If you’ve had a look around the starting area in Valheim, you may have noticed various stones arranged in a circle. These stones are where you hang the trophies of enemies like Valheim first boss Eikthyr. But in order to get these trophies, you’ll need to learn how to summon and take down the bosses they belong to. One of those bosses is Eikthyr, one of the Forsaken you must defeat to obtain special powers and progress through the world of Valheim.
This guide will explain how to summon and defeat Valheim’s first boss, Eikthyr. This large deer foe is your first major challenge in Valheim, and you’ll need to defeat it to get access to the Antler Pickaxe. You’ll need this item if you want to mine ore, so defeating Eikthyr should be a top priority in any new playthrough.
Before you can fight Eikthyr, you need to summon it into the world of Valheim. You’ll find the area where you summon Eikthyr in the Meadows. It’s an altar surrounded by four large stones. One of them is glowing red and it’ll tell you to “hunt his kin”. If you haven’t already figured it out, Eikthyr is a deer and his kin are the regular deer you’ll find roaming around the Meadows.
To summon Eikthyr, you’ll have to kill deer until you get two deer trophies from them. These are fairly common drops that can be obtained from any deer. We recommend using a bow to take them down from afar for easier hunting. A deer statue can also be seen at the altar, which makes it easier to pick out among other stones in the Meadows.
Once you have the trophies, head to the altar. Place the deer trophies on the altar by putting them in one of your main inventory spots then interacting with it and Eikthyr will appear next to you. Get ready for the fight by consuming some food and make sure you have your weapons equipped.
Valheim first boss guide
Generally, to beat Eikthyr in Valheim you’ll want to do the following:
- Eat food beforehand to gain more health and stamina
- Craft a bow and arrows and use them to damage Eikthyr from afar
- If you prefer, use a flint axe or spear and block with a shield
- Dodge its attacks by rolling or running away when it charges you
- Repeat until Eikthyr is dead
Eikthyr is a simple boss, but it may still prove to be difficult for new players. The strategy for beating him is relatively easy to follow. He is a very predictable boss, and it only has a few attacks it can perform. These include a melee attack with his antlers that deals a decent amount of damage but can be blocked by a shield. It can also summon a lightning bolt to hit you from range, which does 15 lightning damage. He can also stomp the ground with lightning which deals another 15 damage.
However, it rarely attacks you in quick succession so you should have time to flee or heal between attacks. You can also use a wood shield to block attacks like the melee attack. You shouldn’t struggle too much with this boss unless you don’t come equipped with suitable weapons, but as long as you’ve done some crafting and found some solid food you should be good to go. Just keep hitting away and be cautious not to lose too much health.
When you defeat Eikthyr, you’ll get the Eikthyr trophy and hard antlers. You can place the trophy in the circle of stones where you started the game to gain a new buff. Eikthyr’s unique buff will provide the player with more efficient running and jumping. It reduces the amount of stamina used when jumping and running by 60% for a period of time. You can only carry one of these “Forsaken Powers” at a time, so by the time you defeat the second boss you’ll have to choose which power you want to keep.
Defeating Eikthyr will also change the world of Valheim. Greydwarves will start to spawn at night in the Meadows, where previously they would be limited to the next biome, the Black Forest. It will also increase the difficulty of the rare raid events, where enemies raid your base for a brief time. You’ll be forced to defend it until the raid ends. Interestingly, Eikthyr is weak to spirit damage even though there are no early-game weapons that can cause this kind of damage to an enemy.
Valheim’s first boss, Eikthyr, may look strong, but he’s easily the weakest boss in the game and only the first step in gaining more powers. For even more Valheim tips, check out our Valheim map guide to get an idea of what to expect from the overall world.