Your First Hours in the Meadows (Valheim Starter Biome Guide)

Welcome to the Tenth World

Rolling green hills, scattered birch groves, gentle streams cutting through wildflower meadows. The Meadows is Valheim's starting biome, and it does everything it can to lull you into a false sense of security. The grass sways, deer graze in the distance, and the soundtrack practically hums a lullaby. Don't let it fool you. The decisions you make in your first few hours here ripple through the rest of your playthrough.

This biome is where you learn Valheim's core survival loop: gather, craft, build, fight. Every resource you collect and every base decision you make sets the foundation for tackling the Black Forest and beyond. Rushing through the Meadows without a plan is the single biggest mistake new players make. Take your time here, and you'll enter the Black Forest with gear, food, and knowledge that makes the transition far less painful.

First Steps After Spawning

When you first drop into the world, your immediate priorities are simple: pick up branches and stones from the ground, punch small saplings for wood, and craft a Stone Axe (5 wood, 4 stone) as fast as possible. The Stone Axe opens up real tree chopping, which is your gateway to building a workbench and shelter before your first night.

Before you wander off exploring, check the sacrificial stones at your spawn point. Interacting with the Eikthyr runestone marks the boss location on your map. Even if you're playing with the no-map modifier, the camera pans toward the boss altar, letting you place a directional marker with a build piece.

Resources and How to Gather Them

The Meadows is generous with resources, but knowing where to look and what to prioritize saves enormous amounts of time.

Wood Types and Early Fine Wood

Three tree species grow in the Meadows: Beech, Birch, and Oak. Beech trees give standard Wood and are your primary building material. Birch and Oak trees drop Fine Wood, but you can't chop them with a Stone Axe. The game intends for you to wait until you have a Bronze Axe from the Black Forest. You don't have to wait.

Find a Birch tree surrounded by several Beech trees, ideally on a slope. Chop the Beech trees so they fall into the Birch. Once the Birch topples, roll Beech logs into the fallen trunk to break it apart. It's tedious, but the payoff is real: Fine Wood lets you craft a Fine Wood Bow (a significant upgrade over the Crude Bow) and comfort-boosting furniture. Be careful during this process. Logs can damage and kill you, which is a rite of passage that every Valheim player goes through at least once.

Flint, Stone, and Dandelions

Flint spawns along shorelines and riverbanks as white, flat stones. Grab every piece you see. Flint tools are a significant step up from stone, and you'll need plenty for the Flint Knife, Flint Spear, and Flinthead Arrows. Stone is everywhere on the ground, but you can also get it from ruined structures once you place a workbench nearby. Dandelions are easy to overlook: small yellow flowers scattered through the grass. Stockpile at least 20 in a chest. You'll need them later for mead brewing, and they're annoying to farm in bulk when you actually need them.

Sneaking Core Wood from Ruins

Core Wood normally comes from Pine trees in the Black Forest, but certain ruined structures in the Meadows contain wooden poles made of the stuff. Place a workbench nearby and deconstruct these poles to collect Core Wood without ever leaving the biome. With 20 Core Wood and 5 Deer Trophies, you can craft the Stagbreaker, the most powerful early-game weapon by a wide margin. Its area-of-effect slam hits through walls and floors, making it absurdly useful for both combat and treasure hunting.

Creatures, Combat, and Staying Alive

Early Meadows combat is forgiving, but it teaches fundamentals you'll rely on for the entire game. Four hostile creatures spawn here at the start: Necks (5 HP), Boars (10 HP), Greylings (20 HP), and rarely Draugr in specific villages. All of the standard enemies die to a three-hit combo from the Flint Knife, which is arguably the best early-game weapon for its attack speed alone.

The Flint Knife Advantage

Crafted from 2 Wood, 4 Flint, and 2 Leather Scraps, the Flint Knife costs only 4 stamina per swing and attacks nearly instantly with no windup animation. Its three-slash combo doubles damage on the final hit, often knocking enemies back. The secondary jump-stab deals 15 damage for 12 stamina, and the 6x backstab multiplier rewards sneaking. Other weapons hit harder per swing, but nothing matches the Knife's speed and stamina efficiency at this stage.

Fire: Your Best Friend

Almost every hostile creature in the Meadows fears fire. Carrying a torch makes you nearly untouchable early on, as Greylings and Boars will flee on sight. The torch also functions as a melee weapon and deals bonus damage to Boars and Greylings because they're weak to fire. Place campfires and standing torches around your base perimeter and logging areas to keep mobs at bay while you work. This trick also applies to Eikthyr: drop a campfire right on his spawn point before summoning him for free opening damage, then finish the fight with Fire Arrows from range.

Draugr Villages: Avoid Until Mid-Game

Occasionally the Meadows generates an occupied village full of Draugr. These undead hit for 40 to 50 damage, have 100 HP each, and their houses contain Body Piles that continuously spawn more. You can identify these villages by their larger, more complete buildings and fenced perimeters. If you see Draugr wandering around, mark the location on your map and walk away. Come back mid-game with proper gear and you'll have a reliable source of Entrails, the key ingredient for Sausages (one of the best mid-game foods).

Points of Interest and Hidden Treasure

The Meadows is packed with structures and landmarks that reward exploration. Knowing what to look for turns a casual walk into a productive loot run.

Abandoned Houses and Villages

Scattered throughout the biome, these ruined structures contain chests with Amber, Coins, Feathers, Flint, Flinthead Arrows, and Torches. Some houses also contain Beehives on the walls or ceiling. Shoot the hive with a bow (or place a workbench and deconstruct the building around it) to collect Honey and a Queen Bee. The Queen Bee lets you build your own Beehive back at base for passive Honey production, which is a surprisingly strong early food source.

Abandoned villages are even better. They tend to have more chests, wood piles you can destroy for free materials, and clusters of Raspberry bushes nearby. They also have a higher chance of spawning two-star Boars, similar to Boar Stones.

Viking Graveyards and Buried Treasure

Viking Graveyards are stone formations shaped like the outline of a longship. Buried underneath are treasure chests with significantly better loot than house chests: Amber Pearls, Coins (20 to 50), Fire Arrows, Rubies, and Silver Necklaces. The intended approach is to use the Wishbone (a drop from the third boss, Bonemass) to detect buried treasure, then dig it up with a pickaxe.

The faster approach: grab your Stagbreaker and slam it on the ground near the graveyard stones. The AOE damage passes through terrain. When you see damage numbers pop up, you've found the chest. Keep slamming until the chest breaks and spits out its contents. No pickaxe required, no Wishbone needed, and you can do this as soon as you craft the Stagbreaker.

Dolmens and Stone Circles

Dolmens are stone table structures (a large slab balanced on smaller stones). Check underneath for Skeletal Remains and occasional Amber. Ancient Stone Circles are large rings of standing stones. These don't contain buried treasure, but their stones count as indestructible terrain, which makes them excellent foundations for a protected base. Mobs from raids can't destroy them, so any walls built off these stones gain natural reinforcement.

Base Building and Comfort

Your first base should be in the Meadows, and where you put it matters more than most players realize. Build in an open area with good sightlines so you can spot incoming enemies. Proximity to water (for Flint) and a Birch grove (for eventual Fine Wood) is ideal. Avoid building right next to the Black Forest border unless you enjoy Greydwarf surprise parties.

Comfort level directly affects the duration of your Rested bonus, which boosts health and stamina regeneration. In the early game, this means the difference between struggling through fights and cruising through them. A basic shelter with a fire, bed, and bench gives decent comfort. Add a sitting log (Core Wood), a chair (Fine Wood), and a rug to push it higher. If a Maypole spawned in your world near your base, build around it for an extra comfort point. Maypoles can only be constructed by players during the midsummer event (June through early October), so if there isn't one naturally nearby, mark your calendar.

Place sharp stake walls around your base entrance. Jump over them yourself but let enemies walk into the spikes. Surround your work areas with campfires and standing torches to keep Greylings and Boars away while you chop wood or repair gear.

Hildir and the Meadows Merchant

Added in the Hearth and Home update, Hildir is a merchant NPC who spawns exclusively in Meadows biomes between 3,000 and 5,100 meters from the world center. You almost certainly won't find her on your starting island. She sells fashionable clothing that boosts stamina regeneration, making these items surprisingly useful for farming runs and long exploration trips.

Completing quests for Hildir unlocks additional inventory and involves finding her lost goods in special dungeons across the world. Hold off on these quests until mid to late game, as the dungeon enemies are brutal with early gear. Be aware that each completed quest enables a new raid type at your base featuring the boss and creatures from that dungeon, so don't rush the questline unless your defenses are solid.