Valheim Magic & Staff Guide — Eitr, Galdr Table and Every Staff from Mistlands to the Deep North

Magic = the Mistlands unlock

Magic is a Mistlands-only late-game system. You cannot enter the Mistlands and immediately cast — you need to unlock it step by step:

1. Be past the Plains. You need Black Metal from Plains Fulings to build the Galdr Table.
2. Enter the Mistlands with a Wisplight and collect Sap from the giant trees + Soft Tissue from Soft Tissue nodes.
3. Build an Eitr Refinery and make Refined Eitr from Sap + Soft Tissue.
4. Build the Galdr Table with Black Metal, Yggdrasil Wood, Black Cores and Refined Eitr.
5. Craft your first staff at the Galdr Table.

Verified (1.0): the Mistlands and Ashlands staff damage/Eitr values below are confirmed (valheim.wiki, cross-checked with gamecore.wiki). The Deep North cast recipes and per-cast Eitr costs are confirmed across sources; where a Deep North staff’s per-cast damage is still unconfirmed, the page says so rather than guessing. See our verification workflow.

Confirmed staff damage & Eitr (valheim.wiki, 1.0)

Per-cast at staff skill level 0 → level 100.

Staff	Damage (Q1)	Eitr per cast (0 → 100)
Staff of Embers	Fire 120 (Q1; 126/132/138 at Q2–Q4) + Blunt 120	35 → 24
Staff of Frost	Frost 30 (32/34/36 at Q2–Q4)	5 → 3
Staff of Fracturing	12 × (Blunt 12 + Fire 12; Fire 18/24/30 at Q2–Q4)	30 → 20
Dundr	12 × Lightning 20 (23/26/29 at Q2–Q4)	25 (not reduced by the skill)
Staff of the Wild	Poison 20 + Blunt 20 (scales to 80/80 at Q4)	55 → 37

The resource: Eitr

Mana in Valheim is Eitr — a purple bar that appears when you equip a magic weapon. It behaves like health and stamina:

• Staves spend Eitr per cast.
• Food stacks Eitr and Eitr regeneration.
• Staff skill (Elemental Magic) lowers per-cast cost.

If you run out of Eitr you cannot cast — bring Eitr food and Magesap potions.

Every staff, in order of appearance

Mistlands staves (first unlock)

Staff	Damage mix	What it is for
Staff of Embers	Fire + Blunt (AoE explosion)	Crowd clearing and single-target damage in one cast — the aggressive pick. Fireball explodes and can hit multiple enemies.
Staff of Frost	Frost (immobilize)	Control over damage. Freezes enemies so they cannot move — weaker damage but turns a crowd fight into manageable single targets.
Staff of Protection	Blunt (barrier)	A defensive utility staff rather than damage — creates a barrier that absorbs hits. Useful in the Mistlands but rarely the primary choice.

Ashlands staves (after the Torn Spirit)

Staff	Damage mix	What it is for
Staff of Fracturing	Fire + Blunt (12 small AoE projectiles)	The Ashlands upgrade to Embers — twelve projectiles, each potentially exploding. The strongest damage staff if most projectiles connect.
Staff of the Wild	Poison + Blunt + summoned roots	Summons stationary vines that attack nearby enemies — two damage sources per cast and roots persist for around 25 seconds. Best for holding chokepoints.
Dundr	Lightning (12 bolts)	Calls twelve lightning bolts at nearby enemies. Lower Eitr cost than other Ashlands staves and strong against wet targets.

Blood Magic

Dead Raiser is the blood magic staff — a scythe-style blood weapon that summons skeletons rather than dealing direct damage. Casting it consumes Eitr and a portion of your current Health to raise skeletons that fight for you.

Deep North (1.0) staves

Staff	Damage mix	What it is for
Echo Spike	Frost (projectile)	The 1.0 Deep North staff — cast from 10 Bloodgold, 4 Nornathread and 1 Frostfire Essence with its mould, then hardened in a Frost Foundry; the lowest per-cast Eitr cost of the four (25). It casts a frozen projectile (valheim.wiki). Its exact per-cast damage is still work-in-progress on the source wiki, so no damage number is published here.
Spirit Caller	Spirit (summons)	Summons spirits to fight for you — cast from 8 Frozen Branch, 5 Nornathread and 1 Moose Trophy with its mould, then hardened in a Frost Foundry. It spends both Eitr and a portion of your Health per cast. The final-game magic option.
Northern Vengeance	Reflect	A defensive staff that reflects damage back at attackers — cast from 10 Ice, 5 Nornathread and 1 Hexen Trophy with its mould, then hardened in a Frost Foundry. A tank/support role rather than a damage dealer.
Lightning Strike	Lightning (300, Eitr 40)	A lightning-damage staff — cast from 10 Bloodgold, 5 Nornathread and 1 Thunderblood Essence with its mould, then hardened in a Frost Foundry. The Deep North follow-up to Dundr’s bolt calls; its 300 Lightning is the highest single-staff hit in the game.

Verified (1.0): cast recipes and per-cast Eitr costs for all Deep North staves are confirmed across multiple sources, and Lightning Strike deals 300 Lightning for 40 Eitr (confirmed by three independent community sources). Echo Spike casts a frozen projectile (25 Eitr per cast). The exact per-cast damage for Spirit Caller and Northern Vengeance is still work-in-progress on the source wiki, so only their mechanics and Eitr costs are published here. See our verification workflow.

Armor for magic

Magic armor sets trade physical protection for Eitr regeneration — do not compare them to Carapace or Flametal:

Set	Biome	What it does
Eitr-weave Robes	Mistlands	Eitr regen focus — the first true magic set. Pair with a staff for the late-game Mistlands push.
Embla Robes	Ashlands	The magic upgrade — Eitr regeneration (the Ashlands’ top mage set).

For Eitr food, see the food section of mead complete guide.

Practical build path

1. Frostner stays your main weapon through the Plains — do not rush to switch to staff.
2. When you reach the Mistlands and have Black Metal, build the Galdr Table and craft Staff of Embers as your secondary weapon for AoE clearing.
3. Keep your melee weapon as your primary — staff is sidegrade until the Ashlands.
4. In the Ashlands, Staff of Fracturing or Staff of the Wild become genuinely competitive.

The mistakes most new mages make

• Rushing magic too early. Do not main a staff in the Mistlands — Eitr is hard to sustain and you are weaker without a melee backup.
• Ignoring the Elemental Magic skill. Your cast cost drops as the skill rises. A fresh level-0 staff costs far more Eitr than one you have used consistently.
• Running low on Refined Eitr. Build multiple Eitr Refineries before you start upgrading staves — it is the bottleneck.

Related

• Which damage type each staff inflicts and the DoT stacking rules: damage types guide
• Every mead, including the Eitr meads: mead complete guide
• Armor sets — side-by-side comparison with Eitr-weave and Embla: armor sets
• Galdr Table and Eitr Refinery on the station list: workstations