner guide before taking on your first boss.

The main progression follows this order:

Kall Fimbulbringer was added with the 1.0 update. The detailed advice below covers the seven bosses leading up to the Deep North.

Repair your equipment, eat three foods and refresh your Rested buff before setting out. For a straightforward melee setup, two health foods and one stamina food give you a useful starting balance. Magic builds need eitr food to cast their spells.

Clear nearby enemies and give yourself room to move around the arena. Once you have portals, place a return portal somewhere sheltered outside the fighting area so a death does not turn into a long journey back.

Bring healing mead when it becomes available, along with the resistance drink suited to the encounter. Keep those supplies on your hotbar so you can use them quickly.

For help extending your Rested buff before a long fight, check our Comfort and Rested breakdown.

After defeating one of the first seven bosses, bring its trophy back to the Sacrificial Stones where you began the game. Hang it on the matching stone, then interact with the stone to select that boss’s power.

Activate your selected power with F on the default PC controls. Its effects last five minutes, and activation starts a 20-minute cooldown. Nearby players can receive the effect too, so gather your group before using it.

You can have one power selected at a time. Return to the stones to change it, and remember that the bonuses listed below apply while the power is active.

How to summon: Offer two Deer Trophies at Eikthyr’s altar. The Vegvisir at the starting Sacrificial Stones marks an altar on your map.

Recommended preparation

• Equipment: Leather armour, an upgraded Wood Shield and a Flint Spear. A Crude Bow gives you a ranged option.
• Food: Cooked Deer Meat, Cooked Boar Meat and Honey.

Eikthyr uses an antler attack, a ranged lightning attack and an electrical burst around its body. Watch the wind up before attacking, and keep enough stamina to defend yourself.

Block or dodge the antler attack, then land a few hits while Eikthyr recovers. Move away when it prepares its larger electrical burst. If you prefer using a bow, keep circling the arena and take shots between attacks instead of draining your stamina by constantly sprinting.

Reward: Hard Antlers let you craft the Antler Pickaxe, opening up the normal route into copper and tin mining.

Forsaken Power: Reduces stamina use for running, jumping and swimming by 60%. It is useful for travelling and escaping danger.

How to summon: Burn three Ancient Seeds in the bowl at The Elder’s altar. Look for its Vegvisir in Burial Chambers and Black Forest ruins.

Recommended preparation

• Equipment: Troll armour or Bronze armour, plus a Finewood Bow and plenty of Fire Arrows.
• Food: Deer Stew, Minced Meat Sauce and Carrot Soup.
• Supplies: Healing and stamina mead.

The Elder’s weakness to fire makes Fire Arrows a practical choice. Use the stone pillars around its altar to block the ranged vine attacks, stepping out to shoot between volleys.

When roots appear around your position, move to another pillar. The roots cannot chase you, so repositioning lets you keep attacking without fighting every one of them.

Watch The Elder’s approach while you shoot. It can stomp players who get too close, and retreating too far into the forest can bring other enemies into the fight.

Reward: The Swamp Key opens Sunken Crypts, where you can collect Scrap Iron.

Forsaken Power: Increases woodcutting and mining damage by 60%, alongside 30% increased health regeneration. The gathering bonus helps you break resources faster; it does not increase the amount each resource drops.

How to summon: Offer 10 Withered Bones at the skull shaped altar. Collect the bones in Sunken Crypts, where you can also find a Vegvisir pointing to Bonemass.

Recommended preparation

• Equipment: Iron armour, an upgraded Iron Mace and a Banded Shield.
• Food: Sausages, Black Soup and Turnip Stew.
• Supplies: Poison Resistance Mead, healing mead and stamina mead.

Drink your Poison Resistance Mead before engaging. It reduces poison applied while the effect is active, so waiting until you are already poisoned will not fix the existing effect.

Bonemass is weak to blunt damage, making the Iron Mace a strong choice. Dodge or block its melee swing, land a short combination and leave enough stamina to defend against the next attack.

Back away when it begins vomiting poison, and deal with the Blobs and Skeletons it throws into the arena before they surround you. Standard piercing arrows are inefficient against Bonemass, so avoid building your whole strategy around them.

Reward: The Wishbone helps you locate buried silver in the Mountains.

Forsaken Power: Grants 25% resistance to blunt, slash and pierce damage, removes the stamina cost of blocking and restores five stamina per block. It does not make you immune to damage or staggering.

For the iron gathering and crafting steps before this fight, follow our Meadows to Swamp walkthrough.

How to summon: Place three Dragon Eggs in the slots at Moder’s altar. Each egg weighs 200, so plan your transport rather than assuming you can carry all three together.

Recommended preparation

• Equipment: Wolf armour, a Draugr Fang and Obsidian Arrows, plus an upgraded melee weapon.
• Cold protection: Ensure your equipped gear provides frost resistance, such as a Wolf Fur Cape. Bring Frost Resistance Mead if needed.
• Food: Wolf Skewer, Sausages and Onion Soup.

Moder switches between flying and fighting on the ground. While she is airborne, move sideways to avoid her ice projectiles and use your bow when there is a clear opening.

When she lands, move towards her side or rear to reduce your exposure to the bite and frontal frost breath. Attack in short bursts, then reposition as she turns.

Rocks can help break line of sight, but leave yourself an escape route. Mountain slopes and scattered ice can make retreating awkward if you let yourself get pinned against the terrain.

Reward: Dragon Tears let you build the Artisan Table, which supports your next stage of crafting in the Plains.

Forsaken Power: Provides a tailwind when sailing, 300 extra carry capacity, 10% increased movement speed and 50% frost resistance while active.

How to summon: Place five Fuling Totems at Yagluth’s altar, which is surrounded by enormous stone fingers.

Recommended preparation

• Equipment: Padded armour, a Silver Sword or Frostner, and a Black Metal Shield.
• Food: Lox Meat Pie, Fish Wraps and Bread.
• Supplies: Fire Resistance Barley Wine, healing mead and stamina mead.

Keep Fire Resistance Barley Wine active and watch for Yagluth’s three main threats: meteors, a sweeping breath attack and an explosion around its body.

Move away when meteors begin falling. Use the stone fingers to help break line of sight, but keep checking your route as the arena takes damage. When Yagluth uses its breath attack, move sideways around it instead of retreating directly along the beam.

Close in for melee attacks during its recovery windows, then back off before the next area attack. Yagluth strongly resists piercing damage, so bows and spears are less effective choices for this fight.

Reward: Torn Spirits let you build a Wisp Fountain and collect wisps for your Mistlands preparations.

Forsaken Power: Grants 50% lightning resistance, 25 additional Farming skill and 10% increased damage.

How to reach her: Craft a Sealbreaker from nine Sealbreaker Fragments at a Galdr Table, then use it to open the Infested Citadel. Find the fragments and the Queen’s Vegvisir in Infested Mines.

Recommended preparation

• Melee equipment: Carapace armour and Mistwalker, with a Demolisher for groups of smaller enemies.
• Magic equipment: Eitr-weave armour with a Staff of Embers or Staff of Frost.
• Melee food: Misthare Supreme, Honey Glazed Chicken and Mushroom Omelette.
• Magic food: Use eitr foods such as Yggdrasil Porridge and Seeker Aspic alongside a health food.
• Supplies: Poison Resistance Mead and healing mead, plus stamina or eitr mead to suit your build.

The Queen can burrow and reappear elsewhere in the citadel, spit poison and charge at you. Clear Seeker Broods and other attackers regularly so you have room to dodge her attacks.

Use area attacks from the Demolisher or Staff of Embers to deal with groups. Against the Queen herself, look for openings after an attack or while she is occupied summoning enemies.

The entrance corridor can give you breathing room, but clear anything that follows you inside. Recover, check your food and resistance effects, then return to the fight.

Reward: Majestic Carapace is used to build the Artisan Press, part of the crafting progression towards the Ashlands.

Forsaken Power: Gives 100% increased eitr regeneration, removes the stamina cost of sneaking and grants 50% poison resistance.

How to summon: Collect nine Bell Fragments from Charred Fortresses and craft them into three Bells at a Black Forge. Use those Bells at Fader’s altar.

Recommended preparation

• Melee equipment: Flametal armour and an upgraded Ashlands weapon such as Nidhögg or Slayer.
• Magic equipment: Embla armour with a damage option that works against Fader, such as the Staff of Frost.
• Melee food: Piquant Pie, Mashed Meat and Roasted Crust Pie provide a strong balance of health and stamina.
• Magic food: Replace food slots as needed with eitr options such as Marinated Greens and Sparkling Shroomshake.
• Supplies: Fire Resistance Barley Wine, Major Healing Mead and stamina or eitr mead suited to your build.

Fader is immune to fire and spirit damage and resists piercing damage. Prioritise slashing, blunt, frost or lightning damage when choosing your main weapon.

Watch the ground as well as the boss. Keep moving while meteors fall, leave the green warning effects before spikes erupt and avoid letting burning ground cut off your retreat. Fire resistance helps against fire damage, but it does not protect you from every part of the fight.

Take short attacking opportunities between Fader’s bites, swipes and other attacks. Deal with Charred enemies when they start crowding your route, then return your attention to the boss.

Rewards: Fader Relics and the Fader Trophy.

Forsaken Power: Increases adrenaline gain by 100%, reduces stagger buildup by 50% and grants 50% fire resistance. Equip a trinket to make use of the adrenaline system.

After Fader, your journey continues into the Deep North, the biome introduced in Valheim 1.0. Here, you’ll face Kall Fimbulbringer, Valheim’s eighth main boss.

Once we’ve confirmed the fight’s mechanics and a reliable strategy, we’ll put together a dedicated guide covering how to summon, prepare for and defeat this boss.