Weapons and Shields

0:00 Weapons in Valheim are crafted from the materials of each biome, and every class trains its own skill as it is used (Skills). SnazzyGames' weapon guide counts ten types: seven melee classes (axes, clubs, knives, swords, fists, spears and polearms) and three ranged ones (bows and crossbows, magic staves, and bombs). Shields are carried in the off hand beside a one-handed weapon. Each biome adds a stronger tier, and the Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026 alone brought more than 40 new weapons by Iron Gate's count (Iron Gate, Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!). This page covers melee weapons and shields; ranged weapons are on Bows, Crossbows and Arrows and staves on Magic and Staves.

Quick facts

Damage and handling

0:35 Every weapon deals one or more damage types: physical (blunt, slash, pierce) or elemental (fire, frost, poison, spirit, lightning), plus chop and pickaxe damage for trees and rock. Each creature is very weak, weak, neutral, resistant, very resistant or immune to each type, from double damage down to none, so the right weapon depends on the target; skeletons, for example, are weak to blunt and resist pierce (Weapons, Valheim Wiki). The item tooltip lists damage, block armor, block force, parry bonus, backstab multiplier and knockback. How blocking, parrying and stagger work is covered on Combat.

Only one-handed weapons can be used with a shield or a torch; two-handed weapons cost more stamina and swing more slowly but hit harder and block better. Most melee weapons have a three-hit combo whose final blow does double damage, plus a secondary attack on the middle mouse button. Held weapons also slow the wearer: knives and the Flesh Rippers not at all, most others by 5%, and battleaxes and sledges by 15%, down from 20% before the Call to Arms Update according to SnazzyGames. Backstabs on unaware creatures deal triple damage with most weapons and six times with knives and the Flesh Rippers; the parry bonus is 2x for most weapons, 3x for atgeirs, 4x for knives and 6x for the Flesh Rippers (Weapons, Valheim Wiki).

Melee classes

Base damage at quality 1, from the class pages of the Valheim Wiki. Every class also has a 1.0 Nord weapon, described below.

1:43 Axes deal slash damage with a three-hit combo and a downward secondary chop, and they are the only weapons that fell trees, so the Stone and Flint axes double as the first Tools. Single axes run from the Meadows to the Mistlands' Jotun Bane, which adds poison, and the dual-wielded Berserkir axes of the Ashlands hit for 140 slash. Battleaxes trade speed for reach, block armor and a secondary swing that staggers four times as hard. Swords share the slash damage and combo at a lower stamina cost and, unlike most weapons, lose no damage when one swing hits several enemies (Axes; Swords, Valheim Wiki).

3:37 Clubs deal blunt damage with heavy knockback that pushes enemies out of reach, and blunt is the weakness of skeletons and most undead of the Swamp (Swamp Creatures). The Frostner adds frost and spirit, the Porcupine pierce. Two-handed sledgehammers have no combo: a single overhead slam damages everything within four meters of the impact, and the Iron sledge and Demolisher stagger twice as hard, which makes them the standard answer to crowds (Clubs, Valheim Wiki).

5:18 Spears are fast one-handed pierce weapons without a combo, whose secondary attack throws the spear to be picked up again; the Ocean's Abyssal Harpoon hauls Serpents ashore rather than fighting. Guides long complained that spears missed enemies standing below the player, which Call to Arms' slope fix addressed. Atgeirs are two-handed pierce polearms with a slow combo and a 360-degree spinning secondary that staggers six times as hard, the crowd-control weapon of the Black Forest and Plains; the Himminafl adds lightning (Spears; Polearms, Valheim Wiki).

7:04 Knives deal equal slash and pierce with a quick combo and a leaping secondary, carry no movement penalty and multiply backstabs sixfold, which makes them the stealth weapon; Skoll and Hati are a dual-wielded pair from the Mistlands. Fists are the unarmed class, renamed from Unarmed when the Frost Caves Update of 2022 added the Flesh Rippers: a two-punch combo whose second blow doubles damage and a kick that staggers six times as hard. The Flesh Rippers have the highest parry bonus in the game and pair with the Fenris set's +15 Fists (Armor and Capes; Fists; Knives, Valheim Wiki).

Shields

0:17 A shield replaces the block values of the weapon it is held with, and comes in three sizes. Bucklers have the least block armor but the best parry bonus; round shields sit in the middle; tower shields have the most block armor and block force, the knockback dealt to a blocked attacker, but cannot parry at all. Round shields and bucklers slow the wearer by 5% and tower shields by 10%; SnazzyGames' 2024 shield guide, recorded before Call to Arms, still gives the old 20% for towers. The Blocking skill adds to every shield's block armor (Shields, Valheim Wiki).

The Serpent scale shield, the Ocean's only shield, is also the only one that grants a resistance, to pierce while blocking, and several later shields can be crafted in alternative styles. For players who can time a parry, guides favor bucklers: in SnazzyGames' comparison of the Swamp tier the Iron buckler stops 70 damage on a parry (28 × 2.5), the Banded shield 63 and the Iron tower shield a flat 52. Since Call to Arms a Perfect Block costs no stamina, which strengthened that argument (Combat).

Ashlands gem weapons

14:57 The Ashlands Update of May 2024 added more than thirty weapons, among them the Nidhögg sword, Slayer greatsword, Berserkir axes and the Dyrnwyn fire sword. Its Flametal weapons can be fused at the Black Forge with one of three gems found in the chests of Charred fortresses: Bloodstone makes a "bleeding" version that deals 0.2% more damage for each point of missing health, Iolite a "thundering" or "storm" version with 10 lightning damage and a 25% chance of chain lightning, and Jade a "primal" version with 10 poison and a 20% chance to root the target. The result always starts at quality 1, so guides advise against upgrading the base weapon first; Dyrnwyn and the staves cannot take gems (Iron Gate, Patch 0.218.15 – Ashlands).

Call to Arms additions

5:12 The Call to Arms Update (patch 0.221.4, Sep 9, 2025) listed 18 new weapons, nine of them wooden. The rest filled gaps: the Black Forest's Paws of the Bear (25 slash, made from the new Bear) and the Plains' Vilebone Maulclaws (60 pierce and 20 slash, from the Vile) gave fists a weapon on either side of the Mountain, and the Black metal battleaxe and Skull Splittur gave battleaxes a Plains and a Mistlands tier. The five Bottled Blobs, thrown to release a blob, are covered with the other bombs on Bows, Crossbows and Arrows. The patch also made enemies on slopes easier to hit (Iron Gate, Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms; Game Rant).

3:41 The nine wooden weapons (sword, greatsword, axe, two-handed axe, mace, sledge, spear, atgeir and knife) deal a single point of damage, so friends can spar without hurting each other; the patch also added T.W.I.G., a training dummy that fights back (Combat). Only the Wooden sword is crafted, at the workbench; SnazzyGames found the rest in chests across the biomes, from a Draugr village in the Meadows to the infested mines of the Mistlands.

The Five Years of Valheim patch (0.221.10, Feb 2, 2026) then added the Early Axes, a dual-wielded pair built from a Mysterious and a Curious axe head found in abandoned houses of the Meadows, which fell birch and oak before the Bronze Age (Iron Gate, Patch 0.221.10).

Deep North weapons

3:39 The Deep North completes the set with a Nord weapon for all twelve classes: sword, greatsword, axe, greataxe, mace, sledge, spear, atgeir, dagger and knucklechains, plus the Nord bow and crossbow. They keep the movesets of their classes, and each can be refined into a Frostfire or Thunderblood variant; with four staves and four shields that makes the more than 40 of Iron Gate's notes. The Nord Knucklechains are the first fist weapon with elemental versions (BisectHosting, 1.0 patch notes).

4:02 They are also made differently from every earlier tier. A mould, found in the debris and wardrobes of the Winding Tunnels, dropped by Krigen or broken out of weapon racks in the Gates of Mörkhalla, is combined with Bloodgold at the Black Forge into a cast. The cast is set in a Frost Foundry fueled with Liquid Frost, five per item, each made from five Ice at a Frigid Kiln, and rises as the finished weapon within a minute. Moulds are used up, so a second copy needs a second mould, and the recipes need the Black Forge at level 4 (allthings.how). Bloodgold is covered on Metals and Smelting and the stations on Crafting Stations and Upgrades.

Sources: Game8, List of All Moulds; Beebom. Frozen Branches come from the Barka and Long Claws from the Eyeless One (Deep North Creatures).

4:27 The essences are won at Memorial Sites, where Memorial Coal from Krigen or Mörkhalla's braziers summons the spirit of a fallen Viking; SnazzyGames found that one essence dropped 20% of the time. Frostfire adds fire and frost, burning and slowing the target, at some cost in physical damage. Thunderblood adds lightning with a 25% chance to strike and 0.2% more damage for each point of health the wielder has lost, which SnazzyGames likens to the Ashlands' Iolite and Bloodstone gems combined. Sportskeeda's unupgraded greataxe shows the trade: 170 slash for the Nord version, 140 slash with 10 fire and 80 frost for Frostfire, and 170 slash with 70 lightning for Thunderblood. Staves cannot take essences (Sportskeeda). Against Kall Fimbulbringer, who resists pierce, fire, frost and lightning, launch-week guides steer melee fighters to blunt and slash (XGamingServer).

6:47 Three Nord shields follow the same mould-and-cast route: the Nord Buckler, the round Nord Shield and the Nord Greatshield, a tower shield that PCGamesN's June preview described as giant and circular. They take no essences, and their block values were not yet on the wiki on Sep 11, 2026 (PCGamesN).

2:46 The fourth 1.0 shield comes from the Swamp rather than the north. The Shield of Roots, made from 10 Fine Wood and one Writhan Roots dropped by the new Writhan, is a round shield that SnazzyGames reports lowers attack stamina by 10% and is the first shield with no movement penalty (Beebom).

The 1.0 patch also raised the durability of Mistlands and Ashlands gear and gave every Mistlands weapon the ability to clear mist. Weapons at their highest quality can be pushed further at the Forge of Potential with Battle Idols, at the risk of destroying the item (Iron Gate, Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!). The elemental versions are compared on Frostfire and Thunderblood Weapons, and the Shield of Roots is covered with the creature that supplies it, the Writhan.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best weapon in Valheim? Whichever one the target is weak to. Each creature is very weak, weak, neutral, resistant, very resistant or immune to every damage type, so skeletons fall to blunt and resist pierce, while against Kall Fimbulbringer, who resists pierce, fire, frost and lightning, launch-week guides steer melee fighters to blunt and slash.

Which weapons cut down trees? Axes, which are the only class that fells trees; the Stone and Flint axes double as the first Tools. Battleaxes carry chop damage too, and the Early Axes added in February 2026 fell birch and oak before the Bronze Age.

Buckler, round shield or tower shield? A buckler has the least block armor but the best parry bonus, a tower shield the most block armor and block force but no parry at all. In a comparison of the Swamp tier the Iron buckler stops 70 damage on a parry against the Iron tower shield's flat 52, and since the Call to Arms Update a Perfect Block costs no stamina, which strengthens the case for parrying.

How do the Ashlands gems work? A Flametal weapon is fused at the Black Forge with one of three gems from Charred fortress chests: Bloodstone for 0.2% more damage per point of missing health, Iolite for 10 lightning and a 25% chance of chain lightning, Jade for 10 poison and a 20% chance to root. The result always starts at quality 1, so guides advise against upgrading the base weapon first.

What are the wooden weapons for? Sparring. The nine wooden weapons added by Call to Arms deal a single point of damage, so friends can fight without hurting each other. Only the Wooden sword is crafted; the rest are found in chests across the biomes.

Sources

• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio
• Patch 0.221.4 – Call To Arms, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news)
• Patch 0.221.10 – Five Years of Valheim!, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news)
• Patch 0.218.15 – Ashlands, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news)
• Patch 0.207.20, Iron Gate Studio (Steam news)
• Weapons, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Axes, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Clubs, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Swords, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Spears, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Polearms, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Knives, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Fists, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Shields, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Weapons, Valheim Wiki (Fandom)
• Valheim Call to Arms Update Patch Notes, Game Rant
• Valheim 1.0 Patch Notes, BisectHosting
• List of All Moulds, Game8
• Valheim 1.0: How to Craft Deep North Armor and Nord Weapons, allthings.how
• Valheim 1.0 New Weapons and Armors, Beebom
• All new enchantments in Valheim Deep North, Sportskeeda
• Valheim's gorgeous Deep North brings it to 1.0, PCGamesN
• Best Weapons in Valheim: Tier List & Damage Types for Every Biome, XGamingServer
• Valheim gets a big birthday update, GamingOnLinux