ValheimPower
SEPT 2026
THE MAGE ISSUE
The shield question solved
At whichever of your portals sits farthest south on your map. Every ingredient goes through a portal, so the boat can be built at any workbench you can reach. Building near the Queen is the worst option. Page 2 explains why.
No! Metal can't pass a portal, but anything made from metal can: swords, armor, and iron nails. Craft everything at home, then portal the finished gear to the launch point.
Take down the citadel portal and keep its 2 surtling cores. Keep the outskirts portal as your Mistlands supply line.
The Staff of Frost and Staff of Protection are both two-handed, so the shield does nothing while you cast. Bring the black metal shield anyway and use it with Mistwalker when something gets too close.
Power Chart: Drakkar parts
| Part | Qty | Portal OK? | Made where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron nails | 100 | Yes | Forge at home (1 iron makes 10 nails) |
| Ceramic plate | 30 | Yes | Artisan table with the Artisan press (5 black marble makes 5 plates) |
| Fine wood | 50 | Yes | Birch and oak |
| Yggdrasil wood | 25 | Yes | Mistlands |
Every part goes through a portal, so you can skip the 40 minute delivery sail. Send the parts to wherever the boat should start. The Drakkar has 32 cargo slots and 3,000 hull HP, and it moves nearly as fast as a longship. It turns more slowly in exchange for the extra toughness.
The next region runs along the far southern edge of the world. Your Queen outpost is in the far north, so a boat built there would have to sail the whole length of the map. Only the Drakkar can cross the water around that region without taking damage. Swimming in it will kill you.
Pick your launch pad
Open the map and find your southernmost portal. Put a workbench next to it and build the Drakkar there. On the way south, drop a portal on the last normal island before the water turns hostile. That island is your permanent south dock.
Build the Artisan press at home. It costs 5 black marble, 5 bronze, and the Majestic carapace the Queen dropped. Bronze can't go through a portal, so the press goes next to the Artisan table that already has your bronze nearby.
Blocked at a normal portal: copper, tin, iron, silver, black metal, flametal, bronze, and their ores and scrap. Iron nails and anything else you craft from metal go through fine.
Iron has to travel from where you mine it to your forge on foot, by cart, or by boat. Mine it within reach of main base whenever you can. That way the only thing that ever goes through a portal is the finished sword.
Cross off the lines you already own. These totals assume Black Forge level 1 and no Eitr-weave hood yet.
| Item | Iron | Copper | Station |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistwalker, quality 1 | 15 | 0 | Black Forge lv 1 |
| Mistwalker, quality 2 | 10 | 0 | Black Forge lv 2 |
| Mistwalker, quality 3 | 20 | 0 | Black Forge lv 3 |
| Black Forge Cooler (lv 2) | 5 | 5 | + 4 black marble |
| Black Forge Vice (lv 3) | 5 | 8 | + 2 mechanical springs |
| 2 mechanical springs | 6 | 0 | Artisan table (3 iron + 1 refined eitr each) |
| 100 iron nails for the Drakkar | 10 | 0 | Forge |
| Eitr-weave hood, quality 1 | 2 | 0 | Galdr table |
| Total for this phase | 73 | 13 | Goal: 80 iron |
Goal: 80 iron. That's the 73 plus a small buffer. If you already have the Cooler, Vice, and hood, you only need 55. Mistwalker quality 4 costs another 30 iron, but the forge level it needs uses materials from the next region, so wait on it.
Where the iron is
- Swamp crypts. The classic scrap source, and your best bet if a swamp is near main base.
- Mistlands ancient armor and swords. Each node you mine drops either scrap iron or copper scrap, about half the time each.
- Mistlands Dvergr ruins. Breaking the stone bridges and ramparts drops iron. Players call this the richest late-game source. I couldn't confirm how much each one drops.
- Start the fire-resistance barley wine first. It takes 2 in-game days to ferment. Each base is 10 barley and 10 cloudberries and makes 6 meads that last 10 minutes each. Brew at least 2 bases.
- Keep the eitr refinery running the whole time. This kit uses a lot of refined eitr.
- Collect about 80 iron and smelt it at home.
- Forge and Artisan work. Build the Artisan press, then make 30 ceramic plates, 100 nails, and 2 mechanical springs.
- Black Forge to level 3. Build the Cooler, then the Vice, then craft Mistwalker up to quality 3.
- Galdr table to level 3. The Rune table is 10 black marble, 5 Yggdrasil wood, and 10 refined eitr. The Unfading candles are 10 black marble, 3 skeleton trophies, 10 refined eitr, and 15 resin. Neither needs metal.
- Staves and robes. Upgrade the Staff of Frost and the Eitr-weave set to quality 3. Build a Staff of Protection if you don't have one.
- Portal cleanup. Take down the citadel portal and build 2 portal kits.
- Portal south with the boat parts, build the Drakkar, load it, and go.
Shopping list: non-metal
| Material | Need | For |
|---|---|---|
| Black marble | 59 | 30 plates, press 5, Cooler 4, Rune table 10, candles 10 |
| Yggdrasil wood | 80 | Drakkar 25, Staff of Frost Q1 to Q3 50, Rune table 5 |
| Fine wood | 93 | Drakkar 50, two portal kits 40, Mistwalker 3 |
| Surtling cores | 4 | Two portal kits (the citadel portal returns 2) |
| Greydwarf eyes | 20 | Two portal kits |
| Wisps | 6 | Mistwalker Q1 to Q3 (3 + 1 + 2) |
| Freeze glands | 10 | Staff of Frost Q1 to Q3 (4 + 2 + 4) |
Skip anything you already own. If you already have the Staff of Frost, subtract its quality 1 cost.
Staff of Frost
Fast ice shards that slow what they hit. 5 eitr per cast.
Staff of Protection
Your real shield. Recast the bubble before every fight.
Mistwalker
One-handed frost sword. Quality 2 and up adds spirit damage.
Black Metal Shield
Only works with Mistwalker. 1.5x parry.
Dead Raiser
Optional. Skeleton decoys.
The shield question
Both staves are two-handed, and the black metal shield can't be used with a two-handed weapon. It only helps when you swap to Mistwalker, where it gives a 1.5x parry bonus. It weighs 5 and slows you 5% while it's equipped. The black metal atgeir is also two-handed, and Mistwalker covers its melee job now, so leave the atgeir at home.
The full Eitr-weave set doubles your eitr regen and resists frost, but it makes you very weak to fire (2x damage). The next region is full of fire, so keep fire-resistance barley wine active the whole time you're there.
Food and meads. Use two eitr foods and one health food. Pack fire resistance, health, and eitr meads, and keep the fire resistance on your hotbar. Leave the Staff of Embers at home. Classified Info on page 9 explains why.
- 2 portal kits: 40 fine wood, 20 greydwarf eyes, 4 surtling cores
- 10 wood for a workbench
- 2 stacks of stone for an emergency earth platform
- Black metal pickaxe, hoe, and hammer
- Fire-resistance barley wine, at least 6
- Health and eitr meads
- Food for three full meals
- Mage kit, fully repaired before you leave
That list fills about a dozen of the Drakkar's 32 slots. There's no forge where you're going, so portal home whenever you need repairs.
- Before landing, drink fire resistance, eat all three foods, and cast your bubble.
- Scout from the water. Look for high ground right at the shore, away from anything built. You can outrun most encounters, so choose your fights.
- Portal first. Build it the moment you land. Then put a workbench within 20 meters of it, which noticeably reduces spawns.
- Portal home and restock with stone, food, and meads. None of that needs to come by boat.
- Earth barrier. Use the hoe's raise ground (2 stone each time) to build a plateau under the portal, then dig a ditch around it with the pickaxe. The game limits how far you can raise or lower the ground, so doing both makes the wall about twice as tall.
- Build in stone. Wood catches fire there, fire spreads from one wooden piece to the next, and burning debris falls from the sky onto buildings. Keep the portal and workbench apart from each other so a fire can't jump between them.
- Keep the Drakkar moored close by. It's your backup way out.
TOP SECRETA fix for hauling metal mechanic spoiler, recommended
Soon after you arrive, you can build a stone portal at the Stonecutter. It costs 30 Grausten, 2 molten cores, and 10 greydwarf eyes, and it lets ore and metal through. Those materials can go through normal portals, so you can build one at each end. A stone portal linked to a wooden one works in one direction only. Step into the stone end carrying metal and you arrive at the wooden end with it, but you can't bring metal back through the wooden end. With stone portals at both ends, metal goes both ways and you never have to haul it by boat again.
It's about twice the size of a wooden portal: four walls high, four 2x2 floor tiles wide, and two tiles deep. Leave room for it inside your barrier.
SECRETWhat damage works there enemy resistances, no names
Fire barely hurts the common enemies. The main foot soldier takes about a quarter of normal fire damage, and two other regulars take half. Frost does full damage to all three and slows them, which is why the Staff of Frost is your main weapon. The main foot soldier also takes 1.5x damage from spirit, and Mistwalker picks up spirit damage at quality 2 and above, so that upgrade matters. One regular is immune to spirit, and another resists all physical damage but is weak to lightning.
Monsters there also damage each other, and the game is designed that way. Leading one group into another works.
1.0 FILEWhy the northern portal still matters
Valheim 1.0 (Sept 9, 2026) added a final region along the far northern edge. Your Queen outpost becomes a launch point again later.
LATERWhat has to wait for the next region
Mistwalker quality 4 and Galdr table level 4 need materials you'll find there. Expect a second round of upgrades after your first few trips.
GOOD LUCK, VIKING
SOURCES Recipes and mechanics are from valheim.weirdgloop.org: Drakkar, Portal, Portal stone, Mistwalker, Staff of Frost, Eitr-weave, Black Forge, Galdr Table, Artisan Table, Mechanical Spring, Molten Core, Hoe, Forge, Iron Nails, Fire Resistance Barley Wine, and the enemy pages. The Valheim 1.0 release notes summary lists no changes to portals or boats.
ART The cover is the official Valheim 1.0 key art from valheimgame.com. Screenshots are from the official Valheim Steam store page. Cartoon panels were generated for this personal guide.