This page names everything in the Black Forest. For a spoiler-free version that tracks what you've done, use the planner.
What to do after Eikthyr: the Black Forest
Darker and meaner than the Meadows. Take a bow, and don't go out at night until your armour improves.
What to do in the Black Forest
Craft an Antler Pickaxe
Use the Hard Antler from Eikthyr. Now you can mine.
Mine copper and tin
Copper is in big rocks with orange veins. Tin sits in rocks along Black Forest shores and rivers.
Find Surtling Cores
Explore Burial Chambers, the stone dungeons in the forest. The Smelter and the Charcoal Kiln both need cores.
Make coal and smelt your ore
Burn wood in the Charcoal Kiln for Coal, then smelt your ore into bars in the Smelter.
Build a Forge and make bronze
Bronze (copper plus tin) makes far better tools and armour. A Bronze Axe fells birch and oak for Fine Wood.
What lives in the Black Forest, and how to fight it
Tap one to see how to fight it. Pictures are each creature's trophy.
Greydwarf
40 health
Arrives in groups and lobs stones from the back. Put a tree or a wall behind you so only two reach you at once, and let fire do the work when you have it.
- Best weapon
- nothing beats anything else — bring your strongest
- Weak to
- fire
- Shrugs off
- poison
- Ignores
- spirit
- Hits with
- blunt, slash
Greydwarf Brute
150 health · out at night
Its overhead swing will break a wooden guard, so roll through it rather than blocking. Night only: outlast it and dawn takes it away.
- Best weapon
- nothing beats anything else — bring your strongest
- Weak to
- fire
- Shrugs off
- poison
- Ignores
- spirit
- Hits with
- slash
Greydwarf Shaman
60 health · out at night
Heals the rest of the pack and breathes a poison cloud you can't block — sidestep out of the cone. Shoot it first and everything else gets easier.
- Best weapon
- nothing beats anything else — bring your strongest
- Weak to
- fire
- Shrugs off
- poison
- Ignores
- spirit
- Hits with
- slash, poison
Troll
600 health
Shrugs off clubs and maces, so put arrows or a spear into it, aiming high. It can't jump: a ledge, a dug trench or a steep bank beats one outright. Never fight one inside your base.
- Best weapon
- pierce — Bronze Atgeir, Bronze Spear
- Weak to
- pierce
- Shrugs off
- blunt
- Ignores
- spirit
Bear
500 health
Hits far harder than anything else in the woods, and arrows barely bother it — an axe or sword is what works. It backs away from flame, so a campfire buys you room.
- Best weapon
- slash — Bronze Axe, Bronze Sword
- Weak to
- fire
- Shrugs off
- blunt, pierce, frost
- Ignores
- spirit
- Hits with
- blunt, slash, pierce
Deer
10 health
The same skittish deer as the meadows, and still the easiest hide going. Sneak up or shoot from cover.
- Best weapon
- nothing beats anything else — bring your strongest
- Ignores
- spirit
Skeleton
40 health · in Burial Chambers
Brittle: a club breaks them where arrows glance off. Roughly one in five carries a bow, so clear the back of the room first.
- Best weapon
- blunt — Bronze Mace, Stagbreaker
- Weak to
- blunt, fire
- Shrugs off
- pierce, frost
- Ignores
- poison
- Hits with
- slash, pierce
Ghost
60 health · in Burial Chambers
Drifts through walls and shrugs off ordinary weapons. At this stage, backing out of the room beats trading blows.
- Best weapon
- nothing beats anything else — bring your strongest
- Weak to
- spirit
- Shrugs off
- blunt, slash, pierce
- Ignores
- poison
- Hits with
- slash
Weaknesses and health are read straight out of Valheim 1.0.16, not copied from anywhere.
How to beat The Elder
Summoning: A Vegvisir (a glowing runestone) in a Burial Chamber marks his altar on your map. Offer 3 Ancient Seeds, which Greydwarf Brutes and Greydwarf nests drop.
The fight: He's weak to fire, so bring fire arrows and use the trees for cover. He drops the Swamp Key.
Best food in the Black Forest
- Carrot Soup 15 health · 45 stamina
- Deer Stew 45 health · 15 stamina
- Queen's Jam 14 health · 40 stamina
- Cooked Bear Meat 40 health · 13 stamina
Every food, sortable: Valheim food.
New gear to craft
40 recipes unlock in the Black Forest. Some of the gear:
Tick these off as you play
The planner shows these steps three at a time, remembers what you've done, and adds up every material for you.
Open the planner