Hardcore Valheim: Absolute Survival at It’s Finest
When playing the hardcore difficulty of Valheim, there is more at stake than merely facing more and stronger creatures. You’re also denied a map, which makes the game far more difficult for a few reasons. However, it makes signposts and pathways all the more vital.
Well, unless you don’t care about getting lost and wandering aimlessly throughout the lands.
Ramping up the difficulty means changing a lot of strategies. And you may just find yourself using tools and methods that you wouldn’t normally utilize in the normal game.
Things to Consider in Hardcore Valheim
Perhaps the one element that really ramps up the hardcore difficulty in Valheim is the lack of a map. Given how massive the world is in the game, not having a map means lots and lots of exploration.
Depending on where that exploration takes you, it could ultimately be exceptionally dangerous.
Avoiding Seed Map Generators
While playing in normal worlds with friends and family, I sometimes take to Valheim-map.world to check out the landscape. It’s a great tool that helps you find all kinds of goodies, as well as some of the nearby landmasses if you’re searching for specific biomes.
I only use it if I am dumbfounded as to where to go next. I love exploring and discovering landmasses, so it’s not something I do for every world. And using the seed map generator for Valheim is awfully tempting when playing hardcore.
However, that is part of the experience. Without a map, you’ll have to explore more and rely on remembering landmarks.
Paying Attention to the Sun’s Movement
Since you don’t have a compass or a map, it’s important to pay attention to the movement of the sun. It’s the very basics of survival that humankind has been doing since we wanted to travel.
By knowing where the sun is in the sky, you can get an idea of direction. The hard part is trying to do so when in the middle of a beech forest or if it starts storming. So, Valheim has a bit of realism in this regard when you set the difficulty to hardcore.
Essentially, you’re starting off like our ancestors did more than a millennia ago.
Taking Advantage of Resting
Resting is an important mechanic in Valheim, especially on hardcore. After about 20 seconds of uninterrupted rest, you gain a bonus of +50% regeneration to health and +100% regeneration to stamina. These are key for surviving in hardcore, especially when you start facing tougher enemies.
The amount of resting you get depends on your level of comfort. The higher the comfort of the room you’re in, the more minutes you gain for the “Rested” bonus. So, it’s worthwhile to decorate your home as much as you can to gain a higher comfort level.
That extra boost can keep you alive as well as regenerate enough stamina to get the hell out of Dodge when you get jumped by six or seven Greydwarves early on.
Of course, you don’t get a lot of the nice comfort items to build until you’re able to collect fine wood, which requires a bronze axe to cut down birch. That is unless you have other means at your disposal to gain the fine wood…of which there are several.
Roads and Signs
Pathways and signs can be a blessing when you start adventuring out. You don’t want to get lost amidst the landscape. And with how large the maps are in Valheim, getting lost is incredibly easy, especially when you don’t have a map.
You can get coal early on by burning meat over a fire pit. Instead of pulling the meat off when it’s done sizzling, simply leave it in place. Eventually, it’ll burn and provide coal. Then, you’ll use that coal to create signs.
It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to use a pad of paper and pencil to take notes or draw your own rudimentary map.
Upgrading Everything!
One of the keys to staying alive in hardcore Valheim is to upgrade everything. Armors, weapons, and tools have greater durability and bonuses as they go up in levels. This means upgrading the workbenches.
Your survival will also depend greatly on your skills. Practice them as often as possible to get their levels up as well.
For example, I often play a ranger-type character. So, I use my bow as often as I possibly can and practice sneaking. I also pick nearly every berry I come across as it increases my skills and sometimes yields an extra berry.
The bottom line is that the more you advance all of your skills, the better off you’ll be in the long run. They can help you gather more food, get extra arrows, increase damage dealt, and more. Never underestimate leveling up your abilities.
Finding the Altars of the Gods
The hardest part of Valheim on the hardcore difficulty level is finding all of the altars of the Gods. In normal mode, you can get a waypoint of where to find one of the altars. But that requires the use of a map. In hardcore, that function is gone.
What this means is that you’ll have to explore a very large portion of the world to find the different altars.
Eikthyr is relatively easy to find as it is usually near your spawn point. But the Elder and the later gods are usually on different islands altogether. And sometimes, they’ll be a good day travel in-game just to get to an altar.
This is when having the ability to errect portals comes in handy. That way, you can return home without having to travel across the ocean again. That is as long as you’re OK with leaving your ship behind.
Why Hardcore Valheim Is Worth Playing
I suppose I am a bit biased. If there is a game out there with a hardcore setting, I’m going to play it. However, Valheim is probably one of the more challenging that I’ve come across thus far.
The most critical aspect of the difficulty lies in not having an available map in a world that is quite massive. And because the Gods are spread all over this gigantic map, there is far more need of exploration and discovery. That, alone, is a huge green flag for me. I love exploring and building, so Valheim scratches those itches quite well.
Sure, some of the aspects of the game might feel tedious to some players. But for me, I enjoy the grind. It’s one of the reasons why I try to play every season of Diablo 3. I don’t mind grinding out victory.
As long as I don’t do anything silly, I should be able to survive for quite a long time. However, I have been known to get crushed by a tree in the normal game.
Watch Episodes of Hardcore Valheim on YouTube
Currently, I am recording a series on YouTube for the hardcore play of Valheim. Each episode that is published is shown below, with more on the way.
Well, that is, unless I die a gruesome death.
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