In Valheim, players are tasked with destroying a series of enemies that have personal beef with Odin to escape a form of Norse purgatory. In order to do this, they have to start from square one, gathering low-tier resources in the hopes of building powerful arms and armor.
A settlement should be a top priority, as it's quite impossible to progress without at least a basic house, which grants access to a Workbench. After a small domicile of sorts has been built, and a new spawn has been set via a Bed, players can venture out into the vast world, exploring mysterious locations and fighting a crass menagerie of enemies. There's not much direction given in Valheim, apart from a talking crow, but the objective is to beat boss-monsters that get incrementally more difficult.
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Eikthyr, a giant, electrified deer, is the first on the docket. Here's how to spawn, and beat, the mythical stag.
Eikthyr's Summoning Alter can move around the map, but the aforementioned crow will pop up when players are nearby. In general, it looks like an altar table surrounded by a ring of stones with red, glowing markings, one of which will look like a deer.
It isn't readily apparent what, exactly, players have to offer up to summon Eikthyr, but the deer painting is an adequate hint. All that's needed to get Eikthyr to appear are two deer trophies, which can be harvested by killing deer, though it is an uncommon drop, so it may take a decent bit of farming.
Once a player has managed to get two deer trophies, simply approach the altar and offer them up. The battle against Eikthyr will begin immediately, ushered in with some slashing metal music.
Given that it's one of the first bosses, Eikthyr isn't all that difficult. It's recommended that, in terms of armor, players upgrade the starting Rags to at least Leather Armor, which is significantly better.
It isn't necessary at this point to mine any Copper, though a player can if they wish with a Stone Pickaxe. Eikthyr has three main attacks:
- Basic charge with its horns
- Ranged lightning attack
- Lightning attack with an area of effect
Each of his attacks is fairly easy to block with a Wooden Shield. It's recommended that a player pair this with a basic Flint Spear, parrying Eikthyr's attacks and whittling down its health with spear attacks. This should make quick work of the legendary creature.
Eikthyr will drop his trophy, which, if placed at a settlement, will provide players with a buff that reduces stamina usage. He will also reward Hard Antlers, which can be used to craft an improvement over the Stone Pickaxe, with the capability to mine metals more efficiently.
Valheim is available in Steam Early Access on PC.