Originally posted by electricdawn:

I have to agree with @blprice61 to a certain extent. Yes, the bosses feel a bit too forced. There should be an alternate way to play the game and progress without the need to have to kill them. They are, IMHO, largely superfluous to the game.

Unless they incorporate some way for the bosses you defeat to make that particular biome less dangerous for beyond upgraded armor and weapons. Or perhaps after a bosses defeat it unlocks something more useful than just the buffs. Intimidation ability or something.

Food is THE most important asset in this game. But that should be a given when you've successfully conquered the swamp.

Originally posted by Delle(DK):

its normal as a new character that you have difficulty with wolfes.
( in general even when you have advanced example 100 days into the game then wolf and creatures in plains area are tough.... BUT there is a trick.
listen to the sound and avoid going to areas with wolf sound.
In the plains area open your eyes and avoid the bees.
A trick to killing both wolf, bees and other enemys are to press CTRL and kneel and then use your bow to hit them from very far away.. IF you make a success full attack and the enemy is not aware of what is happening then you can often one shot enemys.
So upgrade your bow and arrows ;-)
Els regarding wolf then i use the above trick, but also i jump up on top of big rocks or places hard to get to and shoot from there with my bow vs face to face fighting.
By the way get an axe or a sword and a shield.. If you block and attack many enemys will get shocked and cannot attack for 4 seconds. ( not all ).
But in general the snow/mountina area is dangerous and so is the plains area.
A good advice setup a teleport system so you can jump to an area and pickup your gear if you die. So build a small house with a teleport inside that is more easy than sailing.
Its a good idea to build the house 100m away from the dangerous biomes so you can spawn in safety.. And once yo udid that build a building number 2 in the center of the dangerous biome so you can teleport up on the mountain vs climbing it everytime.

I got carried away... here is the answer you want.
However there is a reason for it hard for a new player.
THe game is designed in such a way that where the player start ( the first biome ) is what you are good enough to survive in.
Once you kill the first boss ( the deer ) and get the ability to mine copper and build copper weapons then you can after that go to the next biome.
And once you kill the boss there you are supposed to level up and go to the swamp.
And after that the mountains with snow
And then the plains biome
ect.

Basicly you are only strong enough to fight the enemys in the biome that you are in or have killed the boss in.
So if you as a new player build a little ship and go to example the swamp area 30 mintes into a new game the you dont have much of a chance, everyone is more tough than you.

But yes you can go to other bioms and Get lucky killing something and unlocking things in the game that you will first get at a later time but that is not how you are supposed to progress though you can.

You need to build up strength first, make armour, weapons and so on, and then upgrade or get new technology along the way.

ps. dont be afraid to setup spike defences before you summon a boss just build a workbench and build some places to hide ect.

Why you necro a post from 2021 feb... ?

Hell, yeah. Didn't even realize that. :D

Wolves are just really OP in my experience.

its normal as a new character that you have difficulty with wolfes.
( in general even when you have advanced example 100 days into the game then wolf and creatures in plains area are tough.... BUT there is a trick.
listen to the sound and avoid going to areas with wolf sound.
In the plains area open your eyes and avoid the bees.
A trick to killing both wolf, bees and other enemys are to press CTRL and kneel and then use your bow to hit them from very far away.. IF you make a success full attack and the enemy is not aware of what is happening then you can often one shot enemys.
So upgrade your bow and arrows ;-)
Els regarding wolf then i use the above trick, but also i jump up on top of big rocks or places hard to get to and shoot from there with my bow vs face to face fighting.
By the way get an axe or a sword and a shield.. If you block and attack many enemys will get shocked and cannot attack for 4 seconds. ( not all ).
But in general the snow/mountina area is dangerous and so is the plains area.
A good advice setup a teleport system so you can jump to an area and pickup your gear if you die. So build a small house with a teleport inside that is more easy than sailing.
Its a good idea to build the house 100m away from the dangerous biomes so you can spawn in safety.. And once yo udid that build a building number 2 in the center of the dangerous biome so you can teleport up on the mountain vs climbing it everytime.

I got carried away... here is the answer you want.
However there is a reason for it hard for a new player.
THe game is designed in such a way that where the player start ( the first biome ) is what you are good enough to survive in.
Once you kill the first boss ( the deer ) and get the ability to mine copper and build copper weapons then you can after that go to the next biome.
And once you kill the boss there you are supposed to level up and go to the swamp.
And after that the mountains with snow
And then the plains biome
ect.

Basicly you are only strong enough to fight the enemys in the biome that you are in or have killed the boss in.
So if you as a new player build a little ship and go to example the swamp area 30 mintes into a new game the you dont have much of a chance, everyone is more tough than you.

But yes you can go to other bioms and Get lucky killing something and unlocking things in the game that you will first get at a later time but that is not how you are supposed to progress though you can.

You need to build up strength first, make armour, weapons and so on, and then upgrade or get new technology along the way.

ps. dont be afraid to setup spike defences before you summon a boss just build a workbench and build some places to hide ect.

If you're inexperienced it is highly recommended to play each biome in succession as designed by the developers.
1. Meadows
2. Black Forest
3. Swamp
4. Mountains
5. Plains
6. Mistlands
7. ?

So, yes, you can venture into plains with iron, but you need to be extra careful and vigilant not to die there quickly. If you really want to do that, I recommend using the root armor chest for its very good pierce protection. Good against deathsquitos and fuling lance throwers.

Wolves are fairly easy to handle with an atgeir (even the bronze one will do) due to its long reach and the almost OP secondary attack.

When dealing with one wolf, you can easily poke it to death quickly, before it can even reach you. When dealing with two (or worse more), you need to employ the secondary attack to devastating effect, throwing all enemies around you back and stunning them.

You can then deal with them much more easily.

There is a disconnect between the ability to survive in and eventually dominate a biome and being able to beat the boss of that biome. Sadly beating the ill-designed bosses is a requirement, for the most part, in unlocking the next biome. However if you manage to sidestep the boss of a biome and partially exploit the next biome up you can then, in some cases, make the boss fight winnable without forcing your character into the 'intended' mold.

To be fair I should be clear; I like the game, I like the implementation of the biomes and their difficulties including the mini-bosses. I also absolutely hate the implementation of the progression roadblock biome bosses. I hate the design, the implementation, and the 'single track railroad' mindset behind them.

Eh well, nothing is perfect.

I have to agree with @blprice61 to a certain extent. Yes, the bosses feel a bit too forced. There should be an alternate way to play the game and progress without the need to have to kill them. They are, IMHO, largely superfluous to the game.

The bosses are the reason for Odin having put you into Valheim in the first place. Hardly superfluous according to the lore.

Originally posted by esbenmf:

The bosses are the reason for Odin having put you into Valheim in the first place. Hardly superfluous according to the lore.

True, on the other hand nothing in the lore says you must kill them in a certain order and must kill them before exploiting biome X. The lore would be completely satisfied if you explored and exploited all the biomes, mastered all the tech, and then turned around and wiped out the bosses in any random order as long as the job is done.

The lore gives you a job to do. The railroaded implementation forces you to do that job in a certain way and in a certain order. Mind numbingly boring handheld braindead.. well.. I could go on but you get the idea.

All this discussion about getting and upgrading your weapons and armor before moving into the harder biomes lacks one significant thing.

Food.

You can have the best armor in the game but if you are still eating berries and mushrooms your going to have a bad time.

Not only the quality of the food but the quantity. Even if you have the best foods available in a biome, if you wait until each food slot times out (empties) to eat the replacement you're gimping yourself badly. Time to replenish is when the start blinking. You might get away with slacking a bit on that if you're in a 'safe' biome doing 'safe' chores.. then again.. "The ground is shaking".

Originally posted by Frostbringer:

All this discussion about getting and upgrading your weapons and armor before moving into the harder biomes lacks one significant thing.

Food.

You can have the best armor in the game but if you are still eating berries and mushrooms your going to have a bad time.

This. Absolutely this.

Not only the foods, but the meads/wines (aka potions).. and not just the 'resistance ones. Being able to quaff a stamina or health potion is literally a life saver when you find yourself in a jam.

yo wanna team up