Valheim Progression Checklist

For the live game as of 26 August 2026. Cross-checked against the attached PDF snapshot of the Valheim Wiki progression guide. Follow the sections in order. Deep North is not included because it arrives with Valheim 1.0 on 9 September 2026.

How to use this checklist

• Complete the Advance when box before treating the next biome as your main progression area.
• Gear suggestions are safe targets, not mandatory recipes. Upgrade the weapon, shield, and armor style you actually use.
• Keep old farms and materials. Later recipes regularly use resources from earlier biomes.
• Before every dangerous trip: eat three foods, get the Rested effect, repair everything, carry healing/stamina mead, and place a recovery portal somewhere safe.

1. Meadows — reach and defeat Eikthyr

Establish yourself

• Gather wood, stone, flint, and food.
  How: Pick up branches and stones, punch small trees, and collect flint along shorelines. Hunt boar, deer, and necks; forage raspberries and mushrooms.

• Scout the coastline and mark useful locations.
  How: Circle the starting land while death penalties are still minimal. Mark berry patches, abandoned houses, beehives, nearby biomes, and possible coastal base sites on the map.

• Craft a hammer, stone axe, and basic weapon.
  How: Use the crafting menu after collecting wood and stone. A flint spear or flint axe plus a wooden shield is enough for early combat.

• Build a sheltered workbench, fire, bed, and storage.
  How: Place a workbench, cover it with a roof and walls, then put a bed close to a roofed, vented fire. Claim the bed as your spawn point. Smoke hurts you if trapped indoors; rain puts out an uncovered fire. Repairing tools, weapons, armor, and buildings costs no materials.

• Learn the food and Rested systems.
  How: Keep three different foods active. Sit near a sheltered fire or rest inside your furnished base until the Rested timer appears.

• Craft a crude bow and a supply of arrows.
  How: Hunt boar for leather scraps, then craft the bow at a covered workbench. Practice hunting deer from stealth.

• Make leather or upgraded rag armor and a usable shield.
  How: Hunt deer and boar, upgrade the workbench with a Chopping Block and Tanning Rack, and improve the pieces you expect to keep for the boss.

• Set up a renewable honey supply.
  How: Find beehives in abandoned houses and destroy them safely with a bow, thrown spear, or by dismantling their supporting walls. Use each Queen Bee to build a Beehive at home.

• Optional: preserve any 2-star boar you find.
  How: Trap it behind sturdy walls instead of killing it. Two-star boars are rare and can become the start of a high-yield breeding herd later.

Unlock the Black Forest tier

• Locate Eikthyr's altar.
  How: Read the small Vegvisir stone beside the starting sacrificial stones; it marks an altar on your map.

• Collect 2 Deer Trophies.
  How: Keep hunting deer. Trophies are random drops, so mark areas with several deer spawns and revisit them.

• Prepare the arena.
  How: Clear nearby enemies and obstacles, eat your best three foods, refresh Rested, repair gear, and bring a bow plus melee weapon and shield. Start shortly after dawn to reduce the chance of fighting through the night.

• Summon and defeat Eikthyr.
  How: Place both Deer Trophies on the altar. Block or sidestep its attacks, strike during openings, and avoid draining all your stamina.

• Use Eikthyr's drops.
  How: Hang the trophy at the sacrificial stones and activate its power. Craft an Antler Pickaxe from a Hard Antler.

Advance when: [ ] You have an Antler Pickaxe, reliable food, repaired combat gear, and a base you can respawn at.

2. Black Forest — unlock metalworking and defeat The Elder

Build the bronze-age production chain

• Scout the Black Forest safely.
  How: Enter by day, mark copper deposits, shoreline tin, Burial Chambers, Troll Caves, Greydwarf nests, and Thistle patches. Collect every Thistle you pass; mid-game foods use a lot of it. Avoid long night fights early on.

• Clear Burial Chambers for Surtling Cores.
  How: Bring a club or axe because Skeletons resist pierce damage. Equip a Torch first and a one-handed weapon second to hold both. Search every room. Get at least 10 cores for a Charcoal Kiln and Smelter; collect more for portals.

• Build a Charcoal Kiln and Smelter.
  How: Place both near your base, burn wood into coal, and combine coal with ore in the smelter.

• Mine copper and tin.
  How: Mine copper inland and tin beside Black Forest water with the Antler Pickaxe. Repair it at a workbench as needed and haul ore home by cart or ship.

• Build and upgrade a Forge.
  How: Smelt copper and tin, make bronze at the Forge, then add Forge upgrades as their recipes unlock.

• Craft the high-value bronze tools first.
  How: Prioritize a Bronze Axe for fine wood, a Cultivator for farming, and then the shield, weapon, pickaxe, or armor your playstyle needs.

• Choose your armor tradeoff.
  How: Use Troll armor for speed and workbench repairs, or Bronze armor for more protection at the cost of movement speed. Upgrade one coherent set instead of trying to craft everything.

• Unlock better food and mead.
  How: Use tin for a Cauldron. Build a Fermenter, collect honey from beehives, and turn mead bases into resistance, healing, and stamina meads.

• Start a carrot farm.
  How: Find carrot seeds in the Black Forest, cultivate soil, plant seeds, and reserve part of each harvest to grow more seed carrots.

• Build transport links.
  How: Chop birch or oak with the Bronze Axe for fine wood. Craft bronze nails for a Karve and use fine wood, Greydwarf eyes, and Surtling Cores to create paired portals. Metal ore cannot pass through a normal portal.

• Collect Core Wood and find Haldor if practical.
  How: Chop Pine trees for stronger support beams. Explore Black Forests for Haldor's camp; save Coins for the Megingjord, which greatly improves ore-hauling capacity.

Unlock the Swamp

• Locate The Elder.
  How: Read its Vegvisir inside a Burial Chamber or discover the altar while exploring.

• Collect 3 Ancient Seeds.
  How: Destroy Greydwarf nests and kill Greydwarf Brutes or Shamans until you have three.

• Prepare for The Elder.
  How: Bring good food, healing mead, a bow with plenty of arrows, and upgraded gear. Place a portal and bed well outside the altar area.

• Summon and defeat The Elder.
  How: Burn 3 Ancient Seeds at the altar. Use the stone pillars as cover from ranged vines, keep moving away from summoned roots, and attack when safe.

• Collect the Swamp Key.
  How: Pick up the boss drop and store any spare key safely. It opens the locked Sunken Crypts that contain most early iron.

Advance when: [ ] You have the Swamp Key, poison-resistance mead, a Bronze Axe, a good shield/weapon, and materials for a safe recovery portal.

3. Swamp — obtain iron and defeat Bonemass

Survive and establish iron production

• Brew Poison Resistance Mead before entering.
  How: Make the mead base in a Cauldron and ferment it. Drink it before fighting Blobs, Oozers, or Bonemass; do not wait until after being poisoned.

• Create a safe Swamp foothold.
  How: Land in a neighboring Meadows or Black Forest when possible. Put a portal on dry, defensible ground and approach the Swamp by day. It always rains in the Swamp, so the Wet effect slows stamina recovery; maintain a long Rested timer and walk when sprinting is unnecessary.

• Use the Hoe to make safe paths.
  How: Level or raise ground between dry patches. Mark Crypts and Surtling fire geysers, and stay out of deep water where Leeches can reach you.

• Open and clear Sunken Crypts.
  How: Use the Swamp Key, mine Muddy Scrap Piles, and clear one side of blocked doors before opening a path so enemies cannot surround you.

• Haul and smelt Scrap Iron.
  How: Move ore by ship or cart because normal portals reject metal. Build a nearby smelting outpost if the return voyage is too long.

• Spend early iron on progression tools.
  How: Prioritize an Iron Pickaxe, a strong shield, and an Iron Mace for Bonemass. Then consider armor, a Longship, Stonecutter, Huntsman Bow, and base upgrades.

• Improve your kitchen and farm.
  How: Collect turnip seeds in the Swamp and grow them at a safer farm. Save seed turnips before cooking the rest. Gather entrails, bloodbags, thistle, and ooze for recipes.

• Collect the Swamp's supporting resources.
  How: Chop Ancient Trees for Ancient Bark; kill Abominations for Roots and Guck; hunt Wraiths at night for Chains; and mark Surtling geysers for renewable Cores and coal. A Root Mask can replace poison mead for ordinary exploration, but mead remains the safer Bonemass preparation.

Unlock the Mountains

• Locate Bonemass.
  How: Read a Vegvisir inside a Sunken Crypt or discover the skull-shaped altar while exploring.

• Collect 10 Withered Bones.
  How: Loot them from chests and muddy scrap areas inside Sunken Crypts.

• Prepare the Bonemass arena.
  How: Use a Hoe to flatten or raise nearby ground above the water, clear spawners, place a distant portal, and bring Poison Resistance Mead, healing mead, and a blunt weapon.

• Summon and defeat Bonemass.
  How: Place 10 Withered Bones at the altar. Keep poison resistance active, destroy summoned adds, use blunt damage, and step away from its poison cloud.

• Equip the Wishbone.
  How: Pick up Bonemass's drop and equip it in the accessory slot. Faster pulses and louder sounds indicate that buried treasure or silver is close.

Advance when: [ ] You have the Wishbone, an Iron Pickaxe, Frost Resistance Mead, strong Swamp-tier food, and iron-tier combat gear.

4. Mountains — mine silver and defeat Moder

Become frost-proof and reach the silver tier

• Brew Frost Resistance Mead.
  How: Prepare and ferment it before climbing. Keep the effect active until you obtain a wolf or lox cape or another item that supplies frost resistance.

• Establish a mountain outpost.
  How: Enter by day, carry portal materials, and build in a defensible ruin or on a cleared ledge. Keep stamina available for slopes and surprise wolf attacks.

• Use the Wishbone to find silver.
  How: Walk across high mountain ground with it equipped. Dig where the pulses are fastest, expose the vein carefully, and mine it with an Iron Pickaxe.

• Collect the supporting materials.
  How: Hunt wolves for pelts and trophies, drakes for freeze glands and trophies, and mine obsidian. Search cabins and chests for onion seeds.

• Upgrade Mountain food production.
  How: Build the silver-based Butcher's Table upgrade for the Cauldron, then grow onions outside the Mountains and cook Mountain-tier meals.

• Craft permanent frost protection.
  How: Make a Wolf Fur Cape, Wolf Armor Chest, or another item with frost resistance. Remember that the Wet effect can still make mountain cold dangerous.

• Upgrade your silver-tier loadout.
  How: Choose armor and weapons that fit your skills. Draugr Fang, Frostner, silver weapons, wolf armor, or Fenris armor are common targets; you do not need all of them. Frost Caves are optional progression but supply Fenris materials, while Stone Golems and caves supply Crystal for window pieces.

Unlock Plains production

• Locate Moder's altar.
  How: Read a Vegvisir in a mountain ruin or Frost Cave, or find the large stone altar while exploring high peaks.

• Collect and transport 3 Dragon Eggs.
  How: Take eggs from drake nests. They are very heavy and cannot pass through a normal portal, so plan multiple trips, use extra carrying capacity, or ship them.

• Prepare for Moder.
  How: Flatten enough ground to move safely, clear nearby enemies, place a recovery portal below the summit, and bring frost protection, strong food, healing/stamina mead, a bow, and many arrows.

• Summon and defeat Moder.
  How: Place the 3 Dragon Eggs at the altar. Avoid aerial breath attacks, conserve stamina, shoot while she is airborne, and use melee openings when she lands.

• Build an Artisan Table.
  How: Use Moder's Dragon Tears at your main production base. The table unlocks the Blast Furnace, Windmill, Spinning Wheel, and other Plains-tier production.

Advance when: [ ] You have an Artisan Table, strong silver-tier gear, good food/meads, and a safe route to a large Plains biome.

5. Plains — process black metal and defeat Yagluth

Build the Plains production chain

• Create a safe Plains foothold.
  How: Scout from a neighboring biome, kill Deathsquitos before advancing, avoid Fuling villages at night, and place a protected recovery portal.

• Gather Black Metal Scrap.
  How: Kill Fulings and collect their drops. Transport the scrap home or build local production because normal portals reject it.

• Build a Blast Furnace.
  How: Place it within Artisan Table range and fuel it with coal to turn Black Metal Scrap into bars.

• Raid a Fuling village for barley and flax.
  How: Pull enemies out in small groups, destroy shamans and berserkers carefully, then loot crops from cultivated plots and chests.

• Start a protected Plains farm.
  How: Barley and flax only grow in the Plains. Cultivate a fenced or earthen-walled plot and replant enough of each harvest to expand production.

• Build a Windmill and Spinning Wheel.
  How: Mill barley into barley flour for top-tier food and spin flax into linen thread for Padded armor and other gear.

• Upgrade to Plains-tier gear and food.
  How: Use black metal for your chosen weapon and shield, and linen plus iron for Padded armor. Make barley-based meals and Fire Resistance Barley Wine.

• Collect the Plains' optional materials.
  How: Hunt or tame Lox for meat and pelts. Clear Growths from Tar Pits and drain the pits to collect Tar for building pieces, furniture, and Black Metal Chests.

Unlock visibility in the Mistlands

• Locate Yagluth's altar.
  How: Search Stonehenge-like structures for a Vegvisir or look for the giant stone hand altar.

• Collect 5 Fuling Totems.
  How: Raid Fuling villages and outposts. Totems usually sit on stands or are carried by Fuling Berserkers.

• Prepare the arena.
  How: Clear nearby enemies, place a remote portal, use the stone fingers for cover, and bring Fire Resistance Barley Wine, healing/stamina mead, your best food, and repaired gear.

• Summon and defeat Yagluth.
  How: Place the 5 Fuling Totems at the altar. Keep fire resistance active, move out of meteor impacts, use pillars against the beam, and attack between abilities.

• Build a Wisp Fountain.
  How: Use Yagluth's Torn Spirit at your base. Collect wisps from the fountain at night or during rainy weather and craft a Wisplight; make Wisp Torches for fixed clear areas.

Advance when: [ ] You have a Wisplight, upgraded Plains-tier gear, strong food, a Black Metal Axe, spare Black Metal for the next tool, and recovery portal materials.

6. Mistlands — unlock Eitr crafting and defeat The Queen

See, move, and establish production

• Enter with a Wisplight and a cautious route.
  How: Approach from Plains or by ship, avoid blind climbs, listen for enemies, and use Wisp Torches to mark cleared paths. Carry a portal and never let stamina hit zero on steep terrain.

• Collect Yggdrasil Wood and craft a Black Metal Pickaxe.
  How: Chop a Yggdrasil shoot with a Black Metal Axe, then combine 3 Yggdrasil Wood with 25 Black Metal at a level-2 Forge. Use the pickaxe to mine petrified remains for Black Marble. Avoid damaging Dvergr property unless ready to fight them.

• Collect the main creature materials.
  How: Hunt Hares for Hare Meat and Scale Hide; Seekers for Carapace; Seeker Soldiers for Mandibles; Gjall for Bilebags; and Ticks for Blood Clots. Gather Royal Jelly from Infested Mine broods.

• Use ancient weapons and armor as an iron source.
  How: Mine the giant ancient swords and armor scattered through the biome with a Black Metal Pickaxe. They provide Scrap Iron without another Swamp voyage.

• Clear Infested Mines.
  How: Search Dvergr-style stair entrances and abandoned towers. Bring area damage, poison resistance, healing, and a route back to the exit. Loot Black Cores and every Sealbreaker Fragment.

• Build a Black Forge after collecting 5 Black Cores.
  How: Combine Black Cores with Yggdrasil Wood and Black Marble. This unlocks the first Mistlands weapons and becomes the main station for later melee and ranged gear.

• Obtain a Dvergr Extractor component.
  How: It comes from a component crate at a Dvergr site. Breaking their property makes nearby Dvergr hostile, so either accept the fight or let enemies damage the ward/crate. The component cannot pass through a normal portal, so carry or ship it to the target root.

• Extract sap from an Ancient Root.
  How: Build a Sap Extractor on a glowing root using the Dvergr component, Yggdrasil Wood, and Black Metal. Empty it regularly and use more than one root if production is slow.

• Gather Soft Tissue.
  How: Mine the brains inside giant petrified skulls or loot it from suitable Dvergr structures. Black Marble from the same remains is also useful.

• Build an Eitr Refinery.
  How: Spend 5 Black Cores and feed it Sap plus Soft Tissue. Enclose it in Black Marble or place it away from valuables because its sparks damage ordinary structures.

• Produce Refined Eitr.
  How: Keep the refinery supplied and collect the finished drops. This material unlocks Mistlands crafting stations, magic gear, and advanced weapons.

• Build a Galdr Table.
  How: Combine 5 Black Cores with Refined Eitr and the other construction materials. If cores are scarce, temporarily dismantle and reuse a station; eventually gather enough cores for the refinery, Black Forge, and Galdr Table together.

• Start a Mistlands farm.
  How: Plant Jotun Puffs and Magecaps in cultivatable Mistlands soil. Protect the plot with walls and Wisp Torches, and reserve crops for replanting.

• Craft and upgrade your chosen build.
  How: For melee/ranged, make Carapace gear and Mistlands weapons. For magic, make Eitr-weave armor and staves. The Feather Cape is a major traversal and fall-safety upgrade for either build.

Unlock the Ashlands voyage

• Collect 9 Sealbreaker Fragments.
  How: Break the glass cases found in Infested Mines. You will usually need to clear several mines.

• Locate The Queen's Infested Citadel.
  How: Read a Vegvisir inside an Infested Mine. The marked Citadel is sealed and cannot be opened without the completed key.

• Craft and use the Sealbreaker.
  How: Combine all 9 fragments at a Galdr Table, take it to the Citadel, and open the entrance. The first Queen fight requires no separate summoning offering.

• Prepare for The Queen.
  How: Upgrade your chosen gear, bring top Mistlands food, poison resistance, major healing, stamina or Eitr mead, and area-damage options for spawned Seekers. Place a portal outside the Citadel.

• Defeat The Queen and collect Majestic Carapace.
  How: Control her summoned enemies, use the entrance or stairs to reset pressure, and do not leave without the boss drop. A rematch requires 3 Seeker Soldier Trophies.

• Build the Artisan Press and make Ceramic Plates.
  How: Add the Press to an Artisan Table using Black Marble, Bronze, and Majestic Carapace. Feed Black Marble into the Press to make the plates needed for Ashlands equipment.

• Build a Drakkar and Shield Core.
  How: The Drakkar requires 100 Iron Nails, 30 Ceramic Plates, 50 Finewood, and 25 Yggdrasil Wood. It is the ship designed for the boiling southern sea. Make a Shield Core for an early Ashlands Shield Generator.

Advance when: [ ] You have a Drakkar, Shield Core, Fire Resistance Barley Wine, fully repaired Mistlands gear, strong food, two portal kits, and spare recovery equipment.

7. Ashlands — establish a foothold and defeat Fader

Survive the landing

• Prepare a southern staging base.
  How: Build a protected portal and dock in the closest safe biome north of the Ashlands. Store spare Drakkar materials and a backup gear set there.

• Load the Drakkar for a permanent beachhead.
  How: Bring a Shield Core, portal materials, Workbench, Stonecutter materials, wood, stone, the best Mistlands food, Fire Resistance Barley Wine, healing/stamina or Eitr meads, ammunition, and repair-ready gear.

• Sail due south through the spires.
  How: Use only the Drakkar, steer slowly between rocks, avoid entering the boiling water, and deal with Bonemaw Serpents without abandoning the ship.

• Secure the landing immediately.
  How: Clear enough space, place and connect a portal, then build a Shield Generator using the Shield Core. Feed it bones to keep the protective field active and wall the portal against enemies.

Unlock the Ashlands crafting tier

• Gather Ashwood, Grausten, and early creature drops.
  How: Chop scorched trees, mine or dismantle stone structures, and kill nearby Charred and Asksvin. Work outward from your shielded portal in short daytime trips.

• Collect the named Ashlands resources as they appear.
  How: Store Sulfur, Charred Bones and Skulls, Celestial Feathers, Fiddleheads, Smoke Puffs, and Vineberry Clusters. They feed later crafting, food, farming, and equipment recipes even when they are not the immediate boss gate.

• Craft Basalt Bombs.
  How: Gather Proustite Powder and Asksvin Bladders, then craft bombs at a Workbench. Throw them onto lava to create temporary platforms; always keep an escape route.

• Find Putrid Holes and Molten Cores.
  How: Search Ashlands caves, clear the inhabitants, and loot cores. Use Molten Cores to build a Stone Portal so ore and metal can be transported through a portal connection.

• Acquire Flametal Ore.
  How: Mine Flametal pillars from Basalt Bomb platforms with a Black Metal Pickaxe, or loot Flametal from Charred Fortresses. Pillars can sink, so retreat before your platform route disappears.

• Smelt Flametal and upgrade production.
  How: Process Flametal Ore in a Blast Furnace. Upgrade the Black Forge with the Cooler, Vice, and Gem Cutter, and upgrade the Galdr Table as recipes allow. Use the stations to unlock Ashlands armor, weapons, magic, tools, and capes.

• Upgrade food and farming.
  How: Collect Ashlands crops and creature ingredients, expand earlier Barley/Mistlands farms, and build the cooking-station upgrades needed for the best health, stamina, or Eitr foods.

Raid fortresses and unlock Fader

• Locate Charred Fortresses.
  How: Look inland for the green beam above a fortress. Establish a portal outpost nearby before starting the assault.

• Breach and clear each fortress.
  How: Use siege equipment such as a Battering Ram, attack from a nearby height, or use suitable magic. Destroy spawners and warlocks before looting the central tower.

• Collect gemstones, Bell Fragments, and Fader's location.
  How: Loot fortress chests and read the Vegvisir in a central tower. Gemstones can be used to create elemental variants of Flametal weapons.

• Craft 3 Bells from 9 Bell Fragments.
  How: Each Bell costs 3 fragments and is crafted at the Black Forge. Keep raiding fortresses until you have all nine fragments.

• Prepare Fader's arena.
  How: Place a protected recovery portal outside the coliseum, clear surrounding enemies and spawners, repair and upgrade Ashlands gear, and bring the best food plus plenty of healing and resistance meads.

• Summon and defeat Fader.
  How: Hang the 3 Bells on the stands around the arena and interact with the central altar. Keep moving through area attacks, kill summoned enemies before they accumulate, and attack during safe openings.

• Mount Fader's trophy and store the relic.
  How: Return to the sacrificial stones to unlock the carry-weight and movement-speed Forsaken power. Keep the Fader Relic and your strongest gear ready for the next biome.

Current completion gate: [ ] Fader is defeated and your Ashlands crafting, food, farm, portal, and backup-gear systems are stable.

8. Deep North — wait for Valheim 1.0

• Do not treat previews as a finished progression route yet.
  How: Valheim 1.0 and Deep North release on 9 September 2026. The official FAQ says old worlds will work, but unexplored areas generate new biome content most reliably.

• Prepare without exploring the far north.
  How: Defeat Fader, stock top-tier food and resistance meads, save spare Ashlands gear, and leave northern map areas unexplored until the update.

Quick boss gate reference

Sources

• Progression guide _ Valheim Wiki _ Fandom.pdf — attached 26 August 2026; used for the section-by-section cross-reference.
• Valheim Wiki — Progression guide — the page this checklist summarizes and restructures.
• Official Valheim 1.0 release announcement — confirms the 9 September 2026 launch.
• Official Valheim 1.0 FAQ — confirms existing-world behavior and recommends unexplored areas/new worlds for new biome generation.
• Ashlands preparation guide — cross-check for the Sealbreaker, Majestic Carapace, Artisan Press, Ceramic Plates, and Drakkar chain.
• Fader summoning guide — cross-check for the 9 Bell Fragments → 3 Bells progression gate.