Valheim Best Difficulty Settings

If you are starting your Valheim playthrough, configure the difficulty settings to ensure a good experience. Valheim is known for being grindy and punishing, but it also allows you to tweak certain settings, like resource drop rates or combat difficulty, to tailor the experience to your preference.

On top of that, the difficulty settings aren’t locked in; you can change them anytime during your playthrough. So, if you are having trouble farming resources or defeating a boss, you can tweak these settings to make it a tad bit easier.

If this is your first playthrough, finding the right balance between challenge and convenience can be tricky. Here are some recommended settings to get you started, along with a few tips on what to change based on your preferences.

Valheim Difficulty Settings and Sliders

To access the difficulty settings, open your world list, select the world you want to modify, and click on World Modifiers. This opens the menu where you can adjust the difficulty sliders.

At the top, you’ll find presets such as Easy, Casual, Hard, and Hardcore. These apply a predefined combination of settings, so you can choose one and start playing without adjusting anything else.

If you’d rather fine-tune your experience, you can use the individual sliders below. Here’s what each modifier does.

Below the sliders, you’ll find additional world modifiers:

• No Build Cost: Lets you build without consuming materials.
• Player-Based Raids: Ties raid events to players.
• Passive Enemies: Enemies won’t attack unless provoked.
• No Map: Disables the map.

With the settings covered, let’s look at some good difficulty options for beginners.

For Combat, stick with Normal if you want the intended challenge. If you’re comfortable with action games and want tougher encounters, try Hard. However, if you’re still learning the combat system, Easy is a perfectly reasonable starting point. I’d avoid Very Hard on your first playthrough.

Death Penalty comes down to personal preference. Even the easier settings don’t eliminate the consequences of dying. Go with Casual or Very Easy for your first few playthroughs, because you will die a lot in this game.

Resource Rate is where things get interesting. Valheim can be quite grindy, especially when you’re gathering materials for large builds or crafting better equipment. If you’re playing solo and want to spend less time farming, Most (3x drops) is worth considering. If you are playing with friends, then go with Normal or More. You can always increase the rate if resource gathering starts to feel like a chore.

For Raid Rate, Normal is a good starting point. It gives you the standard raid frequency without making your base defenses unnecessarily demanding. Choose Less if you want fewer interruptions, or More if you enjoy defending your base and want raids to happen more often.

Portals are completely personal preference and depend on how much of a challenge you are looking for. For beginners, go with Normal, as it will force you to explore the map more and learn about the game. But if you don’t want the trouble of hauling your items across the map, then pick Casual.

Finally, leave the additional world modifiers disabled unless you have a specific reason to use them. For example, if you’re planning a large base and want to experiment with different designs, No Build Cost lets you test your ideas without spending resources. Passive Enemies can also be useful if you want to focus on building rather than fighting.

That’s pretty much everything you need to know about Valheim’s difficulty settings. There’s no single setup that works for everyone, so start with the options that suit your playstyle and adjust them as you go.