Valheim, the Viking survival sandbox game developed by Iron Gate Studio and published by Coffee Stain Studios, has been receiving updates for a year now. During this time, Valheim has seen huge amounts of new updates and content, and this list will discuss some of the best additions made during the last year of Valheim’s development.
Valheim casts players in the role of slain Vikings who have been sent to prove themselves worthy of Valhalla by conquering the evils that stalk the realm of Valheim. Players must build shelter, gather food and resources, and face off against deadly bosses in order to prove themselves to Odin.
This article will feature spoilers for Valheim, including some mid-to-late-game content.
7 The Obliterator
One fantastic addition to Valheim was the Obliterator, an exceptionally useful tool added to the game in the “Hearth and Home” update (Released September 2021). The Obliterator can be crafted using a thunderstone (obtained from the elusive NPC trader in the Black Forest Biome), eight iron, and four copper. It allows the player to permanently destroy unwanted items in a truly awesome way, annihilating anything placed within it via a lightning strike.
As a means of cleaning up unwanted rubbish, the Obliterator is unrivaled in both efficiency and style and was a fantastic addition to the game.
6 The Cultivator
Another fantastic addition to the game from the same update as the Obliterator (The Hearth and Home Update) was the Cultivator. The Cultivator allows players to prepare fields and grow crops, providing them with new sources of food and other important resources.
Creating the cultivator requires players to defeat the first boss of the game, “Eikthyr”, allowing them to acquire hard antlers and make the antler pickaxe. Using this to acquire copper and tin will enable the player to forge the bronze needed for constructing a Cultivator.
With 5 bronze and 5 core wood, the player may craft the cultivator, which may be used on the ground to prepare it for seeds and saplings or to regrow grass on that area for decorative purposes.
5 Butcher Knife
Yet another incredibly useful addition to the game (also from Hearth and Home) was the Butcher Knife. This new weapon can only be used to kill tamed animals and came alongside the implementation of a friendly fire mechanic that prevents players from accidentally killing tamed creatures with other weapons. Thus, the butcher’s knife is the weapon of choice for harvesting resources from tamed creatures and deals enough damage to immediately kill any tamed creature.
Crafting the butcher knife requires a modest investment of wood and tin, and should be done once the player has tamed some creatures and wishes to begin harvesting resources from them.
4 Armor Stand
Added in version 0.206.5, the Armor Stand is an excellent addition to the game, albeit for purely aesthetic reasons. The Armor Stand can be crafted using 8 fine wood, 4 iron nails, and 2 leather scraps. Once placed in the world, the Armor Stand allows players to store their armor on the stand, putting on display for all to see. A fine addition to a mighty Viking stronghold.
3 Peace and Quiet
Also added in version 0.206.5, Peace and Quiet is less a physical object and more an improvement to tamed animals in the game. Specifically, as of version 0.206.5, tamed wolves will no longer howl, allowing players to finally get a good night’s sleep in the realm of Valheim. Alongside this, servers can now have custom profanity filters, allowing players to ensure their servers are free from foul language, should they so desire.
2 Tamed Creature Improvements
The Hearth and Home Update brought a number of improvements to tamed creature management, including the Butcher Knife mentioned earlier. Other improvements were the ability to name creatures, making it easier to keep track of many Wolves and Lox, along with including any tamed creatures in the friendly fire settings, making it impossible to accidentally harm them if friendly fire is turned on, unless the Butcher Knife is used.
This update also made some changes to the way food items work in Valheim, changing food items so that a given item either restores mainly stamina or mainly health in order to encourage diet diversity and make food in the game more interesting and engaging. Combined with the changes to tamed creatures that allow easier harvesting of resources, it is possible for the player to adapt their diet to the statistics they need most for a given task.
1 The Lox Saddle
An improvement that vastly improved travel across Valheim for players was the Lox Saddle. This excellent new piece of gear finally gave tamed Lox a purpose, and allows them to be ridden around the map at speeds that easily exceed a sprinting player on foot. They also outright ignore the weight of everything the player is carrying, and are not slowed down by armor like the player is, making them a tremendously powerful means of travel across the land. On top of all this, Lox retain their excellent health and damage resistance while mounted, making them highly durable even when riding through dangerous regions.
Valheim is available now for PC.
