Valheim Ship Guide: Every Boat, Stats, and Crafting Recipes

Crossing water is half the job in Valheim. The map is dotted with islands, biomes hide on far shores, and most useful loot sits behind a stretch of open sea. To get there in one piece, you need a boat that matches the trip ahead. This guide breaks down every vessel in the game, what it takes to build, how it handles, and where it fits in your progression.

Sailing Mechanics Worth Knowing

Every boat in Valheim runs on wind. Check the indicator at the bottom of the minimap to see direction and strength before you commit to a route. A solid tailwind makes long voyages feel quick, while a head-on gust will leave you crawling.

The game is fairly generous with crosswinds. You will still pick up decent speed with the wind hitting from the side, though the boat will drift if you ignore the rudder. When sailing becomes a hassle, take over the rudder manually to push through.

Controls follow the standard layout. W raises the sail and increases speed, S lowers it and eventually shifts into reverse paddling, which is handy for tight docking. A and D turn the ship. Paddling is slow, but it gives precise control when you need it.

Boats can also be used as battering rams. Hitting a serpent or troll with a moving hull deals blunt damage and is, frankly, more satisfying than it has any right to be. The catch is your ship takes punishment too. A hard landing on the water inflicts 10 damage, and a capsized boat loses 20 health per second until it sinks.

All hulls share the same damage profile. They are vulnerable to Fire, resistant to Frost and Pierce, neutral against Slash, Blunt, and Lightning, and immune to Chop, Pickaxe, Poison, and Spirit. Watch your campfires near the dock.

Every Boat in Valheim

Raft

The Raft is where everyone starts. It is wooden, slow, and visibly held together by hope, but it does the job for crossing shallow stretches or hugging the coastline. Its biggest advantage is the recipe. You can put one together with materials you already have by the time you finish exploring your first beach.

Open water is a different story. Sea serpents will treat it as a chew toy, and the lack of seats or storage means you cannot really plan a trip with it. The one thing it refuses to do is capsize, which is a small mercy.

Crafting recipe: 20x Wood, 6x Leather Scraps, 6x Resin

Stats:

• Size: 6x4
• Health: 300
• Seats: 0
• Storage slots: 0
• Full sail speed: 2.5 to 3.1 m/s
• Half sail speed: 1.6 to 2.2 m/s
• Paddling speed: 1.6 m/s

Karve

The Karve is the first real upgrade. It handles ocean travel well enough, picks up actual speed under sail, and adds storage for the ores you will inevitably want to drag home from a Black Forest run.

The trade-off is durability. The Karve does not love rough water and will not survive long near the Ashlands or against high-tier sea creatures. Treat it as a mid-game commuter, not an expedition vessel.

Crafting recipe: 30x Fine Wood, 10x Deer Hide, 20x Resin, 80x Bronze Nails

Stats:

• Size: 10x3
• Health: 500
• Seats: 1 pilot plus 2 passengers
• Storage slots: 4
• Full sail speed: 3.9 to 7.0 m/s
• Half sail speed: 2.8 to 4.8 m/s
• Paddling speed: 3.14 m/s

Longship

For a long time, the Longship was the top of the line. Before the Ashlands update, this was the ship that took Viking crews wherever they wanted to go. It carries a pilot plus four passengers, which makes it the natural choice for co-op groups on a HolyHosting server.

The downsides come with the size. Docking a Longship in a narrow inlet takes patience, and the hull is a wider target for hostile encounters. It can also capsize in storms if you push it too far. With 1,000 health and 18 storage slots, though, it remains a workhorse well into the late game.

Crafting recipe: 100x Iron Nails, 10x Deer Hide, 40x Fine Wood, 40x Ancient Bark

Stats:

• Size: 22x6
• Health: 1,000
• Seats: 1 pilot plus 4 passengers
• Storage slots: 18
• Full sail speed: 5.04 to 9.5 m/s
• Half sail speed: 3.6 to 6.7 m/s
• Paddling speed: 3.16 m/s

Drakkar

The Drakkar replaced the Longship as the endgame option after the Ashlands update. With 3,000 health, eight passenger seats, and 32 storage slots, it is built for long expeditions and group transport. You can sail it into Ashlands waters without the hull falling apart, provided you know what you are doing.

It is not a perfect upgrade. The Drakkar has a wider turning radius than smaller ships, so quick course corrections take effort. The recipe also leans on late-game materials like Yggdrasil Wood and Ceramic Plates, so do not expect to build one before you have cleared a few major bosses.

Crafting recipe: 100x Iron Nails, 30x Ceramic Plates, 50x Wood, 25x Yggdrasil Wood

Stats:

• Size: 14x18
• Health: 3,000
• Seats: 1 pilot plus 8 passengers
• Storage slots: 32

Choosing the Right Boat

Pick based on the trip. A Raft is fine for hopping between visible landmarks. The Karve covers most ocean crossings while you are still in the iron tier. The Longship is the multiplayer default. The Drakkar is the endgame answer when storage, durability, and crew capacity all matter at once. Plan your voyages around the boat you can actually build, and the seas of Valheim will treat you with slightly less hostility.