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Valheim guide: Every boss, in order

Progression through Valheim’蝉 biomes, technology, and bosses (in order)

Valheim bosses and progression in order Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing
Jeffrey Parkin (he/him) has been writing video game guides for Polygon for almost seven years. He has learned to love just about every genre of game that exists.

Progression in Valheim follows a pattern: Head to a new biome, gather resources, craft new items and gear (and food and potions), and fight that biome’蝉 boss.

As you explore each biome, you’ll find a vegvisir runestone that puts the biome’蝉 boss’ summoning altar on your map. At that altar, you’ll sacrifice something — usually a resource or drop from the biome — to summon the boss, and then you’ll fight them. You’ll find Eikthyr in the meadows biome, The Elder in the black forest biome, Bonemass in the swamp biome, Moder in the mountain biome, and Yagluth in the plains biome.

This guide is a list of Valheim’蝉 bosses, in order, tips for fighting them, and information about their associated biomes. We’ll include links to full biome walkthroughs and dedicated boss guides, too.


Table of contents


Eikthyr | Meadows biome

Eikthyr is the first boss you’ll face in Valheim after arriving in the meadows biome. You’ll craft some flint weapons and leather armor before the fight.

The boss fight with Eikthyr in Valheim Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing via Polygon

You’ll find Eikthyr’蝉 vegvisir runestone in the sacrificial stones where you first spawn. To summon him, you’ll need two deer trophies.

Keeping the stag’蝉 limited moveset in mind will make the fight much easier:

  • When Eikthyr rears up in a quick motion, it’ll come back down with a large lighting bolt that shoots in a straight line in whatever direction it’蝉 facing. When boss kicks up its legs, move to the side, avoiding the lighting bolt attack, and rush in for an attack.
  • Look for a similar movement where Eikthyr rears up but hangs in the air a bit longer. It’ll crash back down with a bubble of lightning. If you see the boss kick up its legs for more than a second, keep your distance. Once the ball of energy dissipates, go in for a strike.
  • Attack Eikthyr from the side. Whenever you meet the boss head on, there’蝉 a chance it’ll make a quick swipe at you with its massive horns. When in doubt, approach with your shield drawn to absorb the blow.

Eikthyr drops an Eikthyr trophy plus some hard antlers. Return to the sacrificial stones and place the creature’蝉 head on the corresponding stone slab (the one furthest to the left, near the red stone you interacted with earlier).

Mounting Eikthyr’蝉 head will unlock your first Forsaken power, which temporarily boosts your stamina and movement abilities. The antlers that Eikthyr drops also let you create the antler pickaxe, which is perfect for learning how to mine, smelt, and make metal tools.


The Elder | Black forest biome

After Eikthyr, you’ll head into the black forest biome and where you’ll meet Valheim’蝉 second boss, The Elder.

The Elder boss from Valheim Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing via Polygon

In the black forest, you’ll make your first metal, bronze, and craft new tools, weapons, and armor. You’ll also learn to farm and make new foods.

You’ll find The Elder’蝉 vegvisir runestone in an abandoned structure somewhere in a black forest biome. To summon The Elder at his altar, you’ll need three ancient seeds — a drop from greydwarfs and greydwarf nests.

When summoned, The Elder has three unique attacks to recognize.

  • Foot stomp. This has a slow windup and deals tons of damage in a small area around The Elder.
  • Shooting branches. This is a two-step attack. First, the Elder puts his hand forward (which is your cue to move away quickly), and then it shoots branches at you. This attack moves quicker than most in Valheim and deals extremely high damage.
  • Root summons. The Elder waves his arms and summons roots near your location. This ability isn’t too threatening right away, but if you get close enough for the roots to hit you, they’ll still do plenty of damage. Each root has a health bar. Killing them is usually the best option, as long as you can do it safely.

After several minutes of attacking, dodging, and burning, you’ll take down The Elder and gain access to his rewards. The Elder drops the swamp key, which will let you open sunken crypts in the game’蝉 swamp biomes — which is where you’ll find iron to progress to the next section of the game. Taking the Elder Trophy back to the sacrificial stones unlocks The Elder’蝉 Forsaken Power that makes chopping down trees faster.


Bonemass | Swamp biome

With The Elder’蝉 swamp key, it’蝉 time to head into the swamp biome and prepare to face Valheim’蝉 third boss, Bonemass.

Valheim swamp biome Bonemass boss fight Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing via Polygon

In the swamps, you’ll encounter poison-spewing enemies (there’蝉 a mead for that) and skeletons as you fight your way to sunken crypts to mine for iron. With some new weapons and armor, you’ll be ready to take on Bonemass.

Bonemass’ vegvisir runestone will be in one of the sunken crypts. To summon him, you’ll need 10 withered bones — which also come from sunken crypts, conveniently.

Bonemass has three attacks to learn and recognize.

  • A slow swipe to his front with his right hand. Getting hit by this will deal heavy damage and poison you, but it’蝉 pretty predictable and slow, making it easy to dodge.
  • Bonemass pulls slime off of his body and throws to make blobs that join the fight against you. This animation is very long and can’t hurt you, so get several hits in during it. Kill the blobs that spawn quickly, ensuring that they don’t overrun you later in the fight.
  • Bonemass rocks forward and backward and unleashes poison all around himself. This area-of-effect poison ability is also slow but it hits hard, so don’t get too greedy while he’蝉 casting it.

After the very long and slow fight, you’ll eventually take Bonemass down. Once he dies, he’ll drop the Bonemass trophy, which you can use at the summoning circle for a new resistance power. Every player in the party also gets a wishbone, which lets you know when there’蝉 silver (and other buried treasure) nearby.

The Bonemass trophy unlocks a new Forsaken Power at the sacrificial stones. This one reduces the amount of physical damage you take.


Moder | Mountain biome

From the swamps, a quick trip to Moder’蝉 — Valheim’蝉 fourth boss — sacrificial stone will tell you it’蝉 time to head for the mountain biome.

A Valheim player looking up a Moder as she flies around a mountain Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing via Polygon

In the mountains, you’ll deal with cold weather, mine silver and obsidian, and craft a cold-weather armor set.

Moder’蝉 vegvisir runestone will be in a mountaintop abandoned structure (probably protected by skeletons and drakes). To summon her, you’ll need three dragon eggs.

Moder has three kinds of attacks — one that she uses while she’蝉 flying, and two that she uses when she lands.

  • Moder shoots several shards of ice at a player’蝉 location from the air. The ice crystalizes on contact and freeze whatever they hit. Absolutely do not get hit by this ability. Each shard moves slowly which makes them easy to dodge, but if you get hit by two or three of these in a row, you die.
  • Moder swipes with her front talons, hitting anything in front of her. This is Moder’蝉 most traditional attack and her quickest. If you see her bring her claws back, run away immediately or prepare to dodge.
  • Moder shoots a freezing breath attack in front of her. This ability does lots of damage, but it can dash to the side just before it comes out to avoid its cone of damage.

There are two ways to kill Moder. The most effective is to hit her with needle or poison arrows while she’蝉 in the air, causing a meager amount of damage, and then rush up to her when she lands and use your sword. For this method, you have to be very careful to dodge her attacks, because taking just one hit means you need to retreat and heal.

The far safer (but much more time-consuming) option is to stay as far away from Moder as possible and only use your bow to hurt her. For this, you only need to dodge her ice shards attack, which should keep you fairly safe. However, this method takes a very long time to complete and burns through tons of food and arrows.

Moder drops dragon tears that let you build a new crafting table (the artisan table). Taking her trophy back to the sacrificial stones unlocks a Forsaken Power that grants favorable tailwinds while sailing.


Yagluth | Plains biome

After the mountains, you’ll head into the early access version of Valheim’蝉 final biome, the plains biome, where you’ll prepare to face Yagluth.

Valheim plains biome boss Yagluth summoning altar Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing via Polygon

The plains biome is a bit of a jump in difficulty. The mobs are tougher and deadlier, you’ll be raiding villages, and you’ll be spending a lot of time wandering. In the plains, you’ll find a new type of metal — black metal, expand your farming operations, make new armor and weapons, and expand your camp.

Finding Yagluth’蝉 vegvisir runestone is a bit of an undertaking. It’ll be in a stone circle near a fuling village, but it seems to have a disappointingly low spawn rate. When you do eventually find his summoning altar, you’ll need five fuling totems.

Yagluth has three attacks to learn:

  • Yagluth’蝉 fist glows blue, and he raises it into the air before slamming it down and dealing damage in a small area around him. This ability is really slow and easy to dodge.
  • Yagluth’蝉 fist glows red and he summons a rain of meteors that target players. These aren’t too hard to dodge as long as you start running as soon as he summons them and don’t stop until the rain is over.
  • Yagluth rears his head back and shoots fire in a straight line and slowly rotates. This can technically be blocked by a shield for a short time, but you’re much better off running to the side of it. Don’t try to run away because the range is extremely long. You can use the pillars of his summoning platform to block the fire, but the beam of fire destroys other terrain like rocks as soon as it hits them.
Several players fight Yagluth in Valheim Image: Iron Gate Studio/Coffee Stain Publishing via Polygon

You’ll mostly need to fight Yagluth up close. Use your shield and sword and focus on getting three hit combos. He has plenty of health, but the fight shouldn’t be as long as others in the game.

Yagluth drops a trophy and three “Yagluth thing” items. These are placeholder items and currently have no use. Taking the Yagluth trophy to the sacrificial stones unlocks a Forsaken Power that gives you extra resistance to elemental damage.

The next level of puzzles.

Take a break from your day by playing a puzzle or two! We’ve got SpellTower, Typeshift, crosswords, and more.

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