Valheim has quite interesting Boss creatures, five of them in total, with The Elder being the big bad guy of the Black Forest biome. A giant tree-like enemy with a variety of long range abilities, focusing on roots and his massive physique, it can be tough to beat him.
In general, it is suggested to tackle the specific Boss with other players alongside you, to help each other and spread out its focused attacks. If that is not the case though and you don’t have anyone available to play with, rest assured that The Elder is of course soloable. It just needs a little more time, attention and a bunch of arrows.
How to beat The Elder- Spoiler alert: bring a lot of arrows.
Let me start by saying that The Elder is considerably stronger than the first Boss of the game, the great stag Eikthyr, in almost every aspect. Hits harder, he has more HP and his attack patterns are more advanced. In particular, there are 3 different attacks you need to pay attention to:
- Root Projectiles – A barrage of long range projectiles, that can be avoided by hiding behind any kind of wall or object.
- Summon Roots – Easily the trickiest tool of his kit, The Elder summons multiple roots and vines beneath our character, that even if we avoid them, they stay at place for a while. The moment you get into their line of sight they start attacking you, forcing you to stay at range.
- Ground Stomp – The simplest of Elder’s attacks, however do not underestimate it at all, since the damage it causes is significant. Slams the ground with an AOE radius.
Since we broke down The Elder’s attacks, let’s now see how you can actually deal with him. As I previously mentioned, it is suggested to start the fight with many players joining the battle. If not, then we need to go into the fight with a certain strategy. Before doing so though, I advise to create a small base close to the summoning area of the Boss, in order to be able to return right away in case you are killed. Also, you can easily repair any equipment if needed, without backtracking a lot. Last step of our setup would be to bring lots and lots of arrows, meaning you need a couple of hundreds with you.
Let us proceed with the plan now. Which should start with you placing at the middle of the summoning area a couple of campfires. This way, the moment you summon Elder, he will immediately start taking burning damage per second. Then, look for a pillar or object to hide behind, that are in the same line of sight with the pillars of the summoning spot. By doing so, his movements will receive a halt and he will try to attack you from a single spot. You can easily dodge his projectiles from that far, but pay attention to his Summon Roots that can easily kill you even from there.
After everything is set, start hailing down to him all the arrows you’ve brought. In order to be more efficient, you would need a strong bow, so make sure to equip the best you’ve created so far. The burn damage and the hundreds of arrows impaling him, should finish the battle in around 4-6 minutes. Keep attacking, avoid any of his attacks and you are good to go.
The Elder drops the Swamp Key when defeated, which unlocks the next biome, the Swamp. Also, make sure to hang the Elder Trophy on the Trophy hook, to claim a bonus to your wood cutting stat. Good luck beating The Elder!
Valheim is available through Steam Early Access.
