These are the current combat mechanics and stats in Valheim, as figured out by the community through gameplay. As the game is in early access, we can expect changes to these mechanics over the couse of development.
Contents
Damage
Damage is calculated based on a weapon’s damage stat (check below for damage types) and your skill level in that type of weapon. The orange number indicates the maximum damage the weapon can deal and the yellow parenthesis determines the range of attack damage based on your skill level in that type of weapon. The higher your skill level in a weapon, the closer you get to dealing its maximum damage.
Attacks also have a chance of dealing additional damage and staggering enemies, knocking them back for a short duration as well as dealing double the damage.
Damage Type
The three main types of damage are Blunt, Pierce and Slash. Secondary damage types include Fire, Poison, Frost and Spirit. Specific enemies can have weaknesses to damage types, which is indicated by the color of damage indicators when attacking them. Grey means the enemy is resistant to that damage type. White indicates no resistance or weakness and Yellow means that the enemy is weak to that damage type.
For example: Skeletons are weak to Blunt damage, but resistant to Slash. Trolls are weak to Pierce damage and resistant to Blunt.
Certain weapons can have multiple damage types depending on their attack combo and secondary attacks. For example, Knives deal Slash but have an attack combo that ends with Pierce damage and a secondary leaping attack that also deals Pierce damage.
Block Power
Block Power directly calculates how much damage you absorb when you block. If a character does more damage to you than you can block, you will take the remaining damage to your health and stagger for a short duration. An item’s total Block power is indicated in the yellow parenthesis and depends on its stats as well as your Blocking skill. Blocking skill increases your Block Power by 0.5% for each skill point. With maximum Blocking skill, items can block damage up to 150% of its base Block Power.
Parrying
When you block right before a character’s attack hits you, the attack gets parried and you stagger your opponent. Staggered opponents receive 2x weapon damage.
Parry Force
Parry Force is the amount of knockback dealt to the opponent upon being parried.
Parry Bonus
Parry Bonus is a multiplier applied to your Block Power when you parry an attack. For example, if your Block Power is 20 and you have a Parry Bonus of 2x, you can parry attacks dealing up to 40 damage. The Parry Bonus does not apply to weapon damage.
Knockback
Knockback is the stat that determines how far the enemy moves back through attacks. Clubs deal the most knockback.
Backstab
Backstab is a damage modifier applied to attacks dealt to unaware enemies with full health. Enemies with partial health cannot be dealt Backstab damage.
