Ashlands

0:00 Ashlands animated trailer

3:01 The Ashlands is the eighth of the nine biomes of Valheim and the penultimate step of its progression. It occupies a crescent of land at the far south of every world, cut off from the other biomes by boiling sea. Its coast is an ash-gray wasteland of ruined stone, burnt trees and falling cinders; inland the ground opens into lava fields. The biome was added on May 14, 2024 by the Ashlands Update (version 0.218.15), which brought more than 30 weapons, three armor sets, more than ten creatures and more than 70 build pieces (Steam news post). It sits between the Mistlands, whose boss unlocks the ship needed to reach it, and the Deep North, whose gear tier it feeds.

Quick facts

Reaching the Ashlands

1:10 The Ashlands has no land connection to any other biome, so the first visit is always by sea. The water around it, shown as a darker band on the map, is boiling: a swimming player begins to cook after roughly ten seconds, the screen edges glowing orange as heat builds, and the karve and longship are destroyed in it. The approach is also patrolled by the Bonemaw serpent, a larger, tougher cousin of the Ocean serpent that drops Bonemaw meat and teeth (which float) and, occasionally, a trophy (which sinks). See Ocean and Sailing and Ships.

Only the Drakkar can survive these waters. Building it requires ceramic plates, made at an Artisan Table fitted with the Artisan Press, which in turn needs the Majestic Carapace dropped by The Queen. Once ashore, most players build a return portal at once (Portals); the Ashlands also introduces the Stone Portal, which lets every item, including metal, pass through.

Fire, cinders and lava

2:02 The Ashlands is the only biome where fire spreads. Cinders rain from the sky during its storms, damaging unprotected players and setting wooden build pieces alight; the flames then jump from piece to piece. Iron Gate exposed this as one of the World Modifiers so that fire can be allowed to spread in every biome. The defense is the Shield Generator, built from iron, copper and a Shield Core (itself made at a level-two Artisan Table), which burns bones as fuel and projects a dome that stops cinders and arrows, although it does nothing against creatures that simply walk inside.

2:39 Lava covers much of the interior. Walking into it kills within moments, fire-resistance mead barely helps, and anything built too close to it, even stone, is destroyed. Two things let a Viking cross it: Basalt Bombs, which harden a patch of lava into a temporary walkable crust, and a tamed Asksvin, which can be ridden straight across lava and boiling water without harm (Valheim Wiki).

Creatures

3:27 The dominant faction is the Charred, an undead army in four kinds: the fast, rock-throwing Twitcher, the melee Warrior, the Marksman who fires volleys of arrows, and the Warlock, mostly found inside fortresses, who summons Twitchers mid-fight. All drop Charred bones; the Warrior, Marksman and Warlock also drop trophies. Monuments of Torment scattered across the biome are Twitcher spawners and are far harder to break than earlier spawners. The full roster is on Ashlands Creatures.

Voltures roost on piles of Asksvin bones and attack from the air. Lava Blobs leap like Swamp blobs and explode on death, leaving Sulfur and Proustite Powder. The Morgen is the biome's troll-equivalent, a rolling, lunging brute that drops a Morgen Heart and Sinew. The Fallen Valkyrie, the second flier, mixes melee with fire and poison magic and drops the Celestial Feather. Redbeard Dvergr keep outposts here and stay neutral unless provoked.

3:36 The Asksvin ("ash swine" in Swedish) is the one tameable creature of the update. It charges in packs of two or three, but can be tamed with Smoke Puffs, Vineberry Clusters or Fiddleheads, bred to produce eggs that hatch into calves, and saddled with an Asksvin Saddle made from Flametal. A ridden Asksvin is faster than a Lox and immune to lava; see Farming and Taming and Carts, Mounts and Vehicles.

Flametal and other resources

6:56 Flametal is the biome's metal and its hardest resource to gather. Its ore stands in tall pillars in the middle of lava fields, reached by throwing Basalt Bombs. Each pillar is a living thing, a "Lavaiathan": after a few pickaxe strikes it groans, rises slightly and sinks into the lava for good, so the miner must plan an escape before starting. The ore cannot go through a wooden portal and smelts in a Blast Furnace; a "Flametal" that existed in the game files since early access became obsolete "Ancient ore" when the biome shipped (Valheim Wiki). No new tools were added: the Black Metal pickaxe and axe handle everything here. See Metals and Smelting.

Other resources are gathered with existing tools:

Charred Fortresses and siege

8:43 The Ashlands' main dungeon is a fortress rather than a cave. Each world holds about twenty Charred Fortresses, each marked by a beam of green light that vanishes once the keep has been looted (Valheim Wiki). Skugg turrets on the corners fire at anyone approaching. The walls resist weapons, so the update added two siege engines that are hauled like carts: the Battering Ram is fueled and driven into the gate, while the Catapult flings stones, Grausten Payloads or Explosive Payloads, and can even launch a player over the wall. The Catapult needs a Charred Cogwheel, which only drops from destroyed Skuggs, so a first assault is always by ram.

Inside, Charred Warriors, Marksmen and Warlocks defend a courtyard whose Effigies of Malice keep spawning reinforcements until destroyed. The reward is the biome's progression: chests of Flametal, Molten Cores, Celestial Feathers and the three gemstones, and behind one more rammed door in the central keep, the Bell fragments needed to summon the boss. Fortresses and Putrid Holes (small caves guarded by Morgen) can also hold the vegvisir that marks Fader's arena and those that point to the miniboss Lord Reto and the fragments of the sword Dyrnwyn.

Gems, weapons and magic

1:40 The update's signature mechanic is weapon augmentation. As Iron Gate's designers explained in the studio's "Making the Ashlands" series, a Flametal weapon can be combined with one of three gems to make a blood, storm or nature version tuned to the player's style. Bloodstone raises damage as the wielder's health falls, Iolite adds lightning damage, and Jade gives a chance to root the target. The base weapons are the Slayer greatsword, Nidhögg sword, Flametal Mace, Berserkir Axes, Splitnir spear, Ash Fang bow and Ripper crossbow, each with three variants, so the biome lists 21 melee weapons, four bows, four crossbows, two shields (each in several styles), two bombs and new ammunition including Charred arrows and Flametal ballista missiles. Full tables are on Weapons and Shields and Bows, Crossbows and Arrows.

Gem crafting needs a Black Forge raised to level six with two new extensions, the Metal Cutter and the Gem Cutter (Crafting Stations and Upgrades); the update also added the Feathery Wreath for the Galdr Table and the Rolling Pins and Cutting Boards for the Cauldron.

10:00 Magic grew from a Mistlands side-grade into a full play style. The Trollstav uses blood magic to summon a flaming troll that fights for the caster (and turns on them if they get close); the Staff of the Wild raises rooting vines; the Dundr is a short-range "shotgun" of eitr; and the Staff of Fracturing lobs an explosive charge. The Robes of Embla boost eitr regeneration, and the Lingering Eitr Mead adds slow regeneration for five minutes. See Magic and Staves and Mead and Potions.

The three armor sets map onto three roles: Flametal for heavy melee (heat resistance, a movement penalty), Ask (Asksvin hide) for mobile fighters, and Embla for mages. Two capes join them: the Ashen Cape, which cuts stamina use, and the Asksvin Cloak, which speeds the wearer up with the wind behind them. Fifteen new foods, most needing the upgraded Cauldron, top out the Food and Cooking tables. See Armor and Capes.

Fader

14:22 Fader is the seventh boss and the Ashlands' Forsaken. His name is the Scandinavian word for "father", the counterpart of Moder. His vegvisir is found on top of ruins or inside fortress keeps. Summoning him takes three Bells, each cast from Bell fragments taken from fortresses; they are placed on three thrones around his coliseum-like arena, and the altar at its center is rung. He has 25,000 health, is resistant to pierce and immune to fire and spirit (Valheim Wiki).

4:32 A dragon-like creature, Fader fights with bites, claw swipes and a spinning tail, and from range with meteor showers that fall wherever the player stands, a ring of fire with a single exit followed by a jet of flame, and, below a quarter of his health, a fissure attack that follows the player across the ground and one-shots the unprepared. He also summons green Charred Warriors and Marksmen. He drops a trophy and Fader Relics, a placeholder item until 1.0 gave it a use.

At release Fader's power (Forsaken Powers) gave +300 carry weight and +10% movement speed. The Call to Arms Update of August 2025 moved that effect to Moder and rebalanced Fader's to fire resistance, doubled adrenaline gain and a 50% smaller stagger meter (Valheim Wiki).

The miniboss Lord Reto, named after a member of the Valheim community, guards one of three Dyrnwyn fragments; the other two lie on altars at "mysterious locations" defended by two-star Charred. Dyrnwyn, forged from the three fragments, is a flaming sword dealing fire and slash damage.

Building, food and events

10:38 For builders the update added 25 Ashwood pieces, 26 Grausten pieces, a Flametal gate, pillar and beam, an Ashwood stakewall and furniture such as the Ashwood Bed, Bone Throne, Lava Lantern, Asksvin Rug and green pots. Ashvines, grown from Vineberry seeds, climb the walls of a base in any biome. See Building and Structural Integrity and Furniture and Decoration.

Two raids arrive with the biome (Raids and Events): "The undead army marches", a Charred assault on the base, and "The dead have been summoned", which plants Charred spawners near the base that keep working until destroyed.

History

0:03 The Ashlands existed as a placeholder biome in the world generator from early access, reachable on foot and full of Surtlings but otherwise empty. Iron Gate previewed the real biome in a "Making the Ashlands" video series in the months before release, put update 0.218.9 on the public-test branch on Apr 22, 2024 and shipped 0.218.15 to everyone on May 14, 2024, a year and a half after the Mistlands Update. The terrain change cut the biome off from land and rebuilt its shape, so existing bases there were submerged or destroyed; Iron Gate published a preparation guide advising backups.

The studio designed it as the game's endgame: in the final "Walk & Talk" the team described tuning it back and forth between "too easy" and "too difficult", and said it was meant to be hard in a different way from the Mistlands, without mist or verticality, with world modifiers for players who want it softer.

3:07 Valheim 1.0 Release on Sep 9, 2026 changed the Ashlands rather than adding to it. The patch notes reduced the chance of multiple enemies spawning together, reduced the time between Charred spawns, raised the durability of Mistlands and Ashlands gear, made players burn green when hit by Fader's fire, and added a Flametal Stack (Steam news post; KeenGamer). The Fader Relic finally gained its purpose: it builds the Eternal Pyre, which attracts Embers used for Ember Charges, the Snow Shovel and the Deep North progression. Ashlands-tier gear and Flametal idols for the Forge of Potential are the expected preparation for the ninth biome (Game8).

Frequently asked questions

How do you get to the Ashlands? Only by sea, in a Drakkar. The water around the biome is boiling, so the karve and longship are destroyed in it and a swimmer begins to cook after about ten seconds; the Drakkar needs ceramic plates from an Artisan Press, which in turn needs the Majestic Carapace dropped by The Queen.

How do you summon Fader? With three Bells, each cast from Bell fragments taken from the keeps of Charred Fortresses. They are placed on the three thrones around his arena and the altar at its center is rung.

How do you mine Flametal? The ore stands in tall pillars in the middle of lava fields, reached by throwing Basalt Bombs. Each pillar is a living "Lavaiathan" that groans, rises and sinks into the lava for good after a few pickaxe strikes, so the escape has to be planned first. The ore cannot pass through a wooden portal and smelts in a Blast Furnace.

Can you build a base in the Ashlands? Yes, but it is the only biome where fire spreads: cinders set wooden pieces alight and the flames jump from piece to piece, so the Shield Generator's dome is the usual defense. Anything built too close to lava, even stone, is destroyed.

What are the gems for? A Flametal weapon can be combined with Bloodstone, Iolite or Jade to make a blood, storm or nature version: Bloodstone raises damage as health falls, Iolite adds lightning damage and Jade can root the target. Gem crafting needs a Black Forge raised to level six with the Metal Cutter and Gem Cutter.

Sources

• Patch 0.218.15 – Ashlands, Iron Gate on Steam, May 14, 2024
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate on Steam, Sep 9, 2026
• Valheim 1.0 Patch Notes: Deep North, Weapons, Armor & More, KeenGamer
• Ashlands, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Fader, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Charred Fortress, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Flametal ore, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Asksvin, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Valheim Ashlands Update Release Date, Game Rant
• Valheim Deep North Guide, Game8
• Valheim press page, Iron Gate Studio (Ashlands screenshots and key art)