Valheim's Huge New Update Makes The Game Worth Revisiting In More Than One Way

Summary Valheim's Ashlands biome introduces new challenging enemies, gear, and mechanics to the game.

The update focuses on combat with new ability heavy and focused enemies.

Players will encounter environmental difficulties like crossing boiling seas and navigating fields of lava.

Valheim's massive new Ashlands update adds so much content that it is worth revisiting for multiple reasons. The indie Viking survival game first launched in 2021 and was an instant success. Eight days after the initial release, the game had already sold over eight million copies, ensuring a future for the standout title. Since then, Valheim has had one other large update at the end of 2022 with the Mistlands, but this new update appears to add even more - and will change the survival game forever.

Valheim earned its popularity not just through fun gameplay, but for its unique stance on the survival genre. Survival games generally follow the trend of requiring players to eat and drink to survive. Valheim mostly avoids this issue and instead makes food and drink buff items that increase player health and stats, but not outright killing them by going without eating. Another tedious survival mechanic Valheim avoided was tool repair. This usually requires some of the items' original resources, but this Nordic survival spin-off allows free repairs.

Related The Best Seeds For Valheim On Xbox Now that Valheim has come to Xbox, players can use the best known seeds to shape their world's generation to suit their interests before starting.

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The next new biome, and last in order to visit in Valheim, for players to explore is the fiery hellscape known as the Ashlands. The new environment is the most hostile in the game and alone makes the Ashlands a challenge. Lava will cover many parts and fire will rain from the sky. The only way to avoid this destroying buildings is by using stone, or covering a wooden house with the new shield generator item. These generators will keep out all fire and range damage, but enemies can walk inside of them. Enemies are sprinkled across the land similar to other endgame biomes, but are at their most dense around spawners.

The Ashlands are a separate island biome that can only be reached by crossing boiling seas. However, normal ships cannot cross these seas, so players must build a new ship called the Drakkar, which can only be built after conquering the Mistlands. Since traveling back and forth can be tedious, Valheim is also introducing the Stone Portal. The key difference between this and the old portal is that the new version allows metals to be transported, perfect for building a fast travel hub.

Another aspect of the hellscape is Charred Fortresses, which will hold many of the high-tier loot that will be needed. However, these forts will be one of the more challenging experiences in Valheim. First, they must be breached by siege equipment brought to walls and protected. After that, Vikings will have to clear out all spawners to then access the middle room which will hold the loot.

A New Boss, Fader, Is In Valheim

With the Ashlands focusing on combat, new enemies enter the realm. The three most notable new additions include the Morgen, Fallen Valkyrie, and Bonemaw. The Morgen is a giant skeleton that crawls on all fours and will look to pounce for dangerous melee strikes. Fallen Valkyries will attack from range with spells while getting close enough to melee with their claws. Bonemaws, skeleton sea serpents, will only be encountered in the seas around the biome, but still pose a threat to Vikings adventuring on the shore.

Valheim will also be adding difficulty modifiers, so players can choose to have an easier/harder experience.

According to the development team, Ashlands is supposed to add a new layer to combat due to the mix of enemies and abilities. Previously, Valheim combat could feel boringly similar from enemy to enemy. Thus, combat never changed or incentivized different styles outside the big boss fights. These enemies with new ways of attacking and many new weapon additions could potentially change how combat works and the things players need to know about Valheim.

The boss of this hellscape is Fader, another powerful and threatening dragon. Currently, not much is known about Fader and how his battle works. However, based on previous Valheim bosses, it is likely to be a large-scale battle that will require proper preparation. The buff Fader's trophy provides is extremely useful, granting 300 extra carry weight and 10% movement speed.

New Ashlands Gear To Empower Vikings

Putting Magic In The Hands Of Players

To balance out the new heightened difficulty from the Ashlands, a myriad of powerful new gear will be available. The new ore Flametal will be the driving ingredient for these upgrades. However, this ore is extremely difficult to acquire, only spawning in the middle of lava pools. The effort is worth the result as the new Flametal armor gives the most defense in the game as well as heat resistance. As with previous weapon upgrades, Flametal weapons have the new highest attack stats.

Magic is also being further expanded in the Ashlands update with three new staffs. The Troll Staff will summon a powerful large skeleton troll, but this troll will attack indiscriminately. The Staff of the Wild will do initial impact damage, and then summon vines from the ground that will continue to attack enemies. Finally, the Staff of Fracturing will release an explosive fire attack upon impact, making it perfect for large groups of enemies.

Another use for Magic in Valheim is the new gem crafting mechanic. Three gems found only in the Ashlands can be cut and then forged into preexisting Flametal weapons to make them magical. Blood gems will increase weapon damage the lower the user's health gets. Lightning gems will cause a small chaining lightning attack to proc on hitting an enemy. The Jade/nature gem will give a 15% set chance to stun an enemy on a hit. Overall, this new mechanic not only enhances melee combat but adds exciting new magic build capabilities.

Overall, the Ashlands seem to be trying to improve on the Mistlands' few shortcomings, while showcasing the future goals of Valheim. The Nordic survival game has come a long way from its humble beginnings and continues to expand its mechanics. This variety of expansions not only contributes to the theme of the game but could entice new users to try it out. Thus, the new Ashlands update makes Valheim worth visiting for players new and old.