Survival is not the only goal of Valheim. You will need to kill the game’s five bosses to progress to the end-game and get more crafting recipes for tools, weapons, and armor. These difficult enemies are summoned in very specific biomes, though their individual locations will vary based on your seed.
Before you can summon a boss in Valheim, you must discover its complementary runestone hidden somewhere in its biome. After you do so, the boss’ mystical altar location will be marked on your map, and then you must sacrifice certain items at the altar for the boss to appear.
It is highly recommended to be well-rested before each encounter and bring along as many health items as possible. In the early game, this means eating berries, cooked meat, and cooked fish before each encounter, all of which will max out your health and stamina bars. Later, you can craft potions with the fermenter.
How to Beat Eikthyr
How to Summon Eikthyr
When you first spawn into Valheim, you will see a stone circle. Each stone represents one of the game’s bosses. Eikthyr’s is the square one with red glowing runes. Interact with it and register Eikthyr’s altar location on your map.
You can summon this stag by offering 2x Deer Trophy at the mystical altar. Deer Trophies drop from deer hunting and killing deer in the Meadows and Black Forest biomes.
Since you can be attacked by other creatures, such as greylings, at night, summon Eikthyr in the daytime to make this battle easier.
Best Strategy
Eikthyr has targeted and AoE attacks, both of which come from the lightning energy in their antlers. They can also melee you with their antlers using a charged attack.
The two best weapons to craft this early in the game are:
- Flint Spear (5x Wood, 10x Flint, 2x Leather Scraps)
- Crude Bow (10x Wood, 8x Leather Scraps)
Both of these weapons put distance between you and the boss, giving you opportunities for ranged attacks while dodging lightning strikes.
The best arrows for your bow right now are Flint Arrows, which can be crafted with:
- 8x Wood
- 4x Flint
- 2x Feathers
Flint can be found on the banks of ponds and rivers in the Meadows biome, as well as along the ocean shore. Feathers can be scavenged from chests, found on the ground, or gather from killing birds.
Rewards
Once Eikthyr is defeated, he will drop the following items:
- Eikthyr Trophy
- 3x Hard Antler
If you hang the trophy on the sacrificial stone where you spawned into your world seed, you will be rewarded with Eikthyr’s forsaken power, which reduces your jump and run stamina by 60%.
The three hard antlers can be used to craft the antler pickaxe (10x Wood, 1x Hard Antler), which can mine for resources such as stone, copper, tin, and iron.
How to Beat The Elder
How to Summon The Elder
The second boss of the game can be summoned after locating his rune stone on one of the Burial Chambers. These are dungeon structures that can be found in random locations in the Black Forest and Meadows biomes.
Once you locate The Elder’s rune stone, it will reveal the location of the summoning altar on the map.
In order to summon The Elder you must offer 3x Ancient Seeds at the altar. Ancient Seeds drop from Greydwarf Brutes and Greydwarf Shamans that roam the Black Forest biomes.
You can also find them inside random loot chests and by destroying Greydwarf Nests that spawn creatures.
Best Strategy
The Elder is a tree-like boss that has a massive health pool. Their stomping and root attacks are very dangerous, with the latter being very unpredictable. Unless you’re using console commands, that means you should use a ranged weapon, such as a bow.
You will also need to make good use of the rocks and trees scattered around the arena. Hide behind them when The Elder attacks, and then pop out to get in a few shots. Stay on the move, however, as The Elder can destroy these trees and rocks, and their root attack can get around them.
At this stage of the game, you should be able to craft the Finewood Bow:
- 10x Fine Wood
- 10x Core Wood
- 2x Deer Hide
The best arrows against The Elder are Fire Arrows, which can be crafted with 8x Wood, 8x Resin, and 2x Feathers. You will need around 50-100 arrows to beat this boss.
The battle can also be further complicated by the appearance of trolls and greydwarves, so like Eikthyr, try to summon The Elder during the daytime.
Rewards
After beating The Elder, you will be rewarded with:
- Swamp Key
- The Elder Trophy
The Swamp Key is important for the next boss fight, Bonesmass, as it unlocks all of the Sunken Crypts found in the swamp biome.
The Elder Trophy can be hanged at the sacrificial stone at your world seed spawn point, which appears at spawn, and you will receive The Elder’s forsaken power, which allows you to cut trees much faster.
How to Beat Bonemass in Valheim
How to Summon Bonemass
Sunken Crypts are dungeons that spawn randomly in the Swamp biome. Some areas on the map will have only one of these burial chambers, while others can have five or more. Use the Swamp Key from The Elder boss to unlock them (one key works for them all).
Inside one of the dungeons, you will find a rune stone, which will mark the Bonemass altar’s exact location on the map. Finding this rune stone can take a long time, as you have to mine through muddy scrap piles and fight through many Draugr.
We looked through seven Sunken Crypts before finding the rune stone. It’s helpful to mark each crypt location after it’s been searched so you don’t waste time.
While searching, gather any Withered Bones you come across. You will need 10x Withered Bones to summon Bonemass.
Best Strategy
Since Bonemass is resistant to piercing and slashing damage, you can’t use swords, axes, or bows against him. You could use Frost Arrows, although they are very hard to get at this point in the game and require venturing into the Mountain biome.
However, they are weak to blunt damage, which leaves you with the following weapon options:
- Iron Mace (4x Wood, 20x Iron, 3x Leather Scraps)
- Bronze Mace (4x Wood, 8x Bronze, 3x Leather Scraps)
- Iron Sledge (10x Ancient Bark, 30x Iron, 4x Ymir Flesh, 1x Draugr Elite Trophy)
This fight is very grindy, as you need to learn their cycle of attacks and act accordingly.
First, they will perform a swiping attack, which must be dodged. Once Bonemass slows down, you can approach for a series of blunt attacks. Second, they will summon a horde of skeletons and blobs that must be dealt with. You can use other weapons against them if you want to preserve your blunt weapon for Bonemass (though the AoE of the Iron Sledge is very effective).
Lastly, they will emit a poisonous gas, which must be avoided at all costs, as it will give you poison damage. It is recommended to bring along a few Poison Resistance potions for this part of the fight.
Rewards
Bonemass will drop the following items after being defeated:
- Wishbone
- Bonemass Trophy
The wishbone is important because it reveals the locations of muddy scrap piles, silver veins, and buried treasure.
The Bonemass trophy will grant you the Bonemass forsaken power after being hanged at the sacrificial stone at spawn. This power makes you resistant to blunt, slash, and pierce damage.
How to Beat Moder
How to Summon Moder
To summon Moder, you need 3x Dragon Eggs, which can be found inside nests that spawn randomly in the Mountain biome.
To find the location of the summoning altar, you must find Stone Towers on the Mountain biome that may contain a signal stone. Once you find the signal stone and interact with it, Moder’s altar location will be marked on your map.
It is strongly recommended to locate the altar before bringing the eggs, as they are extremely heavy. You will not be able to carry all three eggs at the same time, even if you increase your carrying weight by purchasing Megingjord from Haldor.
It’s best to find the altar first and then look for eggs around it.
Best Strategy
Moder is a wyvern that can deal devastating melee damage while on the ground and drop ice crystals from the air to deal frost damage. Bringing Frost Resistance potions is a good idea.
Being ice-based, Moder is mostly weak to fire damage. Bring the best bow you can get at this point in the game and a lot of Fire Arrows (8x Wood, 8x Resin, 2x Feathers). If you can’t craft Fire Arrows, you can opt for Poison Arrows (8x Wood, 4x Obsidian, 2x Feather, 2x Ooze).
The best way to kill Moder is to get on top of a Stone Tower and shoot arrows while taking cover inside the tower. Beware, though: they are strong enough to destroy stone walls after a fashion.
Rewards
Once Moder is defeated, you will be rewarded with:
- 10x Dragon Tears
- Moder Trophy
Dragon Tears can be used to craft the Artisan Table (2x Dragon Tear, 10x Wood), an important tool for crafting the Spinning Wheel, Windmill, and Blast Furnace.
The Moder Trophy will give you the Moder’s forsaken power, which allows you to always have tailwind when sailing.
How to Beat Yagluth
How to Summon Yagluth
Head to the Plains biome and attack Fuling camps for Fuling Totems, which are drops from Fuling Berserkers. You need 5x Fuling Totems to summon the Yagluth.
Locate stone structures that look like Stonehenge in the Plains biome. One of them will have a stone tablet that will show you the location of the Yagluth’s altar. Bring the Fuling Totems to the altar and put them in each of the five niches.
Best Strategy
Yagluth is the undead boss of the fire element, which makes them weak to frost and spirit damage. The best weapon against Yagluth is a bow with Silver Arrows, which can be crafted using this recipe:
- 8x Wood
- 1x Silver
- 2x Feather
Yagluth has three main attack patterns.
The first one is their slamming attack, which creates small, explosive AoE. This attack can be easily dodged. The second one is more dangerous, where Yagluth summons meteors from the sky. This attack covers a wider area, so it is wise to keep a healthy distance from the boss as soon as the stonefall starts.
The last attack is a fire-breathing one, which can be either dodged or blocked by a Silver Shield (10x Wood, 8x Silver).
Bring along some Fire Resistance: Barley Wine ( 10x Barley, 10x Cloudberries) and at least 100x Silver Arrows, and you should defeat the final boss without any problems.
Rewards
After you kill Yagluth, they will drop:
- 3x Yagluth Thing
- Yagluth Trophy
As of now, Yagluth Thing has no application in the game. But their trophy gives you some important resistances against fire, poison, and frost damage.
That’s all you need to know on how to find, summon, and beat every boss in Valheim. For more on this Viking survival world, consider heading over to our guides on deflecting attacks, mining copper ore, and how to get rid of unwanted items.
