In this guide, I will be teaching you how to prepare and defeat all 5 bosses that are currently in Valheim. This number is expected to increase to 9 when the game is out of early access. In game, they are called forsaken and pose a great threat. Each will mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of the other in your Valheim journey. Below you will find information about each of them, including tactics, preparations and rewards.
Valheim Boss Order
The bosses will be the main driving force of your journey. After killing each one of them, you will get a specific item that will let you expand your tools and arsenal. Here is the boss order in Valheim:
- Eikthyr
- Elder
- Bonemass
- Moder
- Yagluth
Each boss must be summoned from a specific location in the world before it can spawn. You need to make sure you are ready to summon each of them. They are all powerful creatures and have different attributes and abilities. Also, by grabbing the trophy they drop and hang it on the correct stone in the circle you were spawned in, you’ll unlock a special ability.
Each boss you kill will also cause an increase in enemies that will attack your home base in the game. So when you kill a boss, the game will get harder in every sense. To combat this, you can read our guide to learn how to protect your home base.
How To Find Valheim Bosses
To summon a boss, you need to locate its Altar. For this, you have to look for specific runic stones that glow with their names and interact with them. The first runic stone will be next to the circle in which you were first spawned and will show the location of Eikthyr. However, finding the locations of later bosses is more difficult. You will have to explore abandoned towers and crypts to find their respected runic stones. Each boss is tied to a specific biome type, so you’ll find their stones in different structures within each biome.
Remember that each Valheim map is randomly generated. So the maps in the game are unique among themselves. For this reason, there is no specific method to easily find a boss in Valheim. Also, if you are playing with friends, each player must interact with the runic stones individually, otherwise their location will not appear on their maps.
Valheim Eikthyr
- Biome: Meadows
- To find: Interact with the runic stone near the original spawn
- To summon: 2 Deer Trophies
- Unique loot: Hard Antler that you can use to craft a Pickaxe
- Power: 60% less Stamina drain while running/jumping
Eikthyr Preperations & Tactics
Eikthyr is relatively easy to kill as it is the first boss. It is a giant deer wrapped in chains with a daunting appearance. If you feel confident with your blocking skill, I recommend making a wooden shield and a flint spea, but you can also kill this boss using a bow if you want to keep a safe distance. To find more about the best bows and arrows in Valheim click here.
I recommend eating cooked meat, grilled neck tail and raspberries before the battle. So your health and stamina are high enough to withstand Eikythr’s attacks. Having a rested buff in the upper right corner will also provide you convenience during the battle.
You can easily kill Eikthyr by blocking his attacks and then dealing damage. His first move is a simple attack using his horns. It is a short frontal attack that is easily blocked and not very powerful. His second attack is a bit stronger. It’s a ranged lightning bolt that you can dodge fairly easily. The third attack is an aoe lightning attack. This is Eikthyr’s strongest attack. When he starts to initiate that attack, start running from it quickly. This attack will not cause you any trouble if you choose to kill him with a bow and arrow. As long as you keep your distance, you won’t have any problems.
Valheim Elder
- Biome: Black Forest
- To find: Interact with the runic stone inside burial chambers or abandoned structures in Black Forest
- To summon: 3 Ancient Seeds
- Unique loot: Swamp Key that unlocks Sunken Crypts in Swamps
- Power: Faster wood cutting
Elder Preparations & Tactics
The Elder is a truly terrifying creature that resembles a giant tree. You will need ancient seeds to summon the Elder. These seeds have a 33% drop chance from large dwarfs or shamans. You also get one every time when you destroy a dwarf nest. They can also be found in random chests in the black forest, but this rarely happens.
To defeat the Elder you will need patience, fast reflexes and lots of health. Similar to the Eikythr fight, you need the rested buff and eat enough food for your health to be at least more than 100. Not preparing can result with you falling victim to a single attack. Since the Elder is weak to fire damage, fire arrows help a lot. The Elder has stronger attacks than Eikthyr, but they are fairly easy to notice. Once you learn how to protect yourself and when to run away, you can easily kill him.
Its first attack is a straight range attack, where it just bombards you with vines. You can easily escape from this attack by staying behind the 4 pillars that will always be on the battlefield. In addition, if your stamina is high enough, you can block this attack with a shield. It also has a hit that it can use while in melee range. You can prevent this attack easily, but remember it has high damage. Elder will also periodically spawn roots on the ground. These roots can be destroyed, but because they deal high damage, my advice is to stay away from them. They don’t pose much of a problem since they don’t have a long-range attack and cannot move.
Valheim Bonemass
- Biome: Swamp
- To find: Interact with the runic stone inside sunken crypts or abandoned structures in swamps
- To summon: 10 Withered Bones (found from sunken crypts or chests inside stone structures in swamp)
- Unique loot: Wishbone that allows you to find silver veins and buried treasure
- Power: Resistance to physical damage
Bonemass Preparations & Tactics
Bonemass may be relatively the hardest boss in the game right now. His attacks are poisonous and his health regeneration really makes him a difficult boss to kill. The preparation you need to do this time will be much more comprehensive. You will need to make some poison resistant mead using your fermenter. This time you will have to increase your health to over 100 points because even if you have poison resistance, you will get hit really hard.
Bonemass is extremely weak against blunt and freezing damage. So make an iron mace, an iron shield, an iron armor set, and ice arrows. While patience is not a bad thing, you need to be quick and watch how you spend your stamina, because you don’t have the luxury of surviving the poisonous attacks of this enemy for very long. Use your mace to hit him hard and fast. There is nothing special in his main attack, he will try to hit you straight, but the damage will be very high, so even if you block it with your shield, it is possible that you will get damaged.
In its second attack, Bonemass will launch a mud ball. It will not aim at you, but when it hits the ground, 4 random enemies will appear. You have to kill them as they came out, otherwise, you will be fighting too many enemies at the same time. The third attack is by far the most annoying one, he will collect the toxic gas in the air and vomit towards you. Even if you have active poison resistance, you will still get poisoned, so get away from him immediately when he starts charging this attack. Speed is key in this struggle.
Now this was the legit method of killing Bonemass. You can skip this completely and easily kill him. To do this, all you have to do is build a treehouse on one of the big trees near where Bonemass spawns. Since Bonemass does not have a long-range attack, you can easily kill it with this method as long as you have enough arrows.
Valheim Moder
- Biome: Mountains
- To find: Interact with the runic stone found near the abandoned stone structures on the mountains
- To summon: 3 Dragon Eggs (found on dragon nests scattered across the mountains)
- Unique loot: Dragon Tears that allows you to craft artisan table
- Power: Always have favorable winds when sailing
Moder Preparations & Tactics
Moder is a giant dragon. In order not to freeze to death in the mountains, you need to wear a wolf cape or have cold resistance mead. Also, make sure you have a full array of wolf armor and silver weapons before attacking Moder. At this point, you can have the best bow in the game, the Draugr Fang. Moder will do aerial attacks most of the battle. So a melee build is going to be a disadvantage here.
Moder is not a difficult boss to kill. While flying through the air, he will attack you from distance, but these are not precise and fast attacks. As long as you pay attention you will not get damaged from them. When it lands, you will not have much trouble as long as you stay away from it. If you like to play with bow and arrow, this battle will be really easy. If you prefer close distance combat, you will need to pay a bit more attention. Moder attacks deal high damage while on the ground. It’s highest damage attack is an ice blast. When he starts charging this attack, you have to escape quickly, just like with Bonemass. If you are late, the attack will freeze you no matter what.
Valheim Yagluth
- Biome: Plains
- To find: Interact with the runic stone found near the abandoned stone structures in plains
- To summon: 5 Fuling Totems (found inside goblin basses)
- Unique loot: Not yet implemented
- Power: Resistance to elemental damage
Yagluth Preparations & Tactics
Yagluth is the fifth and currently the final boss in Valheim. He is a huge goblin skeleton without legs. It is slow as it has no feet and has easily distinguishable attacks. That is really good news, because if you get hit by one of them, you will most likely die. You really need to be prepared for this boss. In addition to having the best armor and weapons in the game, I recommend you to have at least 250 health. It is absolutely essential that you have the highest level of padded armor set and a set of black metal weapons, along with needle/ice arrows and Draugr Fang. Since Yagluth deals fire and physical damage, I suggest you use the ability from Bonemass with fire resistance mead.
Yagluth is an extremely powerful boss and will attack you without stopping, so you need to be constantly on the move and react as quickly as possible. However, because it is slow, you can use stone structures on the battlefield to your advantage.
His first move will begin when he lifts his glowing blue fist in the air. When his fist hits the ground, he will create an explosion and inflict very heavy damage to everyone around it. Run away the moment he fully lifts his fist. Its second attacks start when its fist glows orange and hits the ground. After that several meteors will rain down on you from the sky. These will drop really fast and are highly accurate, so you need to be constantly on the move. If a meteorite hits you, you will start to burn and will receive very heavy damage. In its last attack, it will open its mouth and attack you with a giant laser. To escape this attack, you can get behind the stone structures on the battlefield or block it with a shield if you have high stamina.
Thank you for reading our Valheim Boss Guide. I hope it helps you on your adventures in Valheim. If you have any questions, feel free to write them to the comments section!
