Frost Caves Update

14:55 The Frost Caves update, which Iron Gate also called the Mountain update, was the second major update for Valheim and the first to go through a public test. Released on Mar 1, 2022 as patch 0.207.20, it added the Frost Caves, randomly generated dungeons behind icicle-fringed entrances in the Mountain biome, together with three new creatures, a wolf-themed armor set and a new raid. The same patch brought full gamepad support, a pause for single-player games and optimization for Valve's Steam Deck, which was just reaching its first buyers (Iron Gate, patch 0.207.20).

Quick facts

From Cult of the Wolf to the Mountain update

The roadmap Iron Gate Studio published at launch listed an update called Cult of the Wolf after Hearth & Home; the roadmap was withdrawn in June 2021 when the studio admitted it could not deliver four updates in a year (Development History). When the caves shipped, Iron Gate said they were "essentially that update", even though it no longer used the name (Iron Gate, Mar 1, 2022).

1:31 Work began in autumn 2021, after the Hearth & Home Update. Iron Gate's October development blog explained that a biome such as the Mistlands took a long time to build, so part of the team was making smaller updates in the meantime: the studio's dungeon designer, Erik, was working with the artists on something to make the Mountains more interesting for explorers, and the post showed concept art of an icicle-hung passage and of a torch-bearer before a great frozen statue (Iron Gate, Oct 22, 2021). A November post confirmed that the caves would have wolf-like inhabitants, and the anniversary post of Feb 2, 2022 said the Mountain update was getting its finishing touches alongside work for the Steam Deck (Iron Gate, Nov 25, 2021; Iron Gate, Feb 2, 2022).

Co-founder Henrik Törnqvist described the aim as giving the Mountains the kind of close-quarters challenge the Swamp and Black Forest already had, and answering the question of where the Fenrings that stalk the peaks at night go at dawn (PCGamesN).

Public test and release

Until then Iron Gate had let only a small group try new content before release. For the Mountain update it tried a different approach and opened a public-test branch on Steam, unlocked with the password "yesimadebackups", where patch 0.207.15 appeared on Feb 16, 2022 (Iron Gate, Feb 16, 2022; NME). The update went live as 0.207.20 on Mar 1, closing the game's first-anniversary month. Every later major update went through the same branch until 1.0, which had none.

0:30 The patch forced every world to regenerate its locations, lengthening the first load and sometimes nudging boss altars, and Frost Caves only generate in areas not yet explored, so worlds with unvisited mountains got them without a restart. It also added an anniversary drinking horn that lead artist Robin had designed from scratch on Iron Gate's first Twitch stream (Iron Gate, Mar 1, 2022).

The caves

0:43 A Frost Cave is entered through a rocky mouth hung with great blue icicles, either rounded or shaped like a wolf's snout. Inside are icy tunnels blocked by breakable ice walls, rooms hung with red curtains, cave paintings of a wolf-worshipping cult and narrow stairs; according to the developers the caves can run about 60 meters deep, and they were tuned for players arriving in iron gear straight from the Swamp. Signs could now be built without a workbench, which lets explorers mark their route (Jiroc the Viking).

16:15 Three creatures were added, covered on Mountain Creatures: bats, weak but hard to hit; the Ulv, a small four-legged Fenring that hits hard but dies quickly; and the Cultist, a red-hooded Fenring that breathes fire and guards the inner rooms behind bloodied wooden doors.

14:29 The new raid, announced on screen as "You stirred the cauldron", sends a swarm of bats at a player's base in any biome. It becomes possible once Bonemass is dead and the player has killed a bat (Events, Valheim Wiki; Raids and Events).

Fenris gear

6:53 The caves' altars and walls hold Fenring hair and Fenring claws, and Cultists drop red jute and, rarely, their trophy. From these come the Fenris coat, leggings and hood, each adding movement speed and the coat frost resistance, with a set bonus of fire resistance and a higher Fists skill when all three are worn; the Flesh Rippers, clawed gauntlets for unarmed fighting; and three decorative pieces, the Red jute carpet, Red jute curtain and Standing brazier. The Unarmed skill was renamed Fists to match (Armor and Capes; Weapons and Shields; Skills).

Controllers and the Steam Deck

0:51 Much of the patch was about playing without a keyboard. Valheim gained full controller support with mapping for every feature, alternative button glyphs and an on-screen legend; text entry through Steam's Big Picture mode, so signs, pets and characters can be named with a gamepad; a pause in single-player; and an FPS limiter with an option to reduce GPU use when minimized. On a Steam Deck the game loads its own control layout and default settings, and by late March Valve had rated it Verified (Iron Gate, Mar 25, 2022; Platforms and System Requirements).

2:11 Smaller changes came from the developers' own play. They played without the map and needed signposts, hence the workbench-free signs; nomap became a server setting, a Vegvisir in nomap mode turns the player to face the boss instead of marking a map, and a noportals console command was added. Both options later became standard World Modifiers.

Reception

The update was received as a modest interim step before the Mistlands. Coverage concentrated on the new dungeon, the controller support and the single-player pause, and player numbers barely moved: SteamCharts shows a March 2022 peak of 43,527 concurrent players, below February's 55,169 (Massively Overpowered; SteamCharts). Later that month Iron Gate said it had enjoyed reading players' stories from the caves and that the whole team was now working on the Mistlands Update (Iron Gate, Mar 25, 2022).

19:14 Later updates kept building on the caves. The Mistlands fishing overhaul put fish in ice caves, among them the Tetra, found only in rare caves with lakes, and the Hildir's Request Update of 2023 added the Howling Cavern, an elite Frost Cave marked by two blue braziers, where the ice Cultist Geirrhafa guards one of Hildir's chests.

Frequently asked questions

When did the Frost Caves update come out? On Mar 1, 2022, as patch 0.207.20, closing the game's first-anniversary month. It had been on a public-test branch since Feb 16.

Was Frost Caves the canceled Cult of the Wolf update? In effect. The launch roadmap had promised an update called Cult of the Wolf, and when the caves shipped Iron Gate said they were "essentially that update", even though the name was no longer used.

Do Frost Caves appear in an existing world? Yes, but only where the world has not been explored yet. The patch forced every world to regenerate its locations, so a save with unvisited mountains gets caves without a restart.

What do you get from a Frost Cave? Fenring hair and Fenring claws from its altars and walls, and red jute and trophies from the Cultists. These make the Fenris coat, leggings and hood, the clawed Flesh Rippers, and the Red jute carpet, curtain and Standing brazier (Armor and Capes).

Did the update add controller support? Yes. Valheim gained full gamepad mapping, alternative button glyphs, an on-screen legend, text entry through Steam's Big Picture mode and a single-player pause; on a Steam Deck it loads its own control layout, and Valve rated the game Verified later that March.

Sources

• Patch 0.207.20, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Mar 1, 2022
• The frozen caves have thawed…, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Mar 1, 2022
• Patch 0.207.15 (Public Test), Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Feb 16, 2022
• Development Blog October: Moving Forwards After Hearth & Home, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Oct 22, 2021
• Development Blog November: New Content, Mistlands and Awards, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Nov 25, 2021
• One Year of Valheim – More Adventures Await!, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Feb 2, 2022
• Taking a Bow..., Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Mar 25, 2022
• Valheim update adds Frost Cave dungeons stuffed with loot, PCGamesN, Mar 1, 2022
• 'Valheim' public test patch adds in frost caves dungeon, NME, Feb 16, 2022
• Valheim thaws the entrance to its Frost Caves update, Massively Overpowered, Mar 3, 2022
• Valheim updates, Mistlands, roadmap, and more, PCGamesN
• Events, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Valheim Steam charts, SteamCharts
• Valheim: New Mountain Biome Dungeon Caves Revealed!, Jiroc the Viking, YouTube, Oct 22, 2021
• Valheim: Frost Caves, New Mobs, Weapon & Armor - Patch Notes, Jiroc the Viking, YouTube, Feb 17, 2022
• NEW! Complete Guide to FROST CAVES & FENRIS Armor, Jiroc the Viking, YouTube, Feb 21, 2022
• 30+ Need to Know Valheim Tips for the Mountains!, Samo, YouTube, Jan 19, 2026