Every Valheim weapon decision comes down to two numbers: the listed damage on the tooltip, and the resistance multiplier the target takes from that damage type. The first is in the wiki infobox. The second is easy to forget, which is why players carry the same axe from the Black Forest to the Ashlands and then wonder why it stopped working.
This list is built stage by stage on what the crafting station actually requires, with the real numbers for each pick.
How to read these numbers
Valheim multiplies each damage type separately before armor applies: 2x very weak, 1.5x weak, 1x neutral, 0.5x resistant, 0.25x very resistant, 0x immune. A multi-type weapon is scored by summing each component after its own multiplier.
The scores below are that sum for one connected hit. They do not include attack speed, armor, or weapon skill, so treat them as relative value per swing, not DPS. A Demolisher scores 217.5 against Bonemass where a Frostner scores 112.5, but it swings far slower and costs 28 stamina, so the real gap is much narrower than the numbers suggest.
Workbench tier: flint and a bow
| Weapon | Listed damage | Stamina | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stone axe | 15 slash + 20 chop | 5 | The free starter, still chops |
| Flint axe | 20 slash + 30 chop | 6 | Cheapest upgrade that fixes everything |
| Flint knife | 5 slash + 5 pierce | — | Fast, but 10 total damage is a rounding error |
| Flint spear | 20 pierce | 6 | Safe reach against Greylings |
| Crude bow | 22 pierce | 4/s | Placeholder until finewood |
| Finewood bow | 32 pierce | 6/s | Same station, +45% damage |
Do not overthink this tier. Flint axe is the only mandatory craft — it is your tree-felling tool and a functional weapon at the same time. Finewood bow is worth making the moment you have the wood, because the jump from 22 to 32 costs no new station.
Forge 1: bronze, and the skeleton problem
| Weapon | Listed damage | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze atgeir | 45 pierce | Highest raw number at this tier |
| Bronze axe | 40 slash + 40 chop | Keeps your tool role |
| Bronze mace | 35 blunt | The skeleton answer |
| Bronze sword | 35 slash | 8 stamina, cheap |
| Bronze spear | 35 pierce | Cheap, but see below |
This is where the resistance table first bites. Skeletons and rancid remains are weak to blunt (1.5x) and resistant to pierce (0.5x). Run the tier through that:
- Bronze mace: 35 × 1.5 = 52.5
- Bronze axe: 40 × 1.0 = 40
- Bronze atgeir: 45 × 0.5 = 22.5
- Bronze spear: 35 × 0.5 = 17.5
A bronze mace does three times a bronze spear’s damage to a skeleton, at the same tier and the same cost. Carry a mace into every burial chamber.
Forge 2: iron, for the swamp
| Weapon | Listed damage | Stamina | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Iron atgeir | 65 pierce | 14 | Biggest pierce number here |
| Iron axe | 60 slash + 50 chop | 10 | Keeps tooling |
| Iron sword | 55 slash | 10 | Faster swing than the axe |
| Iron mace | 55 blunt | 10 | Blobs and oozers |
| Battleaxe | 70 slash + 40 chop | 16 | Two-handed, 200 durability |
| Iron sledge | 55 blunt | 20 | AoE, 200 knockback |
The swamp splits into two jobs. Blobs and oozers are weak to blunt (1.5x) and resistant to slash and pierce, so an iron mace is the tool. Abominations are the opposite: 0.5x blunt, 0.25x pierce, 0 frost and 0 poison, but 1.5x fire — slash plus a torch does the work, while a mace does almost nothing.
Forge 3: silver, where Frostner is not the answer
| Weapon | Listed damage | Stamina | Block armor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver sword | 75 slash + 30 spirit | 12 | 30 |
| Frostner | 35 blunt + 40 frost + 20 spirit | 12 | 30 |
| Crystal battleaxe | 90 slash + 50 chop | 18 | — |
| Fang spear | 75 pierce | 12 | — |
| Silver knife | 25 slash + 25 pierce | 10 | — |
Read the frost column of the resistance table before you commit 30 silver to Frostner: Drakes, Bats, Stone Golems, Wraiths, Abominations and Moder are all frost immune. Against a Drake:
- Silver sword: 75 + 30 = 105
- Fang spear: 75
- Frostner: 35 + 0 + 20 = 55
Frostner’s reputation is earned somewhere real — it is 1.5x frost against wet targets, Surtlings, Serpents and Bonemass — but the Mountains themselves are full of frost immunities. For mountain clearing the silver sword is the stronger buy; Frostner is the specialist you keep for fire creatures and undead.
Forge 4: black metal, and the Lox contradiction
| Weapon | Listed damage | Stamina | Block armor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black metal atgeir | 105 pierce | 18 | 52 |
| Black metal battleaxe | 110 slash + 60 chop | 20 | — |
| Black metal axe | 100 slash + 60 chop | 14 | 39 |
| Black metal sword | 95 slash | 14 | 39 |
| Porcupine | 50 blunt + 45 pierce | 14 | 39 |
The Plains contain two enemies that want opposite weapons:
- Lox resist slash and blunt (0.5x) but take full pierce. Black metal atgeir lands 105; black metal axe lands 50.
- Yagluth is very resistant to pierce (0.25x). Black metal sword lands 95; a black metal atgeir lands 26.
So the Plains answer is not “one best weapon” — it is an atgeir for the Lox you farm hide from and a sword for the boss. Porcupine is the compromise: its 50 blunt stays neutral on both, and only the 45 pierce halves against Yagluth.
Black forge: the Mistlands physical wall
Every Seeker, Seeker Soldier and Seeker Brood is resistant to blunt, slash and pierce — all three physical types at 0.5x. This is the largest damage-type wall in the game, and it is why the Mistlands pushes players toward element damage.
| Weapon | Listed damage | Effective vs Seeker |
|---|---|---|
| Himminafl | 85 pierce + 40 lightning | 82.5 |
| Mistwalker | 75 slash + 40 frost | 77.5 |
| Krom | 150 slash | 75 |
| Carapace spear | 115 pierce | 57.5 |
| Black metal sword | 95 slash | 47.5 |
Himminafl wins because lightning is not a physical type and takes no reduction, and Mistwalker beats a higher-number sword for the same reason: its 40 frost is untouched while the slash half is halved. Seeker Soldier tails are weak (1.5x) to all four physical types, so hitting the abdomen gives your physical damage back if you insist on melee.
Black forge 3: the Ashlands flips the table again
Charred enemies are resistant to pierce (0.5x), very resistant to fire (0.25x), immune to poison, and weak to spirit (1.5x).
| Weapon | Listed damage | Effective vs Charred Warrior |
|---|---|---|
| Slayer | 170 slash | 170 |
| Dyrnwyn | 145 slash + 10 fire | 147.5 |
| Nidhögg | 135 slash | 135 |
| Flametal mace | 135 blunt | 135 |
| Splitnir | 135 pierce | 67.5 |
| Ash Fang | 82 pierce | 41 |
Two weapon classes fall off a cliff here. A Splitnir does exactly half its tooltip, and the Ash Fang bow does 41 — worse than a Plains-tier sword. Slash and blunt keep full value, which makes this the one biome where a plain Flametal mace beats a spear with a higher listed number.
Shields: block armor versus parry
| Shield | Block armor | Parry bonus | Effective parry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wood shield | 6 | — | 6 |
| Bronze buckler | 16 | 2.5x | 40 |
| Iron buckler | 28 | 2.5x | 70 |
| Banded shield | 42 | 1.5x | 63 |
| Silver shield | 60 | — | 60 |
| Black metal shield | 78 | — | 78 |
| Carapace shield | 96 | — | 96 |
| Flametal shield | 114 | — | 114 |
| Serpent scale shield | 60 | — | 60 (tower, 100 block force) |
The iron buckler’s 2.5x parry beats the banded shield’s 42 at 1.5x, which is why bucklers stay relevant a tier later than their block armor suggests. The trade-off is real: miss the parry and 28 block armor is thin. From black metal onward the round shields lap the bucklers on pure block value.
Related guides
- Which weapon against which enemy — the full resistance matrix and per-enemy picks
- Valheim weapon stats compared — every weapon’s listed numbers in one table
- Weapons by stage — progression order and what to skip
- Best arrows — the ammo half of bow damage
- Combat guide — parry timing and stagger
- Valheim hub — everything else