Obsidian

0:10 Obsidian is a crafting material in Valheim: black volcanic glass mined from deposits on the upper slopes of the Mountain and used above all to make arrows. The game describes it in three words, "Dark volcanic glass." It belongs to the Mountain's Silver Age, needs an Iron Pickaxe to mine, and unlike the silver found on the same peaks it can be carried through a portal. Its main uses are the Obsidian, Poison and Frost Arrows, which remain standard ammunition from the Mountain into the Plains, and the Tool Shelf that completes the Workbench (Obsidian, Valheim Wiki).

Quick facts

Sources: Obsidian and Obsidian Deposit, Valheim Wiki.

Where to find obsidian

0:46 Obsidian is tied to altitude. Samo's Mountain guide describes the biome in three bands: snow and wolves from about 50 meters, obsidian and drake nests from about 100 meters, and silver veins and Stone Golems only on the highest peaks above about 120 meters. A small, low mountain near the Meadows may therefore hold no obsidian at all, and NubbQueen's guide advises skipping it for a taller one. The deposits always sit on the surface, never underground, as roundish boulders streaked with black glassy veins that are easy to walk past among ordinary rocks (Obsidian Deposit, Valheim Wiki). The wolves, Drakes and Stone Golems around them are covered on Mountain Creatures.

8:52 Smaller amounts turn up as loot. Chests in the Mountain's abandoned towers and forts can hold obsidian beside onion seeds, and the loot chests of the Frost Caves sometimes contain it as well (Obsidian, Valheim Wiki).

How to mine obsidian

0:30 An obsidian deposit is a tier 2 resource node: only an Iron Pickaxe or a better one can damage it, so the Antler and Bronze pickaxes are useless here and obsidian always follows the Swamp's iron in progression (Tools). Each deposit yields 5 to 8 obsidian. A struck deposit breaks into loose pieces that can roll away down a slope, so the wiki recommends working it from the downhill side (Obsidian Deposit, Valheim Wiki).

0:52 Mined deposits never come back, so a player who strips one mountain has to find another. Getting the haul home is the easy part. Obsidian is not a metal, so an ordinary wooden portal accepts it, and at 2 weight a full stack of 50 weighs 100, a third of a Viking's base Carry Weight (Portals). A public-test patch of August 2023 also fixed obsidian, tin and guck so that their drops scale correctly with the resource-rate setting of World Modifiers (Patch 0.217.12, Iron Gate).

Obsidian, Poison and Frost Arrows

4:03 Picking up the first piece of obsidian unlocks three arrow recipes at the Workbench, each made in batches of 20 (Obsidian, Valheim Wiki):

Sources: Obsidian Arrow, Poison Arrow and Frost Arrow, Valheim Wiki.

Obsidian Arrows replace the Ironhead Arrow's 42 pierce and match the Silver Arrow's pierce without its spirit bonus; for pure pierce only the Plains' Needle Arrows, at 62, beat them (Bows, Crossbows and Arrows). Poison Arrows deal most of their damage over time, and their poison stacks with the poison the Draugr Fang adds to every shot; their Ooze comes from the Swamp's blobs. Frost Arrows slow what they hit, which the wiki singles out as useful against smaller enemies such as Fulings; their Freeze Gland is dropped by drakes.

9:57 The elemental arrows matter most against bosses. Bonemass is weak to frost and immune to poison (Bonemass, Valheim Wiki). GlensGames' Bonemass guide sends a player in fully upgraded iron gear up the mountains with a frost-resistance mead before the fight, to hunt drakes and mine obsidian; his frost arrows then hit Bonemass for 50 to 60 each, far faster than wooden arrows, though every batch costs a drake's gland and four obsidian.

13:52 Against Moder, who is weak to fire but immune to frost, MalinaPlays ranks arrows in the order obsidian, fire, poison: the Obsidian Arrow's higher base damage outweighs the dragon's fire weakness (Moder, Valheim Wiki).

The Tool Shelf and the 1.0 Obsidian Pile

10:43 Obsidian's one functional build piece is the Tool Shelf, the last of the Workbench's four extensions, made from 4 Iron, 10 Fine Wood and 4 Obsidian. It must be placed within two meters of the Workbench and near a Forge, and together with the Chopping Block, Tanning Rack and Adze it raises the Workbench to level 5, its maximum (Tool Shelf and Workbench, Valheim Wiki; Crafting Stations and Upgrades). MalinaPlays calls it the final workbench upgrade and advises taking every deposit in sight, since obsidian is light, stacks high and stays useful in later biomes.

The Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026 gave obsidian no new crafting recipe: Physgun's 1.0 item database still lists only the three arrows as items made from it (Physgun). What 1.0 added was a way to display it. The Obsidian Pile is one of twelve decorative material stacks in the patch notes, alongside a Flint Pile and stacks of copper, tin, bronze, iron, silver, black metal, flametal, Bloodgold, ancient metal and Timberwood (Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate; Deep North Update (1.0 Patch Notes); Furniture and Decoration). Other raw materials are compared on Materials and Resources.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get obsidian in Valheim? Mine the black, glassy obsidian deposits on Mountain slopes above about 100 meters with an Iron Pickaxe or better; each deposit gives 5 to 8. Chests in Mountain towers and forts and in Frost Caves sometimes hold it too.

Why can't I mine obsidian? Obsidian deposits need a tier 2 pickaxe. The Antler and Bronze pickaxes do no damage to them, so forge an Iron Pickaxe from 3 Core Wood and 20 Iron first.

Can you take obsidian through a portal? Yes. Obsidian is not an ore or a metal, so ordinary wooden portals accept it, unlike the silver mined on the same mountains.

Does obsidian respawn? No. A mined deposit is gone for good, so steady arrow-making means moving on to fresh mountains.

What is obsidian used for? Obsidian Arrows, Poison Arrows, Frost Arrows and the Tool Shelf upgrade for the Workbench. Since 1.0 it can also be built into a decorative Obsidian Pile.

Sources

• Obsidian, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Obsidian Deposit, Valheim Wiki
• Obsidian Arrow, Poison Arrow and Frost Arrow, Valheim Wiki
• Tool Shelf and Workbench, Valheim Wiki
• Bonemass and Moder, Valheim Wiki
• Obsidian, Physgun Valheim 1.0 item database
• Patch 0.217.12 (Public Test), Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Aug 10, 2023
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Sep 9, 2026
• Beta info and development news, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Aug 4, 2020
• One Year of Valheim – More Adventures Await!, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news), Feb 2, 2022
• How to Get Obsidian and What does it Do, NubbQueen (video)
• 30+ Need to Know Valheim Tips for the Mountains!, Samo (video)
• A Complete Guide to Archery in Valheim, Play Games (PG) (video)
• Valheim: 6 Ways to Kill Bonemass, GlensGames (video)
• Valheim Mountain Survival 101, MalinaPlays (video)