Portals save you hours of travel in Valheim, but they do not carry everything. Ores, metal bars and dragon eggs have to travel the long way, usually by ship. This guide covers the portal recipe, how tags work, what cannot teleport and how to pick a ship from the Raft to the Drakkar, including sailing with and against the wind. It applies to Valheim 1.0 after patch 1.0.20 (15 October 2026).
How to build a portal
You place a portal with the hammer within range of a crafting station. Each one costs:
- 20 Fine Wood
- 10 Greydwarf Eye
- 2 Surtling Core
You find Surtling Cores in Burial Chambers in the Black Forest, and the Smelter needs them too, so spend them carefully early on. Portals make the most sense where you keep coming back: home, the edge of a new biome, a spot with ore.
Tags: how to link two portals
Two portals connect when they share the same tag (name). Tags are case-sensitive, so “Home” and “home” are two different tags. Anyone can change a tag. On a shared server, agree on a naming scheme, or you will keep relinking each other’s portals.
What cannot go through a portal
This rule is the reason anyone builds ships in Valheim. These will not teleport:
- ores and metal bars: tin, copper, iron, silver, Black Metal Scrap and the bars made from them,
- dragon eggs, which you need to summon Moder.
Carrying just one of these items is enough for the portal to refuse you. Finished weapons, tools and armour go through without trouble, so you can craft gear at home and take it to the front. What to craft in each biome is covered in our gear progression guide.
Dragon eggs are also extremely heavy, you cannot carry two at once on your own. How to deal with them is explained in our Moder guide.
The Stone Portal from the Ashlands
The Ashlands update also added a Stone Portal.
Portal modifier on a server
If you run your own server, you can change the portal rules with the world modifier -modifier portals, using the values casual, hard and veryhard. Test what each value allows or blocks in your own world. How to start a server and where the parameters go is covered in our dedicated server guide.
How to haul metal
Metal that cannot teleport leaves you three ways to get it home:
- On foot in your inventory, for short distances.
- By Cart over land.
- By ship when the route crosses water. For big loads this is the most practical.
Where each resource comes from is listed in our biome order guide.
Ships from Raft to Drakkar
Ships come in this order: Raft, Karve, Longship and Drakkar.
| Ship | Materials | Storage | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raft | not listed | not listed | first boat for short hops |
| Karve | 30 Fine Wood, 10 Deer Hide, 20 Resin, 80 Bronze Nails | 4 slots | first boat with cargo space |
| Longship | 100 Iron Nails, 10 Deer Hide, 40 Fine Wood, 40 Ancient Bark | 18 slots | fastest of the first three, best against the wind |
| Drakkar | 100 Iron Nails, 30 Ceramic Plate, 25 Yggdrasil Wood plus Fine Wood | not listed | the only ship that reaches the Ashlands |
The Karve needs bronze from the Black Forest, the Longship iron plus Ancient Bark from the Swamp. The Drakkar is a different league: it is unlocked by the Majestic Carapace from The Queen via the Artisan Press. We do not list ship speeds or durability, because the editorial guides disagree on them.
The Drakkar and the trip to the Ashlands
The Ashlands are cut off from the other biomes, the only way in is by sea to the south. The waters in and around them boil, and only the Drakkar can handle them. How to prepare for the fire biome is covered in our Ashlands guide.
Wind and sails
The wind direction indicator sits under the minimap. With the wind behind you, you sail fast; against it, progress is hard. When it blows against you, tack and adjust your sails. Of the first three ships, the Longship handles this best.
Moder’s Forsaken Power is a big help. Once you hang the trophy on the Sacrificial Stones near spawn, you activate the power with a key and get a constant tailwind while sailing for 300 seconds. Since Call to Arms it also adds +300 carry weight, +10% movement speed and 50% frost resistance. The ocean did not change in 1.0.
Join our Discord to find crew for long voyages and ore runs, or to ask how other players lay out their portal networks. Come in via Discord GamersTogether.
FAQ
You are carrying ore, a metal bar or a dragon egg. Tin, copper, iron, silver, Black Metal Scrap and their bars cannot teleport. Drop them in a chest, or move them by ship or cart.
Give both the same tag. Tags are case-sensitive and anyone can change them, so agree on names on a shared server.
20 Fine Wood, 10 Greydwarf Eye and 2 Surtling Core. Place it with the hammer within range of a crafting station.
The Karve has 4 storage slots and the Longship 18. Of the first three ships, the Longship is also the fastest.
Tack and adjust your sails. The Longship handles it best, and Moder’s Forsaken Power gives you a constant tailwind for 300 seconds.
Information verified on 19 October 2026. More guides are in our Valheim hub.