Surtling Core

0:08 A Surtling Core is a glowing, cube-shaped crafting material in Valheim, found mainly in the Burial Chambers of the Black Forest and dropped by the fire imps of the Swamp, that powers the game's first industry: five build a Smelter, five more a Charcoal Kiln, and two go into every Portal. Picking up the first core unlocks the Smelter and Charcoal Kiln, so it is the item that turns a Stone Age camp into a Bronze Age base (Surtling Core, Valheim Wiki; Smelter). SomeNutzGuy counts ten as the minimum to get started. Later recipes reach as far as the Ashlands, where the Battering Ram needs two. The in-game description says it throbs with inner heat, and the core weighs 5, stacks to 10 and can be carried through a portal.

Quick facts

Where to find Surtling Cores

Burial Chambers

2:36 Burial Chambers are the stone-fronted crypts of the Black Forest, and they are where most players find their first cores. Inside, a maze of dark corridors and rooms, some reached by stairs up or down, is guarded by skeletons from Evil Bone Piles and the occasional ghost; the wiki suggests keeping to one wall to see every room and still find the exit (Burial Chambers, Valheim Wiki). A torch is essential.

1:48 The cores sit on thin stands topped with claws, often in clusters in a nook or room, and sometimes on ledges and shelves in the walls. SomeNutzGuy usually finds between five and ten per chamber, once as many as twelve or thirteen, and never fewer than five. Kysen's best haul was nine, alongside rubies, amber, amber pearls and coins (Kysen). Cores taken from a chamber do not come back, so a player who needs more moves on to the next chamber (Screen Rant).

4:33 The ghosts are the main danger for a new player. Kysen blocks their attacks with a shield and strikes between them, or shoots them from range. The Stagbreaker is his other tool: its ground slam hits several skeletons at once and can smash the Evil Bone Piles that spawn them (Meadows and Black Forest Creatures).

Surtlings in the Swamp

3:13 After the Burial Chambers, the renewable source is the Surtling, a small imp of living flame. Surtlings spawn at up to three points around each fire geyser in the Swamp, respawning five minutes after being killed, and some Swamps have many geysers while others have none (Surtling, Valheim Wiki). A Surtling has only 20 health and throws fireballs that set the player burning. Each one drops four coal and, at no star, a Surtling Core half the time; one-star Surtlings drop two cores and two-star ones four. After Bonemass has been killed, the raid "There's a smell of sulfur in the air..." can also bring Surtlings to the player's base (Raids and Events).

Other sources

The wiki lists two more. The bonfires in Fuling Villages can be recycled for their materials, a core among them, once the village is captured and a Workbench placed nearby, and the lanterns found at Dvergr sites have a chance to yield one when destroyed or dismantled (Bonfire, Valheim Wiki; Fuling Villages; Dvergr Outposts). In early access Surtlings were the only inhabitants of the unfinished Ashlands; the 2024 rebuild of the biome removed them (Ashlands Update).

How to farm Surtling Cores

0:18 Surtlings take damage from water, although rain does not hurt them. Kysen's farm exploits that: he digs out the ground around a fire geyser with a pickaxe until the whole spawn area is flooded, so every Surtling appears in water and dies within moments, then builds a small hut in a tree nearby, out of reach of the Swamp's other creatures, and waits.

4:07 After an hour away from the keyboard he collected 29 Surtling Cores, 171 coal and four Surtling trophies, with no fighting at all. A player must stay close enough to keep the area loaded, so the time can also be spent cutting wood or hunting nearby. The 1.0 patch notes changed how rare enemy drops are rolled, to avoid long runs of kills without a drop, but do not say which drops that covers (Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!).

Surtling Core uses

Every recipe below is from the Valheim Wiki; the stations are where each piece or item is made (Crafting Stations and Upgrades).

The Smelter turns copper, tin, iron and silver ore into bars using coal, which the Charcoal Kiln makes from wood; the Blast Furnace does the same for Black Metal scrap, Flametal ore and, since 1.0, the Petrified Tissue that becomes Bloodgold (Metals and Smelting; Gammeltroll). A Smelter or kiln knocked down with the hammer returns every material, cores included, so an early base can rebuild one as the other while cores are short. Later cores go into the Staff of Embers (Magic and Staves), the Shield Core of the Ashlands' Shield Generator and the siege ram for the Charred Fortresses. Throwing a core into a bonfire also sets off a firework-like burst of flame visible from far away.

Name and lore

5:35 The name refers to Surtr, the fire giant of Norse myth. A runestone that earlier versions of the game placed in the Swamp told how the First Men struck down a great demon called Surtr and shattered his fiery body into pieces, each still a weaker part of him, and named those pieces Surtlings (Surtling, Valheim Wiki; Lore and Setting). Before the Ashlands update the game's files even gave the unfinished sword Dyrnwyn a recipe needing twenty Surtling Cores.

Frequently asked questions

Where do you find Surtling Cores in Valheim? On claw-topped stands inside the Burial Chambers of the Black Forest, usually five to ten per chamber, and as drops from Surtlings around the fire geysers of the Swamp.

How many Surtling Cores do you need for a smelter? Five, with 20 Stone at a Workbench. The Charcoal Kiln needs another five, so ten cores cover the start of the Bronze Age, and each Portal needs two more.

Do Surtling Cores respawn? Not in Burial Chambers; once taken they are gone. Surtlings do respawn at their fire geysers about five minutes after being killed, which makes them the renewable source.

Can Surtling Cores go through portals? Yes. Unlike ores and metals, Surtling Cores can be teleported.

What is the fastest way to farm Surtling Cores? Flood the ground around a Swamp fire geyser so that Surtlings spawn in water and die instantly, then wait nearby. Kysen collected 29 cores in an hour this way.

Sources

• Surtling Core, Surtling and Burial Chambers, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Smelter, Charcoal Kiln, Portal, Blast Furnace, Stone Oven, Ward, Bonfire, Dvergr Lantern, Staff of Embers, Shield Core and Battering Ram, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Valheim How To Get Surtling Cores, Screen Rant
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio on Steam, Sep 9, 2026
• For Press & Creators, Iron Gate Studio (Burial Chamber screenshot)
• Valheim How To Get Surtling Cores | Valheim Beginner's Guide, SomeNutzGuy (video)
• Valheim - How To Find Surtling Core FAST!, Kysen (video)
• Valheim - Infinite SURTLING CORE and COAL! Surtling Farm!, Kysen (video)
• Valheim Burial Chambers ~ Full Guide ~ All Enemies and Rewards!, Golden Gek's Guides (video)