If you're constantly running out of stamina you're doing something wrong.

Originally posted by The Killer:

stamina was a bit off until i got the Elden Ring Stamina mod. a life changer, like a weight lifts off your shoulders.

yea we modded ours too.. much better now.

I initially had trouble acclimating to the stamina mechanic; it's more punishing in this game than many of the others I have played.

That being said, "cheesing" the enemies should be your standard tactics; if you try to go toe-to-toe and trade blows with anything stronger than a single greydwarf (while wearing gear that's appropriate to the biome you're in), you're probably going to lose. Utilizing terrain, obstacles, ranged combat, and any number of other "cheese" methods are the default, here.

Enemies can't jump. Non-AOE Ranged attacks don't go through walls. Use these facts to your advantage. Fight smarter, not harder. Learn to use the terrain, and be smarter than the enemy AI.

I know this sounds an awful lot like "git gud, scrub" when you're getting your backside handed to you by the baddies over and over, but the best thing you can do to increase your enjoyment of the game is slow down. Don't take on the bigger/badder areas/enemies until your character is geared well, and you (yes, you, the player) are skilled enough to handle them.

Stop wandering around exploring new areas at night; the monster density is much higher in the dark, and the visibility is lower. Instead, go home. Throw some wood in the kiln, some ore in the smelter, and take a nap.

Turn off your music and listen to the game world. Wear headphones, if you have to.

Teach yourself to pay attention by deciding to sneak everywhere for a while; an hour or two should do the trick. Move from cover to cover, with frequent pauses to listen and regain stamina; the audio cues in this game are superb, and can warn you of danger well before you encounter it... if you're not crashing through the underbrush yourself.

Get good enough at it to melee deer in broad daylight, and you can call it "good enough" for most circumstances. If you think that's a ridiculous premise, then you haven't practiced enough yet. Advanced players don't even consider it challenging.

Pay attention to the sounds and learn the voices of the bad things. Deer barks are "good noises", because they feel safe enough to call their friends... but a startled squawk tells you that something that wants to eat them is in the area. Growls, barks, calls, and every other sound are important indicators of whether you're safe, or you need to be picking a different direction of travel... and how quickly you need to make and implement that decision.

Stop sprinting everywhere; this is not that game. A jog will get where you're going only a few seconds slower... with a full stamina bar, and a lot more situational awareness. Stamina benefits aside, a jogging pace is more than fast enough to eat ground at a decent clip... and it's much quieter, as well. Running is great when you're crossing an open field and can see anything that might want to eat your face... but sprinting through trees in the rain at night is a good way to find yourself out of breath as you round a tree and run face-first into something nasty.

Look at the food you eat and what resources you burn through more of, and consider adjusting your diet. If you're constantly running out of stamina, maybe swap out one (or two) of those meats for a fruit or veggie (or even honey), and use less health by following Mr Miyagi's advice: "Best block, no be there when punch land."

Learn to dodge-roll. Learn to block. Better yet, learn to parry. It's not easy, and no one said it would be... it takes practice, like anything worthwhile.

TL;DR: There are ways to not get your face pushed in by everything, and they all start with "slow down and pay attention". I'm not telling you to "git gud", I'm telling you that becoming powerful in this game is as much a learned set of skills for the player as it is for your in-game avatar.

Stamina management is part of the game and it usually (but not always) goes hand in hand with health management. You've forgotten the other part of the equation there are (currently) no enemies that drain your stamina when they attack. Stamina is a tried and true mechanic in survival games just as mana as a resource is a tried and true method in wizard type games.

Are there better systems? Sure, but this is the system the devs decided on.

If you are having trouble managing your stamina either switch which foods you are using or carry stamina meads. Managing your health in the game occurs far less often than managing your stamina.

Stamina compliments terrible mob AI. The only way mobs are a challenge is by making the game almost turn based. I don't mind it, once you learn to manage you're stamina it isn't a problem at all. After all this is an open world survival craft, managing resources is the point, this isn't Grand Theft Viking.

no lol

Originally posted by dirktoot:

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

Stamina is a pretty bad mechanic but this post is inaccurate.

You don't die when you run out of stamina. It just gets tricky to fight back. You can still block attacks and move around while you regenerate. Also regeneration speed is increased by your food and condition/buffs.

Saying that you die when you run out of stamina is needlessly hyperbolic, but I would be more than happy if this mechanic was removed.

Why is it a bad mechanic? Most people complaining about it either don't eat the right foods, us the right potions, use the right tactics or some combination of those 3. Many players(including me) beat the game just fine without either cheesing or having lots of stamina issues. Then the question should be rehprased as

'What can I learn in order to do better?'.

I would be happy to explain why I think it's poorly implemented, but since you've already made up your mind that people need to git gud that would be a waste of time.

Everything is just another type of resource, if you break down things thoroughly enough.

Originally posted by CombatWombat:

Stamina is just health

Yeah you can say that. And just like in any other game with health, you are challenged to not let it drop down to 0, not to keep it at max. There are plenty other games where you exchange health for opportunity to deal damage regurarly.

Seems like the only way is to cheese it. Jump on a stone, use the cave entrances, use portals, walk around an obstacle.

Seems like you didnt look far. There is a lot to this system than just mashing buttons till you are out.

Like for example: "When you run away and try to regenerate you regenerate less than you wasted running until the mob catches up."
Why you are running away? You regenerate stamina just as fast stationary as walking. Just walk away, almost all mobs allow it, and even wolves in open alllow for stamina recovery if you sprint at the right time. Jumping is another thing... jump when its needed not when panic mashing. And there are more tricks still...

The real problem is that you get yourself into impossible situations and blame it on stamina when it goes to zero. Valheim is a game of planning ahead, 0 cheese is needed to make it easy, only experiance...

Stamina is a pretty bad mechanic but this post is inaccurate.

You don't die when you run out of stamina. It just gets tricky to fight back. You can still block attacks and move around while you regenerate. Also regeneration speed is increased by your food and condition/buffs.

Saying that you die when you run out of stamina is needlessly hyperbolic, but I would be more than happy if this mechanic was removed.

Originally posted by vinyblaster:

Stamina is a pretty bad mechanic but this post is inaccurate.

You don't die when you run out of stamina. It just gets tricky to fight back. You can still block attacks and move around while you regenerate. Also regeneration speed is increased by your food and condition/buffs.

Saying that you die when you run out of stamina is needlessly hyperbolic, but I would be more than happy if this mechanic was removed.

Why is it a bad mechanic? Most people complaining about it either don't eat the right foods, us the right potions, use the right tactics or some combination of those 3. Many players(including me) beat the game just fine without either cheesing or having lots of stamina issues. Then the question should be rehprased as

'What can I learn in order to do better?'.

agree with dirktoot

Stamina is a mechanic to make sure you play their way -- there are several of these and that is one of the biggest complaints I have about this game (which I love, but if you want a critic's eye... it has flaws of course).
Stamina ensures you can't spam things foolishly (like chopping wood / rock without holding some in reserve in case of attack) or swim forever. It keeps you from running all the time, or running during combat too much. It forces you to eat properly for your needs. It keeps you from spamming attacks for too long on tough enemy using some sort of stagger/stunlock weapon. All that sort of works pretty well as mechanics and general 'the world makes sense to me' stuff. Fine.

where it gets a little off the tracks is that it ALSO *encourages you to the point of you will be sorry if you don't* on several points, including things like always having a rested buff and avoiding cold/wet situations as much as possible and affects your choice of weapons (eg do you use the no-stamina crossbow or the high stamina spine bow?) so much that many people here encourage using low tier weapons to reduce the stamina use. IMHO you should never see it as more viable to use a low tier item over a higher one, indicating that something is off (possibly just that we can't fully upgrade the new ones yet). Stamina also forces you to grind up a LOT of skills if you want to be 'fully functional' -- run, jump, swim, fish, weapon skills all tie back to your stamina and thanks to super mario mistlands design, jump, something you rarely did before, is likely low and needs to be 50+ first time you go into ML zone. All this stuff funnels the player towards how the devs envision you playing, and stifle trying alternative builds (eg all health food, or all eitr food, or 2 health 1 eitr, etc) more than they should. They balanced the game around having that rested buff, so not having it is a penalty, instead of having it being a bonus, after the forest its just not a good option to try to make it on back to base without stopping to make a quick fire and roof.

stamina was a bit off until i got the Elden Ring Stamina mod. a life changer, like a weight lifts off your shoulders.

Use normal run speed, no sprint. Mobs they will catch up to you and make an attack but if you just keep walking away, most will miss. Roll if you have to. It's slow but stamina will regenerate this way. Be mindful of stuff like wet, cold, and rested running out.