How to beat The Elder in Valheim

The Elder is the second boss: a walking ancient tree with 2,500 health that rules the Black Forest. It is slow, but it hits from a long way off and keeps calling roots out of the ground. Its drop, the Swamp Key, is what lets you into the Swamp's crypts and their iron.

Where is The Elder's altar?

The Elder's altar is always in the Black Forest, between 1,000 and 7,000 metres from the world centre. Altars are placed at least 3,000 metres apart, so if you find one far from home it is worth checking whether another sits closer.

The usual way to find it is a Vegvisir runestone in the Black Forest. Reading it marks the altar on your map. If you would rather not wander, enter your seed on the seed map to see where the altars are; the seed map guide walks through it.

What do you need to summon The Elder?

Place 3 Ancient Seeds on the altar. You get them two ways:

• Greydwarf Brutes drop one 33% of the time, and starred Brutes drop more.
• Greydwarf Nests, the twisted root structures that keep spawning Greydwarfs, drop one when you destroy them.

Breaking nests is the faster route, and it also calms down the area around them. Collect a few extra seeds in case the first attempt goes badly.

What gear should you bring?

The Elder's resistances decide the whole fight:

Damage type	How it takes it
Fire	Very weak
Poison	Immune
Spirit	Immune
Everything else	Normal

That makes Fire Arrows the standout weapon. Each one deals pierce and fire damage and sets the target burning, and the fire part lands on its weakest point. Craft a large stack at the Workbench and bring them with a Crude Bow, or a Finewood Bow if you have one. Bronzehead Arrows are a fallback once the fire arrows run out.

For melee, any bronze weapon works at full damage: Bronze Sword, Bronze Mace, Bronze Axe or Bronze Atgeir. Leave poison weapons at home.

Armour and support:

• Armour. Bronze Helmet, Bronze Plate Tunic and Bronze Plate Leggings. Troll leather (Troll Leather Tunic, Troll Leather Trousers, Troll Leather Hood) is lighter if you plan to shoot and move.
• Shield. A Bronze Buckler or Wood Shield blocks the vine volleys.
• Food. Queen's Jam, Carrot Soup, Boar Jerky and Deer Stew are strong Black Forest options.
• Healing. A few Minor Healing Meads if you have a fermenter.

How does The Elder attack?

It has three attacks, and each one is tied to how far away you stand.

Attack	Damage	Reach	How to handle it
Vine volley	35 pierce	from 15 m out to 50 m	A spray of vines aimed at one player, only fired when you are at least 15 m away. Block it or keep moving sideways.
Stomp	60 blunt	3 m around it	Its heaviest hit. Stay out of arm's length or back off as it lifts a foot.
Root summon	Roots attack separately	within 30 m	Fifteen Roots burst out of the ground within 15 m, up to 30 alive at once. They sink back after 18 to 20 seconds, or as soon as The Elder dies.

What that means in practice:

• Its ranged attack switches off inside 15 metres. The vine volley is only used when you are 15 m or more away, and the stomp only reaches 3 m. If you stand in between, roughly 5 to 12 metres out, it has only the roots to punish you with. That is the best spot for a bow user who can handle the roots.
• Stay mobile if you fight from range. Beyond 15 m the vines come steadily. Strafe around it and shoot between volleys, or raise your shield when you see one coming.
• Deal with Roots fast. Each has only 20 health, is weak to fire and immune to poison. A hit or two removes one, and they vanish within 20 seconds anyway, so clear the ones next to you and ignore the rest.
• Blocking does not stagger it, and neither does damage. There is no parry opening like Eikthyr had, so treat your shield as protection only.
• Its stomp flattens trees. Fighting near trees means falling trunks. Pull it into open ground or toward rocks, which are safer cover.

A Greydwarf wandering into the fight is common in the Black Forest. Kill it early rather than letting it pin you between two attackers.

What does The Elder drop?

• The Elder Trophy, always.
• Swamp Key, one per player.

The Swamp Key opens the iron gates of the Sunken Crypts in the Swamp. Their chests hold Scrap Iron and the mud piles inside are your first source of iron. The crypts also hold Withered Bones, which you will need for the next boss.

What does The Elder's power do?

Hang the trophy on the Sacrificial Stones to unlock The Elder's Forsaken power. While active, health regeneration goes up by 30%, and chopping and mining are 60% stronger. It lasts 5 minutes, recharges in 20, and players within 10 metres share it.

Use it for logging runs and for breaking the muddy scrap piles in the crypts, where the mining bonus saves a lot of swings.

What changes after you beat it?

• Trader stock opens. Haldor starts selling Ymir Flesh and Thunder Stone. The Bog Witch adds Woodland Herb Blend and Corked Vial.
• Raids change. The forest is moving stops. A foul smell from the swamp can now bring Draugr and Skeletons to your base.

What should you do next?

Prepare for the Swamp. Bring the Swamp Key to a Sunken Crypt, gather Scrap Iron and Withered Bones, and upgrade to iron gear. Your target is ten Withered Bones and a Poison Resistance Mead. The next step is how to beat Bonemass.