Valheim Weapon Tier List — Best Weapons by Biome (1.0)

The rule that decides every weapon choice

Valheim has no single “best weapon”. Two things beat raw damage numbers:

1. Damage type. Enemies resist and are weak to specific types. A weaker weapon with the right type finishes a fight faster than a stronger one that is resisted.
2. Weapon skill. Every weapon class has its own skill, raised by using it. A well-used mid-tier weapon commonly out-performs a fresh craft from the next tier because the skill bonus applies on top.

So the practical question is never “what is strongest”, it is “what stays worth its materials for the longest”.

Best weapon by progression stage

Verified (1.0): the per-hit damage values below are confirmed against valheim.wiki (1.0), cross-checked with gamecore.wiki and 5gamers. This page still ranks by role and damage type — a weaker weapon with the right type beats a stronger one that is resisted. See our verification workflow.

Per-hit damage (min / max, valheim.wiki 1.0)

Attack speed is not published here (the source lists stamina cost per swing, not a flat attack rate), so compare weapons by the damage above plus your skill in the class. The Deep North (Bloodgold / Frostfire / Thunderblood) line is a 1.0 late-game tier whose per-hit values sit one step above the Mistlands tier.

Weapons that stay useful across biomes

• Any bow. Ranged pulls single enemies out of packs and opens boss fights safely. Bow skill keeps paying off even when you swap bows.
• Frostner. Frost slow is crowd control, and spirit damage keeps working on undead from the Swamp all the way into late-game regions.
• Draugr Fang. The bow most players keep for the longest; its innate poison means arrow choice matters less.
• A blunt weapon you can swap to on demand. Skeletons, blobs and Bonemass all take bonus blunt damage, and you will meet skeletons long after the Swamp.

Weapons you can safely skip

• Heavy investment in starter weapons — upgrade them only while they still kill current enemies quickly.
• Crafting every branch of a weapon line once you reach the gem-socket tier. Pick the variant that matches your damage type and commit.
• Replacing a weapon purely because a new tier exists. Check whether upgrading what you already carry gets you through the next biome first — it usually does.

Upgrade priority

Upgrades are gated by your crafting stations, not by materials alone: raising a weapon’s quality needs the right station level, which means the upgrade pieces beside your Workbench, Forge or Black Forge matter as much as the ore you smelt. The full list of which piece belongs to which station is on the workstations guide.

Priority order that works for most runs: station upgrades → one main melee → one bow → shield → the rest.

Pairing weapons with Forsaken Powers

Powers are timed buffs you activate before a push, and the right one changes what weapon you want in your hand. Bonemass’s power makes a shield-and-club build extremely durable; Eikthyr’s power keeps you mobile while kiting; Moder’s power is the one to have set while you cross open water to reach a boss. Full list and effects: Forsaken Powers.

What to do next

• Match your weapon to the biome you are standing in: progression route
• Every damage type explained — blunt/slash/pierce vs elemental DoTs: damage types guide
• Quick-reference weakness table for every boss and enemy by biome: enemy weaknesses
• Every tool tier that unlocks the ores you need — pickaxes, axes, Portal, ships: all tools guide
• Learn the stamina and block timing that makes any weapon work: combat basics
• Get the armor that keeps you alive while you swing: armor sets
• And if you are pushing the Mistlands/Ashlands: magic & staffs