How to Summon (& Beat) The Elder in Valheim

Among the five bosses in Valheim, the Elder is the second. The one before the Elder this is Eikthyr. Much like Eikthyr, the Elder must be summoned with special ingredients.

While Eikthyr’s biome is the Meadow, the Elder’s is the Black Forest. The first step in finding the Elder is heading out to the Rune Stones in the Black Forest biome. Here, the player will be alerted to the location of the Elder’s altar.

What is Needed to Summon and Defeat the Elder in Valheim

This altar requires the player to sacrifice three Ancient Seeds to summon the Elder. Ancient Seeds are a resource that can only be dropped by Greydwarf Brutes and Greydwarf Shamans. They can also be found in Greydwarf nests if a player is willing to destroy a Greydwarf spawn point. However, before the player returns to the altar to burn the seeds and summon this beast, players should prepare for the battle ahead. The pickaxe given to the player for making it past the first boss will allow the player to mine and collect new materials to create items like brass armor and proper weapons. The Elder, as a giant tree man, is especially sensitive to fire damage. Players should take advantage of this by getting a large collection of fire arrows and crafting a quality bow.

Another item the player should be collecting for this fight is healing potions. The Elder has a couple of attacks, all of which the player will want to stay far away from him for. His main two attacks are the AOE stomp attack and the one where he summons his roots up out of the ground in the surrounding area to the player. These roots will wriggle around, blocking the player from escaping the Elder and damaging the player.

Due to these attacks, players should focus on staying out of range and shooting as many fire arrows as possible at him. Another good idea is to craft several campfires and set them out around the altar before summoning him. This should cause the Elder to step or stomp on the fires, damaging himself while chasing the player around the area. Players should also take advantage of the terrain here and use the stone pillars to dodge their projectiles. However, players shouldn’t go far from the altar as they can catch the attention of other hostile monsters in the Black Forest.

Once the player has defeated the Elder they will receive the Swamp Key, Elder Trophy, and Elder Power. The Swamp Key will unlock all of the Crypts within the Swamp biome. The Elder Trophy should be placed on the altar to grant the player the Elder Power. This power increases the player’s woodcutting speed.

Valheim is available in early access on Linux and PC.

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