Start using Mace. Best weapon in game.

Sounds like a skill issue

I will say that getting iron is a tiny bit of a tedious grind right now. I finally got enough for a maxed out hunter bow, an almost maxed out iron sword and atgeir, an iron mace and all the forge upgrades I can get at this level and just today realized that the iron cooking rack is actually progression and not just convenience.

That said, I probably pulled around 180 iron from the swamp I was exploring and still haven't been able to craft an iron pickaxe or upgrade my iron axe at all. The weapons in particular are very expensive for iron. The tools are slightly less so I may have just prioritized incorrectly.

I haven't even started crafting and upgrading iron armor. I'm still using root armor.

I didn't feel like copper and tin took nearly as long to gather in larger quantities - though I never made any bronze armor either I just used troll armor.

It was fun if time consuming building the road that let me cart all of that iron to within easy running distance from my karve though. I'm just ready to move on at this point. I probably still need to find and mine another decent sized swamp to do so though. Especially if I want iron arrows in large quantities for the mountains.

Originally posted by morrokain10587:

I will say that getting iron is a tiny bit of a tedious grind right now. I finally got enough for a maxed out hunter bow, an almost maxed out iron sword and atgeir, an iron mace and all the forge upgrades I can get at this level and just today realized that the iron cooking rack is actually progression and not just convenience.

That said, I probably pulled around 180 iron from the swamp I was exploring and still haven't been able to craft an iron pickaxe or upgrade my iron axe at all. The weapons in particular are very expensive for iron. The tools are slightly less so I may have just prioritized incorrectly.

I haven't even started crafting and upgrading iron armor. I'm still using root armor.

I didn't feel like copper and tin took nearly as long to gather in larger quantities - though I never made any bronze armor either I just used troll armor.

It was fun if time consuming building the road that let me cart all of that iron to within easy running distance from my karve though. I'm just ready to move on at this point. I probably still need to find and mine another decent sized swamp to do so though. Especially if I want iron arrows in large quantities for the mountains.

i would definitely recommend cleaning out at least 3-4 tombs and filling up the biggest boat and youll have enough to build in the future and get all the iron gear needed to reach the next tier for sure, worst part about the biome around tombs is the potential of ghost attacking whilst having the tree mini boos chasing you whilst your combat skills are still fairly low during nighttime, the stamina consumption can be pretty bad early on

Originally posted by Vazkulator:

i would definitely recommend cleaning out at least 3-4 tombs and filling up the biggest boat and youll have enough to build in the future and get all the iron gear needed to reach the next tier for sure, worst part about the biome around tombs is the potential of ghost attacking whilst having the tree mini boos chasing you whilst your combat skills are still fairly low during nighttime, the stamina consumption can be pretty bad early on

I cleaned out 6 sunken crypts total for that iron and I still have about 38 of it on the other store awaiting my next sailing trip - though one crypt was really really tiny - like two chambers with only a couple of scrap iron in it. I used both the cart and the boat to make travel faster.

I'll still need to find another swamp though. That much iron is really required if you want to max enough weapons to have options and backups. Thats not even before talking about back up armor sets.

It makes me scared to know that one death could potentially lock me out of a lot of that iron that took weeks to scout, gather and transport to my base. lol

You should not be getting 1-shot by the strongest enemies. If you're getting 1-shot by the weakest, then you have a severe problem. If that problem is due to not knowing what you need to get stronger, then we can help, but if it's because you don't want to "grind" the gear and/or other items/upgrades, then the game is only going to get worse.

The grind only gets better when you realize that you don't need to craft or upgrade everything. Of course, I only know which things to skip because I've done several runs already.

I usually skip bronze armor and wear troll instead. I don't upgrade my bronze weapons because they will be replaced soon. So, for bronze I'm just getting the ax, cultivator, atgeir, maybe the mace, and enough ingots for crafting upgrades, nails, or decorations. I do upgrade the troll armor and the fine bow as much as I can. The rest, I don't bother.

In the swamp, I go for the root chest piece, which will serve all the way into the Mistlands, as long as you don't bring it to a fire fight like frost caves or Yagluth. I'll get an iron helmet to boost armor without sacrificing move speed and keep the troll pants. Then I'll get the iron atgeir, and upgrade that, and an iron mace specifically for Bonemass. For tools, the iron pick ax is required. I skip the huntsman bow and wait for the draugr fang.

Silver doesn't feel like as much of a grind and with the plains coming up next, it's important to gear up again. Go ahead and armor up here, but only upgrade if you feel like it. Get the silver sword or Frostner made and upgraded if you plan to fight Yagluth later. Silver or iron chest piece, unupgraded, is good to have if you plan to go in the caves for the fenris set. I might just go for the fenris legs to go along with my root chest for the mobility factor, swapping them in and out between traveling and tanking.

In the plains, there is no mining. It's all about farming and fighting. Upgrade well because Mistlands is next and your padded is almost as good as carapace because carapace can only go to level 2. It's still a grind but the method of it changes here and in Mistlands.

In Mistlands, 90% of the mining is purely optional, especially if you make good use of a stone cutting bench. The grind here is more about exploration itself.

Perhaps when the game leaves early access and we have Valheim achievements then some of the grind may be mitigated. "Max Bronze Armor" etc.

This game seems to be balanced around having other people with you to grind with.

If you want a better solo experience, you kinda have to mod the game. Valheim Plus is a good start to lessen the grind.

get full iron, upgrade iron armor, abuse arrows and shield, upgrade shield also

If you don't enjoy the gameplay loop at the start of the game, no, you won't like the third iteration of it either. The loop remains the same, just the materials you're gathering are different and the ambiance of the place you're gathering looks/sounds different. Amounts are similar, time spent gathering is similar, getting interrupted regularly is similar.

"better" or "worse" is subjective

Originally posted by Because_nope:

I have taken a long break from the game as of late,being frustrated with the large amount of resources you need to get in order to get good gear (ores, and such) and I am only on the third boss, but keep in mind I am playing solo. What I am really trying to say is I am getting super frustrated with the annoying enemies that spawn in the swamps, and dark forest/ the MASSIVE amount of items I need to get better gear/ constantly getting one shotted by the weakest enemies. I really just wanna know if the game feels better to play later on because I really enjoyed the game all the way up to the second boss, and I really wanna keep enjoying my time with it I just wanna know if the experience gets better after the third biome in single player

no, the grind will only get worse once you reach mistlands and you should preppare your base with a storage area that is categorised by the different needs/use

i wish i had built a proper base and a portal house before i began leveling my combat skills and went exploring because the amount of different materials will only become more and more whilst barely even being capable of seeing anything in mistlands making it even more tedious to grind

It depends on what you enjoy. I dont mind mining copper, I hate getting iron. I like getting silver, I love getting black metal and I hate mistland with a passion.

It's pretty subjective depending on the biome, the dungeon and the ennemies but the principle is always the same.

Not too much. You will still need to mine and harvest resources to get better gear. You will still get one shot by enemies (unless you improve your moves/parries/rolls). You will still be frustrated because of enemies spawning relentlessly.

The only significant change comes with the 6th biome, which has been getting quite a bit of hate around these here parts. No one can experience it for you and convey the feeling. :-) I suggest that you keep playing for as long as you enjoy the game and move on to something else when it stops being fun.

kinda yes, because its a different grind. its still a grind at first, but once a flow of progression starts it feels good and fun. at least for me. some people refuse to grind anything but their teeth... for instance, making pancakes is a small grind. prep the ingredients and pan, cook, cover with syrup, eat and clean dishes. however pancakes grind is always Worth!