Moder

8:48 Moder is the fourth of the eight Forsaken bosses of Valheim and the ruler of the Mountain biome. She is a huge frost dragon with black scales, a white mane and tattered wings, the first boss in the game's progression that flies, and she follows Bonemass of the Swamp and precedes Yagluth of the Plains. She is summoned by laying three Dragon Eggs on her altar, has 7,500 health, and when she dies she drops ten Dragon Tears and her trophy (Moder, Valheim wiki; Physgun boss checklist). The tears unlock the Artisan Table, the crafting station that opens the Plains tier of equipment, and her trophy grants a Forsaken Powers ability that has become the standard choice for long voyages.

Quick facts

Lore and name

The runestones scattered across the Mountain call Moder the mother of all drakes, the small frost wyrms that circle the peaks and guard her eggs. One verse reads: "Black wings across the moon and sun, down from the mountain our mother comes. Her weeping tears will fall like rain, her voice will call us home again" (Moder, Valheim wiki). "Moder" is "mother" in the Scandinavian languages, and the Old Norse "móðr" means anger or grief, a double meaning that suits a boss whose remains are tears. Her trophy is described in the game as "the head of a dragon, majestic even in the rigor of death" (Moder trophy, Valheim wiki). The wider story of the Forsaken is on Lore and Setting.

Finding the altar

20:02 Moder's altar is found through a Vegvisir, a runestone that marks the nearest of her altars on the map. In the Mountain these stones are found in the ruined stone towers of the overworld and, less often, inside the Frost Caves added by the Frost Caves Update (Vegvisir, Valheim wiki). Each world generates several altars, and the Vegvisir always points to the closest one. The altar is a stone platform with three sockets on a high peak, which means the player has to be able to survive the Freezing effect (see Weather, Cold and Wet) before the search begins.

Dragon Eggs

7:16 Summoning her requires three Dragon Eggs, the glowing pink orbs that sit in drake nests. A nest generates above roughly 100 meters of altitude on flat ground, looks like a ring of rock and ice, and is guarded by up to three drakes; the egg regenerates about eight real hours after it is taken (Drake nest, Valheim wiki). The drakes have only 100 health and take extra damage from fire, so a bow with fire arrows clears a nest quickly. See Mountain Creatures for the drake itself.

The eggs are the real obstacle. Each one weighs 200, does not stack and cannot pass through a portal, so a Viking carries one at a time and the Megingjord belt sold by Haldor (+150 carry weight) is close to a requirement (Dragon egg, Valheim wiki). Most players look for nests on the same mountain as the altar; when that fails the eggs travel by cart or by boat, which makes the boss an early test of Sailing and Ships. The eggs may be placed one at a time, and the fight only starts when the player makes the sacrifice at the altar.

The fight

8:05 Moder alternates between two phases. In the air she circles the arena and fires a barrage of icicles; on the ground she bites, swipes with her claws and breathes a cone of frost. She is immune to frost, spirit and stagger, so Frostner and other frost weapons are useless against her, and she takes 50 percent extra damage from fire (Moder, Valheim wiki). Her presence also carries an aura that forces the Freezing effect on everyone nearby, which is why frost resistance from a mead or the Wolf Fur Cape is treated as mandatory (Mead and Potions, Armor and Capes).

1:56 The flying phase is the dangerous one. The ice barrage is sixteen projectiles that each deal 30 pierce and 200 frost damage, and the icicles that stick in the ground afterwards become obstacles that block movement until they are smashed. The only reliable defense is cover: a raised pillar of earth made with the hoe is indestructible, and players duck behind it or into a trench when she draws breath, then break the crystals before she lands.

2:13 Once she lands the fight becomes a normal melee. The bite (120 pierce), the claw (110 slash) and the ground breath (200 frost in a 30-meter line) can all be blocked with an upgraded silver shield or dodged with a roll, and the landed phase is where most damage is dealt. Because she cannot be staggered, parrying gives no advantage. Wolves, drakes and Fenrings keep spawning during the fight, so most guides recommend starting in the morning and clearing the area first.

Preparation and strategies

1:01 The standard kit is upgraded Wolf Armor or the faster Fenris set, a Wolf Fur Cape or Frost Resistance Mead, a Silver Sword and Silver Shield, a Draugr Fang bow and a large stock of arrows, with health and stamina meads on the belt (see Weapons and Shields and Bows, Crossbows and Arrows). Obsidian arrows outdamage fire arrows despite her fire weakness, because their base damage is higher. Before the summoning the arena is flattened and cleared, a pillar or two of raised earth is left for cover, and a portal with a small shelter a short distance away allows repairs and a return after death (Portals, Death and Corpse Runs).

8:30 The trench method takes the flying phase out of the fight. A narrow ditch dug under the lip of the altar is too small for her to reach into and too deep for the icicles to hit, so an archer can stand inside and shoot her whenever she lands, retreating below ground when she breathes.

14:05 Tamed wolves are the fastest kill. One- and two-star wolves bred at a mountain base and marched to the altar tear her apart in seconds once she lands; the guides agree that at least twelve to fifteen starred wolves are needed, because a single barrage or breath kills several of them (Farming and Taming).

16:25 The bonfire method exploits her fire weakness with no arrows at all. A pit no deeper than four meters holds four bonfires under a roof of floor tiles; when she lands on top her body clips into the flames and burns until she dies, while the player repairs the fires from inside. A variant traps her in a hole at least six meters deep so that she cannot take off again. See Building and Structural Integrity for the terrain rules these tricks rely on.

Dragon Tears and the Artisan Table

7:13 Moder always drops ten Dragon Tears, which are light, stackable and can be teleported, unlike the eggs that summoned her. Two tears and ten wood build the Artisan Table, and within its 40-meter radius the player can place the Blast Furnace for black metal, the Spinning Wheel for linen thread, the Windmill for barley flour and the Stone Oven for bread and pies (Artisan table, Valheim wiki). Moder is therefore the gate to every refined resource of the Plains; see Crafting Stations and Upgrades and Metals and Smelting. The table's upgrade, the Artisan Press, later needs The Queen and builds the Drakkar that sails to the Ashlands. A spare Dragon Tear on an item stand glows and gives off fog, a popular decoration (Dragon tear, Valheim wiki).

Since the Valheim 1.0 Release her defeat has one more reward: Haldor sells the Wider Pockets upgrade, a permanent extra row of eight inventory slots for 1,000 coins, only in worlds where Moder has been killed; the second row, Deeper Pockets, waits for The Queen (KeenGamer, "How to increase your inventory space").

Forsaken Power

9:17 Hanging the Moder Trophy on its hook at the Sacrificial Stones unlocks her power. Its defining effect is "always tailwind when sailing": while the power is active the wind turns to blow from directly behind whichever way the ship is steered, so a longship reaches full speed on any heading. The wind only changes while the player is actively steering, the effect is local to the player who activated it, and it does not work near the edge of the world (Forsaken power, Valheim wiki).

22:29 For most of early access the tailwind was the whole power. The Call to Arms Update of 2025 rebalanced every Forsaken Power, and Moder gained three more effects: 300 extra carry weight, 10 percent faster movement and 50 percent frost resistance (Steam news, "Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms"; Game Rant patch notes). The power still lasts five minutes on the shared twenty-minute cooldown, but the extra capacity turned a sailing convenience into a general-purpose travel power.

Raids and later progression

9:31 Moder also shapes the world before she is fought. Killing Bonemass enables the raid "A cold wind blows from the mountains", in which three drakes attack the base for 150 seconds under a snowstorm that inflicts Freezing even in the Meadows; because drakes fly, walls do little and a bow with fire arrows is the answer. Defeating Moder removes that raid from the pool and unlocks the Fuling raid "The horde is attacking!" (Events, Valheim wiki; see Raids and Events).

5:59 She returns one last time at the end of the game. The gauntlet that precedes Kall Fimbulbringer in the Deep North confronts the player with echoes of the earlier Forsaken, and Moder appears there alongside Yagluth, swooping over the arena while the party tries to decide which of the two to bring down first.

Frequently asked questions

How do you summon Moder? By laying three Dragon Eggs on her altar and making the sacrifice. The eggs sit in drake nests above roughly 100 meters of altitude, weigh 200 each, do not stack and cannot pass through a portal, so they travel one at a time, by cart or by boat.

What is Moder weak to? Fire, which does 50 per cent more damage. She is immune to frost, spirit and stagger, so Frostner and other frost weapons are useless and parrying gives no advantage. Obsidian arrows still outdamage fire arrows because their base damage is higher.

How do you survive her flying phase? With cover. The ice barrage is sixteen projectiles of 30 pierce and 200 frost, and the only reliable defense is a raised pillar of earth made with the hoe, or a trench under the lip of the altar that she cannot reach into.

What do Dragon Tears do? Two of them and ten wood build the Artisan Table, whose 40-meter radius allows the Blast Furnace, Spinning Wheel, Windmill and Stone Oven. Moder always drops ten, and unlike her eggs they stack and can be teleported.

What does Moder's Forsaken Power do? It turns the wind to blow from behind whichever way a ship is steered, and since the Call to Arms Update it also gives +300 carry weight, 10 per cent faster movement and 50 per cent frost resistance, for five minutes on the shared twenty-minute cooldown.

Sources

• Moder, Valheim wiki (weirdgloop)
• Moder, Valheim Wiki (Fandom)
• Dragon egg, Valheim wiki
• Drake nest, Valheim wiki
• Dragon tear, Valheim wiki
• Artisan table, Valheim wiki
• Moder trophy, Valheim wiki
• Vegvisir, Valheim wiki
• Forsaken power, Valheim wiki
• Events, Valheim wiki
• Valheim boss checklist, Physgun
• Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms, Iron Gate on Steam News
• Valheim's Latest Update Adds a Brand-New Mechanic (Call to Arms patch notes), Game Rant
• Valheim 1.0 – How to Increase Your Inventory Space, KeenGamer
• Valheim 1.0 Patch Notes and Changes, Game8