Carts, Mounts and Vehicles

0:12 Carts, mounts and vehicles are the few machines and tamed animals that carry a Viking and their cargo overland in Valheim. For hauling there is the Cart, a two-wheeled handcart made with Bronze Nails; for riding, three tameable animals that accept a saddle, the lox, the asksvin and, since the Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026, the moose; for war, the battering ram and catapult of the Ashlands, both pulled like carts; and for climbing, the grappling hook that 1.0 added. The cart matters because ordinary Portals refuse ores and metal bars, which have to be dragged, shipped or carried to the smelters. Ships are covered on Sailing and Ships and the taming of mounts on Farming and Taming.

Quick facts

The cart

The Cart is placed with the hammer from the Misc tab, beside a Workbench, for 20 Wood and 10 Bronze Nails, and unlocks when the first Bronze Nails are made (Metals and Smelting). A player steps between its shafts and uses it to hitch on, then walks or runs with it in tow; a forward dodge-roll unhitches. Its box has 18 slots, the same as a player's backpack, and it can be pulled while swimming (Cart, Valheim Wiki (Fandom)).

1:09 The cart has no weight limit, but weight and slope decide whether it moves. A few stacks of iron barely slow it; a load weighing 3,000 crawls, and only sprinting gets it up even a gentle rise. A heavy cart goes anywhere downhill but uphill only where a player could walk without sprinting. Sprinting while pulling costs no extra stamina.

3:00 The cart has 500 durability, takes rain damage, is weak to fire and is hurt by hard knocks against terrain, dealing and taking up to 20 blunt damage in a collision. It cannot be dismantled with the hammer, only destroyed, and when it breaks its contents spill into cargo crates that can be emptied or pushed around. A hitched cart shields its puller from blows on the sides, but enemies attack an unattended one like any other building (Cart, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)).

7:59 Where it works depends on terrain. The Meadows and Swamp are easy ground, since a cart floats behind a swimming player; dense Black Forest undergrowth snags the wheels; in the Mountain the cart is a one-way vehicle, and JP Valheim's guide simply rolls a silver-laden cart over a sheer drop to the biome below. Other options for heavy loads are Haldor's Megingjord belt and, since the Call to Arms Update, Moder's Forsaken Power, which adds 300 carry weight (Patch 0.221.4 notes; Forsaken Powers). Ores can be teleported only through the stone portal of the Ashlands era, built from Grausten and Molten Cores, or on worlds whose World Modifiers allow it (Portal, Valheim Wiki).

41:52 Version 1.0 added drawbridges, among them a Rustic Drawbridge from Mountain materials and a larger Timber Drawbridge from the Deep North. On launch day Kysen drove a cart over the larger one easily but could only wriggle it through the smaller one. Iron Gate's hotfix 1.0.12 of Sep 11, 2026 made it "easier to fit the Cart through the Timberwood Drawbridge" (Hotfix 1.0.10 & 1.0.12, Iron Gate; Building and Structural Integrity).

Riding

9:55 A saddle is placed on the hotbar and used on a tamed animal of its kind; the use key then mounts it and Shift+E takes the saddle off. The mount runs where the camera faces, so steering is done with the mouse, and it has only walking and sprinting speeds, no reverse. Sprinting drains the mount's own stamina bar, not the rider's, and a mount ignores its rider's encumbrance. Mounts trample creatures they run into, and a hurt one heals when fed its taming food. Riders cannot use weapons (Riding, Valheim Wiki).

Riding, one of the Skills since the Hearth & Home Update of September 2021, gains 0.2 experience per second of sprinting on a mount. At level 100 it raises a mount's sprint speed by 25 per cent and halves its sprint stamina cost (Riding (skill), Valheim Wiki).

Sources: Lox Saddle and Asksvin Saddle, Valheim Wiki; Valheim.tools taming guide for run speeds; Sportskeeda.

The Lox was the first mount. Hearth & Home gave tamed lox "a purpose" with the saddle, and a sprinting lox outruns any player. It is also the only mount without a Black Forge recipe, since its saddle is made at the Workbench once Black Metal is flowing (Lox, Valheim Wiki; Plains Creatures).

8:36 The Asksvin, a mount since the Ashlands Update of May 2024, carries its rider across the boiling water around the Ashlands and the lava flows inside them without harm, which makes it the standard way to reach Flametal ore and escape again. It is also faster than a lox.

3:04 The Moose Saddle needs 4 Bloodgold, 5 Seal Pelt, 5 Timberwood and 15 Linen Thread. Late Night Stream's launch-week guide and Valheim.tools list a level 2 Black Forge; Sportskeeda's guides list a level 2 Artisan Table (Crafting Stations and Upgrades). With a run speed of 12.6 against the asksvin's 9 and the lox's 7, the moose is the fastest mount in the game (Deep North Creatures).

8:26 The saddle goes on like any other, from the hotbar onto a tamed moose. Kysen, riding a two-star moose on launch day, found it slow to turn and steerable only by pointing the camera, since the forward and back keys do not turn it, and found that it does some damage to whatever it runs into, even trees.

7:59 Ice is its weakness. The Deep North's frozen seas and ponds are slippery for players and, as Kysen found on launch day, far more so for moose, which can shoot off across the ice uncontrollably. PCGamesN's reviewer warned "don't ride them onto the ice", said he went through maybe five moose, some of which ended up in the water, and called himself "Moosebane" (PCGamesN).

Siege engines

0:00 The Ashlands update added two siege engines for breaking into Charred Fortresses. Both are built at a Workbench, hitched and pulled exactly like a cart, and cannot be dismantled once built. The battering ram is fueled with up to 25 pieces of Wood, Fine Wood, Core Wood or Ashwood, burning one every 20 seconds. While fueled and hitched, it punches automatically for 600 pickaxe damage a blow, enough to smash fortress gates and walls and, the wiki notes, to break down rock and ore deposits in seconds (Battering Ram, Valheim Wiki).

0:54 The catapult needs a Charred Cogwheel, dropped by some of the Skugg turrets that defend Charred Fortresses, so a player's first fortress is usually breached with the ram. It is aimed by moving it, stabilized by lowering its spiked legs, and fires as soon as an item is loaded into its bucket from the hotbar. The Grausten Payload flies about 55 meters and lands in almost the same spot each time; the Explosive Payload reaches 40 to 50 meters less accurately and damages terrain. Version 1.0 added a Bloodgold Payload. A player standing in the bucket is thrown along with the load, which, with a Feather Cape against the fall, makes the catapult a crude long-distance transport (Catapult, Valheim Wiki).

The grappling hook

0:26 The grappling hook is 1.0's tool for vertical travel. Fired with the primary attack at a cliff, tree, wall or structure within its long reach, it hauls the player up to the anchor; the secondary action releases or reloads it. There is a short delay before it fires, so it suits planned climbs better than emergencies, though it also pulls a player clear of a fight (KeenGamer). It is two-handed and has 300 durability (Game8; Tools).

1:04 It is made at the Black Forge from 10 Yggdrasil Wood, 10 Refined Eitr, 4 Mandibles and a Hook, and picking up the first Hook unlocks the recipe. Hooks cannot be bought or crafted; they come from Dvergr treasure chests behind the hidden doors of the Mistlands' Infested Mines, so the hook can be made before the voyage north (KeenGamer). The tool matters most in the Deep North, where the towers of the Gates of Mörkhalla and parts of the Winding Tunnels are far easier to get into with it (Sportskeeda).

History

The cart has been in the game since the early-access launch of February 2021. Hearth & Home added lox riding and the Riding skill; the Ashlands update added the asksvin, the battering ram and the catapult, and a later patch stopped the catapult duplicating stacked items; and 1.0 added the moose, the Moose Saddle, the grappling hook, the Bloodgold Payload and the drawbridges (Deep North Update (1.0 Patch Notes); Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate).

Frequently asked questions

How do you make a cart in Valheim? With the hammer, from the Misc tab, beside a Workbench, for 20 Wood and 10 Bronze Nails. The recipe unlocks as soon as the first Bronze Nails are made.

What is the fastest mount in Valheim? The Moose of the Deep North, with a run speed of 12.6 against the asksvin's 9 and the lox's 7. Its saddle takes 4 Bloodgold, 5 Seal Pelt, 5 Timberwood and 15 Linen Thread, and it slides badly on ice.

Can you teleport ore in Valheim? Not through an ordinary portal. Ore and metal bars pass only through the Ashlands stone portal, built from Grausten and Molten Cores, or on worlds whose World Modifiers allow teleporting everything.

Can you fight while riding? No. Riders cannot use weapons, and a mount has only walking and sprinting speeds and no reverse, steered by pointing the camera. It does trample creatures it runs into, and sprinting drains the mount's stamina rather than the rider's.

How do you break into a Charred Fortress? With the battering ram, which punches for 600 pickaxe damage a blow while fueled and hitched. The catapult needs a Charred Cogwheel that only drops from destroyed Skuggs, so a first assault is always by ram (Charred Fortresses).

Sources

• Cart, Valheim Wiki (Fandom)
• Cart, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Riding and Riding (skill), Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Lox, Lox Saddle and Asksvin Saddle, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Battering Ram, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Catapult, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Portal, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived! (patch notes), Iron Gate Studio on Steam
• Hotfix 1.0.10 & 1.0.12, Iron Gate Studio on Steam
• Word From the Devs: Yeah, That's A Drawbridge, Iron Gate Studio
• Patch 0.218.15 – Ashlands, Iron Gate Studio on Steam
• Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms, Iron Gate Studio on Steam
• Valheim taming guide, Valheim.tools
• How to tame and feed Moose in Valheim 1.0, Sportskeeda
• 5 things you should do first in Deep North in Valheim 1.0, Sportskeeda
• Valheim 1.0 – How to Get the Grappling Hook, KeenGamer
• Grappling Hook Recipe, Stats, and How to Craft, Game8
• Valheim 1.0 review, PCGamesN
• A Valheim Cart Guide, JP Valheim (YouTube)
• Valheim 1.0 Deep North Full Guide!, Kysen (YouTube)
• Valheim ASHLANDS: SIEGE EQUIPMENT!, Kysen (YouTube)
• The Complete Taming & Breeding Guide!, Embr (YouTube)
• Complete Asksvin Taming & Breeding Guide!, Embr (YouTube)
• How To Tame & Ride A Moose, Late Night Stream (YouTube)