Surviving the Plains: A Complete Valheim Biome Guide

Golden Fields, Brutal Welcome

Rolling golden hills, swaying birch trees, cloudberry bushes dotting the landscape. The Plains look like a vacation after the gloom of the Swamp and the freezing peaks of the Mountains. That impression lasts about three seconds, right up until a Deathsquito drills through your skull for 90 damage and sends you on a corpse run across half the map.

As Valheim's fifth biome, the Plains represent a significant difficulty spike. The enemies here hit harder than anything you've faced, and the open terrain means there's nowhere to hide. But the rewards match the danger: Black Metal weapons, Padded Armor, some of the best food in the game, and access to the boss Yagluth. This guide covers everything you need to prepare, survive, and ultimately thrive in the Plains.

Gear and Food Preparation

Armor: The Root Harnesk Trick

Your armor choice comes down to two Mountain sets: Wolf Armor for raw protection (78 armor fully upgraded) or Fenris Armor for speed and fire resistance (48 armor, but 9% movement speed bonus). Wolf is safer for cautious players. Fenris rewards aggressive, mobile play and becomes especially valuable during the Yagluth fight.

Regardless of which set you pick, swap the chest piece for the Root Harnesk. This single piece of armor transforms the Plains experience. The Root Harnesk provides Pierce resistance, which directly counters Deathsquito attacks. With it equipped alongside decent armor, a Deathsquito sting drops from devastating to roughly 11 damage. That's nothing. The Harnesk only requires a level 2 Workbench, 10 Ancient Bark, 2 Deer Hide, and 10 Roots (two Abomination kills in the Swamp). It's easy to get and absolutely worth the trip.

Weapons and Arrows

Bring a bow. The Plains reward ranged combat more than any other biome. The Draugr Fang is the best option if you've farmed Silver, dealing Poison damage on top of solid base stats. Pair it with Frost Arrows if you have access to them. The slow effect on Frost Arrows is incredibly useful against Fulings, turning dangerous melee fights into manageable encounters. Needle Arrows (crafted from Deathsquito drops) are the strongest arrow type available here and worth crafting as soon as you collect enough Needles.

For melee, the Frostner is an excellent all-rounder with Frost, Blunt, and Spirit damage. A Silver Sword also works well and becomes the better choice specifically for Yagluth, since his undead nature makes him weak to Spirit damage. Keep both options available if possible.

Food Loadout

Eat the best food you have access to. A solid combination is two health foods and one stamina food, which gives you the survivability to take a hit while keeping enough stamina for dodging and sprinting. Strong options include Serpent Stew, Sausages, and Onion Soup. If you've reached the Mountains, Wolf Skewers and Eyescream are also excellent. Make sure your Cauldron is upgraded (Spice Rack from Swamp ingredients, Butcher's Table from Silver) to unlock the best recipes. Always enter the Plains with the Rested buff active, and set up a portal between your base and a safe spot in the Plains to refresh it quickly.

Creatures and How to Handle Them

Deathsquitos

The most notorious enemy in Valheim. Deathsquitos are fast, aggressive, and deal massive Pierce damage to unprepared players. They have one attack: a charging sting. The good news is they die in a single hit from almost any weapon.

With the Root Harnesk equipped, their sting becomes trivial. Without it, you have options. A shield block completely negates the attack, leaving the Deathsquito open to a one-hit kill. You can also shoot them out of the air with a bow (wait for them to charge straight at you for an easy shot). Even a fast weapon like a knife can interrupt their attack if timed correctly. The key survival tip: zoom your camera out as far as possible when exploring the Plains. Deathsquitos are visible from a distance, and spotting them early lets you prepare instead of panicking.

Fulings and Fuling Villages

Fuling Villages are your primary target in the Plains. They contain Black Metal Scrap, Fuling Totems (needed for Yagluth), Flax, Barley, and chest loot including the rare Sharpening Stone. Three types of Fulings defend these camps.

Regular Fulings carry swords or spears and are dangerous in groups but manageable one-on-one. Fuling Shamans cast fireballs and summon protective shields. Prioritize killing Shamans first with arrows before engaging the rest of the village. Fuling Berserkers are the real threat. These massive Fulings can one or two-shot you depending on your armor. Never fight a Berserker while other Fulings are still alive. Isolate it, then either take it down with arrows or master the parry timing.

The best strategy for clearing Fuling Villages is patience and elevation. Find one of the large boulders scattered across the Plains and use it as a firing platform. Most Fulings cannot climb these rocks, so you can pick them off safely with your bow. Lure small groups by hitting one Fuling at range, retreat to your boulder, and repeat. Shamans will shield themselves, but the shield breaks after a few hits. Starred Fulings take more arrows but the same tactic applies. With this method, even large villages fall without much risk.

Lox

These enormous bison-like creatures roam the open fields, usually in groups of two or three. They're slow but hit extremely hard. Don't underestimate them. The safest approach is ranged combat: kite them to a boulder and pepper them with arrows. They may lose interest and walk away. If that happens, chase them until they de-aggro, then re-engage from another safe position. Once you're comfortable with their attack patterns, parrying becomes viable, but stick to arrows while you're learning. Lox drop Lox Meat (one of the best foods in the game, lasting well into the Mistlands) and Lox Pelts for crafting the Lox Cape.

Growths and Tar Pits

Tar Pits are pools of dark liquid guarded by Growths, blob-type enemies similar to those in the Swamp but far more dangerous. Their ranged tar attacks apply both poison and a movement slow. Getting swarmed by Growths is a fast way to die. Drink a Poison Resistance potion before engaging and use a strong Blunt weapon (an upgraded Iron Mace works perfectly, since Growths are weak to Blunt). Block their attacks, circle-strafe, and take them down one at a time. Unlike Fulings, the boulder strategy doesn't work here because Growths can jump onto rocks and hit you with ranged attacks.

Once the Growths are dead, drain the Tar Pit by digging a trench next to it. Dig as deep as possible, then tunnel toward the pit at that depth. The tar will flow into your channel, exposing the collectible Tar nodes. If the pit doesn't fully drain, extend the trench or dig another one. Tar unlocks darkwood building pieces, shingle roofs, and furniture like the Hot Tub. The bone piles around Tar Pits can also be destroyed for Bone Fragments.

Resources and Progression

The Plains provide three resources that gate your next tier of progression: Black Metal Scrap, Flax, and Barley. All three require the Artisan Table to process (built with Dragon Tears from defeating Moder in the Mountains), so ideally you should have cleared that boss before farming the Plains seriously.

Black Metal Scrap drops from all Fuling types and smelts in the Blast Furnace. Black Metal weapons and the Padded Armor set represent the strongest gear before the Mistlands. Flax is found growing in Fuling Villages and can be farmed once you collect some. Process it at the Spinning Wheel into Linen Thread, used for Padded Armor and Black Capes. Barley also grows in villages and grinds into Barley Flour at the Windmill. This flour unlocks top-tier food: Lox Meat Pie, Fish Wraps, Blood Pudding, and Bread. Many of these require baking in a Stone Oven (15 Iron, 20 Stone, 4 Surtling Cores, plus an Artisan Table).

Beyond these key resources, the Plains are a great source of Fine Wood from Birch trees, Cloudberries (which provide 40 raw stamina, making them one of the best quick stamina foods in the game), and stone from the massive stone pillars. Those pillars deserve special mention: chop the base and the entire structure collapses, dropping an enormous amount of stone. Builders farming materials for large stone projects should prioritize these.

Finding and Defeating Yagluth

Locating the Boss Altar

Yagluth's altar is a giant skeletal hand rising from the ground, impossible to miss if you're in the right area. The problem is finding his location rune. The Vegvisir (runestone) that reveals Yagluth's map marker only spawns inside Stonehenge-type stone circle formations scattered across the Plains. Not in Fuling camps, not in towers, not standing alone. Only in stone circles. These formations come in several varieties (some large circles, some small arrangements), and not every one contains a runestone, so you may need to check many.

A useful search tip: both the altar and the stone circles tend to spawn near Plains coastlines. Exploring the coast (even from a boat, if you want to avoid land combat) is often the fastest way to find what you need. Many players end up discovering the altar itself before finding the runestone, which is perfectly normal.

Preparing for the Fight

Yagluth is arguably the most challenging boss in Valheim. He's resistant to Fire and Pierce, immune to Poison and Stagger, and deals devastating fire damage that stacks over time. Arrows and spears are nearly useless here. You need to fight him up close.

The ideal setup: Fenris Armor (movement speed and fire resistance), Bonemass Forsaken Power (physical damage reduction), a Silver Sword (Spirit damage is his biggest weakness), and Barley Wine for additional fire resistance. Combine the fire resistance from Fenris Armor and Barley Wine for maximum protection against his fire attacks. For food, lean heavily into health: Lox Meat Pie, Fish Wraps, and Blood Pudding provide a strong balance with emphasis on survivability.

The Fight Itself

Yagluth uses three main attacks: a ground-pound fire explosion, a meteor shower, and a direct fire breath. All deal fire damage that stacks, so the number one rule is never stand in his fire. Sprint in, get a few Silver Sword hits during openings between attacks, then back away. The Fenris movement speed bonus is critical here for creating distance quickly. Bring health and stamina potions as backup.

There's also a well-known speedrun strategy that trivializes the fight. Dig a pit next to the altar, about one Yagluth-length away and just deep enough that your character's head sits below ground level. Place a Workbench inside so you can repair your weapon. Summon Yagluth, run to the pit, and seal yourself in. His model clips through the ground, exposing his belly to melee attacks while he can't see or target you. It's not glamorous, but it works reliably with any weapon. Just make sure you have the right crafting station in the pit to repair whatever you're swinging.

Defeating Yagluth rewards the Torn Spirit (required to build the Wisp Fountain for the Mistlands) and his trophy. Mount the trophy at the Sacrificial Stones to unlock Yagluth's Forsaken Power: 50% resistance to Fire, Frost, and Lightning damage for 5 minutes. This power is incredibly valuable for the Mistlands and beyond.