Weather, Cold and Wet

23:06 Weather in Valheim is a hazard rather than scenery: each biome rolls its own rain, cold, storms and snow, and what falls decides how fast a Viking heals and whether they survive the biome at all. Rain soaks the player and slows healing, a clear night outdoors chills them, the snow of the Mountain and the Deep North drains health second by second, and the sea around the Ashlands boils. Each is a status effect with exact numbers and a counter, and the counters are why the game hands out capes, meads and roofs in the order it does. The Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026 added Deep North blizzards, deep snow that must be shoveled, roofs that give way under accumulated snow, and ice that slides and cracks underfoot.

Quick facts

How weather works

0:27 Every biome rolls its own weather from a fixed table, using a pseudo-random generator seeded by elapsed game time, so the same world sees the same sequence (Weather, Valheim Wiki). The Swamp is the extreme case: it rains there 100 percent of the time, which is why the Wet effect never leaves a Viking in the Swamp. Wind is rolled with the weather and ranges from 0.05 to 1, so the strongest wind is twenty times the weakest; fog hides anything more than about 100 meters away and slows Windmills. Temperature is fixed per biome rather than per weather: the Mountain and Deep North are freezing at any hour, the Ashlands is warm at all times, and everywhere else is cold only at night.

Rain and Wet

4:35 Standing in rain without a roof overhead, or wading in water above the waist, applies Wet. It cuts health regeneration by 25 percent and stamina and eitr regeneration by 15 percent, halves incoming fire damage, and makes the player take one and a half times damage from frost and lightning. The timer is 120 seconds, paused while the player is still in the rain or the water and reset on every new soaking (Wet, Valheim Wiki). A wet Viking cannot sleep in a bed, the one exception being a fueled hot tub, so Samo's Swamp advice is to treat the Rested buff as non-negotiable and to explore only by day, before Cold is stacked on top. See Rested, Comfort and Sleeping.

6:42 The fire resistance is real enough to fight with. GlensGames' second method for Yagluth is to stand waist-deep in water at the altar so the boss's fire lands at half strength; Burning applied to a wet player runs the Wet timer down sixty times faster and is absorbed. Fire is also the normal cure: a campfire or any other heat source makes the timer expire ten times faster, though not while rain is still falling on the player. Shelter, a roof with at least 80 percent cover, prevents Wet from rain entirely and is required for resting (Shelter, Valheim Wiki).

7:26 Rain wears on buildings too. Wooden pieces exposed to rain or standing in water lose a twentieth of their health per minute until they reach half, where the decay stops; a roof protects a piece from rain but nothing protects it from water. Campfires and hearths stop working when rain reaches them. See Building and Structural Integrity.

44:26 One quiet change in 1.0 is that the weather now updates the moment a player steps through a portal. Arriving in a dry biome removes Wet at once, and arriving in the Swamp applies it at once (Kysen). See Portals.

Cold and Freezing

1:01 Cold and Freezing are the temperature effects. Cold halves health regeneration and cuts stamina and eitr regeneration by a quarter; it applies to a player outdoors at night in the temperate biomes who is neither near a fire nor frost resistant, and it ends at dawn or beside a fire. Freezing is the version that kills: health regeneration is reduced by 100 percent, stamina and eitr regeneration by 60 percent, and the player loses one health per second, with the small consolation of halved fire damage (Freezing, Valheim Wiki; Cold). As MalinaPlays puts it, the Mountain does not kill outright; it removes the ability to recover, so that the first wolf finishes the job.

Freezing applies in the Mountain and Deep North at any time of day, during Moder's fight and during her drake raid. Two things soften it without curing it: standing under shelter downgrades Freezing to Cold, and standing within about eight meters of a campfire does the same, which makes a chain of campfires the classic first ascent (Campfire, Valheim Wiki). A campfire can only be placed on ground, natural rock or player-built stone, and Burning, although hot, does not cancel Cold.

Frost resistance

1:44 Frost resistance prevents both Cold and Freezing and halves frost damage from drakes, Frostner-style weapons and the ice of the far north. The first source is the Frost resistance mead: a base of 10 honey, 5 thistle, 2 bloodbags and a greydwarf eye, fermented for two in-game days into six meads, each giving ten minutes of resistance with a ten-minute cooldown (Frost resistance mead, Valheim Wiki). Guides recommend a stack of them for the first Mountain trips. See Mead and Potions.

4:13 The permanent sources are clothing. The Wolf Fur Cape, Wolf Armor chest piece and Fenris Coat come from the Mountain; the Lox Cape from the Plains; the Feather Cape from the Mistlands; the Asksvin Cloak and Ashen Cape from the Ashlands; and in 1.0 the Moose Hide Cape and Cape of the Caller from the Deep North, both of which also carry frost resistance (Cape, Valheim Wiki; SnazzyGames). Kysen's Deep North advice is to carry the Feather Cape for the dungeons but wear "a main cape that can keep you warm" everywhere else; EmmaTpotato's summary is that nothing beyond the Ashlands capes is needed. Since the Call to Arms Update Moder's Forsaken Power also grants 50 percent frost resistance (Forsaken Powers). None of these help while the player is Wet, so rain and swimming in a cold biome are as dangerous as the cold itself. See Armor and Capes.

Storms at sea

3:35 The Ocean has the same weather as the land and nowhere to shelter from it. Waves average half a meter on a clear day, two meters in rain and three in a thunderstorm, with peaks of five, and anyone on deck in the rain is Wet with all that implies for a crew that then lands in the Mountain (Ocean, Valheim Wiki). JP Valheim's sailing guide makes the case that low visibility, not the waves, is what sinks longships: in fog, rain or darkness the river ahead disappears, and the only safe answer is to drop to the oar setting or wait. Storms and nights are also when Serpents spawn, each condition giving a 5 percent chance per open-sea zone and a storm at night 10 percent (Serpent, Valheim Wiki). A headwind reduces any boat to a crawl; Moder's power turns the wind to follow the ship. See Sailing and Ships and Ocean.

Mountain and Deep North snowstorms

28:08 The Mountain snows 83 percent of the time and blows a Blizzard for the rest; the Deep North snows half the time, is clear a quarter of the time and spends the remaining quarter in Blizzards with wind between 0.7 and 1.0, the strongest sustained wind in the game (Weather, Valheim Wiki). Visibility in a blizzard falls to a few meters; JaWoodle's first day in the north ends with him panicking at every tree-shaped shadow while a Gammeltroll hunts him through the snow. A Deep North snowstorm deals continuous freezing damage to any player without frost-resistant clothing or a Frost resistance mead in effect (Deep North, Valheim Wiki), so the capes that served in the Mountain still serve here. Blizzards snuff unsheltered campfires; the torch does not go out. See Deep North and Deep North Creatures.

15:46 Snow became a physical thing in 1.0. While it snows, snow piles up visibly on roofs and adds weight; simsekblog's underground shelter, sound in clear weather, has its ice-block ceiling collapse under the accumulation, and the integrity colors then flash blue and yellow to mean the piece holds only while it is not snowing. Extra supports fix it.

11:02 The other fix is pitch. 1.0 added steeper roof pieces on which snow cannot settle, and JaWoodle, finding his hut and even its workbench buried overnight, rebuilds with them. The same storms lay deep snow on the ground, which must be cleared before anything can be built ("the snow is too deep"). The Snow Shovel, made at a level-three Black Forge from 5 Fine Wood, 4 Flametal and 2 Embers, clears an area at a time; fists or any weapon clear enough for a first portal (AllThings.How). Iron Gate's March 2026 post introduced both: "This will need to be cleared if you want to settle down and build a base somewhere" (Word from the Devs: Winter Adventures). See Tools.

Slippery and cracking ice

3:10 Ice is the Deep North's third hazard, and the one that makes players laugh first. Sheets of it line the shore and cover the ponds, and a Viking who stops running on it keeps sliding; Iron Gate warned in the same March post that "careless vikings might easily find themselves stumbling to catch their balance". Creatures slide too, and by more, so a Moose or a frozen skeleton lured onto a floe is easier to fight than one on snow (Kysen). The 1.0 patch notes add a second warning, "On frozen seas and pond alike, you had better watch your step": ice can crack underfoot and drop the player into water that is deep right up to the edge (1.0 patch notes via BisectHosting). A ship smashes small floes and tips whatever stood on them into the sea; an Ember Charge blows a hole in any ice. A dunking here combines Wet with Freezing, the worst state the game offers. See Deep North Update (1.0 Patch Notes).

Ashlands heat

1:28 The Ashlands inverts the problem. The biome is warm at all times, so Cold never applies, but the sea around it, drawn as a darker band on the map, is boiling. A player in it accumulates heat, the screen edges glowing orange, and on reaching the threshold takes 50 pure damage per second: after about 28 seconds of swimming, 42 at the shallowest edge or 84 towards the biome's middle, the heat draining away within a second of leaving the water. Rafts, karves and longships take 1 to 30 blunt damage per second the deeper they sail; only the Drakkar, built with ceramic plates, is immune (Ashlands, Valheim Wiki). Flametal armor carries 40 percent heat resistance, which cuts both the build-up and the damage by that share (Kysen).

The Ashlands' rain is ash: Ash rain 81 percent of the time and Cinder rain 11 percent. Cinders land within 60 meters of the player, each with a 32.1 percent chance to set the ground alight for 30 seconds, and fire spreads between wooden pieces in this biome alone unless the fire-spread world modifier is switched on elsewhere; the bone-fueled Shield Generator is the only roof that keeps cinders off a base. Neither kind of ash applies Wet. See Ashlands and Ashlands Update.

Frequently asked questions

How do you stop freezing in Valheim? With frost resistance, from a Frost resistance mead or one of the frost-resistant capes and chest pieces. Without it, shelter downgrades Freezing to Cold, and so does standing within about eight meters of a campfire, which is why a chain of campfires is the classic first ascent of the Mountain.

How do you get rid of the Wet effect? Get out of the rain or the water and stand by a fire: a heat source makes the 120-second timer expire ten times faster, though not while rain is still falling on the player. A roof with at least 80 per cent cover prevents Wet from rain altogether.

Why can't my Viking sleep? A wet Viking cannot sleep in a bed. The one exception is a fueled hot tub, which is also the usual way to dry off before resting (Rested, Comfort and Sleeping).

What is the snow piling up on my roof? Since 1.0 snow accumulates visibly on roofs and adds weight, and a ceiling that holds in clear weather can collapse under it; the integrity colors flash blue and yellow to warn of it. Extra supports or the steeper roof pieces added in 1.0, on which snow cannot settle, are the fix. Snow on the ground must be cleared before anything can be built.

Is the ice in the Deep North safe to walk on? No. A Viking who stops running on it keeps sliding, and it can crack underfoot and drop them into water that is deep right up to the edge, which combines Wet with Freezing. Creatures slide further than players do, so one lured onto a floe is easier to fight.

Sources

• Weather, Wet, Cold, Freezing, Shelter, Campfire, Frost resistance mead, Cape, Ocean, Serpent, Ashlands, Deep North, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Word from the Devs: Winter Adventures, Iron Gate Studio, Mar 25, 2026
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio, Sep 9, 2026
• Valheim 1.0 Patch Notes: Deep North biome, Kall Fimbulbringer boss, new dungeons, armors, foods, BisectHosting, September 2026
• Valheim: How to Get and Use the Snow Shovel in the Deep North, AllThings.How, September 2026
• Valheim August 2025 update patch notes, Game Rant (Moder's power rebalance)
• DON'T GO NORTH UNPREPARED in VALHEIM 1.0, JaWoodle, Sep 9, 2026
• Valheim 1.0 Deep North Full Guide!, Kysen, Sep 10, 2026
• Valheim Mountain Survival 101 – Don't Freeze!, MalinaPlays, May 7, 2025
• 30+ Need to Know Valheim Tips for the Swamp!, Samo, Jan 7, 2026
• Valheim: 7 Ways to Kill Yagluth, GlensGames, Jan 11, 2023
• Valheim Starter Guide – The Basics for Beginners, Xaine's World, May 15, 2024
• A Valheim Sailing Guide – Mastering Your Viking Longship, JP Valheim, Oct 6, 2023
• Valheim – Ashlands: Full Guide, Kysen, Apr 25, 2024
• Underground Shelter in the Deep North!, simsekblog, Sep 10, 2026
• Valheim's NEW Endgame Gear is Completely BUSTED, SnazzyGames, Sep 10, 2026 (Deep North cape effects)
• Ultimate Deep North Guide – EVERYTHING NEW!, EmmaTpotato, Sep 9, 2026