Valheim Ashlands Update: New Biome, Enemies, and Full Patch Breakdown

The Ashlands update is finally live in Valheim, and the patch is one of the largest the game has shipped. A brand new biome, more than thirty weapons, more than ten creatures, fresh siege mechanics, new buildings, new food, and a long bug fix list all landed in a single drop. This article walks through the release date and every notable change packed into the update.

When the Ashlands Update Went Live

Iron Gate shipped the Ashlands update on May 14th, ending a three week stretch in the public test branch. Players who waited for the stable build can now jump straight into the new biome on existing or fresh seeds.

Patch Notes at a Glance

A quick summary before the deep dive:

• A new biome called the Ashlands
• More than 30 new weapons
• New bombs and ammunition types
• 3 new armour sets and 2 new capes
• More than 10 new creatures
• More than 70 buildable items
• 5 new crafting station upgrades
• More than 30 new crafting materials
• More than 15 food items and potions
• New locations, music, events, and mechanics

The full notes are long, so the breakdown below splits everything by category.

New Mechanics

The Ashlands is not just a new region to walk through. It changes how you build, sail, and survive.

• Cinders rain from the sky and damage anyone caught in the open without protection.
• Wooden build pieces can ignite in the biome, and the fire spreads to nearby pieces.
• A new world modifier lets fire spread outside the Ashlands as well, part of the immersive preset.
• Lava covers large parts of the terrain. Build your own platforms to cross it safely.
• Two new siege machines let you claim Charred Fortresses.
• Ashvines are plantable and climb the walls of your base.
• Flametal weapons can be combined with Bloodstone, Iolite, or Jade gems to upgrade them with blood, storm, or nature effects.
• Waters in and around the biome are scalding hot. Only the toughest ships can cross them.

New Creatures

A fresh biome means a fresh roster of things hunting you down. The Ashlands brings both hostile and tameable creatures.

• Fallen Valkyrie
• Charred Warrior
• Charred Archer
• Charred Warlock
• Charred Twitcher
• Skugg (turret enemy)
• Morgen
• Bonemaw Serpent
• Asksvin (tameable and rideable)
• Asksvin Calf
• Volture
• Lava Blob
• Redbeard Dvergr (NPC and hostile variants)
• Fader (boss)
• Lord Reto (miniboss)
• Monument of Torment (spawner)
• Effigy of Malice (spawner)

New Crafting Materials and Stations

Expect a lot of inventory juggling. The update adds dozens of new materials and reworks the existing Flametal supply chain.

• Majestic Carapace (formerly the Queen Drop)
• Fader Relic (placeholder)
• Asksvin Hide, Bladder, Tail, Neck, Skull, Ribcage, and Pelvis
• Morgen Heart and Sinew
• Celestial Feather
• Bonemaw Meat and Tooth
• Volture Meat and Egg
• Charred Skull, Bone, and Cogwheel
• Pot Shard and Bell Shard
• Dyrnwyn Fragments x3
• Bloodstone, Jade, and Iolite
• Flametal Ore and reworked Flametal (the old version is obsolete)
• Sulfur, Ashwood, and Grausten
• Charcoal Resin and Proustite Powder
• Molten Core
• Ceramic Plate and Shield Core (craftable)
• Ashvine Seeds (plantable)
• Asksvin Egg

Station upgrades expand the toolkit too. The Artisan Table gets an Artisan Press, the Galdr Table gets a Feathery Wreath, the Cauldron gets Rolling Pins and Cutting Boards, and the Black Forge picks up both a Metal Cutter and a Gem Cutter. There is also a craftable Bell, and Lavaiathans serve as a new resource location.

New Weapons and Armour

The weapon list is where the update really shows off. Many weapons come in tiered variants with bleed, storm, or primal effects depending on the gem upgrade applied.

Swords and Greatswords

• Dyrnwyn
• Slayer, Brutal Slayer, Scourging Slayer, Primal Slayer
• Nidhögg, plus its Bleeding, Thundering, and Primal variants

Maces

• Flametal Mace
• Bloodgeon
• Storm Star
• Klossen

Axes

• Berserkir Axes, plus Bleeding, Thundering, and Primal variants

Bows and Crossbows

• Ash Fang, Blood Fang, Storm Fang, Root Fang
• Ripper, Wound Ripper, Storm Ripper, Root Ripper

Spears

• Splitnir, plus the Bleeding, Storming, and Primal variants

Shields

• Flametal Shield (multiple styles)
• Flametal Tower Shield (multiple styles)

Magic Staves

• Trollstav (blood magic)
• Staff of the Wild (elemental)
• Dundr (elemental)
• Staff of Fracturing (elemental)

Armour Sets and Capes

• Flametal Breastplate, Greaves, and Helmet
• Robes of Embla, Trousers of Embla, Hood of Embla
• Breastplate of Ask, Trousers of Ask, Hood of Ask
• Asksvin Cloak
• Ashen Cape
• Asksvin Saddle for riding

Bombs and Ammunition

• Basalt Bomb
• Smoke Bomb
• Grausten Payload
• Explosive Payload
• Charred Arrow and Charred Bolt
• Flametal Missile

Build Pieces and Furniture

Builders, this is your section. The Ashlands ships with two complete building sets plus a stack of new decorative and functional pieces.

Ashwood Set (25 pieces): Walls (full, half, quarter, arched, decorative), Decorative Window, Divider, Floors (2x2, 1x1, decorative), Arch, Beams (1m and 2m), Poles (1m and 2m), 26° and 45° beams and roof crosses, 26° and 45° walls in regular and inverted variants, Stair, and Door.

Grausten Set (26 pieces): Steep Stairs, regular Stairs, Floors (1x1, 2x2, 4x4), Pillars (small, medium, tapered, tapered inverted), Beams (small, medium), Arches (small, medium, wall, wall inverted), Walls (1x2, 2x2, 4x2), Windows (2x2, 4x2), Roof, Roof Corner, two Arched Roof variants, and an Arched Roof Corner variant.

Flametal Build Pieces: Gate, Pillar, and Beam.

Defenses and Stacks: Ashwood Stakewall, Ashwood Stack, Grausten Pile, Pile of Skulls, and Bone Stack.

Furniture: Ashwood Bed, Bone Throne, Lava Lantern, Asksvin Rug, Straw, Small Green Pot, Medium Green Pot, Large Green Pot, Ashwood Bench, and Asksvin Skeleton.

Siege Machines: Catapult and Battering Ram.

Ship: Drakkar.

Other: Shield Generator and a Stone Portal.

Food and Potions

Dying to lava is bad, dying because you skipped a snack is worse. The cookbook expansion is substantial:

• Cooked Volture Meat
• Cooked Bonemaw Meat
• Cooked Asksvin Tail
• Fiddlehead
• Fiery Svinstew
• Marinated Greens
• Mashed Meat
• Piquant Pie (cooked and uncooked)
• Roasted Crust Pie (cooked and uncooked)
• Scorching Medley
• Sizzling Berry Broth
• Smoke Puff
• Sparkling Shroomshake
• Spicy Marmalade
• Vineberry Cluster
• Lingering Healing Mead
• Lingering Eitr Mead

Locations, Events, and Lore

The biome ships with several points of interest and narrative drops:

• Ruins (multiple variants)
• Redbeard Dvergr Outposts
• Putrid Hole
• Charred Fortress
• Events: "The undead army marches" and "The dead have been summoned"
• New runestones, dream sequences, and Munin dialogue
• New music
• A new forsaken power
• Reworked terrain. The Ashlands is now cut off from other biomes and can only be reached by sea.

Bug Fixes and Quality of Life Changes

A round of cleanups, technical fixes, and modding adjustments also landed:

• Major Healing Mead material was corrected.
• Minor Eitr Mead material was corrected.
• Texts across the game were standardised.
• Old Flametal items had their names updated.
• The popup for unlocking new things now stays on screen longer.
• ESRAM use on Xbox One was disabled to work around a Unity bug that caused corrupt shadowmaps on some particle systems.
• New console command `findtp` jumps you to the nearest discovered item.
• New console command `setfuel` refills nearby light sources to a target value.
• The map closes automatically after a debugmode teleport.
• A new Gameplay setting toggles "Attack towards look direction." When off, attacks aim where the camera faces.
• Modding: `IMonoUpdater` no longer needs to be inherited from, and the related error messages were removed.

Ready to Play

If the Ashlands has pulled you back to Valheim, running a dedicated server is the cleanest way to bring a crew along. HolyHosting offers ready to go Valheim hosting if you want to skip the setup work and get straight to dying creatively in lava.