Silver is an essential material in Valheim, available to players once they’ve crafted Iron tools and want to take the next step in improving their arsenal of gear and weapons. Finding Silver in the wilderness of Valheim isn’t a straightforward process. The material is often hidden underground and out of sight, located in the freezing Mountain biome.
However, there are a few methods to make the process of finding silver ore a little easier. Here’s a helpful list of tips and tricks to help you find silver quickly in Valheim.
You Need An Iron Pickaxe
Without an Iron Pickaxe, you won’t be able to mine silver. Valheim is based on a progress system that sees the player move through the ages in terms of technology once they’ve set up a starter base. If you don’t already have an Iron Pickaxe that should be your focus before you even begin thinking about carving holes into the sides of mountains hunting for silver.
Thankfully, crafting an Iron Pickaxe isn’t too tricky. The crafting recipe is unlocked upon the discovery of wood and iron, and then the Pickaxe is crafted (and later repaired) in your camp’s Forge.
Silver Can Appear On The Surface
Although quite rare, you might discover silver out in the open, especially in mountainous areas. Climb up the side of a mountain and there’s a chance the player will stumble across a rich vein of silver ore.
However, as we mentioned, this is pretty rare. The chances of discovering silver ore in the open, and enough of it to be actually worthwhile, are slim. This shouldn’t be the method you rely on to fill your pockets with silver.
The Wishbone
Thankfully, you don’t need to spend your days scouring the surface for silver ore. This is where the Wishbone comes in. The Wishbone is dropped by the third boss in Valheim, Bonemass, who is summoned in a swamp biome via the skull cauldron. This always spawns in a random location so you’ll need to find the right spot and then defeat the boss to progress to the next steps.
Bonemass isn’t an easy fight, but manageable with a bow and arrow. If you hit your shots, that is. Once you have the Wishbone you’re almost ready to begin your mining expedition.
It’s Cold In The Mountains, You Might Need Frost Resistance Mead
Mead is an essential part of making life easier in Valheim. This is a game about Vikings, after all. Frost Resistance Mead is useful for players entering the Mountain region for the first time. It prevents the Freezing effect, which is great because Freezing reduces your stamina and makes mining a difficult task.
Frost Resistance Mead can be crafted at your camp’s Fermenter with 10 Honey, 5 Thistle, 2 Bloodbags, and 1 Greydwarf Eye. Sounds delicious. Wait two in-game days for the mead to brew and you should be ready for the mountains. Each gulp of Frost Resistance Mead prevents Freezing for 10 minutes.
Head To The Mountains
There aren’t many reasons to head into the mountains before a silver mining expedition, so this is likely a new biome for most players at this stage of the game. Don’t worry, mountains aren’t difficult to spot: look for the mountains, and, uh, snow. Bigger Mountain biomes have a better chance to spawn silver.
If you haven’t brought any mead with you it’s probably starting to feel a little chilly, but you can use multiple campfires to keep your character warm. Fend off the various monsters, including Wolves, screeching Drakes, and the occasional stumbling Stone Golem, and begin the hunt for silver. Return later and you can tame one of the wolves to become your trusted companion.
Equip The Wishbone And Start Wandering
The player’s magical Wishbone can be equipped with an easy right-click. Once activated, the Wishbone will signal nearby treasures with a glowing green particle effect. This makes finding underground silver much, much easier.
Think of the Wishbone as a metal detector, whispering in your Viking’s ear “Warmer, warmer…warmer”. You’ll notice the green effects starts to pulsate more regularly. That’s when you know you’re stood on top of a silver vein. Dig down and mine the silver. Simple.
Set Up A Base Nearby
Silver is heavy. Really heavy. Rather than take a little bit of silver then mission all the way back to your main base, it makes sense to set up a temporary camp on the mountaintop so you can store silver there and then relay it back to your base. This also makes your mead consumption more efficient. No one wants you to drunkenly fall of a mountain.
A basecamp is also useful to find shelter when the freezing rain comes down. Regardless of your mead, your Viking might get soaking wet and still begin to feel the chill. You can retreat to the camp and warm up by a fire.
Transport Your Silver More Efficiently
You have an inventory full of silver and a basecamp chest full of more than you can carry, but now you’ve got to get it all back to your main base. Silver cannot be carried through a portal, which does make this a bit tricky.
Depending on where your Mountain biome is located and the distance to your base, filling a boat’s storage with silver might be the best choice. Here’s a handy guide on how to get set up with your first boat. You can stack silver up and take it all back in one go. The cart is another useful option, although it can be tricky navigating the cart up the mountain while also protecting it against the waves of monsters.
Keep Your Eyes Open For Obsidian
Silver isn’t the only treasure in the mountain biome. Obsidian is found on the surface and is much easier to spot and mine. It will only take a few hits from your trusty Iron Pickaxe as Valheim takes a more realistic approach to the material than Minecraft.
Obsidian is used to unlock the tool shelf upgrade for your workstation, and also an essential crafting material for elemental arrows. It’s definitely worth picking up on your first run into the mountains.
Smelting And Crafting With Silver
Silver is the next step in your Viking’s evolution and the material allows you to craft some very useful items. First, return to your camp and smelt the silver down with some charcoal. This produces silver bars.
Silver bars can be used to craft the Wolf Armor, which keeps you warm in the freezing cold, and a silver sword and shield, a flat upgrade on your iron gear. Silver can also be used to craft the powerful Frostner, a melee weapon that drains stamina from enemies.
NEXT: Actually, Birds Are Turning Into Flying Boats In Hilarious Valheim Glitch
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Harry Alston is an avid gamer and writer based in the UK. He was once number one in the world on Call of Duty: Black Ops and now spends his days chasing that past glory.
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