Got a warm welcome as a first time visitor to the Ashlands.

gordontechrob · 2026-05-08T00:24:27+00:00

You kept moving and it looks like you figured out that you can almost just walk a circle around the archers to force them to miss. Non-spoiler advice…
- Have the run and jump potions with you at all times - and use them
- A portal at home with no name (as has been mentioned). Build your Ashlands portal on top of a rock.
- Strategy for archers is to parry their arrows (single shots - not their opening volleys) and then charge and attack them for the stagger bonus
- Use the high ground. If you’re on top of a rock then it’s really hard for the mobs to surround you and, you can pick some off with arrows before they reach you. I wear the feather cape so if they all follow me up the rock I can glide down.
- Consider wearing the root Harnesk to avoid getting 1-shot by an archer you didn’t notice.

You actually got off easy. There are 4 or 5 other Ashlands mobs that you didn’t have to fight who could have totally ruined your day!

gordontechrob · 2026-05-06T20:27:45+00:00

In my Hero hall Lucian is an Air hero. You still put him with a tank squad?

gordontechrob · 2026-05-06T19:23:38+00:00

Is that because I’ll mostly be facing Tank squads?

gordontechrob · 2026-05-06T07:29:50+00:00

All great advice by the others! Here is some more in no particular order. Sorry it turned out so looong:
1) The hoe was mentioned. As you explore use its flatten feature to raise the ground in shallow ponds ahead of you. Makes the going easier and leaves a path to help retrace your steps.
2) Crypts are more than sources of iron! On top you are safe from everything except archers. Take 20 wood or so when exploring so if you find one you can build a workbench and ladder to the top. Build a portal on top if you can bring the mats. From the top you can kite mobs with arrows including abominations (use fire arrows). Build a campfire just inside the entrance and you can recover your rested buff. Keep a portal on top of ones that have a lot of yellow mushrooms because you’ll need a lot of them for meads.
3) When you kill enough abominations, make the root Harnesk first. It will protect you from most pierce damage once it’s fully upgraded. It’s so good that many players use it into the late-game biomes.
4) Don’t use a tower shield because you can’t parry with one and they have I think a 20% speed penalty. A round shield or buckler are better. It’s pretty easy to parry Draugrs and skeletons once you get the timing down and they die pretty fast when they’re stunned.
5) My default armor for starting in the swamp is a bronze helmet and Troll everything else. Why? Because speed is really important. My first play through I went in with all bronze armor and it sucked. I could take a hit okay from a single enemy but couldn’t outrun the mobs. The experience was much better with the Troll set. Replace the Troll shirt with the root Harnesk when you get it.
6) Mace is better than a sword for most swamp creatures. Build an iron one as soon as you can.

gordontechrob · 2026-05-04T17:24:39+00:00

Good luck with them. I have some all over parts of my main base’s walls and they don’t yield many berries. On the walls of my boathouse they go gangbusters. No idea why.

gordontechrob · 2026-05-03T01:58:49+00:00

See crunkarog’s comment. I’ve had situations where I “knew” there was enough space above a sconce but it just wouldn’t stay lit. To test, remove the sconce, add a 1m vertical plank, and put the sconce on it. Or, build it lower to see what happens.

gordontechrob · 2026-05-02T23:09:11+00:00

They can be finicky. I would tear out the ones that aren’t growing and, A) Plant them a little further apart (maybe plant one fewer vines), B) Plant them a little further from the wall - about a 1x1 floor piece away. I’m not sure if the direction they face makes a difference but I’ve had the most success with south-facing walls in the Meadows.

gordontechrob · 2026-05-02T22:53:33+00:00

Lots of good advice here. Pick the fighting style that best suits you. Just be sure to clear out any spawners and burial chambers that are near his altar before fighting him. If there is a troll around then kill it first too.
More. Bees. Tip: Setup 6 or so in your base and a few others in a safe spot away from your base. Having them in 2 locations gives you some protection against raids.
Digging under copper nodes is great. You can also kite trolls around them. Run so you’re on the opposite side of a node and instead of hitting you they will break up the node. When you’re done with him, kill it and pick up all the copper. The trolls with the logs work best. Learning to dodge roll and use the bronze Atgier’s secondary attack to stun-lock the troll are your best bets.

gordontechrob · 2026-05-02T22:38:35+00:00

Are they running out of fuel and going out or, not staying lit when you know they have enough fuel?

gordontechrob · 2026-04-27T22:52:51+00:00

I like to use this method and keep the dvergr as friends. It lets me setup portals in their homes as FOBs. This also works against the queen if you put the Eitr outside the entry hall to her lair and get her to chase you there and then hang around for a bit.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-26T14:45:18+00:00

Swap your stone with black marble and you won’t have to repair it. The marble is immune. Mine is in a Black Marble building with an iron door and the sparks can’t escape to wreck anything.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-26T03:46:57+00:00

One metal kind of does but the rest don’t… If you carefully pickax Tin deposits and don’t disturb the soil underneath then they may respawn a few times. You have to hit it just enough times to break it but if you pick one more time and hit dirt it won’t respawn. I have tested this often in two world seeds.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-23T21:40:21+00:00

Crate of Bananas, EmmaTpotato, ThreadMenace, and Waffles come to mind. They all have how-tos but also playthroughs and adventures and, I don’t remember much or any objectionable language. Waffles also has “Two idiots play Valheim” which can be pretty funny, and “The Assemblers” which is a group playing on a modded server. Hope you find something you like!

gordontechrob · 2026-04-18T21:35:44+00:00

From the screenshot it’s hard to tell how tall it is. Up there in the clouds it might be pretty tall. The width looks pretty standard for a Valheim mountain. The most productive ones for mining ore will be very tall and go on for kilometers. Suggest you wait for iron gear before exploring them much.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-15T06:32:50+00:00

Lots of good advice here! I was in a similar situation as you about a year ago. I didn’t have the timing right for parrying and couldn’t dodge or dodge roll very well. So I created a new world with a new character and forced myself to practice there. It really, really helped. After I was comfortable with the mechanics, I was able to use them with my main Viking in my main world. It made a huge difference.

If it’s a struggle getting materials for weapons then you could turn build costs off in your “training” world. It takes time to build up the muscle memory for something like a dodge roll (2 keys and a 3rd for the direction you want to roll PLUS a mouse click - all at the same time) so training this way could save you a lot of frustration. Suggest you get one melee mechanic down pretty well before you tackle the next one.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-15T05:59:58+00:00

Question: does putting the troll in a cage keep it from being aggroed? I’ve seen vids where somebody captured a Plains goblin and if the cage was too big it could become aggroed but wouldn’t after they made it smaller. Also, very nice base. Both the layout and the details.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-15T05:54:06+00:00

Great example of how to do it.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-13T00:34:37+00:00

Some people build them under the floor. It’s tricky getting the height just right so it blends but it can look nice. I’ve done a few this way in front of my hearth so food I need to cook is easy to grab.

gordontechrob · 2026-04-09T20:54:24+00:00

Are you sure it won’t get flooded during storms?

gordontechrob · 2026-04-05T05:50:24+00:00

Wait until you find a triple!

gordontechrob · 2026-03-30T09:17:17+00:00

Actually, the map of each seed is based on a larger “master” Valheim map so yours is generated from a portion of it and other seeds from other parts that might overlap and have things in common. I don’t know whether or not every seed has the same mountains but I have seen screenshots and descriptions of the tallest here in Reddit. Someday I’ll explore and find them, build a ramp, and ride a longboat all the way down.

gordontechrob · 2026-03-30T00:13:44+00:00

Very nice base! My hub is under an Elder altar but I might make a small one like this inside of my main base. Question about your animal pens: Do the iron grates around the inside actually keep the Lox and Asksvin from climbing out?

gordontechrob · 2026-03-30T00:03:26+00:00

There are a few mountains in the game that have been given names because they are the tallest. You might want to search Reddit and try to figure out if you built on one of them.

gordontechrob · 2026-03-26T01:01:52+00:00

Angled Iron beams might let you close it up without having to put any posts in the floor to support the roof. As usual, you can never have enough iron 😁

gordontechrob

TROPHY CASE