Valheim: Where to Find Metal Materials and How to Use them

Valheim has invited hordes of new Viking adventurers to explore its randomly generated worlds. With a lot to discover, it can be tricky to keep track of everything that you need and where it can all be found, particularly when it comes to key materials.

Below, you’ll find a list of all of Valheim’s ores, metals, and scraps locations, with the materials listed in order of how the game intends you to discover them. So, don’t go too far down if you haven’t explored the latter stages of the game yet.

You’ll also find a few tips to help you use the metals and transport them across the perilous realms.

Locations and how to get all ores, metals and scraps in Valheim

In the table below, you can find all of the raw material mining locations as well as how to craft the metals of Valheim.

How to mine in Valheim

Mining in Valheim is easy, but it does consume time and stamina; the whole process of making the raw ore into usable materials and items is a bit more complex. So, here is how to get started with mining and making Bronze items, armour, and weapons.

How to create a pickaxe in Valheim

Upon defeating the first boss, Eikthyr – located in the meadows – you’ll receive a Hard Antler. This is the material that you need to create your first pickaxe.

Crafting the Antler Pickaxe requires ten pieces of Wood and the one Hard Antler. With this pickaxe, you can mine Stone, Copper, Tin, and Iron.

Mining Copper and Tin in Valheim

Copper and Tin are found in the Black Forest biome. Tin is found by rivers, while Copper is found randomly throughout the whole biome. Copper Deposits are larger than Tin Deposits and will also give you Stone when mined.

When you have found a deposit, it is time to equip your pickaxe and start mining by using the attack button (left mouse button). It will usually take a few hits before a chunk of ore is mined.

Once you pick up the mined ore, it will appear in your inventory. Ore is, however, rather heavy, and you will not be able to carry much. It is also not possible to use a Portal when carrying any type of ore or metal.

How to make a Charcoal Kiln and Smelter in Valheim

To smelt the ore, you’ll need a Charcoal Kiln to make Coal and a Smelter to do the actual smelting. Both of these are built by using the Hammer’s crafting menu.

You will need 20 Stone and five Surtling Core. The Surtling Cores can be found in the Burial Chambers that are spread out in the Black Forest – they work like small dungeons. 

To use the Charcoal Kiln, approach its small opening, and it will give you a prompt to put in Wood. After a short wait, Coal will pop out on the ground next to that same opening. You should note that you can put in a lot of Wood at once to continue to produce Coal over time.

To use the Smelter, put the ore in on the Smelter’s right side and the Coal in on the opposite side – multiple pieces of Coal are needed to produce one finished metal bar.

When smelted, Tin Ore will become Tin, and Copper Ore will become Copper. They will drop out in front of the Smelter for you to pick up.

Using the Forge in Valheim

Once you’ve done some smelting, it’s time for the next step, which requires the Forge. To build it, you’ll need four Stone, four Coal, ten Wood, six Copper, and a Workbench.

In the Forge, you will be able to craft Bronze by using two Copper and one Tin. After that, you can craft armour like the Bronze Plate Cuirass, which requires five Bronze and two Deer Hide, or weapons like the Bronze Axe (four Wood, eight Bronze, and two Leather Scraps).

The best way to transport lots of metal materials in Valheim

What makes mining time consuming is the fact that metals cannot be brought through a portal, and they’re also heavy to carry. However, there are ways to make mining and forging armour or weapons more effective. The first way is to place your base nearby deposits in each biome: throughout the game, you will make more bases to more easily access new materials in new biomes and locations.

While having a conveniently placed base is very helpful, you’ll also want to improve your transport methods. Mining and carrying ore can be a frustrating process, both because you can’t use portals while carrying the materials and because its weight greatly limits how much you can take.

One way to make things faster is to craft a Cart, which allows you to store materials and bring them with you. To make a cart, you need 20 Bronze Nails. 20 Normal Wood, and a hammer to slap it all together. Alternatively, you could make use of boats, which also allow for the storage of materials. This is, however, only really useful if your base and the materials are close to the coast or a river.

Finally, you could also buy the Megingjord from the NPC trader Haldor, who’s found randomly in the Black Forest. The item will increase your carry weight by 150, which is very useful in general. You will need 950 coins to buy the belt from Haldor, which you can acquire coins by selling items like Amber and Ruby as they don’t have any other use. 

With that, hopefully, your first mining and smelting projects will be easier in Valheim. There is a lot to take into account, and it is slow going, but well worth it in the end.