Valheim Survival Basics — Food, Stamina, Comfort and Not Dying

The three bars that run everything

New players watch health. Experienced players watch stamina, then food, then health.

• Stamina is spent by sprinting, jumping, swimming, attacking and blocking. When it hits zero you cannot dodge or block, which is when you die.
• Food fills three slots, each contributing its own health and stamina. Three different foods is always better than three of the same.
• Health is a consequence of the other two. You cannot out-eat a fight you have no stamina to survive.

Comfort and the Rested bonus

Standing near a fire, under a roof, with furniture around you grants comfort, which produces the Rested buff: dramatically faster stamina and health regeneration for a while. Sleeping in a bed refreshes it.

Practical consequence: build small roofed outposts. A 4×4 shed with a fire, a bed and a chest lets you refresh Rested mid-expedition, and it is the difference between a productive trip and a retreat home. Base layout: base design ideas.

Shelter, spawning and sleeping

• A bed under cover sets your spawn point. Until you have one, you respawn at the starting stones — which may be an entire biome away from where you died.
• Your Workbench needs a roof to function at all. This is the first thing you build in any location.
• Indoor fires need a chimney, vent or hole in the roof. Smoke accumulates and damages you in an enclosed room.

What dying costs you

You drop your equipment and inventory where you died and respawn at your bed. Items can be recovered by walking back, but death also costs a portion of your skill levels — and skill levels are what make your weapons effective, so a death right after a good run hurts twice.

Confirmed death penalty values (valheim.wiki World Modifiers, 1.0):

deathpenalty	Skill loss	Equipment	Inventory
Casual	1%	kept	dropped
Very easy	1%	dropped	dropped
Easy	2.5%	dropped	dropped
Normal	5%	dropped	dropped
Hard	7.5%	dropped	destroyed
Hardcore	100%	destroyed	destroyed

Skill loss applies to every skill level (a level-70 skill at Normal becomes 66.5, shown as 66), and all progress toward the next skill level is reset to zero on every death, regardless of the setting. Full modifier reference: World Modifiers.

Two habits that remove most of the sting:

1. Store valuables in a chest at your base or outpost instead of carrying them across a biome.
2. Never explore deep with an unrecovered death pile waiting. Go get your gear back first.

Status effects to respect

• Wet — from rain or water. Reduces your stealth and comfort, and makes cold biomes dangerous.
• Cold — the Mountain biome will kill you without the right cape or mead. Frost damage ticks continuously.
• Poison and fire — Swamp and Ashlands respectively. Armor does not reduce elemental damage; resistances from capes, set effects, food and mead do. See armor sets.
• Overweight — carry weight above the limit stops stamina regeneration. Moder’s Forsaken Power raises it substantially. See Forsaken Powers.

Your first night, in order

1. Punch trees for wood, pick up loose stone and branches.
2. Build a Workbench and put a roof over it.
3. Craft a stone axe and a club; collect flint along the shoreline.
4. Kill deer and boar, cook the meat on a fire.
5. Build a lean-to or small hut with a fire inside and a vent, plus a bed — set your spawn before dark.
6. Eat three different foods, sleep, and start the first ten hours guide in the morning.

The habits that keep you alive

• Repair at every station. Repairs are free, so damaged gear is a choice, not a problem.
• Eat before every fight, not after. Food takes time to apply.
• Bring a shield. Blocking and parrying are the core defensive mechanic — see combat basics.
• Mark your boat and your death pile on the map the moment they exist.
• Rest before pushing on. A refreshed Rested buff is worth more than thirty minutes of extra exploration.

Related

• The full first-ten-hours route: start here
• Fighting without dying: combat basics
• What to wear and swing: armor sets · weapon tier list