Carry Weight

0:00 Carry weight is the total weight of items a player can hold in Valheim before becoming Encumbered: 300 by default, raised permanently by the Megingjord belt and for a few minutes at a time by a mead, a Forsaken Power and the Corpse Run effect. Every item has a weight shown in its tooltip, and the bottom right of the inventory screen shows the current load against the limit (Inventory, Valheim Wiki). Because ore and metal bars are heavy and ordinary portals refuse them, carry weight shapes every mining trip from the Black Forest onwards; stacking bonuses, NickRawcliffe carries four Dragon Eggs at once in full Ashlands gear.

Quick facts

Sources: Inventory and Encumbered, Valheim Wiki.

How much things weigh

Materials are light and metals are not; a full stack of iron outweighs the base limit on its own:

Sources: the item pages of the Valheim Wiki; see Metals and Smelting, Obsidian and Yggdrasil Wood.

How to increase carry weight

0:14 The only permanent increase is the Megingjord, a belt sold by Haldor in the Black Forest for 950 coins from the first visit. It adds 150, taking the limit to 450, and JP Valheim calls it close to essential for moving metal, since without it a Viking cannot hold one full stack. It shares the utility slot with the Wishbone and the Wisplight, so a player hunting silver or exploring the Mistlands has to choose (Megingjord and Haldor, Valheim Wiki; Wishbone).

0:30 The Mead of Troll Endurance adds 250 for five minutes. The Bog Witch sells the Powdered Dragon Eggshells it needs, five for 120 coins; one eggshell, 10 Honey and 2 Trollfish of the same quality make a mead base that ferments into six meads (Mead of Troll Endurance, Valheim Wiki; Mead and Potions; Fishing).

0:49 The biggest bonus is Moder's Forsaken Power: +300 carry weight for five minutes, together with a tailwind whenever the player is sailing, 10 percent more movement speed and resistance to frost. It shares the twenty-minute cooldown of all powers and reaches every player within 10 meters, so one activation lifts a whole party's limit (Forsaken power, Valheim Wiki; Forsaken Powers). With the belt, NickRawcliffe reaches 750, enough for three Dragon Eggs.

1:39 Corpse Run, the buff for emptying one's own tombstone completely, adds 150 for 50 seconds along with its stamina and damage bonuses, so that a Viking recovering a grave with the belt still in the pile is not crushed by the load; it does not lift the Encumbered penalties once they apply (Corpse run, Valheim Wiki; Death and Corpse Runs). NickRawcliffe chains deliberate deaths and corpse runs to haul four 200-weight Dragon Eggs at once.

1:31 The bonuses stack. Mead and Moder's power give JP Valheim 850, the belt makes it 1,000, and Corpse Run on top reaches 1,150, the most possible without mods (Inventory, Valheim Wiki). The timed bonuses are a trap as well as a help: when one expires with the pack still full, the player is Encumbered on the spot.

The Encumbered penalty

Carrying more than the limit applies the Encumbered status effect. Movement drops to a walk of 2 meters a second that neither the Running skill nor speed gear can raise; the player cannot run, jump, dodge or block; moving drains 5 stamina a second; and stamina does not regenerate, so once it reaches zero it stays there until the load is lightened. The effect ends the moment enough weight is dropped (Encumbered, Valheim Wiki; Status Effects; Stamina).

Patch 0.213.4 of February 2023 stopped it affecting Eitr regeneration, and the Call to Arms Update of September 2025 removed dodging while over-encumbered (Patch 0.213.4, Iron Gate; Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms, Iron Gate). An Encumbered player can still step through a portal, which makes portals the easiest way to move bulk wood, stone and crops (Portal, Valheim Wiki; Portals).

Carts, mounts and ships

1:01 The Cart's contents have weight like an inventory's, but, as JP Valheim's cart guide shows, it has no limit; the only cost is that a heavy cart becomes hard to pull uphill. Hotfix 1.0.12, released on Steam on Sep 11, 2026, made it easier to fit a cart through the new Timberwood Drawbridge (Hotfix 1.0.10 & 1.0.12, Iron Gate; Carts, Mounts and Vehicles).

7:01 Mounts ignore their rider's load: a ridden animal can walk and even sprint while the player on its back is Encumbered (Riding and Lox, Valheim Wiki). Samo's lox guide recommends a saddled Lox for hauling resources over long distances (Farming and Taming), and ships carry ore across the sea (Sailing and Ships).

Wider and Deeper Pockets in 1.0

0:15 The Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026 added the first inventory upgrades, sold by Haldor: Wider Pockets for 1,000 coins once Moder is dead, and Deeper Pockets for 2,000 coins once The Queen is dead. Each can be bought once per character and adds a row of eight slots, taking the inventory from 32 to 48 (Inventory, Valheim Wiki; Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate). They add space, not strength: neither raises carry weight. OVA Let's Play, buying both in launch week, warned viewers that the higher limit on his screen came from a Mead of Troll Endurance, not the pockets (Deep North Update (1.0 Patch Notes)).

History

The 300 limit and the Megingjord date from early access (Patch 0.148.6, Iron Gate). Patch 0.207.20, the Frost Caves Update of Mar 1, 2022, gave Corpse Run its carry bonus "to compensate for unequipped belt" (Patch 0.207.20, Iron Gate). The Ashlands Update of May 2024 gave Fader's power +300 carry weight (EIP Gaming), The Bog Witch Update of October 2024 added the mead, and Call to Arms moved the bonus to Moder. 1.0 added pockets but left the limit unchanged.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maximum carry weight in Valheim? 1,150: the base 300 plus the Megingjord (150), the Mead of Troll Endurance (250), Moder's Forsaken Power (300) and Corpse Run (150). Without Corpse Run the practical maximum is 1,000.

How do you increase carry weight permanently? Only with the Megingjord, the belt Haldor sells for 950 coins. Everything else is temporary.

Do Wider Pockets or Deeper Pockets increase carry weight? No. The 1.0 pocket upgrades add eight inventory slots each but no carry weight.

Which Forsaken Power increases carry weight? Moder's adds 300 for five minutes since Call to Arms (September 2025); before that the bonus was Fader's.

What happens when you are over-encumbered? You walk at 2 meters a second, cannot run, jump, dodge or block, and stamina drains while moving without regenerating until you drop weight.

Sources

• Inventory, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Encumbered and Corpse run, Valheim Wiki
• Megingjord and Haldor, Valheim Wiki
• Mead of Troll Endurance, Valheim Wiki
• Forsaken power, Valheim Wiki
• Portal, Riding and Lox, Valheim Wiki
• Patch 0.148.6, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Mar 23, 2021
• Patch 0.207.20, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Mar 1, 2022
• Patch 0.213.4, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Feb 7, 2023
• Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Sep 9, 2025
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Sep 9, 2026
• Hotfix 1.0.10 & 1.0.12, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Sep 11, 2026
• How to Increase Carry Weight, EIP Gaming
• 900 CARRY CAPACITY IN VALHEIM!!!, NickRawcliffe (video)
• How to get 1000 Carry Weight in Valheim, JP Valheim (video)
• A Valheim Cart Guide, JP Valheim (video)
• How to Use Lox the RIGHT way in Valheim!, Samo (video)
• Valheim 1.0 Deep North Update Upgrade From Haldor, OVA Let's Play (video)