Gear in Valheim doesn’t progress with character levels, it progresses with materials. Each biome gives you a new metal or resource, and the previous biome’s boss usually opens the way to it. Here’s the full ladder from stone and flint through bronze, iron, silver, black metal, Carapace and Flametal up to Nord from the Deep North: where each material comes from, what unlocks it and which armour sets exist. We deliberately leave out damage numbers, armour values and recipes. Everything applies to Valheim 1.0 as of patch 1.0.20 (15 October 2026).
How gear progression works
The biomes run in this order: Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp, Mountains, Plains, Mistlands, Ashlands and Deep North. Each one matches a gear tier and each has its own boss. The boss drop is the key to the next step: Eikthyr’s Hard Antler gives you your first pickaxe, the Elder’s Swamp Key opens the crypts full of iron, Bonemass’s Wishbone finds silver, and so on.
You can technically skip bosses, but without materials from the earlier biomes it gets very hard. Where each biome is and what to look for there is covered in our biome order guide.
Table: material, biome and what unlocks it
| Tier | Biome | Where the material comes from | What opens the way | What you make (verified only) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stone and flint | Meadows | Wood, Stone, Flint, Leather Scraps, Deer Hide | start of the game | first tools and gear; Eikthyr’s Hard Antler for the Antler Pickaxe |
| Bronze | Black Forest | copper and tin, smelted in the Smelter (2 copper + 1 tin) | Antler Pickaxe for mining ore | bronze gear; light Troll armour from Troll Hide |
| Iron | Swamp | Scrap Iron from Muddy Scrap Piles in the Sunken Crypts | Swamp Key from the Elder | iron gear; Root armour from Abomination Roots |
| Silver | Mountains | Silver Ore, found with the Wishbone, mined with an iron pickaxe | Wishbone from Bonemass | silver gear; Wolf armour protects against frost |
| Black metal | Plains | Black Metal Scrap from Fulings | Moder’s Dragon Tear for the Artisan Table | black metal gear, including the Battleaxe Black Metal |
| Carapace | Mistlands | Carapace, a Mistlands material | Yagluth’s Torn Spirit for the Wisp Fountain | Carapace armour, the tank set for the Queen |
| Flametal | Ashlands | Flametal Ore, smelted into Flametal | the Queen’s Majestic Carapace for the Artisan Press and Drakkar | Flametal, Embla and Ask sets; Flametal weapons with gems |
| Nord | Deep North | Bloodgold from Petrified Tissue, moulds from the Winding Tunnels and the Jotun | not listed | Nord, Frostfire and Thunderblood weapon lines; Protector, Vanguard, Caller and Lox Fur sets |
Bronze, iron and silver
Metals start in the Black Forest. You mine copper and tin there and smelt them into bronze in the Smelter. The Smelter needs Surtling Cores, though, which you find in the Burial Chambers, the Black Forest dungeons. You mine ore with a pickaxe, and your first one comes from the Hard Antler after beating Eikthyr.
Iron comes from the Swamp as Scrap Iron from Muddy Scrap Piles in the Sunken Crypts, and only the Elder’s Swamp Key lets you in. Silver is in the Mountains. You track it down with the Wishbone you get from the Bonemass fight and mine it with an iron pickaxe. The mountain cold hurts you without protection, so Wolf armour or a Wolf Fur Cape is the way to go.
Black metal, Carapace and Flametal
On the Plains you haul Black Metal Scrap out of Fuling villages. The Mistlands then added Carapace and, with it, magic: Eitr from food, magic staffs and the Elemental Magic and Blood Magic skills. In version 1.0, Mistlands weapons also clear fog.
The Ashlands brought over 30 weapons and three armour sets: Flametal, Embla for mages and Ask. Flametal is now smelted from Flametal Ore, and the old Flametal from earlier versions is obsolete. Flametal weapons can be combined with Bloodstone, Iolite and Jade gems to make magic variants. Mistlands and Ashlands gear both have higher durability in version 1.0. What waits for you in the fire biome is covered in our Ashlands guide.
Sets outside the metal ladder
Not all armour is metal. From hides and creatures you can make light Troll armour from Troll Hide, or Root armour from the Roots that Abominations drop in the Swamp.
The Call to Arms update on 9 September 2025 added two sets: the bear set (Patterns, Loincloth and Headdress of the Bear) and Vilebone. It also brought fist weapons, the Battleaxe Black Metal, the Skull Splittur and 13 trinkets tied to adrenaline. The wooden training weapons from the same update let you spar with friends without hurting each other.
Deep North: moulds, casts and Nord
In the north, gear isn’t made from raw materials at a station alone. There are three steps: find a mould, turn it into a cast at the Black Forge or Galdr Table, and use the cast in the Frost Foundry. Moulds for medium and heavy armour drop from both types of Jotun Warrior, more often since patch 1.0.15. The main new metal is Bloodgold, smelted from Petrified Tissue in the Blast Furnace.
Version 1.0 added three weapon lines, Nord, Frostfire and Thunderblood, each with a sword, greatsword, atgeir, mace, sledge, axe, battleaxe, spear, knife, knucklechains, bow and crossbow. On top of that come the staffs Echo Spike, Spirit Caller, Northern Vengeance and Lightning Strike, and the shields Nord Buckler, Nord Shield, Nord Greatshield and Shield of Roots. There are four armour sets: Protector, Vanguard, Caller and Lox Fur. Heavy Deep North armour can be repaired since patch 1.0.10. The whole biome is covered in our Deep North guide.
Forge of Potential and idols
Sixteen idols (Protection & Battle Idols) are scattered around the world. You bring them to a hidden forge, the Forge of Potential, where you can upgrade your gear further. Patch 1.0.20 on 15 October 2026 fixed a possible exploit in the Forge of Potential and reset the “cheated” flag on items and buildings from older versions, which a 1.0 bug had applied even to legitimately obtained gear.
Why there are no numbers here
Damage, armour values and recipes for individual pieces vary between guides, and the developers keep rebalancing them in patches. Tier lists of the “best weapon for this boss” kind go stale faster than anything else. So this page sticks to what’s verified: where each material comes from and what unlocks it. Check the exact values in game at your crafting station.
Join our Discord at https://discord.com/invite/feTRJNn9wE to talk about which set to take into which biome and to find partners for mining runs and bosses. Hop into Discord GamersTogether.
FAQ
Stone and flint, bronze, iron, silver, black metal, Carapace, Flametal and Nord. They match the biomes from the Meadows to the Deep North.
For iron it’s the Elder, whose Swamp Key opens the Sunken Crypts with their Scrap Iron. For silver it’s Bonemass, whose Wishbone finds the deposits in the Mountains.
Four: Protector, Vanguard, Caller and Lox Fur. Plus the Moose Hide Cape and Cape of the Caller and the Neckstabber and Witch Crown trinkets.
Through a mould, a cast and the Frost Foundry. You find the mould in the Winding Tunnels or on the Jotun, make the cast at the Black Forge or Galdr Table and finish the item in the Frost Foundry.
Sources disagree on them and the developers change them with patches. What’s reliable is the order of materials and what unlocks them.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. More Valheim guides are in the Valheim hub.