Valheim: How to Summon and Defeat The Elder

The Elder is the brutal second boss of Valheim, a hulking tree-being who commands the Greydwarves that have been pestering you since hour one. Beating him is the gateway to the next stage of your Viking afterlife, but he is not the pushover Eikthyr was.

Below is everything needed to find his altar, summon him, and put him in the ground.

Locating The Elder's Altar

Like every Valheim boss, The Elder will only spawn at his own altar, and the location is not handed to you on a silver platter.

Head into the Black Forest biome and start cracking open burial chambers and dungeons. Each one holds a red runestone, and interacting with it pins the altar's coordinates onto your map. Once you have the mark, the hunt is half done.

Gathering Ancient Seeds

The tribute for The Elder is 3 Ancient Seeds. You get them by smashing the small Greydwarf nests scattered across the Black Forest. They look like tangled root piles and respawn often, so a single trip through the biome usually nets enough.

Bring the seeds to the altar and drop them into the central brazier. The Elder will rise from the ground, so make sure your gear is ready before you trigger the summon.

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Gear and Prep

The Elder hits much harder than Eikthyr, so do not show up wearing leather scraps:

• Armor: Bronze set at minimum.
• Weapon: A Finewood Bow loaded with Fire Arrows. Fire is his hard counter.
• Food: Three balanced buffs covering HP and stamina, such as Cooked Meat, Honey, and Carrot Soup.
• Backup: A wooden shield for the close-range swings, plus a melee weapon if he closes the gap.
• Squad: Co-op makes the fight noticeably faster. Tamed wolves or boars can also soak some pressure.

Fighting The Elder

The Elder mixes ranged shots and melee swipes, and the arena fills with grasping roots that erupt at your feet. Standing still gets you killed.

Keep circling and use pillars or terrain to break line of sight when his ranged attacks are coming. When roots start sprouting, sidestep before they finish forming.

Mid-fight, he calls in a Greydwarf Shaman that heals him. Drop everything and burn that healer down the moment it appears, otherwise the fight drags on forever.

Fire is the real game changer. Light him up with Fire Arrows and the damage-over-time chews through his health bar quickly. Treat him like a very large, very angry log.

After The Kill

When The Elder falls, grab his trophy and the Swamp Key. Mount the trophy on the sacrificial stones near spawn for a useful Forsaken Power, and the key opens the Sunken Crypts in the Swamp biome, which is your next destination on the Valheim progression curve.

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