Infested Mines

0:01 Infested Mines are the dungeons of the Mistlands in Valheim: abandoned Dvergr mine workings beneath black-marble ruins, now a nest for the insect-like Seeker and its kin. They supply the Black Cores needed to build the biome's three crafting stations and the nine fragments that make the Sealbreaker, the key to the citadel of The Queen, so finishing the Mistlands means clearing several. They arrived with the Mistlands Update of December 2022.

Quick facts

How to find Infested Mines

1:45 The mines lie under the ruins of Dvergr buildings, their black marble cracked and overgrown with vines, and the dungeon itself is reached from the building's basement (Infested Mine, Valheim Wiki). A second kind of entrance is a great stone stair set into a rock formation. NubbQueen reads more than three Seekers arriving at once as a sign of a mine, since every entrance is guarded: the wiki's location data puts five Seekers on the building type, two inside and three on the roof, and two to four on the stairs of the other (Point of interest, Valheim Wiki).

Securing the entrance

30:16 Before going down, NickRawcliffe kills the guards, places a workbench and a stonecutter by the ruin and dismantles the black marble around the stairwell, then rebuilds it as a barricade so that nothing on the surface can reach him. A portal in that spot lets him bank loot and return quickly after a death. JP Valheim, raiding a mine in bronze gear, sprints past the guards into the basement and walls it off around the dungeon door, then warns that building anything inside, even the permitted campfire, makes noise that draws the mine's inhabitants.

Inside an Infested Mine

40:53 Each mine branches off one long rectangular hall into rooms of every size. Many are closed by wooden barricades that must be broken. Two kinds of secret door hide the rest (Infested Mine, Valheim Wiki): an Old Dvergr Gate, nearly invisible except for a carved Dvergr face, usually leads to ordinary rooms, while a small marble block inscribed with blue runes opens on a treasure room. Both open with a simple interaction and cannot be shut again; NickRawcliffe scans every wall for them.

Enemies in Infested Mines

Unstarred values from the Valheim Wiki; all are immune to spirit. See Mistlands Creatures and Tick.

1:07 Rooms often hold several enemies at once. Seekers fly short distances and dive in to strike; Broods hatch from eggs on the floor, and three times in four a stepped-on or broken egg releases one (Seeker Brood, Valheim Wiki). The armored Seeker Soldier is the hardest, but NubbQueen notes that it usually cannot climb the step by the exit, so it can be lured there and shot. Ticks latch on and drain health for five seconds unless parried off; NickRawcliffe switches to an atgeir for them.

35:11 Against Soldiers he throws fire and poison bombs, then fires arrows while the damage ticks. Since patch 0.213.4 of February 2023, some creatures in the mines respawn every four hours (Patch 0.213.4, Iron Gate).

Infested Mine loot

1:50 Black Cores stand on iron stands like the Surtling Cores of the Burial Chambers, mostly in the treasure rooms behind rune doors. The count varies enormously: some mines have none, others more than ten (Black Core, Valheim Wiki). One treasure-room design holds one or two chests, up to three coin piles and up to four cores, each present half the time, with a one-in-ten chance of the Queen's Vegvisir; the other holds two chests and up to two cores (Loot chest, Valheim Wiki). Sealbreaker Fragments sit sealed in blue-lit glass cases throughout the mine and are freed by smashing the glass.

34:08 Royal Jelly lies in piles on the floors and drops from Broods; since 0.213.4 the piles regrow every four hours, and a dripping stalactite of jelly marks most of the spots. Broken railings give a little Black Marble. Each treasure chest rolls three or four of these:

The Queen's Vegvisir, when a mine has one, marks the Infested Citadel on the map (Runestones and Vegvisirs).

How to clear an Infested Mine safely

33:27 Nearly all damage in a mine is physical, much of it pierce, so the wiki recommends the Bonemass Forsaken Power, which since the Call to Arms Update resists physical damage by 25 percent, and the pierce-resistant Root Harnesk, safe here because the Gjall cannot attack inside. NubbQueen eats two health foods and one stamina food, and the wiki warns that a mage's Eitr-weave robes give little protection (Forsaken Powers; Eitr). NickRawcliffe clears the open areas first and uses walls as cover: an ooze bomb's poison spreads through a barricade, and sledges and battleaxes hit enemies on the far side.

37:01 He breaks barricades with the Iron Sledge or Demolisher, whose blows also stun Seekers. NubbQueen clears one room before breaking into the next and always keeps a path to the exit.

What the mines unlock

Five Black Cores each build the Black Forge, the Galdr Table and the Eitr Refinery, the stations behind Mistlands weapons, staves and refined Eitr (Galdr Table, Valheim Wiki; Crafting Stations and Upgrades; Magic and Staves). Nine Sealbreaker Fragments combine at the Galdr Table into the Sealbreaker, which is not consumed and opens the Queen's citadel (Sealbreaker, Valheim Wiki). Royal Jelly goes into Seeker Aspic, Yggdrasil Porridge and major healing mead (Food and Cooking).

History and Valheim 1.0

In September 2022 Iron Gate admitted that the Mistlands dungeons it had built did not yet serve progression or feel rewarding, and added the Black Core to tie them in (Changes and Iterations, Iron Gate). The mines shipped with patch 0.212.7 on Dec 6, 2022. The Valheim 1.0 Release of September 2026 left the mines unchanged in its notes but raised the durability of Mistlands gear and extended mist clearing to every Mistlands weapon (Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate). Game8's idol list names Dvergr treasure chests among the sources of Black Marble idols for the Forge of Potential (Game8).

Frequently asked questions

Do Infested Mines respawn? Partly: some creatures and the Royal Jelly return every four hours, but cores, fragments and chests do not.

How many Black Cores are in an Infested Mine? From none to more than ten, depending on the treasure rooms in the layout; fifteen build all three stations.

How do you open the hidden doors? Interact with them; look for a carved Dvergr face or a small block with blue runes.

Where is the Queen's Vegvisir? Inside some Infested Mines, for example in one kind of treasure room, which holds it one time in ten; players often clear several mines before finding one.

Sources

• Infested Mine, Black Core, Sealbreaker and Galdr Table, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Seeker, Seeker Soldier, Seeker Brood, Tick and Royal Jelly, Valheim Wiki
• Loot chest and Point of interest, Valheim Wiki
• Changes and Iterations, Iron Gate Studio, Sep 13, 2022
• Patch 0.213.4, Iron Gate Studio, Feb 7, 2023
• 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
• MASSIVE Mistlands Valheim Guide, NickRawcliffe (video)
• Infested Mines Tips and Tricks, NubbQueen (video)
• How to Gain Access to an Infested Mine in Bronze Age Gear, JP Valheim (video)