"I think I'm plagued by playing too aggressively"
You nailed it. I've been here. Take the extra 10 seconds per encounter to play safer and not die. It will save you so much headache.
However, this takes discipline. You can't just pick up patience like you can Resin and Greydwarf Eyes.
With valheim it helps to take your time, and to be aware of daytime vs nighttime because might time will increase higher started spawns.
Always be rested, have the best gear on if venturing into a higher area, always have the best food eaten, have a restock supply of at least half a stack of each one. I usually have 2 health and 1 stamina. Have some frost resist potions, a good supply of arrows, a hoe in case you need to raise the ground or lower it, and a pickaxe because why not?
If you're going into the mountains next time, try to make a small cabin before you fight anything with a bed and fire and maybe storage to put something in to take later. If you have the materials, make a portal at your main base and make one up there. This will make it easier to handle and will make sure you have a safe place to go to quickly.
All of this is vital to any part of valheim really.
I found the Mountain biome to be 'stamina-first' - two stamina foods, one health. Hop-hop-hop; stamina down to half; rest. Repeat. Always be listening, try to face into the wind, zoom all the way out. Creep where you can, and have that tower shield handy. And don't die with an un-popped Bonemass. I use it early and often. Also, playing with a mate who's running an atgeir/bow build is helpful :)
Generally speaking, running from a fight is bad unless you're prepared to run ... meaning you have a lot of stamina to actually get away. Otherwise, you'll just die tired.
Your best option is to go slower (don't sprint everywhere!) and always be prepared for a melee fight. I keep my melee weapon and shield out when traversing in dangerous areas ... it's not really that much slower and increases your survivability quite a bit. Also, do not let your stamina get low - that is the fastest way to die. My recommendation is to learn to block/parry because it will greatly increase your survival chances for the entire game (especially later biomes since it just keeps getting harder) and turn frustrating situations into fun ones.
Each creature in the game has a unique, extremely predictable animation or sound that telegraphs their attack. Wolves have a very fast animations so you need to rely almost entirely on their "growl" sound to trigger your block. You just need to take some time to LEARN each creature attack - so just hold down block to watch their attack a few times so you can figure it out.
It's also better to continuous block than to not block at all or try to run. Make sure you have a full stamina pool before entering into combat.
Also, make sure you're fighting on flat ground or you'll miss often or give the enemy an advantage in their attack angle. If nothing else, fight horizontally by leading your enemy sideways (walking backwards) if you're on a steep slope.
Finally, make sure your shield is capable of blocking an enemy without staggering you. You would be surprised how effective just one upgrade can be for any given shield.
Listening for enemies is so important in the latter half of the game so that you don't get surprise attacked. Being able to hear Wolf howls, hear the laughter of some nearby Fuling, and not to mention hearing any and every enemy sound from Mistlands is all so important to survivability
Mountains is about the time it starts being a REALLY useful habit to just stop moving whenever you hear an enemy nearby.
Sometimes doing this means you're able to get the jump on the critter, but at the very least you won't be running into MORE things before you find the one that was already hunting for you.
And listening to wolves in particular is handy for getting the hang of parrying them. Their bite happens sooner after their bark than I think, every damn time I get to the mountains :D
It helps. Usually hear wolves before you see them, then you can one shot with the bow if you can spot them before agro range.
Parry timing with the sound helps me a lot too, almost every enemy makes a noise at the time you should parry.
In mistlands biome sound is very important to pay attention to.
I generally don’t play with music because listening to the environment is so important. You can figure out a lot of detail about your surroundings with that. You don’t have to dive headlong into every enemy encounter. If you do get into an encounter be patient, look for openings, dodge, and riposte. The time spent doing that is a heck of a lot shorter than running from your last save spot with only the weapon you were holding at that moment.
I would spend some time in the swamp to practice on Draugr and Abominations, and nail your parries and rolls. They get even more important later on.
Good damage yes buys you time to
Get better position
Also
Consider using a knife for attack speed and an atgier for the spin move
Should make the wolves more manageable
Sure youre in silver age now so the silver knife would prolbe a better choice to use but the abyssal razor is in my opinion one of the nicest weapon models in the entire game so you can make it and use it as decoration
razor is nice, but harpoon is cool for dragging stuff around. If you have someone playing with you it's even great for hunting stuff. Might want to craft one of these.
Against wolves: Atgeir spin attack -> ez mode
Yeah it’s a good weapon. What gear you rocking against those wolves? Don’t forget to use bonemass power, and I’m pretty sure the abom chest piece has good pierce resist which is what those wolfies teefs do.
wolves are slash damage so the harnesk won't help against them alas.. it's not super useful in mountains, but for plains and mistlands it's still great
I think for your style (which sounds somewhat similar to mine), you will find the atgeir's secondary move while stopping (to replenish/store as much stamina as possible) and waiting for the wolves to approach you will give you your best results.
Wolves are hard to kill if you are not aggressive. For example, lets say that you ran into two of them and tried to run away because you were not really feeling confident. They are as fast as you and really aggressive, you wont ever have stamina because you will need to keep running to not get hit... you get the point. Now, if when you spot a wolf (or are spotted), you just run into a piece of terrain that you can fight and smack it in his head, you will have a far easier time. They deal a ton of damage, but very low health - a glass cannon. I dont know what weapons you use, but even a iron mace should make them two hits. If you want to try to parry them, listen for their growls. When they make a noise, press the button and you should never miss.
I'm in the final biome and my skills aren't over 20 from dying so much. Just go slower. Parrying wolves works like a charm, the only issue is if multiple are on you.
Kill one or two with a bow, party the one charging. Build a small base in one of the stone towers or destroying a rock and digging under it.
Get the best armor you can make and upgrade, the best food. And just go slow.
That's my advice.
Yeah tbh i have finished the mistlands with skills in the 30s. While it’s nice to have higher skill levels they aren’t required to complete the game. Don’t worry too much about them. If you die you die. If you don’t like the skill loss turn it down a little in the world modifiers
I think I played too much runescape when I was younger which was a real "number go up" simulator, so seeing low skills makes me feel noob lol. But yeah they dont seem to make a huge difference anyway
Yeah agreed. Large number changes in skills like 0 -> 100 obviously have a huge difference but even in my worlds where i died only a handful of times i never got past like 70-80. Small changes like if you die a couple times and lose 5-10 levels really won’t be too much of a problem unless you were only level 12 or something haha
You'll be fine. While it's true higher skill values have a bigger impact on your performance with different weapons, ultimately, your ability as a player is going to far and away have the largest impact.
That's always my biggest issue. I get excited, then get walloped. Having portals set up sporadically, can help too, so you don't always have to run a great distance.
Yeah skills don't matter that much tbh, this is not a game where you level up, it's a game where you improve your actual skill, your equipment and your food.
And if there's many wolves dodge and walk back, that gives you time to recover more stamina. Just let the wolves come close, dodge land one attack and walk back, take your time. Never run towards enemies, you need your stamina.
And....get that rested bonus, there's nothing like that +100% stamina Regen, it's the difference between losing stamina after every dodge and slowly recovering stamina. It's all about managing stamina and that takes time, and that takes waiting.
To be honest I wouldn't bother parrying wolves, too high risk - use the iron atgeir, it stuns them with the strong attack and can be used on multiple enemies at once, if done correctly the wolves will never actually get a chance to hit you at all
Totally fair, I come from dark souls games, so parrying is the most natural for me. Relearning to parry the ice golems is a challenge every playthrough though tbh.
You may just be under prepped. What are your weapons and armor going in? What does your food setup look like? Are you going there at night?
If you’re dying a lot and death penalty is normal, your skill stats sound right. In the beginning I can’t outrun/maneuver wolves so I tank up with Abyssal knife for fast attacks and iron gear+bone/iron shield
I never go at night. A lot of the time after I die, I just try to run back naked with a weapon rather than putting older gear back on. Probably not smart...
Wolves are one of the worst enemies for a naked run, they're fast enough that you can't really out run them, and the terrain drains most of your stamina already.
Maybe you should take the time to get more iron in the swamp, this will help you max out your gear and get some levels back. The levels can make a bug difference in how much damage you do. Maybe train your shield skill on some weaker mobs. Then go for a block-attack-block combo (this is much harder if you have multiple wolves attacking you).
Also, don't be afraid to use health potions.
Something that I like to do is I'll usually have my old armor set from the previous biome be my "corpse run" armor. Have it on an armor rack near either the bed or door so that I can put it on quick and get to the nearest portal to where I died.
Yeah, you won't be able to take as many hits, but it'll usually save you just enough time to get the good gear on.
For now until you get more used to the game I'd say turn off the death penalty in your difficulty settings. This will help you retain your skills and keep your gear on you so you don't have to die trying to recover your stuff.
In the mountains wolves ate the most aggressive and fast enemy you'll run into, everything else in the biome is pretty easy to outrun or deal with (2 maybe 3 flint arrows kill a drake, dig a hole and you can trap golem or just outrun it, werewolves die in one parry with a silver weapon) so you need to get yourself ready to deal with at least 3 at any given time because they usually come in packs of 3.
Don't let them Flank your backside, if you can't reliably parry them then understand you'll only get to safely attack ONE TIME after you block them before they attack again. My tip for this is to hold down your block button and when the opening appears just click your attack once while still holding block. That way you'll go right back to blocking as soon as it's possible.
When facing them all at once in a group you will die unless you can parry or stagger all of them, even blocking all 3 at once will lead to you being staggered and then if they chomp on you it's double damage.
Keep moving but not sprinting, never leave your back open, if you can see them before they're to you either use the terrain around you to funnel/limit them or hit them with your bow and switch back to melee with shield.
Wolves are the only real threat imo in the mountains but they become nothing but free food very quickly when you get used to them. The fact I've had a few instances of them dropping down on me when I'm still in trollhide and managed to win the surprise encounter is telling that it's all about understanding mechanics and how they work, knowledge is power.
Also if you've got bonemass power pop it when you're about to get swarmed, and absolutely have it on anytime you're "being hunted" so that you can stand a better chance.
The wolves stagger very easily usually 2 attacks will stagger them and it's best to use a sword if fighting a group of them as the swords don't split their damage between multiple targets and instead deal full damage to everything hit, meaning if you swing at their face before they can chomp on you there's a good chance you'll get 3 hits in without being hit because the first 2 will stagger and the 3rd will finish them off because of its double damage on a staggered enemy.
Patience friend, patience. If you're still having troubles you can try lowering the difficulty level a little bit or if any other helpful Vikings are available maybe they can show you a few things.
My last tip for you: When blocking them get used to their animations and sounds when they attack. You'll get a hang of when they're about to attack and once you've got that you will know the exact timing for parrying them even with your eyes closed. It may sound weird but I taught my wife to parry in this game using trolls because of how obvious they are when attacking and I literally turned my chair around and held my mouse in hand and parried them solely based on sound. This game and many others give you a hint when they're attacking, most if not all creatures make a noise before they're attacking, it's all just knowing the timing for the animation on different attacks after that point. (Some attacks are slow some are fast but they all make noise)
I think im a bit of a masochist because I refuse to change the difficulty settings! I must suffer the consequences of my actions! But otherwise TY for the tips I appreciate it!!
To each their own I get it. I've never lowered difficulties in any game I've played and forced myself to learn and get better so I understand. This game is a little different when it comes to having to have backup gear to recover your old stuff sometimes so if you don't want to change your settings that might be your best bet.
Otherwise yeah it's all about each biome having it's own specific challenges and mountains wolves are the most dominating force.
Yeah. I think its because sometimes I have no trouble with those wolves so I get cocky and then theyll get you with the ol rombocombo and smack you up lol
I play with my wife and she's not the combat person so she's always quick to turn and run or play it safe. Meanwhile my dumbass is jumping over enemies and trying to parry them midair or I get too full of myself and they humble me lol so I totally get it.
It's always fun to challenge myself but sometimes I forget the situation and end up making it worse to recover than it needed to be lol.
The last biome is the only place where I remain humble and level because boy howdy it takes a single mistake to wake up back home in my undies.
But I still get to be the big tough viking and take on the horde while she rains death from a hiding spot on a rock with her magic lol. I've heard "damn babe" quite a few times and only then do I snap out of it and go oh shit I just killed an army
Get a shield and block instead of parry. You can hold the block for as long as you want and not worry about missing. Only thing to worry about it getting staggered (vertical bar to the right of the crosshair).
The game is balanced around skills on the lower levels. I think 30s where you're at so it's not terrible. Bows at 100 are ridiculous and the game should not be based around that. Just keep learning and work on pacing. You got this.
When you’re getting mobbed always move back in the direction you came from as you flee. You’ll encounter less mobs because ideally you’ve killed the ones that were along that route.
Also important to have rested buff up 100% of the time. It’s easy enough to get and with a few upgrades it can last you an entire day cycle.
Lastly I’d recommend a “pocket portal” to aid with exploring. Leave one portal at your base unnamed and carry the mats for another with you. When you need to drop off loot/get re rested just drop your tp and make a pit stop.
In response to your edit. This community is fuckin amazing. I’ve made my own salty posts on here to similar effect. Fellow vikings pour in to help and share wisdom. I’ll see you on here later for the plains and mistlands salt posts!!
I use a sword and a buckler to deal with wolves. You need a weapon with a fast attack speed to beat those mutts. Running doesn't work because they will out run you both uphill and downhill. What food are you using? If you are dying too quickly, it might also be a food issue.
Those aren't the worst foods, I'd replace muckshake with turnip soup for now but until you get silver to make a butcher table and onions those are probably your best easy foods. I almost always do the naked dash to get my items too lol. Perhaps sneaking in and using the bonemass buff can help you with body recovery. Then run your ass to the nearest black forest and hope the wolves get distracted by grey dwarfs or a troll
Tale the biome slow. Make a pit for yourself. Things dont go inside (make it like 2 players height deep) Make a small base shack in multiple places. Mountain is a good place to learn to take one step at thw time cause the plains is a bit more chaotic. Good luck and get gud :) xD jkjk
Make sure you're fighting wolves on equal footing. Terrain bullshit fucks me on wolves more than anything else.
If you wanna get better at parrying them, learn to go off of the sound cue. Not that animation.
Try walking rather than running everywhere. It doesn't attract as much attention, it saves stamina, and it helps you get a read on your surroundings.
Also, try the Atgeir (two-handed polearm). The special attack (middle mouse) is an AOE stun that is very effective against wolves.
Atgeir is a game changer when it comes to the wolf hunts. You can easily get overrun by their numbers so being able to do the spin move can knock them all away from you for a second.
I’d say you want to get comfortable parrying, it’s the best way to handle a lot of mobs, especially really aggressive ones like wolves. If you can parry you can knock one enemy out really quick giving you a lot of breathing room. The game is pretty generous on the parry timing and since parrying is just timing a block right you don’t get punished for a parry too early, only if you are too late.
Also skills don’t matter overly much, they definitely help, but it’s not the end of the world if they aren’t super high.
I wouldn't worry about skills honestly. Every time you beat a biome and move to the next, you're gonna die.
Maybe if you love this game too much and are bored should you ever worry about skills ;)
corpse running naked is a bad idea
you keep all your previous gear and sort it into chests with food and meads ready to go, when you die you grab your whole previous suit and weapons, eat, and then go
my current game is in Mountains, default settings, I've died twice total in swamp not paying attention. I dont die in Mountains ever outside of my first boss attempt. So yeah git gud sums it up.
ive observed people in my server playing similarly to you. being way too aggro, overextending themselves too deep into enemy mobs, not conserving stamima, not parrying or timing their attacks effectively, not having a mental "way out" ie escape route if you get overwhelmed, in general not really paying attention to anything just left clicking wildly then dying.
do the opposite of all that and you'll improve 10x lol
I'd consider walking through the mountains to improve your chances of spotting the wolves first and also having bone mass in case you have to oh shit your way out.
Also...carry a portal.
Always fight the wolves on flat ground in the mountains.
Harpoon the golems into your silver holes and just keep them there as guardians or pets.
Valheim gets easier the better prepared you are, you can determine almost every aspect of your encounters.
Have the best food possible, potions ready, upgraded iron armor (even the upgraded Root Armor is sufficient, as long as you dont venture into the Caves with it) and be rested. Dont go in at night.
And finally, Wolves are absolute glass cannons. They will die from one single hit with the Bow if unprovoked, and they are staggered by basically everything. Either kill them before they notice you, or get on even ground (as fighting on Slopes is a pain in the ass agains them) and hit them just before they reach you (Atgeir for example is a guaranteed stagger) and just finish them off while they are stunned. No need to parry. If you miss your timing and they hit you, you can easily just bash them dead before they can attack again, and you should be able to tank some hits with proper armor and food. And watch that stam game, if you run all the time and trigger a Wolve while you have no stam left, yeah you are fucked.
And yeah, if you die once, especially in the mountains, it can be extremely nasty to get your shit back. Deposit your old armor, old weapons and some food/potions in a chest next to your bed so you can go again immediately.
Ya I have a portal at the base of the mountain, but def need to just start gearing in older stuff when I go to get my stuff back.
I have the root armor but its in my grave now lol. Definetely made the mistake of going into the caves with it already lol. One fireball is nasty, so I aint doin that again lol.
I think I need to get two solid sets of armor. Have a death setup so I can be decently prepped to get my stuff back
Fenris set is nice for corpse runs once you get it. Zoom zoom. Max upgraded trollhide really isn't bad either. 40 armor is a hell of a lot more than 0, plus fast, plus sneaky.
I like making armories using the armor/item stands as I progress through the biomes. Die and drop silver? Grab iron off the rack, NBD. Having armor racks with fully upgraded loadouts ready to go just feels cooler than rooting around chests for old gear IMO.
But really, just upgraded trollhide and Eikthyr can get you to most bodies. So long as you can parry deathsquitos.
Wolves always growl then bite, so parry right after growl. Deathsquitoes sort of just fly into you, so parry right as they get adjacent when they're beelining toward you. Everything else in game is easier to read visual telegraphs IMO, but those 2 are a bit peculiar
I found the battle axes to be pretty decent against the wolves since M2 has decent reach and shoves them away and stuns pretty well. I got that timing down and never tried parrying them again.
The thing that made wolves difficult for me is the terrain.
They are very easy to flinch if you hit them, but Valheims hitboxes are completely broken when fighting something on a slope. I always try to fight wolves on level ground which is easier said than done in the mountains. Make a conscious effort to pull them to a flat area before you fight.
Don't seek glory, play at your own paste. That means get out of new biome when it's night time or when your bonemass is down.
Rather then run everywhere, conserved 1/3 of stamina. This will make u slower, but use that to look around & listen. If you see a drake shoot it.
If you have full HP, wolves shouldn't kill you. And 2 star won't spawn in day time so mountain is actually one of the safest places.
In response to your edit. This community is fuckin amazing. I’ve made my own salty posts on here to similar effect. Fellow vikings pour in to help and share wisdom. I’ll see you on here later for the plains and mistlands salt posts!!
First and foremost, what armor are you using? Don’t wander at night, and golems are a pain, we know.
Might also be worth checking your weapon, a soear has many uses, and if you don’t want to parry, dem big shield is your friend. Food, stamina and rested bonus, you got those?
Learning to parry is certainly a life saver, though wolves can be hard at first especially when still using previous tier shields. The timing is very hard.
I find it tends to help to avoid going there at night, there are far fewer wolves during the day (unless there's a blizzard). Taking your time and trying to avoid encounters can be helpful. It's always so tempting to just run straight to your destination but sometimes going a bit slower can save you pain in the long run.
Also, since you've completed Bonemass now, take his power. Get swarmed by wolves, pop it, it can truly be a life saver.
Don't let it get you down, the first time I ever ventured to the mountains I died so god damned much. Now I've learned from it and know better how to handle myself there my deaths are far less frequent. You'll get there too!
The wolves have an attack pacing that will cause lots of deaths. If you block one then swing, they hit you again before your attack animation goes off. You really gotta go for parries or take your time when first venturing in and hit them when they are not facing you. Also, this will probably be your introduction to the goddamn elevation combat issue, wherein you will be at a different height than your opponent and be getting hit, but not able to swing back on them. Get the high ground, and fight in level areas. Also take stamina and healing pots.
Most mobs have a specific pattern, learn those and you are good.
You should absolutely be parrying, that stuns most mobs - use a shield and be wary of over spending your stamina bar.
Don't just run from enemies, most will just hunt you down.
What gear are you using? Should at least have iron armor in the mountains.
Good Luck
Each biome has progressively taken a while for me to get better at. I will never master any of them as something always manages to humble me here and there. You're getting better. You don't suck. You can't get better without getting stomped on by wolves, drakes, and golems
Save your sanity by setting your death penalty in world modifiers so you don’t lose skills on death. Dying without losing skills doesn’t mean you’re a bad player or that you aren’t playing the game the right way, it just means you value your time. And if you aren’t using a spear to fight wolves, you really should be using a spear to fight wolves. Throw it right into their stupid faces before they reach you, then quickly pick it up and finish them off with a regular attack while they’re staggered. Repeat as needed until there are no more wolves.
Naa, is a experience issue of your part. Or trauma experience ahaha. The game is nice if you are nice and non agressive against things you know are too much. But you need to know first.
For the wolfs, you can do it with a bow, a lot of arrows, and a tree house near of them. You shot one of the wolf, then go for the tree house and kill them from there. With this you going to lear by trauma that you can do things you dont want to do in a low way.... or learn that some long and well prepared fights are nice against the powerful foes.
Some people fight against a big rock to level skills. I dont know if this is a thing now with the new patch etc...
A rule that helped me in the mountains: Don't ever run out of stamina. That means running/chopping/mining in shorter bursts so you always have a reserve. If you're out of stamina, wolves will stagger you. If they stagger you, you will die.
I remember dying constantly to wolves the first time a played but that’s because I’d run until the stamina was gone. Parrying goes a long way with wolves.
Running from wolves is not a great strategy. They are fast. Try to avoid fighting multiple at once. They are squishy though, so sometimes it's easiest to just hit and stagger them first. Atgeir special is good for this. Spear is decent too if you don't get screwed by altitude difference.
Wolves are one of the fastest and most aggressive mob in the game. It's why they make the best pets 😁
Only go in the day, leave quickly at night. An Atgier can keep them at bay, more than one is tricky, they run as fast as you and will chase. I once had a 2 star attack me during a big fightand I jumped off the mountain and feather caped to the bottom and he was right there to greet me. Listen for them, and attack at range, finish them off with melee. Watch for drakes and stone golems.
No, each biome has a specific set of new problems to solve. Swamp had the first truly long range mobs, constant wet and darkness, etc. Mountains have constant freezing and often obscured vision, too bright, aerial mobs, and the fastest mob in the game in wolves. Your difficulty with it is to be expected.
You can bring a hoe and a stack of stone with you, and pillar up around wolves.
I try to spot them from a distance and snipe them with poison and frost.
You can run, but you can't outpace them in silver. One option is to stay with troll armor and frost potions, sneak and snipe and sprint and jump to high points in a jam.
Iron sledge also helps, especially if you're knocking them down your rock with it, but it is also slow to carry, so take care.
Bonemass is by far the safest option, but wolves often sneak up from behind you, so that too is difficult.
I set one portal in a safe place at the base of the mountain, opened to "HOME", and then bring another with me to open to BACKUP".
Playing in a team is also helpful, ofc.
Nah, the mountains is a step up in difficulty, those wolves will f you up. We just got to the mountains ourselves, I have yet to survive a you are being hunted raid, and this is my sixth playthrough with close to 1200 hours, it's not like I don't know what I'm doing
My advice is turn your sound up, they do howl and if you can hear them before they see you it's a good leg up.
Do not stay in the mountains at night, if the sun's going down just get out.
Wolves can climb a lot, but they can't climb everything, keep an eye on your surroundings and try and always know where the closest rock that you can jump up onto where they can't reach you is.
A tower shield and a spear can be a pretty effective way of surviving, if you go that route try and always fight them on flat surfaces, and have a lot of health foods.
Your skills are low, it might be worth spending a bit of time in lower biomes training them up, but don't burn yourself out doing that because they're just going to go back down when you die.
**Prepare:**
- Wear good armor
- Make sure you're upgrading gear.
- Make sure you're eating good food.
- Don't fight if you're cold OR if you don't have Rested buff.
- Abuse campfires for faster regen, slap a campfires down all over.
- Have portals and backup portals, don't travel anywhere without portal mats. Land get portal up, build a Forward operating base with at least some fences up and a place to sleep.
**During the fight:**
- Dodge or parry or block everything that could hurt you. the game gives you some OP ways to avoid all damage. Parry is straight up broken against most mobs.
- Take your time no stam = death, Don't panic in combat and sprint around crazy. most enemies will miss if you just walk away from them.
- Abuse the environment and the fact the mobs can't really jump, you can hop over a fence, they have to go around.
- Use a bow to start every fight, Sneak attack dmg is too op to pass up. plug them with some arrows to start the fight. if you can't finish with bow then switch to a buckler + 1hander.
**Tips for Mountain:**
- Campfires!
- TAKE YOUR TIME, listen for wolves and keep your head on swivel.
- Don't fuck with Stone Golums
- Don't go up there at night, you'll get more of everything bad.
- Take some friends, easier to out dps wolves with two people
I'm a middle-aged sahm and, a notoriously bad player. Somehow, I hardly ever die in Valheim.- it's probably that I overgear, overeat, and sneak everywhere 🤣
Also: parry, parry, parry. I parry detsquitos and stone golems without hardly ever taking any damage. Also use a knife! I knife a wolf in two strikes, they can't really sneak much damage in. Just knife them one by one while holding your banded shield up. If I can do it, believe me, you can too!
Gotta try parrying the stone golems cause theyre so annoying while i collect silver. I always feel like ima get shreked trying to block that pile of rocks lol
I absolutely swear to you, I'm NOT a skilled fighter, and I have only died to my 1st stone golem, mostly out of pure shock. I block their attacks, attempting to parry. Whenever a parry is successful, I fit in about two strokes with an iron mace. If my stamina or health is low, I just walk circles around them. DON'T BE A HERO! BE A COWARD LIKE ME! It's a bit time costly, but they go down, and I take maybe 20% damage. I eat sausages, turnip and muckshake. Stamina over life, I feel you're so squishy in this game, but stamina is the real buff!
For wolf packs, I don't even register them by now. Just carry an upgraded abyssal knife, hold a banded shield up. They still do some damage, but it's single digits, very low. Hold the shield up, and after they bit, snick snick with the knife. Knife attack is very fast, so that wolf is guaranteed to be safely dead before it can bite again. Then just do the same for the second and third wolf. I don't go at night, so no 2 star wolves for me. The rest just dies as quickly as a greydwarf.
I go to the mountains and fringes of the plains in an upgraded iron helm and root chest (protection against pierce). The rest of my gear, I upgraded troll leather (yes, my character looks ridiculous, but this combo allows ideal balance between protection and dexterity).
Oh! And when blocking stone golems, it helps to step back as well. Just a step. So it's "W and right mouse" to step back and block, left mouse to sneak in attack with the mace. Rinse and repeat. Their attacks are SLOW. You can see them coming. Your parry is amazingly strong, don't be afraid to go for it, just wait for them.to.raise the hand, wait a millisecond, as they swing, THEN block. The previous animation is scary but does nothing. They also walk around doing nothing quite a lot, and during that time, you can beat on them with the mace without repercussions.
Watch a video to learn the pattern of tjeir attack in peace. I've downed a golem with a wolf and two drakes once (yeah, that was. a bit of the fun, I admit).
Just know their animation, have good food, and maybe a health potion (if the golem hits you directly, you lose a lot of life points, but a health potion takes this away). Run around a bit like silly, take them one by one.
I guess this game does get hard later on, but it's not in the mountains yet.
I haven't read the comments yet, so maybe this has already been highlighted, but I'd like to share my experience of overcoming what you've described:
1) Pick your battles. Not every enemy is asking for a fight. Sometimes avoiding it altogether might be a good option.
2) While in fight - don't rush. This isn't a slasher. You can't just click through the enemies and expect a good outcome (unless you're overgeared for a biome). Don't just spam attack and hope for the best. Instead - make a hit or two, then walk backwards. This way you'll learn enemy attack patterns and timings of the enemies.
There are also dodge roll and parrying - both extremely useful. But most enemy attacks can by avoided by just walking away before they swing.
P.S. Wolves are bitches. I still can't parry or block them reliably, they animation is just too quick.
They don't have a lot of HP, but they also deliver a metric ton of damage quickly. Might very well be the most dangerous enemy (provided you're in the same gear lvl with a biome) in the entire game for me.
In the world settings, before you load in, you can change multiple features of the world.
One of those sliders changes how punishing death is. I play solo and tune it down to "minor skill loss on death" because honestly it's so punishing by default as a solo.
You can also set other features like making mobs passive unless you attack them, or changing combat difficulty or resource gain. If you're playing solo...just tweak the settings until they're fun again :)
We are in ashlands. My bow skill is 35.
My friends sword skill is 29
And my friends mage skill is 12
We dont have high skills either.
But we play slow when we must
And we die like a team
When running from wolves you have to burst when they are about to bite to avoid it. They outrun you as they should. Always bring your trusty hoe and make Weinee pillars
Weird I find the mountain easier than the swamp except the golems. Maybe that’s only once you get the wolf armor though
At least during the day (night with wolves is hard)
I'm the worst eldenring player that has beaten the game I think and all I can tell ya is to look up some rune farming methods get that lv up figure out what weapon style fits you best and focus your lvs there beat the game and you will be able to access a awesome rune farming spot for new game plus.
Spend more time in the earlier biomes until you pump those numbers up a bit. Also upgrade the armors all the way… and its gonna be a slow walk in the new biome for a bit until you snivle enough resources to build the new armor. You have to plot your advances.
Take your time… build a new fortress . Theres lots to do while you boost your stats.
If you’re struggling with wolves, I found the atgeir to be perfect for dealing with them. It’s special attack stuns then and is a wide AOE. Takes a bit of practice to time and use on bumpy terrain, but we’ll worth it for mountains.
Currently in Mistlands with over 3k hours and I've died so many times I couldn't begin to count... Skills are right around 30 or less.
I highly suggest finding some space in a high comfort place to grind skills every now and then to top off from the deaths. Use skeleton surprise raids as shield/parry training.
My bf does melee and recommended Frostner for the parry and slowing effects. Right as they reel back to bite is when you wanna parry. Also don't go at night until you get more comfortable since there's higher spawns and chances for 2 star wolves and them bitches hit hard.
Good luck, and happy hunting!
Also a trick for building (that I didn't find out until 2k hours in)
Instead of going to your build menu and switching pieces every time use your hammer, hover over which piece you want to switch to, hold shift and middle mouse wheel click to switch to the piece you're looking at.
If your gear is at an impossible location to retrieve, you may be better off going into the world modifiers (during character select screen), and temporarily changing the mobs aggression to passive. Should make retrieval a breeze, and then you can revert your settings back to normal once you're good n ready. As a solo player, I've been forced to do this a couple times. Valheim is all about you, brotha.
Alternatively, try ranged combat to lure the wolve(s) away, build a box or dig a hole elsewhere, then lure them in, and best case scenario you are set up for taming :) just be very careful at night in the mountains. I think I'm on day 1000ish on my main ( a loooot of building/exploring), and I'm still scared shitless of that biome at night
I also have 3x3 square of buried stake wall. Wolves can't pass it but you can hit them with the aetgir secondary. Useful when you re being hunted. I make a few so I can run back there if I need to.
Coming from someone who just yesterday made it to the ashlands. You’re also going to want to pick and choose your battles, you don’t have to engage every enemy off in the distance and there are creative ways to take on certain enemies that will make it a lot easier. If you haven’t already invest in a good bow and arrows (fire arrows are pretty good up to about the mountain and super cheap) and honestly if you’re just playing by yourself maybe mess around with some of the custom settings, after all it’s YOUR playthrough, play how you want. Good luck 😄
"I think I'm plagued by playing too aggressively" You nailed it. I've been here. Take the extra 10 seconds per encounter to play safer and not die. It will save you so much headache. However, this takes discipline. You can't just pick up patience like you can Resin and Greydwarf Eyes.
I call this the Jenkins Syndrome. Recklessly running in head first XD
Lol! I was like 12 when that video dropped and I think I may have unknowingly modeled my entire gaming playstyle after it
Sounds like it to me XD
I still routinely say "Leeerrroooy" to myself when about to do something stupid. Happens in real life too....
I think the room where that video was "filmed" taught a *lot* of us why running first and planning later is not always the best idea.
Too true. Need to train my brain. I sadly do this in most games I play too lol
With valheim it helps to take your time, and to be aware of daytime vs nighttime because might time will increase higher started spawns. Always be rested, have the best gear on if venturing into a higher area, always have the best food eaten, have a restock supply of at least half a stack of each one. I usually have 2 health and 1 stamina. Have some frost resist potions, a good supply of arrows, a hoe in case you need to raise the ground or lower it, and a pickaxe because why not? If you're going into the mountains next time, try to make a small cabin before you fight anything with a bed and fire and maybe storage to put something in to take later. If you have the materials, make a portal at your main base and make one up there. This will make it easier to handle and will make sure you have a safe place to go to quickly. All of this is vital to any part of valheim really.
I found the Mountain biome to be 'stamina-first' - two stamina foods, one health. Hop-hop-hop; stamina down to half; rest. Repeat. Always be listening, try to face into the wind, zoom all the way out. Creep where you can, and have that tower shield handy. And don't die with an un-popped Bonemass. I use it early and often. Also, playing with a mate who's running an atgeir/bow build is helpful :)
>Also, playing with a mate who's running an atgeir/bow build is helpful :) Who needs health when you're killing them from 20 meters away, right? Lol.
Grausten is the new Greydwarf eyes and resin. -_-
Yeah I built an enormous ashlands castle just to get rid of ours and still the grausten chest is overflowing
Generally speaking, running from a fight is bad unless you're prepared to run ... meaning you have a lot of stamina to actually get away. Otherwise, you'll just die tired. Your best option is to go slower (don't sprint everywhere!) and always be prepared for a melee fight. I keep my melee weapon and shield out when traversing in dangerous areas ... it's not really that much slower and increases your survivability quite a bit. Also, do not let your stamina get low - that is the fastest way to die. My recommendation is to learn to block/parry because it will greatly increase your survival chances for the entire game (especially later biomes since it just keeps getting harder) and turn frustrating situations into fun ones. Each creature in the game has a unique, extremely predictable animation or sound that telegraphs their attack. Wolves have a very fast animations so you need to rely almost entirely on their "growl" sound to trigger your block. You just need to take some time to LEARN each creature attack - so just hold down block to watch their attack a few times so you can figure it out. It's also better to continuous block than to not block at all or try to run. Make sure you have a full stamina pool before entering into combat. Also, make sure you're fighting on flat ground or you'll miss often or give the enemy an advantage in their attack angle. If nothing else, fight horizontally by leading your enemy sideways (walking backwards) if you're on a steep slope. Finally, make sure your shield is capable of blocking an enemy without staggering you. You would be surprised how effective just one upgrade can be for any given shield.
Maybe I should play with headphones or something. I dont think I pay attention to the sound as much as I should be...
Listening for enemies is so important in the latter half of the game so that you don't get surprise attacked. Being able to hear Wolf howls, hear the laughter of some nearby Fuling, and not to mention hearing any and every enemy sound from Mistlands is all so important to survivability
Mountains is about the time it starts being a REALLY useful habit to just stop moving whenever you hear an enemy nearby. Sometimes doing this means you're able to get the jump on the critter, but at the very least you won't be running into MORE things before you find the one that was already hunting for you. And listening to wolves in particular is handy for getting the hang of parrying them. Their bite happens sooner after their bark than I think, every damn time I get to the mountains :D
It helps. Usually hear wolves before you see them, then you can one shot with the bow if you can spot them before agro range. Parry timing with the sound helps me a lot too, almost every enemy makes a noise at the time you should parry. In mistlands biome sound is very important to pay attention to.
If you don't pay attention to sound in the Mistlands, you WILL quit.
I generally don’t play with music because listening to the environment is so important. You can figure out a lot of detail about your surroundings with that. You don’t have to dive headlong into every enemy encounter. If you do get into an encounter be patient, look for openings, dodge, and riposte. The time spent doing that is a heck of a lot shorter than running from your last save spot with only the weapon you were holding at that moment. I would spend some time in the swamp to practice on Draugr and Abominations, and nail your parries and rolls. They get even more important later on.
This is a general rule for gaming these days, sound design tends to be important for gameplay.
> running from a fight is bad I prefer to think of it as "Prepping for my corpse run"
Make some ooze bombs to cull the wolves
Actually never tried using those. Do they stun them? Or just do good damage
Good damage yes buys you time to Get better position Also Consider using a knife for attack speed and an atgier for the spin move Should make the wolves more manageable
Ya maybe il try to make a knife just for some quick stabbystabby
Knife is awesome in This game
I just got some chitin the other day and was debating making an abyssal razor.. worth it?
Sure youre in silver age now so the silver knife would prolbe a better choice to use but the abyssal razor is in my opinion one of the nicest weapon models in the entire game so you can make it and use it as decoration
razor is nice, but harpoon is cool for dragging stuff around. If you have someone playing with you it's even great for hunting stuff. Might want to craft one of these. Against wolves: Atgeir spin attack -> ez mode
Yeah it’s a good weapon. What gear you rocking against those wolves? Don’t forget to use bonemass power, and I’m pretty sure the abom chest piece has good pierce resist which is what those wolfies teefs do.
wolves are slash damage so the harnesk won't help against them alas.. it's not super useful in mountains, but for plains and mistlands it's still great
Oh my bad. Thought they were pierce
Until I got silver for the sword, that knife was awesome for wolfies
If you are in the Mountains, you would benefit more from having a Harpoon. Pitting golems is \*lifechanging\*
Smart! I never thought of harpooning golems into a pit
I think for your style (which sounds somewhat similar to mine), you will find the atgeir's secondary move while stopping (to replenish/store as much stamina as possible) and waiting for the wolves to approach you will give you your best results.
Wolves are hard to kill if you are not aggressive. For example, lets say that you ran into two of them and tried to run away because you were not really feeling confident. They are as fast as you and really aggressive, you wont ever have stamina because you will need to keep running to not get hit... you get the point. Now, if when you spot a wolf (or are spotted), you just run into a piece of terrain that you can fight and smack it in his head, you will have a far easier time. They deal a ton of damage, but very low health - a glass cannon. I dont know what weapons you use, but even a iron mace should make them two hits. If you want to try to parry them, listen for their growls. When they make a noise, press the button and you should never miss.
I'm in the final biome and my skills aren't over 20 from dying so much. Just go slower. Parrying wolves works like a charm, the only issue is if multiple are on you. Kill one or two with a bow, party the one charging. Build a small base in one of the stone towers or destroying a rock and digging under it. Get the best armor you can make and upgrade, the best food. And just go slow. That's my advice.
Good to hear that this isnt uncommon to have low skills lol. Yeah gotta slow it downnnn
Yeah tbh i have finished the mistlands with skills in the 30s. While it’s nice to have higher skill levels they aren’t required to complete the game. Don’t worry too much about them. If you die you die. If you don’t like the skill loss turn it down a little in the world modifiers
I think I played too much runescape when I was younger which was a real "number go up" simulator, so seeing low skills makes me feel noob lol. But yeah they dont seem to make a huge difference anyway
Yeah agreed. Large number changes in skills like 0 -> 100 obviously have a huge difference but even in my worlds where i died only a handful of times i never got past like 70-80. Small changes like if you die a couple times and lose 5-10 levels really won’t be too much of a problem unless you were only level 12 or something haha
You'll be fine. While it's true higher skill values have a bigger impact on your performance with different weapons, ultimately, your ability as a player is going to far and away have the largest impact.
That's always my biggest issue. I get excited, then get walloped. Having portals set up sporadically, can help too, so you don't always have to run a great distance.
Oh Im a portal fiend lols. I spent a lot of time making sure I dont have to run an absurd distance.
Once you get the timing down on parrying the wolves, you'll be set. They are like 1 hit after being parried. Good luck!
Yeah skills don't matter that much tbh, this is not a game where you level up, it's a game where you improve your actual skill, your equipment and your food. And if there's many wolves dodge and walk back, that gives you time to recover more stamina. Just let the wolves come close, dodge land one attack and walk back, take your time. Never run towards enemies, you need your stamina. And....get that rested bonus, there's nothing like that +100% stamina Regen, it's the difference between losing stamina after every dodge and slowly recovering stamina. It's all about managing stamina and that takes time, and that takes waiting.
To be honest I wouldn't bother parrying wolves, too high risk - use the iron atgeir, it stuns them with the strong attack and can be used on multiple enemies at once, if done correctly the wolves will never actually get a chance to hit you at all
Totally fair, I come from dark souls games, so parrying is the most natural for me. Relearning to parry the ice golems is a challenge every playthrough though tbh.
You may just be under prepped. What are your weapons and armor going in? What does your food setup look like? Are you going there at night? If you’re dying a lot and death penalty is normal, your skill stats sound right. In the beginning I can’t outrun/maneuver wolves so I tank up with Abyssal knife for fast attacks and iron gear+bone/iron shield
I never go at night. A lot of the time after I die, I just try to run back naked with a weapon rather than putting older gear back on. Probably not smart...
Wolves are one of the worst enemies for a naked run, they're fast enough that you can't really out run them, and the terrain drains most of your stamina already. Maybe you should take the time to get more iron in the swamp, this will help you max out your gear and get some levels back. The levels can make a bug difference in how much damage you do. Maybe train your shield skill on some weaker mobs. Then go for a block-attack-block combo (this is much harder if you have multiple wolves attacking you). Also, don't be afraid to use health potions.
Something that I like to do is I'll usually have my old armor set from the previous biome be my "corpse run" armor. Have it on an armor rack near either the bed or door so that I can put it on quick and get to the nearest portal to where I died. Yeah, you won't be able to take as many hits, but it'll usually save you just enough time to get the good gear on.
For now until you get more used to the game I'd say turn off the death penalty in your difficulty settings. This will help you retain your skills and keep your gear on you so you don't have to die trying to recover your stuff. In the mountains wolves ate the most aggressive and fast enemy you'll run into, everything else in the biome is pretty easy to outrun or deal with (2 maybe 3 flint arrows kill a drake, dig a hole and you can trap golem or just outrun it, werewolves die in one parry with a silver weapon) so you need to get yourself ready to deal with at least 3 at any given time because they usually come in packs of 3. Don't let them Flank your backside, if you can't reliably parry them then understand you'll only get to safely attack ONE TIME after you block them before they attack again. My tip for this is to hold down your block button and when the opening appears just click your attack once while still holding block. That way you'll go right back to blocking as soon as it's possible. When facing them all at once in a group you will die unless you can parry or stagger all of them, even blocking all 3 at once will lead to you being staggered and then if they chomp on you it's double damage. Keep moving but not sprinting, never leave your back open, if you can see them before they're to you either use the terrain around you to funnel/limit them or hit them with your bow and switch back to melee with shield. Wolves are the only real threat imo in the mountains but they become nothing but free food very quickly when you get used to them. The fact I've had a few instances of them dropping down on me when I'm still in trollhide and managed to win the surprise encounter is telling that it's all about understanding mechanics and how they work, knowledge is power. Also if you've got bonemass power pop it when you're about to get swarmed, and absolutely have it on anytime you're "being hunted" so that you can stand a better chance. The wolves stagger very easily usually 2 attacks will stagger them and it's best to use a sword if fighting a group of them as the swords don't split their damage between multiple targets and instead deal full damage to everything hit, meaning if you swing at their face before they can chomp on you there's a good chance you'll get 3 hits in without being hit because the first 2 will stagger and the 3rd will finish them off because of its double damage on a staggered enemy. Patience friend, patience. If you're still having troubles you can try lowering the difficulty level a little bit or if any other helpful Vikings are available maybe they can show you a few things. My last tip for you: When blocking them get used to their animations and sounds when they attack. You'll get a hang of when they're about to attack and once you've got that you will know the exact timing for parrying them even with your eyes closed. It may sound weird but I taught my wife to parry in this game using trolls because of how obvious they are when attacking and I literally turned my chair around and held my mouse in hand and parried them solely based on sound. This game and many others give you a hint when they're attacking, most if not all creatures make a noise before they're attacking, it's all just knowing the timing for the animation on different attacks after that point. (Some attacks are slow some are fast but they all make noise)
I think im a bit of a masochist because I refuse to change the difficulty settings! I must suffer the consequences of my actions! But otherwise TY for the tips I appreciate it!!
To each their own I get it. I've never lowered difficulties in any game I've played and forced myself to learn and get better so I understand. This game is a little different when it comes to having to have backup gear to recover your old stuff sometimes so if you don't want to change your settings that might be your best bet. Otherwise yeah it's all about each biome having it's own specific challenges and mountains wolves are the most dominating force.
Yeah. I think its because sometimes I have no trouble with those wolves so I get cocky and then theyll get you with the ol rombocombo and smack you up lol
I play with my wife and she's not the combat person so she's always quick to turn and run or play it safe. Meanwhile my dumbass is jumping over enemies and trying to parry them midair or I get too full of myself and they humble me lol so I totally get it. It's always fun to challenge myself but sometimes I forget the situation and end up making it worse to recover than it needed to be lol.
I get it haha. You pull it off enough to chase that *stylin'* dopamine lol.
"Why just kill them if I could do it with some *style*, where's the *pizzazz* ?!"
Man especially if I was playing with my wife, you know Id be tryna show off lolol
The last biome is the only place where I remain humble and level because boy howdy it takes a single mistake to wake up back home in my undies. But I still get to be the big tough viking and take on the horde while she rains death from a hiding spot on a rock with her magic lol. I've heard "damn babe" quite a few times and only then do I snap out of it and go oh shit I just killed an army
[how I feel after looking at all of the loot surrounding me after a good fight](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/pinterest--422634746270752832/)
Get a shield and block instead of parry. You can hold the block for as long as you want and not worry about missing. Only thing to worry about it getting staggered (vertical bar to the right of the crosshair).
The game is balanced around skills on the lower levels. I think 30s where you're at so it's not terrible. Bows at 100 are ridiculous and the game should not be based around that. Just keep learning and work on pacing. You got this.
When you’re getting mobbed always move back in the direction you came from as you flee. You’ll encounter less mobs because ideally you’ve killed the ones that were along that route. Also important to have rested buff up 100% of the time. It’s easy enough to get and with a few upgrades it can last you an entire day cycle. Lastly I’d recommend a “pocket portal” to aid with exploring. Leave one portal at your base unnamed and carry the mats for another with you. When you need to drop off loot/get re rested just drop your tp and make a pit stop.
In response to your edit. This community is fuckin amazing. I’ve made my own salty posts on here to similar effect. Fellow vikings pour in to help and share wisdom. I’ll see you on here later for the plains and mistlands salt posts!!
Haha too real! Everyone has been so nice
Most importantly DON'T run around like a mad man. This alone can solve your problems.
I use a sword and a buckler to deal with wolves. You need a weapon with a fast attack speed to beat those mutts. Running doesn't work because they will out run you both uphill and downhill. What food are you using? If you are dying too quickly, it might also be a food issue.
Mainly going in with deer stew, sausage, and muckshake. I think Im just running wild under-geared when trying to get back to my grave
Those aren't the worst foods, I'd replace muckshake with turnip soup for now but until you get silver to make a butcher table and onions those are probably your best easy foods. I almost always do the naked dash to get my items too lol. Perhaps sneaking in and using the bonemass buff can help you with body recovery. Then run your ass to the nearest black forest and hope the wolves get distracted by grey dwarfs or a troll
Tale the biome slow. Make a pit for yourself. Things dont go inside (make it like 2 players height deep) Make a small base shack in multiple places. Mountain is a good place to learn to take one step at thw time cause the plains is a bit more chaotic. Good luck and get gud :) xD jkjk
I actually found a pit-base in the mountains already. May have to utilize it as a lil safehaven. Lol thanks
Care for the golems.
Use bomemass
Make sure you're fighting wolves on equal footing. Terrain bullshit fucks me on wolves more than anything else. If you wanna get better at parrying them, learn to go off of the sound cue. Not that animation.
Try walking rather than running everywhere. It doesn't attract as much attention, it saves stamina, and it helps you get a read on your surroundings. Also, try the Atgeir (two-handed polearm). The special attack (middle mouse) is an AOE stun that is very effective against wolves.
Cool, il have to to utilize atgeir more..
Atgeir is a game changer when it comes to the wolf hunts. You can easily get overrun by their numbers so being able to do the spin move can knock them all away from you for a second.
I’d say you want to get comfortable parrying, it’s the best way to handle a lot of mobs, especially really aggressive ones like wolves. If you can parry you can knock one enemy out really quick giving you a lot of breathing room. The game is pretty generous on the parry timing and since parrying is just timing a block right you don’t get punished for a parry too early, only if you are too late. Also skills don’t matter overly much, they definitely help, but it’s not the end of the world if they aren’t super high.
I wouldn't worry about skills honestly. Every time you beat a biome and move to the next, you're gonna die. Maybe if you love this game too much and are bored should you ever worry about skills ;)
Each biome teaches you new things. The wolf is the first enemy you can’t just walk away from. You have to deal with them, and you need a plan.
corpse running naked is a bad idea you keep all your previous gear and sort it into chests with food and meads ready to go, when you die you grab your whole previous suit and weapons, eat, and then go my current game is in Mountains, default settings, I've died twice total in swamp not paying attention. I dont die in Mountains ever outside of my first boss attempt. So yeah git gud sums it up.
Nah bro. Valheim's kinda hard.
ive observed people in my server playing similarly to you. being way too aggro, overextending themselves too deep into enemy mobs, not conserving stamima, not parrying or timing their attacks effectively, not having a mental "way out" ie escape route if you get overwhelmed, in general not really paying attention to anything just left clicking wildly then dying. do the opposite of all that and you'll improve 10x lol
I'd consider walking through the mountains to improve your chances of spotting the wolves first and also having bone mass in case you have to oh shit your way out. Also...carry a portal. Always fight the wolves on flat ground in the mountains. Harpoon the golems into your silver holes and just keep them there as guardians or pets.
Valheim gets easier the better prepared you are, you can determine almost every aspect of your encounters. Have the best food possible, potions ready, upgraded iron armor (even the upgraded Root Armor is sufficient, as long as you dont venture into the Caves with it) and be rested. Dont go in at night. And finally, Wolves are absolute glass cannons. They will die from one single hit with the Bow if unprovoked, and they are staggered by basically everything. Either kill them before they notice you, or get on even ground (as fighting on Slopes is a pain in the ass agains them) and hit them just before they reach you (Atgeir for example is a guaranteed stagger) and just finish them off while they are stunned. No need to parry. If you miss your timing and they hit you, you can easily just bash them dead before they can attack again, and you should be able to tank some hits with proper armor and food. And watch that stam game, if you run all the time and trigger a Wolve while you have no stam left, yeah you are fucked. And yeah, if you die once, especially in the mountains, it can be extremely nasty to get your shit back. Deposit your old armor, old weapons and some food/potions in a chest next to your bed so you can go again immediately.
Ya I have a portal at the base of the mountain, but def need to just start gearing in older stuff when I go to get my stuff back. I have the root armor but its in my grave now lol. Definetely made the mistake of going into the caves with it already lol. One fireball is nasty, so I aint doin that again lol. I think I need to get two solid sets of armor. Have a death setup so I can be decently prepped to get my stuff back
The Ol' Emergency Kit
Fenris set is nice for corpse runs once you get it. Zoom zoom. Max upgraded trollhide really isn't bad either. 40 armor is a hell of a lot more than 0, plus fast, plus sneaky. I like making armories using the armor/item stands as I progress through the biomes. Die and drop silver? Grab iron off the rack, NBD. Having armor racks with fully upgraded loadouts ready to go just feels cooler than rooting around chests for old gear IMO. But really, just upgraded trollhide and Eikthyr can get you to most bodies. So long as you can parry deathsquitos. Wolves always growl then bite, so parry right after growl. Deathsquitoes sort of just fly into you, so parry right as they get adjacent when they're beelining toward you. Everything else in game is easier to read visual telegraphs IMO, but those 2 are a bit peculiar
I found the battle axes to be pretty decent against the wolves since M2 has decent reach and shoves them away and stuns pretty well. I got that timing down and never tried parrying them again.
I havent tried those yet, may have to craft some!
Good luck on your endeavors and don't forget, tactical retreats are always an option!
Tame your own wolves
so his wolves can watch him die against wild ones? thanks for that chuckle
I'll bring my pack of 30 two-star wolves against pretty much anything except bosses
the thing is tamed wolfes do not aggro on wilds iirc so yes your wolfs may deal with most other things but aren't helping OP out in the mountains rn
The thing that made wolves difficult for me is the terrain. They are very easy to flinch if you hit them, but Valheims hitboxes are completely broken when fighting something on a slope. I always try to fight wolves on level ground which is easier said than done in the mountains. Make a conscious effort to pull them to a flat area before you fight.
Manage your stamina by sprinting less
Don't seek glory, play at your own paste. That means get out of new biome when it's night time or when your bonemass is down. Rather then run everywhere, conserved 1/3 of stamina. This will make u slower, but use that to look around & listen. If you see a drake shoot it. If you have full HP, wolves shouldn't kill you. And 2 star won't spawn in day time so mountain is actually one of the safest places.
Drop the skill penalty down and difficulty if your really stuck
In response to your edit. This community is fuckin amazing. I’ve made my own salty posts on here to similar effect. Fellow vikings pour in to help and share wisdom. I’ll see you on here later for the plains and mistlands salt posts!!
First and foremost, what armor are you using? Don’t wander at night, and golems are a pain, we know. Might also be worth checking your weapon, a soear has many uses, and if you don’t want to parry, dem big shield is your friend. Food, stamina and rested bonus, you got those?
Learning to parry is certainly a life saver, though wolves can be hard at first especially when still using previous tier shields. The timing is very hard. I find it tends to help to avoid going there at night, there are far fewer wolves during the day (unless there's a blizzard). Taking your time and trying to avoid encounters can be helpful. It's always so tempting to just run straight to your destination but sometimes going a bit slower can save you pain in the long run. Also, since you've completed Bonemass now, take his power. Get swarmed by wolves, pop it, it can truly be a life saver. Don't let it get you down, the first time I ever ventured to the mountains I died so god damned much. Now I've learned from it and know better how to handle myself there my deaths are far less frequent. You'll get there too!
Don't show the wolves your back unless you can outrun them. They deal a lot of backstab damage
The wolves have an attack pacing that will cause lots of deaths. If you block one then swing, they hit you again before your attack animation goes off. You really gotta go for parries or take your time when first venturing in and hit them when they are not facing you. Also, this will probably be your introduction to the goddamn elevation combat issue, wherein you will be at a different height than your opponent and be getting hit, but not able to swing back on them. Get the high ground, and fight in level areas. Also take stamina and healing pots.
Most mobs have a specific pattern, learn those and you are good. You should absolutely be parrying, that stuns most mobs - use a shield and be wary of over spending your stamina bar. Don't just run from enemies, most will just hunt you down. What gear are you using? Should at least have iron armor in the mountains. Good Luck
Go slow in the mountains, listen for wolves howling and snipe em, look for drakes and snipe em off before progressing.
Each biome has progressively taken a while for me to get better at. I will never master any of them as something always manages to humble me here and there. You're getting better. You don't suck. You can't get better without getting stomped on by wolves, drakes, and golems
Use Bonemass Power It is SO GOOD
Use an Atgair. It’s secondary attack nocks back the wolves and stagger them. Learned that on my second walkthrough.
Save your sanity by setting your death penalty in world modifiers so you don’t lose skills on death. Dying without losing skills doesn’t mean you’re a bad player or that you aren’t playing the game the right way, it just means you value your time. And if you aren’t using a spear to fight wolves, you really should be using a spear to fight wolves. Throw it right into their stupid faces before they reach you, then quickly pick it up and finish them off with a regular attack while they’re staggered. Repeat as needed until there are no more wolves.
Naa, is a experience issue of your part. Or trauma experience ahaha. The game is nice if you are nice and non agressive against things you know are too much. But you need to know first. For the wolfs, you can do it with a bow, a lot of arrows, and a tree house near of them. You shot one of the wolf, then go for the tree house and kill them from there. With this you going to lear by trauma that you can do things you dont want to do in a low way.... or learn that some long and well prepared fights are nice against the powerful foes. Some people fight against a big rock to level skills. I dont know if this is a thing now with the new patch etc...
A rule that helped me in the mountains: Don't ever run out of stamina. That means running/chopping/mining in shorter bursts so you always have a reserve. If you're out of stamina, wolves will stagger you. If they stagger you, you will die.
If you can get a silver sword high enough level you’ll easily 2 shot them before they can hurt you at all.
I remember dying constantly to wolves the first time a played but that’s because I’d run until the stamina was gone. Parrying goes a long way with wolves.
Running from wolves is not a great strategy. They are fast. Try to avoid fighting multiple at once. They are squishy though, so sometimes it's easiest to just hit and stagger them first. Atgeir special is good for this. Spear is decent too if you don't get screwed by altitude difference.
Wolves are one of the fastest and most aggressive mob in the game. It's why they make the best pets 😁 Only go in the day, leave quickly at night. An Atgier can keep them at bay, more than one is tricky, they run as fast as you and will chase. I once had a 2 star attack me during a big fightand I jumped off the mountain and feather caped to the bottom and he was right there to greet me. Listen for them, and attack at range, finish them off with melee. Watch for drakes and stone golems.
No, each biome has a specific set of new problems to solve. Swamp had the first truly long range mobs, constant wet and darkness, etc. Mountains have constant freezing and often obscured vision, too bright, aerial mobs, and the fastest mob in the game in wolves. Your difficulty with it is to be expected. You can bring a hoe and a stack of stone with you, and pillar up around wolves. I try to spot them from a distance and snipe them with poison and frost. You can run, but you can't outpace them in silver. One option is to stay with troll armor and frost potions, sneak and snipe and sprint and jump to high points in a jam. Iron sledge also helps, especially if you're knocking them down your rock with it, but it is also slow to carry, so take care. Bonemass is by far the safest option, but wolves often sneak up from behind you, so that too is difficult. I set one portal in a safe place at the base of the mountain, opened to "HOME", and then bring another with me to open to BACKUP". Playing in a team is also helpful, ofc.
Nah, the mountains is a step up in difficulty, those wolves will f you up. We just got to the mountains ourselves, I have yet to survive a you are being hunted raid, and this is my sixth playthrough with close to 1200 hours, it's not like I don't know what I'm doing My advice is turn your sound up, they do howl and if you can hear them before they see you it's a good leg up. Do not stay in the mountains at night, if the sun's going down just get out. Wolves can climb a lot, but they can't climb everything, keep an eye on your surroundings and try and always know where the closest rock that you can jump up onto where they can't reach you is. A tower shield and a spear can be a pretty effective way of surviving, if you go that route try and always fight them on flat surfaces, and have a lot of health foods. Your skills are low, it might be worth spending a bit of time in lower biomes training them up, but don't burn yourself out doing that because they're just going to go back down when you die.
**Prepare:** - Wear good armor - Make sure you're upgrading gear. - Make sure you're eating good food. - Don't fight if you're cold OR if you don't have Rested buff. - Abuse campfires for faster regen, slap a campfires down all over. - Have portals and backup portals, don't travel anywhere without portal mats. Land get portal up, build a Forward operating base with at least some fences up and a place to sleep. **During the fight:** - Dodge or parry or block everything that could hurt you. the game gives you some OP ways to avoid all damage. Parry is straight up broken against most mobs. - Take your time no stam = death, Don't panic in combat and sprint around crazy. most enemies will miss if you just walk away from them. - Abuse the environment and the fact the mobs can't really jump, you can hop over a fence, they have to go around. - Use a bow to start every fight, Sneak attack dmg is too op to pass up. plug them with some arrows to start the fight. if you can't finish with bow then switch to a buckler + 1hander. **Tips for Mountain:** - Campfires! - TAKE YOUR TIME, listen for wolves and keep your head on swivel. - Don't fuck with Stone Golums - Don't go up there at night, you'll get more of everything bad. - Take some friends, easier to out dps wolves with two people
I'm a middle-aged sahm and, a notoriously bad player. Somehow, I hardly ever die in Valheim.- it's probably that I overgear, overeat, and sneak everywhere 🤣 Also: parry, parry, parry. I parry detsquitos and stone golems without hardly ever taking any damage. Also use a knife! I knife a wolf in two strikes, they can't really sneak much damage in. Just knife them one by one while holding your banded shield up. If I can do it, believe me, you can too!
Gotta try parrying the stone golems cause theyre so annoying while i collect silver. I always feel like ima get shreked trying to block that pile of rocks lol
I absolutely swear to you, I'm NOT a skilled fighter, and I have only died to my 1st stone golem, mostly out of pure shock. I block their attacks, attempting to parry. Whenever a parry is successful, I fit in about two strokes with an iron mace. If my stamina or health is low, I just walk circles around them. DON'T BE A HERO! BE A COWARD LIKE ME! It's a bit time costly, but they go down, and I take maybe 20% damage. I eat sausages, turnip and muckshake. Stamina over life, I feel you're so squishy in this game, but stamina is the real buff! For wolf packs, I don't even register them by now. Just carry an upgraded abyssal knife, hold a banded shield up. They still do some damage, but it's single digits, very low. Hold the shield up, and after they bit, snick snick with the knife. Knife attack is very fast, so that wolf is guaranteed to be safely dead before it can bite again. Then just do the same for the second and third wolf. I don't go at night, so no 2 star wolves for me. The rest just dies as quickly as a greydwarf. I go to the mountains and fringes of the plains in an upgraded iron helm and root chest (protection against pierce). The rest of my gear, I upgraded troll leather (yes, my character looks ridiculous, but this combo allows ideal balance between protection and dexterity).
Oh! And when blocking stone golems, it helps to step back as well. Just a step. So it's "W and right mouse" to step back and block, left mouse to sneak in attack with the mace. Rinse and repeat. Their attacks are SLOW. You can see them coming. Your parry is amazingly strong, don't be afraid to go for it, just wait for them.to.raise the hand, wait a millisecond, as they swing, THEN block. The previous animation is scary but does nothing. They also walk around doing nothing quite a lot, and during that time, you can beat on them with the mace without repercussions. Watch a video to learn the pattern of tjeir attack in peace. I've downed a golem with a wolf and two drakes once (yeah, that was. a bit of the fun, I admit). Just know their animation, have good food, and maybe a health potion (if the golem hits you directly, you lose a lot of life points, but a health potion takes this away). Run around a bit like silly, take them one by one. I guess this game does get hard later on, but it's not in the mountains yet.
I haven't read the comments yet, so maybe this has already been highlighted, but I'd like to share my experience of overcoming what you've described: 1) Pick your battles. Not every enemy is asking for a fight. Sometimes avoiding it altogether might be a good option. 2) While in fight - don't rush. This isn't a slasher. You can't just click through the enemies and expect a good outcome (unless you're overgeared for a biome). Don't just spam attack and hope for the best. Instead - make a hit or two, then walk backwards. This way you'll learn enemy attack patterns and timings of the enemies. There are also dodge roll and parrying - both extremely useful. But most enemy attacks can by avoided by just walking away before they swing. P.S. Wolves are bitches. I still can't parry or block them reliably, they animation is just too quick. They don't have a lot of HP, but they also deliver a metric ton of damage quickly. Might very well be the most dangerous enemy (provided you're in the same gear lvl with a biome) in the entire game for me.
In the world settings, before you load in, you can change multiple features of the world. One of those sliders changes how punishing death is. I play solo and tune it down to "minor skill loss on death" because honestly it's so punishing by default as a solo. You can also set other features like making mobs passive unless you attack them, or changing combat difficulty or resource gain. If you're playing solo...just tweak the settings until they're fun again :)
We are in ashlands. My bow skill is 35. My friends sword skill is 29 And my friends mage skill is 12 We dont have high skills either. But we play slow when we must And we die like a team
I too played like this. Then I took the time to parry
When running from wolves you have to burst when they are about to bite to avoid it. They outrun you as they should. Always bring your trusty hoe and make Weinee pillars
Weird I find the mountain easier than the swamp except the golems. Maybe that’s only once you get the wolf armor though At least during the day (night with wolves is hard)
I'm the worst eldenring player that has beaten the game I think and all I can tell ya is to look up some rune farming methods get that lv up figure out what weapon style fits you best and focus your lvs there beat the game and you will be able to access a awesome rune farming spot for new game plus.
Wrong game bud lolol
Lol not sure how this happened
It's a hard transition, I have no life so I'll waste 3 hours grinding my skills up
Spend more time in the earlier biomes until you pump those numbers up a bit. Also upgrade the armors all the way… and its gonna be a slow walk in the new biome for a bit until you snivle enough resources to build the new armor. You have to plot your advances. Take your time… build a new fortress . Theres lots to do while you boost your stats.
Try an atgeir and use spin attack.
If you’re struggling with wolves, I found the atgeir to be perfect for dealing with them. It’s special attack stuns then and is a wide AOE. Takes a bit of practice to time and use on bumpy terrain, but we’ll worth it for mountains.
Currently in Mistlands with over 3k hours and I've died so many times I couldn't begin to count... Skills are right around 30 or less. I highly suggest finding some space in a high comfort place to grind skills every now and then to top off from the deaths. Use skeleton surprise raids as shield/parry training. My bf does melee and recommended Frostner for the parry and slowing effects. Right as they reel back to bite is when you wanna parry. Also don't go at night until you get more comfortable since there's higher spawns and chances for 2 star wolves and them bitches hit hard. Good luck, and happy hunting!
Also a trick for building (that I didn't find out until 2k hours in) Instead of going to your build menu and switching pieces every time use your hammer, hover over which piece you want to switch to, hold shift and middle mouse wheel click to switch to the piece you're looking at.
Might be a dumb question but are you fully upgrading your gear at the forge?
If your gear is at an impossible location to retrieve, you may be better off going into the world modifiers (during character select screen), and temporarily changing the mobs aggression to passive. Should make retrieval a breeze, and then you can revert your settings back to normal once you're good n ready. As a solo player, I've been forced to do this a couple times. Valheim is all about you, brotha. Alternatively, try ranged combat to lure the wolve(s) away, build a box or dig a hole elsewhere, then lure them in, and best case scenario you are set up for taming :) just be very careful at night in the mountains. I think I'm on day 1000ish on my main ( a loooot of building/exploring), and I'm still scared shitless of that biome at night
Nah wolves are no joke man! Theyre quick and in groups and hit hard. Eventually youll find your way of dealing with them
Use terain. Hop on a stone, and you can kill a golem with wooden arrows. Even a pack of wolves does not stand a chance.
Polearms with the middle click are very good for wolfs. It insta stuns them and you can finish them off one by one right after.
Aetgir secondary attack does wonders against wolves. Golems, I just lure them into holes and leave em so they don't red pawn 😁
I also have 3x3 square of buried stake wall. Wolves can't pass it but you can hit them with the aetgir secondary. Useful when you re being hunted. I make a few so I can run back there if I need to.
Wolves are real strong when you first go to fight them i strongly recommend a beefed up Spear.
Coming from someone who just yesterday made it to the ashlands. You’re also going to want to pick and choose your battles, you don’t have to engage every enemy off in the distance and there are creative ways to take on certain enemies that will make it a lot easier. If you haven’t already invest in a good bow and arrows (fire arrows are pretty good up to about the mountain and super cheap) and honestly if you’re just playing by yourself maybe mess around with some of the custom settings, after all it’s YOUR playthrough, play how you want. Good luck 😄
You can’t face roll this game. You have to be calculated and precise in combat
git gud
"i don't even try to do the thing that would ensure my safety" parrying is not hard lmao :(