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Eikthry is the first boss of Valheim, and your first real challenge before you begin a much longer adventure. But where do you find him, and how do you beat him without being able to craft metal gear?
If you’re wondering how to progress past leather gear, beating Eikthyr is the key. To many players, Eikthyr doesn’t pose much of a challenge, and if you go into the fight prepared, you’ll quickly start to understand why. Keep reading to learn how you can find, summon, and beat the first boss of Valheim.
How To Find Eikthyr
Like every boss in the game, the best way to find Eikthyr is through a Vegvisir. These red glowing runes are all associated with a certain boss, and when interacted with, they will show you where to find that boss. In Eikthyr’s case, you don’t have to work that hard for the Vegvisir — it’s sitting right next to the stone platform you spawned on.
If you want to find Eikthyr without the Vegvisir or want to find the other summoning stones for Eikthyr, there’s not much you can do except comb the forest for the structure. It helps to keep an eye out for stone but not by much. Keep in mind that the Eikthyr boss locations will only generate very close to the player spawn point — they will rarely require you to use a boat to reach.
How To Summon Eikthyr
Once you’ve found Eikthy’s summoning stone, you’ll need to place something on the altar in the middle if you want to fight the guardian of the Meadows. All bosses are this way, requiring different items that are hinted at by the Runestone near their altar.
If you don’t have the time to untangle the hint for Eikthyr’s summoning item, all you need to do is approach the stone with two Deer Trophies (dropped uncommonly from killing Deer) in your hotbar. Press the corresponding number while looking at the altar, and it should erupt in a burst of light, which means you’ve successfully summoned the boss.
How To Beat Eikthyr
Eikthyr isn’t too tough of a fight, and most players can muscle their way through it, especially if they’re playing with friends. However, if you’re trying to fight this supercharged deer without full leather armor or upgraded flint weapons, things could take a turn for the worse if you’re not careful.
Eikthyr has one main attack and two additional attacks that it cycles between. The main attack is a slash with its antlers, and the boss will try to do this whenever you’re close and in front of it. It’s easy to evade this attack with a well-time dodge, block it with a wooden tower shield, or avoid it altogether by circling around the boss.
Between sets of main attacks, Eikthyr will fire off one of two Lightning attacks. The first Lightning attack shoots a series of bolts in a line from Eikthyr’s horns. It telegraphs this by rearing up and then coming back down with its horns pointed at a player. The second Lightning attack creates a bubble of electricity around the boss, dealing damage to anyone who’s close. Both of these attacks look similar in the windup, but the boss will almost always alternate between them. Keep track of which one it did last, so you aren’t caught off guard.
If you’re playing with friends, an effective setup is to have one player dodging and blocking the boss with a shield while the other players pepper it with bows from afar. This way, if the Lightning attacks are misread or if the horn attacks catch someone off guard, it only really hurts one player. Additionally, each player can simply focus on their role and not have to think about attacking or dodging respectively.
Beating Eikthyr For Speedrunners
In case you didn’t know, Campfires deal damage to any creature that steps on top of it. While it’s not much, it’s consistent and can be deadly if the creature stays on top of the fire. Speedrunners put this to use for Eikthyr by placing fires underneath the boss and then running in a circle to keep Eikthyr in one place. The only drawback is that the Campfires take damage too, so you might have to place a few extra in the middle of the fight.
Rewards For Beating Eikthyr
Eikthyr drops two important items that you’ll use to catapult you into the rest of the game: Hard Antlers and the Eikthyr Trophy. The former can be used to craft your first pickaxe, letting you mine Copper and Tin in the Black Forest. The latter can be taken back to the player spawn point and put on the corresponding stone for Eikthyr.
When you use a Forsaken Power, all nearby players get the buff as well.
When you do this, you’ll be able to interact with the stone and equip the Eikthyr Forsaken Power, which reduces the stamina drain from running and jumping. This power is a game changer when it comes to covering long distances on land, and you’ll likely use it all game long.
