Like any RPG worth its carrying weight in trinkets, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla uses a deep crafting system that allows players to customize and improve their gear and weapons in various ways.
This is a massive game, in part because of this crafting system, so we’ve put together this crafting guide to show you how to craft in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
With our guide, you’ll better understand how to use Runes, how to upgrade your armor and weapons, and where to find materials such as Iron Ore and Fabric. Here’s everything you need to know about crafting in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Crafting Guide
What Are Runes?
Runes are new to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and they fit right in with the Viking open world. These stones can be placed onto your weapons and armor as buffing items. They come in a wide variety of colors and specialties, which makes them one of the best ways to customize Viking warrior Eivor to their liking.
While most Runes only offer slight bonuses, such as +1.0 fire resistance or +14.9 health, it’s their compounding effect that is meant to alter Eivor into a stronger, swifter, sturdier hero. Stacking multiple Runes onto a single piece of gear starts to show a difference, and the rest of this guide will walk you through how to do that.
Runes are found inside chests across the game (they’re in almost every area). Any Rune can be inserted into any empty Rune slot on your choice of armor or weapons, but only some armor and weapons will have slots to use.
Next, we’ll show you how to give yourself more Rune slots in different pieces of gear.
How to Upgrade Weapons and Armor
After Eivor and the Raven Clan arrive in England and establish Ravensthorpe, your first order of business will be to build Gunnar’s blacksmithing shop. Once constructed, you’ll be able to visit Gunnar and request his services.
Gunnar is able to improve the quality of gear such as weapons and armor, which allows you to upgrade these items with additional Rune slots and fortify them with materials found around the vast world.
Gear Qualities
There are currently four gear qualities:
- Fine (grey) — No Rune slots, two upgrade slots
- Superior (red) — One Rune slot, four upgrade slots
- Flawless (blue) — Two Rune slots, seven upgrade slots
- Mythical (gold) — Three Rune slots, 10 upgrade slots
Upgrade Materials
Upgrades are made by using materials such as Leather, Iron Ore, Fabric, and Titanium.
- Leather is found often by hunting and taking it from animal hides.
- Iron Ore is found by smashing obsidian rocks in the wild.
- Fabric and Titanium are both quite rare but can be better located by using Raven’s-Eye by pressing Up on the D-Pad and scanning an area using your bird companion.
Provided you have enough to upgrade an item, you’ll see an up arrow on its icon in your inventory menu.
Applying Runes and upgrades can be done at any time in the game, but to improve a gear item’s quality, you’ll need to bring the right supplies to Gunnar, Ravensthorpe’s blacksmith. Each upgrade requires its own resource, often found in chests or rewarded through play.
- Carbon Ingot improves an item from Fine to Superior.
- Nickel Ingot improves an item from Superior to Flawless.
- Tungsten Ingot improves an item from Flawless to Mythical.
Each Ingot variety is rarer than the one before it. It’s worth noting that the game’s inventory menu currently shows a blank space beside Tungsten, suggesting a higher-quality piece of gear may come in a future update for the most committed players to chase.
It should go without saying, but you’ll want to make sure you routinely replace lower-tier gear with better stuff to keep Eivor formidable. Thanks to the upgrade system at the blacksmith’s shop, it’s also possible to keep your favorite gear for a long time so long as you find the resources you need to improve the items.
Other Resources
While it’s the Runes and materials you’ll want to carefully look for when trying to craft and improve your gear, there are several other Resources you’ll collect, which can be confusing if you don’t know what they’re for. Here’s a primer on each of those too.
Silver
Silver is the standard currency of ninth-century England. With Silver, Eivor can buy many goods and services, such as materials from shops or Jomsvikings, mercenaries for your longships created by other players in the community.
Opal
Opal is a rarer currency that can be spent at Thousand Eyes shops. These orphan shopkeepers offer timed contracts in exchange for Opal. In turn, you can use Opal to buy you some of the game’s rarest items.
Remember to prioritize these contracts should you accept any, as they tend to have timers of just a few real-life days or even hours.
Supplies and Raw Materials
Supplies and Raw Materials are the two vital resources you’ll need to improve your Settlement, Ravensthorpe, and unlock new gameplay activities such as fishing, hunting Templars, or hosting feasts for your clan.
Supplies
Supplies are found in virtually all villages or settlements, so you’ll want to scour the homes and buildings within them for more Supplies. Most Settlement upgrades require several hundred Supplies, and you’ll tend to find them in quantities of a few hundred at a time.
Raw Materials
Raw Materials, somewhat similarly, are needed in large quantities, and they are found only through performing Raids on your map. With each successful Raid, you’ll be one step closer to the next upgrade at home.
That’s our Assassin’s Creed Valhalla crafting guide. Now you know how important Runes are, how to upgrade weapons and armor, where to find important upgrade materials, and more. If you found this guide helpful, consider giving it a share!
