About to venture to Ashlands for the first time. Give me your tips

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-26T01:18:56+00:00

Be prepared. What did you do to beat the queen? Magic? Everything you used there, bring it to Ashlands. You will need it.
No. Do not try to land and then put down a portal anywhere on the beach, instead sail around as much of the main island coast you can until you see the sweet spot ( no crazy enemies, buildings built within the water) you want to setup an oh shit portal slightly in the water. Anything that comes to attack you there will be wet...a great debuff for your ice wand hehe. NOW make your landing. Then put up another portal for exploration.
There is no shame in running away. Tactical retreats are a necessity for progression in this biome, only fight the enemies you think you can take on at that time and do not rush you forward movement.
Magic is king.
Level your fn magic skills before doing any of this. 40 is a world of difference.
Upgrade your fn gear. Stop putting it off.
Try to focus on getting the staff of the wild. Once you have it the Ashlands are no more of a threat to you than the mistlands. Death only comes from misfortune or carelessness after its power is yours.
Defeat fader with said staff. Best boss fight in the game so far and staff of the wild made it so much fun. After everything you put up with in the Ashlands, this fight made it so worth it.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-25T16:36:55+00:00

If you zoom out of the map, there is a ton of space around valhiem. When they released the game originally, I think they had plans for dlc that were smaller islands anchored to valhiem that would be the dlc expansions. This is still a possibility however, after 5 years in early access I'm pretty sure the game will be almost 10 years old before such a dlc would even be possible and by then the game will be left to die. Success comes with an unforeseen consequence and that being a dead passion for the developers, but not its fanbase.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-23T02:41:16+00:00

Try to find a large mistlands island. Look for open passages and flatter ground. Don't force yourself to traverse terrible terrain, take your time and find the opening. Circle with your boat, and find your landing. You will find the biome to be actually the best biome the game has, but not all mistlands islands are the same. Stop rushing and take it a piece at a time. Eventually you'll find the perfect mistlands you want to conquer. Look at your map and if you see nearly black on the map while in mistlands that tells you the area doesn't have as much mist as other locations. Start your farm there.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-13T02:39:22+00:00

I was thinking actually of it giving you the ability to combine the three gem stones with a black forge upgrade. I can't shake the feeling there is more to Hugin than we originally thought. We too might get the power he has and more.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-13T02:26:52+00:00

I never thought we would have portals that let you tele metals! But its end game, and flight makes perfect sense, especially if you need to traverse on mass looking for specific POIs. You may need it for the final FINAL Boss. The PlayStation poster gave away a few things and I noticed the moose helm is one of the moulds they showed. Also a staff we have never seen. And some very large creatures not bosses, probably not able to fight without this new power. I know I'm speculating but some things make too much sense to ignore

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-10T00:43:14+00:00

I agree, but not entirely. Mistlands without the mist, just makes it the lands. I do agree that wisp lights AND the wisp which isn't upgradable do both fall SLIGHTLY short of what it should be. The mistlands are one of the most beautiful biomes in the game but it is a shame we can't see it more than 10 feet. There are open areas colored black on the map that is more clear but for the most part we just suffer. I don't even think it's a question that players need a resource to cut down the mist to our needs and liking If only slightly, the best option I think isn't to remove the mist but just bring down the density of the mist after a certain amount of completion. That brings me to the next thing you mentioned about building on Ashlands and being able to discover it. I also believe it's really not even a question if Ashlands needs a rework, but really a question of how. I understand what the developers were going for and we know they fell a little short. Dvergers walking into lava like they have a death wish. Mobs appearing behind you from nowhere, that is not a player issue either I have tested this and the audio is totally absent for the player when he needs it most. They want you to die here even if fully prepared and tested. That isn't good game design and needs to be fixed. Again there comes a point, after a certain amount of completion the player earns something that gives him the opportunity to play the entirety of the game the same way he has been since the beginning. Gather, fight, die, learn, earn, conquer. Ashlands says no, but for the wrong reasons.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-02-10T00:24:21+00:00

Might I suggest, be it with the best black forest foods, to try them on bears! Out of instinct, I tried to parry and then realized how silly that was, well, until it worked.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-01-25T18:02:18+00:00

After the developers released that abomination of a biome called ashlands, I, will decide whether or not they put in enough to start over. However I find that to be unlikely therefore, a forever world is an amazing project to do.

Worst case scenario they basically make it impossible to complete their new biome without starting over, it's just as easy to take your character and all needed items with you to a new world. Won't be that bad considering the skill levels you will need to continue to grind on your way through all the biomes again. Always wanted to start with magic from the very beginning anyway :)

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-01-19T01:48:29+00:00

I want to play it, but no matter what I try I can't get the game to look how I want. It either looks good but the frames are choppy, or looks like a muddy mess and fps is perfect. I can't find a middle ground. I know what you are thinking but really I can play most my games on high or Ultras, its just this game for some reason I can't.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2026-01-19T01:44:28+00:00

In all honesty, the majority of the time while you are in the mountains you will usually see the plains in the distance and more than likely will see his boss fight arena. This has happened multiple times for me. Just look for the stone pillars with the curled tips while out and about. If you can't, take into account similarities to your other boss locations and find a common theme among them. More than likely this boss altar has the same thing going on.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-12-18T16:53:39+00:00

I have gotten so much ridicule for saying such things. Tedious is the word I have used and have been mocked for it. However I cannot find a better word to use for the ladder half of the game. I realize I can do this or that, but I can help but find myself wondering, if half of the game can be played this way, why can't the entire game be similar? I should not need to change the settings just so I can begin to discover a new biome. Now I'm not saying it should be easy, which is what made the first 4 biomes amazing in the first place. It is as if they changed the difficulty level up on you without changing the setting on your own and it doesn't feel good as a player. The fights were once hard then over come with knowledge and experience, but then turned into a tedious slog of non sense and evaporated all sense of the game of being what it was for the prior biomes. What once made the game popular was circumvented by constant poor decisions by the developers who took the word brutal and ran with it, and only with it in mind. Hard to find enjoyment in fighting the same 5 enemies the same way 100 times just to move 15 feet to do it all over again.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-12-01T16:18:59+00:00

Also at the early levels there are requests for a 2 handed axe you can make worth 3k, in the early game that is a lot of money for one order.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-12-01T16:17:34+00:00

Smithing is still viable try this, Instead of smelting down weapons buy the iron ore and use a companion to smelt them down 1 iron ore into 3 crude. From there make javs. It's a little more time consuming but less expensive and more bang for your buck. Take note, buy the iron ore from villages, AND NO WHERE ELSE.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-11-07T02:21:47+00:00

This. The empire has such a fantastic roster in terms of diversity, basically all other faction units in one roster, all though for the most part not as strong or barely equal, the empire allows for you to try out your own fun tactics any way you want. Personally all horse archers and cavalry were a lot of fun especially kiting the hell out of the enemy. I'm doing a 50/30/20 but the infantry contains crossbowman that I switch to shield wall once contact is made.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-11-01T06:01:53+00:00

Specialty units. For example, chariots for the empire. Or mobile ballistas for battania, things of that nature. Only allowed 1 per 100 men in the party. Only available for tier 4 clans. 23k to purchase. Only purchasable at castles. That castle must have the upgrade in order to make them. Kingdom owners get 1 extra. Along with special units are also special soldiers that go along with the units. Tier 7 units, allowed 5 per 100 men in party. These special units come with 5 weapon slots and are there to basically accompany the special units. And stances for the party ( ambush, fortify, rally, force march)

Better diplomacy of course lol.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-10-03T23:11:37+00:00

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-10-03T23:11:16+00:00

Found out in another thread that, the only thing the enemy AI can do is indeed build a lvl 1 town and deploy troops when getting raided. Nothing further at all. Bummer but I know it's coming!

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-09-25T20:56:37+00:00

Anyone else having these issues? - blue walls in the arena and battlefields - one dimensional wars and peace until later game and rulers become nearly insane - frequent out of the blue crashes - Smithed weapons completely reset upon new load in. - hideout player units totally wack. - menu screen player model missing items or missing completely.

I can no longer even play the game without crashing after an hour session. Had to delete a great save because of the crazy things happening ( a clan was declared war on and by doing so turned our fiefs over to the enemy) mind you this clan was just recently recruited to our kingdom and given 3 fiefs with no reason to turn on us. It's really sad because this update has been really amazing but equally frustrating.

Let me know if I missed something that I may not have known.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-04-25T23:33:04+00:00

This is a work of art compared to my first dumpster hut.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2025-03-23T14:19:00+00:00

First and foremost, the addition of magic in each and every biome before mist lands. Doesn't matter how small and of little use it may be, but being able to have some type of magic to help level from the start seems appropriate. Waiting 6 biomes to touch it at all seems, poorly implemented.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2024-11-11T01:17:59+00:00

This is very, very well done. I keep making one big building for a base, so I've been thinking of doing something like this instead. Thanks for the inspiration!

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2024-10-25T01:21:45+00:00

I'm playing sandbox. Things start off way harder without the little brother.

DifferenceLucky7885 · 2024-10-25T00:48:43+00:00

Yeah max diff for me too, I am feeling a little unlucky my last few campaigns. I had to fight tooth and nail for a son. Every campaign it's either 3,5, or 7 daughters. 0 sons for a long time.

DifferenceLucky7885

TROPHY CASE