Valheim is all about surviving in the brutal purgatory world that players find themselves in. In order to thrive in the survival co-op world of Valheim, players will have to collect materials in order to build bigger and better weapons, outposts, homes, and more. One of the basics that players will absolutely need to survive is iron.

Bringing a settlement from a basic camp to a real thriving town requires some dedication. Valheim players need to plant seeds, fight off threats, and forage for other materials. And such things will require tools, like the Iron Sword, Iron Pickaxe, and Iron Axe to create.

RELATED: Valheim: How to Find Leather Scraps

While players can make a basic Valheim pickaxe out of wood and antler, the iron pickaxe will have a much higher gathering speed and much higher Pierce stat than the antler or stone pickaxe will. Therefore, iron tools are necessary to branch out into more dangerous locations further from the camp.

In order to smelt Iron in Valheim, players will first have to find iron scraps or ore. Scraps can be found in Crypts and mined with Bronze pickaxes. Iron scraps can also be collected from Meteor Craters. Iron ore can be mined from veins in the snowy mountain biomes. Regular iron ore and bog iron can be farmed from the swamp areas. However, players should be extra careful, as swamps can be incredibly dangerous.

Once players have collected enough iron ore and scrap, they can begin to smelt. They will need a smelter which can be made with 20 Stone and 5 Surtling cores. Players will also need a workbench or an upgraded Valheim workbench to place it down next to. After the smelter is completed, players can make iron or copper bars from the scrap and ore by feeding the smelter some coal.

After players have iron or bronze bars, they can create copper or iron tools in a forge. Forges are made with 4 Stone, 4 Coal, 10 Wood, and Copper bars. Forges need to be enclosed in a building with a roof in order to work properly, but once players have gotten the Forge up and running, they can make all the bronze or iron tools they wish.

• Iron Pickaxes require 3 Wood and 15 Iron bars.
• Iron Axes also require 3 Wood and 15 Iron bars.
• Iron Longswords can be made with 2 Wood and 25 Iron. While this may seem like a lot of iron, it's well worth it. Players can kill Greydwarf or a Surtling in one hit with the Iron Longsword, making foes much easier to defeat.

Valheim is available in Steam Early Access now on PC.

MORE: Valheim: How to Tame Boar

Source: Valheim Fandom