The best Valheim weapons and how to craft them

valheim guides
(Image credit: Iron Gate)

You'll need the best Valheim weapons if you want to survive the 10th Norse Realm. There are plenty of weapons you can craft, but some are definitely better than others so you might want to focus your efforts on the best options - the Crude Bow is great for starters, for example, while the wooden Club can easily be forgotten about. 

To help you get the best weapons in Valheim, here’s an overview of what to prioritize. From the Draugr Fang to the Porcupine, follow the crafting recipes we have here, equip the weapon, and give those biome bosses what they deserve. It's also worth checking out the best Best Valheim armor options too, as you'll obviously want the best of both worlds to make surviving easier. 

Valheim tips | Valheim workbench | Valheim repair | Valheim seeds | Valheim biomes | Valheim roadmap | Valheim Game Pass | Valheim Elder summon | Valheim cheats and spawn item list | Valheim Bonemass | Valheim flint | Valheim crafting progression

 Valheim Torch 

valheim weapons

(Image credit: Iron Gate)

Okay, this might seem weird but people tend to overlook the power of the Torch as a very useful early Valheim weapon. You get one for free when you spawn as a new character, and after that it's extremely easy to craft anyway. 

Its blunt damage is extremely low but it does do fire damage,k and is the only melee weapon that does that. And, conveniently, practically every enemy in the Meadows (Greylings, Greydwarves, Necks, Boars) are weak to fire. Fire will even scare them off, saving you a fight while you’re still in rags. If there’s one weapon that’s going to ensure your survival as a new Viking, it’s the Torch.

Valheim Torch crafting recipe

  • 1 wood
  • 1 resin

Valheim crude bow

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

The Crude Bow isn't the best thing overall in the game but it is the best weapon you can get in the very early stages, before you take down Eikthyr. Most usefully, its range means you can take down the most dangerous opponents without putting yourself at risk. As a result it's considered better than most early-game melee weapons.  

It’s also easy to increase the Crude Bow’s damage by using fire arrows. You only need wood, resin (you will get heaps of the stuff by killing Greylings), and feathers. Once you have a few feathers, you can just shoot some birds to make even more. 

Valheim crude bow crafting recipe: 

  • 10 wood
  • 8 leather scraps

Valheim Stagbreaker

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

This giant two-handed hammer looks cool and it’s the most powerful melee weapon in Valheim - just take a look at its incredibly high knockback power! The only downside to Stagbreaker is its slow attack speed, which means it's not great if you prefer fast combat and rely on dodging a lot.

The Stagbreaker crafting recipe is unlocked automatically after you collect your first pieces of ‘core wood’, which you get by chopping down pine trees in the Black Forest biome. You only need to kill two boars to get enough leather scraps, but you will need to hunt a lot of deer as the deer trophies only drop occasionally. 

Valheim Stagbreaker crafting recipe: 

  • 20 core wood
  • 5 deer trophies
  • 2 leather scraps 

Valheim Abyssal Harpoon

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

The Abyssal Harpoon has a rather specific use, as the perfect weapon if you want to kill a sea serpent. The only thing you need to do is hit it and drag it along while other players attack. Or you can use the Abyssal Harpoon to catch a serpent and drag it to the shore. Once there, it will either die by itself or you can take it down with a melee weapon. As it turns out, the abyssal Harpoon also provides a great method of transportation: use it to pierce another player and send them flying across the map!

You may not have heard of the ‘chitin’ material you need to craft an Abyssal Harpoon. You can find it by mining abyssal barnacles on the tiny islands you’ll see on the open sea. Try not to drown though: these islands are actually living krakens who will disappear after a while. 

Valheim Abyssal Harpoon crafting recipe:  

  • 8 fine wood
  • 30 Chitin
  • 3 leather scraps

Valheim Abyssal Razor

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

It’s easy to overlook the knife weapon type in Valheim thanks to its low base attack power. However, it has a very fast attack speed and a backstab multiplier. It's not the best knife in the game overall, but it’s overpowered for how early on you can get it. 

While sneaking generally will help get the best out of this weapon, you should also craft some troll armor to get an additional sneaking bonus, which you can use to backstab even the most formidable opponents. 

If you go for the Abyssal razor, you’ll get a weapon that’s similar to iron weapons, without the need to use ore. Instead, take a boat and collect Chitin from the moving islands.  

Valheim Abyssal Razor crafting recipe: 

  • 4 fine wood
  • 20 chitin
  • 2 leather scraps

Valheim Draugr Fang

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

The Draugr Fang is one of the best bows in Valheim. It deals higher piercing damage compared to every other bow, and can cause poison damage. Use it with needle arrows and you’ll get maximum pierce damage, higher knockback damage, and the poison bonus. 

However, the Draugr Fang is far from the easiest weapon to craft, mostly because of the guck and silver you'll need. If you’re wondering what guck is; look for the green stuff found on trees in the Swamp biome. You’ll find the silver in the Mountain biome.

Valheim Draugr Fang crafting recipe: 

  • 10 ancient bark
  • 20 silver
  • 2 deer hide
  • 10 guck

Valheim Frostner

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

The Frostner axe has decent, but not overly high, blunt damage is decent, but but it's real power comes from the frost and spirit damage it can also deal to enemies. It also has one of the highest knockback powers in the game.

Unfortunately, it’s a difficult weapon to create. You can only buy Ymir flesh from the Valheim merchant, who is located somewhere in the Black Forest. While the Freeze Gland and silver you need are only found in the Mountain biome. 

Valheim Frostner crafting recipe: 

  • 10 ancient bark
  • 30 silver
  • 5 Ymir flesh
  • 5 freeze gland

Valheim Blackmetal Axe 

valheim weapons

(Image credit: Iron Gate)

The Blackmetal Axe is slightly less powerful than the Crystal Battleaxe (if we count the latter’s spirit damage), but it’s a one-handed weapon. In other words, you get to swing a very powerful axe while still being protected by a shield, making it the best slash and chop damage weapon option.

The only downside is that you need to reach the Plains Biome for most of the resources. While Fine Wood is found in the Meadows, Black Metal and Linen (made from Flax) is only found in the Plains Biome. You’ll find these items by conquering Fuling villages. 

Valheim Blackmetal Axe crafting recipe: 

  • 4 fine wood
  • 10 black metal
  • 5 linen thread

Valheim Porcupine

Best Valheim weapons tier list

(Image credit: Iron Gate AB)

The Porcupine weapon is basically a heavy club with spikes at the end. It's fast for a heavy weapon and can deal blunt and piercing damage at the same time, making it suitable against almost any opponent.

To make the Porcupine, you need needles and linen thread which become available after discovering the Plains biome. Will the giant Deathsquitos you can find until you have enough needles. The Linen can be made from Flax by using a spinning wheel.

Valheim Porcupine crafting recipe: 

  • 5 fine wood
  • 20 iron
  • 5 needles
  • 10 linen thread

That concludes our list of the very best weapons you can get in Valheim, enjoy your crafting!

Marloes Valentina Stella

I’m a freelance journalist who (surprise!) kind of has a thing for videogames. When I’m not working on guides for GamesRadar, you can probably find me somewhere in Teyvat, Novigrad, or Whiterun. Unless I’m feeling competitive, in which case you should try Erangel. You can also find my words on PCGamesN, Fanbyte, PCGamer, Polygon, Esports Insider, and Game Rant.

With contributions from