Valheim

Survive the first nights and reach Eikthyr

Valheim beginner guide

A new Viking lands in the Meadows, the starting biome of Valheim. Official 1.0 notes still recommend this loop even after Deep North ships: raise a first house, eat for health and stamina, and hunt Eikthyr before you open the Black Forest. Steam marks the house with The Homesteader and the first boss with a hidden Eikthyr row. This beginner guide is the Valheim beginner guide for that opening voyage, not a full item dump.

Three Vikings enter a circular burial portal ringed in fire in a torch-lit forest night.
A Meadows shore camp with timber and open grass, the intended first landing.
Two lox graze a bright Meadows hillside under a single oak.
Early building and a cleared yard before the forest line.
01

Read the landing

You spawn in Meadows. Treat the first nights as a shelter problem, not a race to Deep North.

02

Raise a first house

The Homesteader achievement is “Build a house.” Put a roof over a bed before you wander.

03

Eat for the fight

Food grants health and stamina boons. It is not a hunger punishment if you skip a meal.

04

Find Eikthyr

Steam lists Eikthyr as a boss trophy. The public description stays hidden; the biome pairing is Meadows.

05

Hunt with a friend or alone

Stronger Together is killing a boss with a friend. Lone Wolf is killing a boss by yourself.

06

Keep the old world or start fresh

Old saves work. New biome generation only fills unexplored map. Iron Gate still recommends a fresh start for Deep North.

07

Stay off cheats

Most cheat commands permanently lock that character and world out of 1.0 achievements.

08

Open Black Forest after Eikthyr

The Elder is the second Forsaken, tied to Black Forest. Do not treat Deep North as a first-hour biome.

First nights in the Meadows

Meadows is named as the starting biome in official news and the 1.0 FAQ. The land is the gentle edge of the tenth world: grass, trees, and the first resources you need for a roof. Steam store copy asks Vikings to raise longhouses with structural integrity. On night one that means a hut you can sleep in, not a decorated hall. The Homesteader row is the only early building trophy with a public sentence: build a house.

Food in Valheim is a combat stack. Official copy ties meals to health and stamina rather than a hunger meter that damages you for ignoring it. Cook something before you pick a fight with boar, neck, or greyling-level threats at the forest line. Later pages list 1.0 Deep North dishes; none of those belong in the first hour.

Co-op is one to ten players. A friend can share the first house and the first boss. Stronger Together records a boss kill with a friend. Lone Wolf records a boss kill without one. Either path still starts in Meadows. Controller support is listed as full on Steam, including DualShock and DualSense, so a pad is a valid way to play this landing.

Reach Eikthyr before Black Forest

Eikthyr is the Forsaken of Meadows. Steam files an achievement with that name; the public description is empty. This guide therefore does not print altar offerings or hit points. What is confirmed is the order: Meadows first, Eikthyr first, Black Forest and The Elder second. Official progression language says defeating the Forsaken proves the Viking to Odin and opens the next land.

If you imported an Early Access character into 1.0, achievements begin tracking at the 1.0 download. The FAQ states that killing Eikthyr again is required for that trophy. Do the Meadows fight on the new ruleset even if you already hung the head in 2021. Cheats are a trap here: most console commands permanently flag the character and the world so trophies never unlock.

After Eikthyr, the next named land is Black Forest and The Elder. Swamp and Bonemass wait behind that. Deep North and Kall Fimbulbringer are a 1.0 finale, not a spawn adjacent to the Meadows beach. The FAQ is explicit that 1.0 does not focus on Ocean either, so do not wait for a sea update before leaving the starter grass.

A first hall is enough

Comfort, decoration, and tall halls are later Steam rows: Comfort is King at comfort 20, Mighty Halls for a very tall structure, Top of the World for building high up, The Architect for a village, The Builder for 500 pieces. None of those are the first-night job. Put a roof on a box, place a bed, and keep the fire inside the integrity of the wood. Store copy names longhouses and structural integrity as the building fantasy; the landing only needs the smallest legal house.

Workbench is the early station named in 1.0 notes and community topic lists. Frost Foundry, Frigid Kiln, Smoker, Standing Loom, and Smith's Aprons are Deep North or late-game extensions. Do not walk north looking for a hidden Forge of Potential on night one. Haldor pocket upgrades also sit in the 1.0 patch list, not in the spawn clearing.

When the house stands, eat, repair, and look for the Eikthyr altar using in-game clues rather than a guessed item list. If a number is missing from Iron Gate's notes, this page leaves it blank. Community wikis publish offering tables; this landing sticks to Steam names and the FAQ's save advice so a new player is not sent into Black Forest under-fed and unhoused.

Old saves, fresh starts, and 1.0 tracking

The 1.0 FAQ, dated for the launch window, says old worlds keep working. New biome generation only writes into unexplored map. Iron Gate still recommends a fresh start if you want Deep North laid out as a new continent rather than stitched onto a finished seed. That advice applies even if you only care about Meadows tonight: a new world makes the starter biome generate under 1.0 rules.

Achievements are new at 1.0. Tracking starts when you download 1.0, including on old characters. The fifty-three-row roster includes hidden boss names and public grinds such as The Survivor (thirty consecutive days) and The Explorer (travel far in all four directions). None of those replace the Meadows loop. They sit on Valheim achievements with filters for hidden versus public rows.

Mods are out of scope for this landing. Iron Gate shipped 1.0 with no official mod support and no Steam Workshop, and there is no public test branch so everyone launches together. If a helper tool changes the world, treat that as a cheat risk for trophies. For platform picks, price, and crossplay, jump to Valheim 1.0 after you have a house and an Eikthyr plan.

Where the landing hands you off

From Meadows you should be able to name the next three lands without opening a third-party item wiki: Black Forest and The Elder, Swamp and Bonemass, Mountain and Moder. Plains, Mistlands, Ashlands, and Deep North complete the land sequence. Ocean remains a biome the FAQ names and then sets aside for 1.0. Valheim biomes is the filterable board for that order.

If the fight is the point, Valheim bosses compares the eight Steam names. If the house is the point, Valheim building is comfort and integrity. If you came here from search looking for a Valheim beginner guide, stay on this URL; the Meadows loop is the whole intent. Supporting queries about the first night and Eikthyr belong here rather than on a second spawn page.

Stills on this page are official Steam screenshots bound to the landing route: a shore camp and an early yard. They are not a substitute for walking the actual Meadows seed. When you are ready to sail, Valheim longship covers ice and open water. When you are ready to eat Deep North food, Valheim food lists moose, seal, lingonberry, kale, oat, and Poteitr dishes added in 1.0.

Sources

Steam store listing for Valheim

Official Valheim 1.0 FAQ

Steam Community achievements for Valheim

Back to top