How to beat Bonemass in Valheim

Bonemass is the third boss: a heap of rotting flesh and bone with 5,000 health, rising out of the Swamp. It is slow and easy to hit, but its poison will kill an unprepared player in seconds and it keeps throwing reinforcements into the fight. Beat it and you get the Wishbone, the tool that leads you to silver.

Where is Bonemass's altar?

Bonemass's altar is always in the Swamp, between 2,000 and 10,000 metres from the world centre, on ground barely above the water line. Altars are placed at least 3,000 metres apart.

Swamps are hard to cross on foot, so find the altar before you commit. A Vegvisir runestone in the Swamp marks it on your map. You can also enter your seed on the seed map to see it ahead of time; the seed map guide shows how. Place a portal near the altar so you can return quickly after a death.

What do you need to summon Bonemass?

Place 10 Withered Bones on the altar. They come from inside the Sunken Crypts, which open with the Swamp Key from The Elder:

• Crypt chests hold a Withered Bone about a quarter of the time.
• Muddy Scrap Piles inside the crypts occasionally drop one when mined.

It usually takes several crypts to collect ten, and you will gather the iron for your gear on the same trips.

What gear should you bring?

Bonemass's resistances rule out most of what you have been using:

Damage type	How it takes it
Blunt	Weak
Frost	Weak
Slash	Resistant
Pierce	Very resistant
Fire	Very resistant
Poison	Immune
Lightning, spirit	Normal

Bring a blunt weapon. The Iron Mace (55 blunt) is the usual pick, since it lets you keep a shield up. The Iron Sledge does the same damage per hit in a wide swing with heavy knockback, which helps clear adds around you. Arrows and swords do little here; save them for the adds if you bring them at all. Frost is a weakness too, but frost weapons normally come later in the game.

Bring Poison Resistance Mead. This is not optional. It makes you very resistant to poison for 10 minutes, and poison is most of Bonemass's damage. Brew several from Mead Base: Poison Resistance in a Fermenter, drink one before you summon, and drink another if the fight runs long.

Also worth packing:

• Armour. Iron Helmet, Iron Scale Mail and Iron Greaves.
• Shield. An Iron Buckler or Iron Tower Shield for the punches.
• Food. Turnip Stew, Sausages and Black Soup are Swamp-tier foods with good health.
• Healing. Medium Healing Mead. Healing and poison resistance meads are on separate timers, so you can use both.

How does Bonemass attack?

Attack	Damage	Reach	How to handle it
Punch	80 blunt + 50 poison	8 m	Block it. It swings wide and can knock down trees.
Poison cloud	130 poison	out to 15 m; the cloud spreads 9 m	Cannot be blocked. Walk out of the green cloud; it lingers for 15 seconds.
Slime throw	spawns adds	up to 30 m	Cannot be blocked. Where it lands, four adds appear, each a Skeleton or a Blob. At most eight stay alive at once.

How to play it:

• Drink the mead first, every time. The punch and the cloud both carry poison, and poison keeps ticking after you step away. With the mead active the cloud becomes something you can walk through when you have to.
• Leave the cloud immediately. It hits every second while you stand in it. Step back, let it fade, then move back in to swing.
• Kill the adds before you commit. Each slime throw raises four adds, a mix of Skeletons (40 health) and Blobs (50 health). Blunt damage works on all of them, and your sledge or mace can clear them quickly. Blobs carry their own poison, so do not let them gather around you.
• Bonemass cannot be staggered. Damage does not do it and neither does blocking, so there is no punish window. Take your two or three hits, then step back before the next punch.
• Use its slowness. It moves slowly and turns slowly. Circle to its side, hit, and back out of range as it winds up.

In a group, have one player with a sledge deal with the adds while the rest stay on Bonemass with maces.

What does Bonemass drop?

• Bonemass Trophy, always.
• Wishbone, one per player.

The Wishbone is a utility item. Equip it and it pings when you are near hidden things, getting sharper the closer you get. Its main job is finding silver veins buried in the Mountain, which you cannot see otherwise. It also finds Muddy Scrap Piles buried in the Swamp and treasure buried in the Meadows. It takes the same slot as the Megingjord belt, so you wear one or the other.

What does Bonemass's power do?

Hang the trophy on the Sacrificial Stones to unlock Bonemass's Forsaken power. While active, you take only 75% of incoming blunt, slash and pierce damage, and blocking stops costing stamina. It lasts 5 minutes, recharges in 20, and players within 10 metres share it.

Save it for hard fights: a Fuling village, a raid on your base, or a Stone Golem in the Mountain.

What changes after you beat it?

A foul smell from the swamp stops. In its place, new raids can reach your base, including A skeleton surprise, You are being hunted and You feel a chill down your spine.

What should you do next?

Equip the Wishbone and head for the Mountain to dig out silver. You will need Frost Resistance Mead to survive the cold up there until you have warmer gear. The next boss is Moder, the dragon of the peaks: see how to beat Moder.