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Valheim progression guide – how to defeat the five Valheim bosses

To get your hands on new materials and special powers, you're going to need to take on these formidable bosses

A Viking stands on top of a snowy hill during sunrise, surrounded by trees that have been covered

If you want to progress in Valheim, you’re going to need to find and defeat the bosses first. When you drop down into Viking purgatory, you’re greeted by a circle of runes and sacrificial stones and Odin’s raven, Huginn, who periodically chirps tutorial instructions if you interact with him. Here, you can read about the five bosses that you need to defeat in order to ascend to Valhalla.

You won’t have to think about the bosses for a while when you first enter the game, as you focus on building up your base, gathering resources, and mastering the basics of combat – for tips, check out our Valheim beginner’s guide on getting started. As you begin the game in a Meadow biome, there’s very little danger and few enemies. Huginn will chime in when you’re about to enter a dangerous area such as The Black Forest. Although lumbering trolls may appear, they are easy to evade for now. As you grow more confident and wield better Valheim weapons, you can take on the Valheim bosses.

Boss locations appear on the map – some of them need to be located using runes. Bosses are summoned by placing offerings on their altar. Killing a boss and placing its trophy on its sacrificial stone grants you a special power, as well as providing loot drops and opening up new resources for you to progress and venture into new biomes. So, here are the five Valheim bosses you need to defeat and how to summon them.

The Valheim bosses are:

  • Eikthyr
  • The Elder
  • Bonemass
  • Moder
  • Yagluth

Eikthyr

How to summon: Place two deer trophies on the altar in the Meadow
Reward: Hard antlers, Eikthyr Trophy, new special power (stamina buff)

This is the first boss you can summon – a large red-eyed stag with giant antlers dripping with metal chains. Eikthyr has electrified antlers, and will use these to shoot electricity from a distance. The two other attacks include a close-ranged stomp and a swift, powerful ram attack.

Perfect location: The best Valheim seeds feature nearby boss altars

You should make sure to have a full night’s sleep before taking on Eikthyr, as well as ensuring your three food bars are topped up. Come armed with a wooden shield and a bow, which you can craft fairly early on in the game if you have enough leather scraps from killing boars.

The Valheim Elder boss standing in a forest clearing

The Elder

How to summon: Visit the Burial Chambers in The Black Forest and locate the rune to get the location of The Elder’s altar. You need to burn three ancient seeds to summon The Elder.
Reward: A key to the Swamp, Elder Trophy, new special power (increases wood chopping speed)

Found deep in The Black Forest, this gangly tree giant lashes out with hefty vine attacks – similarly to Eikthyr’s ranged attack. The Elder also has an area of effect attack – its stomp – and will also unleash vines from the ground to swipe at you. This is where your new pickaxe comes in handy, allowing you to craft new goodies such as better armour and weapons with Valheim bronze.

Flaming arrows unlock quite early on in the game and are highly effective against The Elder. Additionally, the pillars surrounding The Elder are impervious to its attacks, so you can use them as cover. If you need some extra tips, we’ve got a Valheim The Elder boss guide which goes into detail about how to tackle this boss as a solo player.

Bonemass

How to summon: Use the swamp key to access swamp crypts, which may contain a rune that gives you the location of Bonemass’ altar. You need to offer ten withered bones to summon Bonemass.
Reward: Wishbone, Bonemass Trophy, new special power (increased resistance to physical damage)

Bonemass is a giant, murky green sludge monster found lurking in the Swamp. It also has three attacks; releasing poisonous pores into the air, swiping with its arms, and summoning minions to join the fight. All of these moves are difficult to counter, and the various other swamp monsters are an unwanted distraction, so you want to play the defensive game here.

Come armed to the teeth with poison resistant mead, as well as Valheim iron armour and blunt weapons. You need to play the long game, evading and using melee attacks only to take this beast of a boss down. For more details, see our Valheim Bonemass guide.

The Valheim dragon, Moder, flying over an icy mountain

Moder

How to summon: Interact with a rune at the top of the Mountain to find the exact location of Moder. You need three dragon eggs to summon Moder.
Reward: Dragon tears, Moder Trophy, new special power (tailwind while sailing)

Although you can wander into the Mountain biome at any point, we don’t recommend it as you’ll slowly freeze to death. By this point you should be bundled up in tons of layers and ready to climb to this snowy peak. Awaiting you is Moder, an ice Wyvern with piercing blue eyes and sharp claws that it’ll wield in battle.

Like the other bosses, Moder performs a series of three attacks including the usual swipe, a flight attack that rains down projectiles, and a freezing breath attack that impacts your movement. Arrows are your best bet to take Moder down, but your main obstacle here is preparing for the cold weather – we recommend wolf armour and frost resistant mead from a Valheim fermenter .

Yagluth

How to summon: Find the tablet in standing stones in the Plains, which adds Yagluth to the map. You need five fuling totems to summon Yagluth.
Reward: Yagluth Things (placeholder items), Yagluth Trophy, new special power (increased resistance to elemental attacks)

The final boss in Valheim is Yagluth, a giant skeleton void of a lower body, that uses bony hands to slowly crawl towards you. One of the more terrifying bosses in the game, it can be found in the Plains. Yagluth has three attacks: he breathes a long plume of fire and turns slowly, slams an orange glowing fist on the ground and creates a rain of explosives, and pounds the ground with a blue glowing fist creating a circular explosion. Most of these attacks are difficult to avoid – though you can use the stone pillars to protect you from raining fire. You’ll certainly need healing potions and your best armour.

Although Yagluth’s moves can be preempted, make sure you use the time between attacks – and when Yagluth is focusing on another player – wisely to get in as many melee attacks as possible. Yagluth’s loot drop hasn’t been confirmed as part of early access, but you can still pick up a placeholder item.

Those are all the Valheim bosses in the game so far – hopefully, there will be more formidable foes to slay in future Valheim updates – better prepare your best Valheim armour in advance. If these bosses are making you frustrated to the point of quitting, definitely give our Valheim console commands guide a read to cheat your way through these tough moments.