Skip to content
Home

Patch-tracked guide

Valheim World Modifiers (1.0) — Presets, Setkeys & Custom Rules

Valheim 1.0 world modifiers: the seven official presets, the five tuneable categories (combat, raids, resources, death penalties, portals), the full setkey list, and the console commands to change them mid-game.

Verified Valheim 1.0 re-checked as patches ship — Patch notes

By Valheim Field Guide Editorial Team

What World Modifiers are

World Modifiers are the difficulty and rules layer attached to a world. Introduced with the Hildir’s Request update, they let you take a preset wholesale or tune individual dials — useful for a relaxed evening with friends, a hardcore run, or a world where you simply want more resources and fewer raids.

Two levels of control:

  • Presets (-preset) — a named bundle: normal, casual, easy, hard, hardcore, immersive, hammer.
  • Modifiers (-modifier) — five categories you can set individually on top of, or instead of, a preset.

The five modifier categories

Category Options What it changes
combat veryeasy, easy, hard, veryhard Enemy damage and how punishing fights are
deathpenalty casual, veryeasy, easy, hard, hardcore What dying costs you — from forgiving to severe
resources muchless, less, more, muchmore, most How much you get from gathering, drops and ore
raids none, muchless, less, more, muchmore How often and how hard base raids hit
portals casual, hard, veryhard What you may carry through a portal — not whether portals exist

Combat — per-level multipliers

Level Player damage % Enemy damage % Enemy speed & size % Enemy level-up rate %
veryeasy 125 50 90 100
easy 110 75 90 100
normal 100 100 100 100
hard 85 150 110 120
veryhard 70 200 120 140

The player-damage % changes the damage you actually deal but is not reflected in the numbers shown on your weapon in the inventory. On hard and veryhard, high-level (★) enemies also spawn more often, so the real difficulty climbs faster than the raw multipliers suggest.

Death penalty — per level

Level Equipment Rest of inventory Skill loss
casual Kept Dropped 1%
veryeasy Dropped Dropped 1%
easy Dropped Dropped 2.5%
normal Dropped Dropped 5%
hard Dropped Destroyed 7.5%
hardcore Destroyed Destroyed 100%

Skill loss is applied to each skill’s current level; the progress you have toward your next level is always lost on death regardless of the setting.

Resource rate

The resources dial scales drops from creatures and lootable objects from 0.5x to 3x of normal (muchless = 0.5x, less = 0.75x, more = 1.5x, muchmore = 2x, most = 3x). The rate rounds up, so 1.5x effectively becomes 2x for many single drops, and it does not apply to fish, trophies or boss-specific drops.

Raids — per level

Level Interval (min) Chance per roll
none — (no raid rolls) 0%
muchless 92 10%
less 69 13.3%
normal 46 20%
more 27.6 33.3%
muchmore 13.8 66.7%

Note that night raids can still occur even on none.

Portals — per level

The portals dial controls what you may carry through a portal, not whether portals exist: casual lets everything through (ore and metals included), the default restricts ore and metals, and veryhard blocks items entirely. If you want to disable portals outright, that is the separate setkey NoPortals, not a value of this modifier.

Setkeys: the official toggles

Setkeys are single on/off rules rather than a dial. Only four are official (-setkey):

  • nobuildcost — building does not consume materials
  • playerevents — enables player-triggered raid events
  • passivemobs — enemies do not attack unless provoked
  • nomap — the map and minimap are disabled

Community lists often include extra keys such as noportals. Those are not official setkeys — do not expect them to behave the same way across versions or on a dedicated server.

Changing modifiers from the console

If you want to adjust a live world rather than re-create it, the console covers it:

  • setworldpreset — apply one of the named presets
  • setworldmodifier — change an individual modifier category

You need the console enabled and cheats active first; the exact steps are on the console commands page. Back up your world files (.db and .fwl) before you change anything.

Choosing a setup that suits you

  • Relaxed co-op with friends: casual preset, or normal with resources raised and raids lowered. Keeps the game intact while removing the grind and the base damage.
  • Hardcore run: hardcore preset. Expect the death penalty and combat dials to be at their least forgiving, and plan your base location and food supply accordingly.
  • Immersion-first: immersive pushes you toward navigation without the map and stricter portal rules, which makes sailing and outpost building part of the game rather than a chore.
  • Testing and screenshots: nobuildcost plus passivemobs gives you a free-build sandbox; the building guide is the companion for what to do with it.

The 1.0 achievement system officially ties its “cheated” flag to using devcommands or mods (the 1.0.12 hotfix adds the yes i used devcommands but i want my achievements anyway opt-in to restore eligibility). Per Iron Gate’s 1.0 notes, the flag is tied to devcommands and mods — not to the non-cheat combat, deathpenalty, resources, raids and portals dials — so those modifiers are not treated as cheats. Check the achievements list for the current status before starting an achievement run on a modified world.

Found this helpful? Support the wiki ☕

Buy me a coffee

Frequently asked questions

Can I change World Modifiers on an existing world?
Yes. Presets and modifiers are world settings you can adjust, and there are console commands to set them from inside a running world. Back the world files up first — the world is stored as .db and .fwl files, and a copy costs nothing.
Do World Modifiers disable achievements?
The 1.0 achievement system officially flags a character/world when devcommands or mods are used — the 1.0.12 hotfix adds the opt-in command 'yes i used devcommands but i want my achievements anyway' (no spaces) to restore eligibility. The official 1.0 notes tie that flag to devcommands and mods, not to non-cheat modifier presets (difficulty, resources, raids, death penalty, portals), so per Iron Gate's documentation those dials are not treated as cheats. Check the [achievements list](/update-1-0/achievements-full-list/) for the current status before starting an achievement run.
What is the difference between a preset and a modifier?
A preset is a named bundle of settings applied in one go (Casual, Hardcore, Immersive and the rest). Modifiers are the individual dials underneath — combat, death penalty, resources, raids and portals — which you can tune one by one instead of taking a preset wholesale.
Does the portal modifier turn portals off?
No. The portals category controls what you are allowed to carry through a portal, not whether portals work. Casual lets you take more; the harder settings restrict what can be teleported, which is what forces you to sail ore across the map.

Related guides

Related in the database

Browse the 1035 items items, creatures and traders in the game database.

Open the full database →

All Advanced guides →

Found an error?

If a number, drop, cost or interaction looks wrong in your game, we want to hear about it.

Report a correction →