Burial Chambers

0:01 Burial Chambers are stone crypt dungeons of the Black Forest in Valheim, instanced underground mazes of tunnels and tomb rooms haunted by skeletons and ghosts. They are the game's main early source of the Surtling Core, without which no smelter, charcoal kiln or portal can be built, so clearing one opens the Bronze Age. Some also hold the Vegvisir that reveals the altar of The Elder.

Quick facts

How to find Burial Chambers

5:37 Burial Chambers generate only in the Black Forest, behind one of three entrance designs (Burial Chambers, Valheim Wiki): a raised block of rock with a doorway at one end, a small opening in a hillside framed by stones, or a flight of stone steps down to an underground door. The last two can pass for boulders from behind, as Kysen shows. Wandering skeletons are the surest sign, and Hugin the raven often perches on a chamber the first time a player comes near.

0:49 Three skeletons, archers and swordsmen in any mix, guard each entrance and appear once a player is within about 60 meters. Unlike the dead inside, they come back: one guard spawn refills every hour (Point of interest, Valheim Wiki).

Inside a Burial Chamber

7:53 Each chamber is assembled at random from the same set of rooms, joined by narrow corridors that climb and dip. Skeletons outside will not follow a player through the door, so the entrance is also the escape. Kysen lights a campfire in the entrance hall, which renews the Rested bonus (Rested, Comfort and Sleeping), then lures skeletons out to a raised stone ledge they cannot climb and fights them from it.

8:56 The usual way through is to take every left turn, or every right one; kept up to the end, the rule passes every room and leads back out. The chambers are very dark, so torches or a Dverger Circlet are needed, and small loot lies on ledges and in niches where it is easily missed.

Enemies in Burial Chambers

Unstarred values from the Valheim Wiki; see also Meadows and Black Forest Creatures.

2:20 Skeletons are the common foe, most with swords and a fifth with bows. The rarer Rancid Remains are bigger skeletons whose green-burning mace deals 20 blunt and 30 poison damage; apart from one raid they spawn nowhere else. Golden Gek's advice is to lead one back to the entrance ledge and fight it from above.

4:03 Ghosts are purple-eyed apparitions that drift through the corridors and never respawn. The Call to Arms Update of September 2025 redrew them as glowing spectral skeletons and gave them loot for the first time (Patch 0.221.4, Iron Gate).

9:33 The Evil Bone Pile, a swirl of black smoke and golden sparks, is the real danger: while a player is within 20 meters it raises a skeleton every six seconds until two stand nearby. Kysen smashes one with the Stagbreaker, whose area blow reaches through doors and walls and kills pile and skeletons together (Weapons and Shields).

Burial Chamber loot

10:11 Surtling Cores sit on iron stands in tomb rooms and side passages, glowing red. The count varies: Kysen took an above-average eight from one chamber and one from the next and has found none in others, while a rare coffin room can hold a whole cluster. Two days after the early-access launch, patch 0.142.5 promised "More surtling cores in burial chambers" (Patch 0.142.5, Iron Gate). Five cores build a Charcoal Kiln, five a Smelter and two a Portal (Metals and Smelting; Portals).

The floors also yield amber, pearls, rubies, coins and Bone Fragments. Yellow Mushrooms, used in stamina meads, are the one thing in a chamber that grows back, four hours after picking (Yellow Mushroom, Valheim Wiki). Each chamber has two to four stone chests, and each chest rolls two to four of these, never the same item twice (Loot chest, Valheim Wiki):

The Elder's Vegvisir

21:07 Some chambers hold a Vegvisir, a runestone carved with a glowing red stave that marks the Elder's altar on the map when read. SnazzyGames warns that several chambers may need clearing to find one, though ruined forest towers carry the same stone (Runestones and Vegvisirs). The Elder drops the Swamp Key to the Sunken Crypts.

How to clear a Burial Chamber safely

2:42 The chambers suit a player fresh from the Meadows. Kysen brings balanced health and stamina foods, a shield (a wooden tower shield against groups), a blunt weapon such as an upgraded club or the Stagbreaker, a bow, wood for a campfire, torches and an emptied inventory. He sets off in the morning, Rested and fully repaired. Blunt and fire damage do half again as much to skeletons, while ghosts are safest shot as they come through a doorway. Bone Piles are best destroyed on sight.

Changes in Valheim 1.0

3:22 The 1.0 patch notes of Sep 9, 2026 list no change to the chambers, but their chests gained Bronze Battle and Protection Idols, spent at the Forge of Potential to raise gear past quality 4. Game8 names Black Forest ruins, burial chambers and Troll Caves as their sources (Game8), and Abyss found idols in ordinary chambers in his first 1.0 world. The patch also reworked rare drops so that long runs of kills without a trophy are less likely (Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate; Valheim 1.0 Release).

History and the Smouldering Tomb

Ghosts and Rancid Remains were added during the closed beta in August 2020 (Beta info and development news, Iron Gate), and the chambers shipped with early access in February 2021 (Development History). The Hildir's Request Update of August 2023 added the Smouldering Tomb, a harder variant with two lit iron torches at its door, where the burning skeleton Brenna guards one of Hildir's chests (Hildir's Dungeons).

Frequently asked questions

Do Burial Chambers respawn? No. Enemies killed inside stay dead and chests do not refill; only the Yellow Mushrooms regrow and the guards outside return.

How many Surtling Cores are in a Burial Chamber? Anywhere from none to eight or more, depending on the random layout. A smelter and a kiln need five each and a portal two, so most players clear several chambers.

Can you build inside a Burial Chamber? Only a campfire and a cooking station; workbenches cannot be placed in dungeons.

What is the best weapon for Burial Chambers? Blunt damage, from a club, the Stagbreaker or a mace, since skeletons and Rancid Remains are weak to it; fire arrows work at range.

Sources

• Burial Chambers, Skeleton, Rancid Remains, Ghost and Evil Bone Pile, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Surtling Core, Yellow Mushroom, Loot chest, Point of interest and Smouldering Tomb, Valheim Wiki
• Beta info and development news, Iron Gate Studio, Aug 4, 2020
• 2021-02-04 0.142.5, Iron Gate Studio, Feb 5, 2021
• Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms, Iron Gate Studio, Sep 9, 2025
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio, Sep 9, 2026
• List of All Idols, Game8
• Burial Chambers ~ Full Guide, Golden Gek's Guides (video)
• BURIAL CHAMBER GUIDE!, Kysen (video)
• Everything you need to know about Valheim 1.0, Abyss (video)
• Everything YOU Need to Know About Valheims Black Forest!, SnazzyGames (video)