Valheim Weapons ranked by biome and damage type

Letters are local, not global

An S-tier weapon is the one that matches the enemy in front of you. The tier list hub exists so we do not pretend a flint spear and a Nord greatsword share a ladder. Use S for “craft this before the boss,” A for “keep it on the hotbar,” B for “fine while you farm,” and C for “park it until a resist or stamina problem appears.”

Damage types do more work than item level:

• Blunt — Bonemass, many blobs and skeletons. A mace or sledge jumps a letter in the Swamp.
• Pierce — trolls, deathsquitos, anything you want to kite. Bows and spears live here.
• Slash — general wildlife, plains, and a lot of humanoid-shaped things.
• Fire — The Elder, Greydwarves, and later infusions that cook what frost does not.
• Frost, lightning, poison, spirit, chop, pickaxe — niche, but the niche is often a boss.

Parry timing still beats a letter grade. A bronze buckler you can time is A; a black-metal tower you panic-hold is C.

Best gear for each Valheim biome in 2026

Meadows through Mountains

Wood / flint (Meadows). Flint spear and flint axe are S for the first nights. The crude bow is S the moment boars and greylings exist at range. Clubs are A because blunt teaches the stamina bar. Do not over-craft; bronze is close.

Bronze (Black Forest). Bronze mace is S versus trolls if you insist on melee; a pierce bow or spear is S if you want them to fall over without hugging the club. Bronze atgeir is A for crowds of Greydwarves — the spin is the point. Fire arrows are S for The Elder and stay A versus Greydwarf nests. Keep a torch on a hotbar; it is a weapon.

Iron (Swamp). Iron mace or battleaxe: mace is S for Bonemass, battleaxe is A for clearing. Iron sledge is A when you want a shockwave through blobs. Atgeir remains A for “do not get surrounded on a crypt roof.” Poison resist is not a weapon, but without it every grade drops a letter. Fang spears (when you have them) are A pierce backups.

Silver (Mountains). Silver sword is S versus undead that hate spirit. Frostner (mace with frost/spirit) is S for mixed Mountain packs and still A in later biomes as a utility club. Draugr fang bow is S until you have a better longbow. Wolves are not weapons, but a tamed pack is an A-tier distraction if you already went that route.

Plains through Ashlands

Black metal (Plains). Blackmetal sword and atgeir are S for Fulings. The atgeir’s poke keeps deathsquitos honest; the sword wins duels. Blackmetal axe is A if you like chop damage and tree work on the same bar. Porcupine (mace) is A blunt if you still fight swamp leftovers. Needle-style pierce bows stay S versus squitos. Parry with a black-metal shield is the real S-tier move; the weapon only finishes.

Carapace / eitr (Mistlands). Carapace spears and swords are S for Seekers if you play melee. Atgeirs remain A for groups. Bows with carapace arrows are S for Gjall if you have the nerve to look up. Magic comes online here: fire, ice, and protection staves are S for eitr kits and C for a player who never eats mage food. Do not grade a staff on a stamina-only diet. The food list is mandatory reading before you call magic “weak.”

Flametal (Ashlands). Flametal swords, axes, and the Ashlands gem lines (thundering, bleeding, primal, and friends) are S for Charred. Bows and spikeys that keep you off lava are A. A pure frost weapon can be C against enemies that shrug it. Bring the heat resist and the right infusion rather than the highest number in the crafting menu.

Deep North: Nord and Bloodgold

1.0 adds a full Nord ladder crafted from Bloodgold at a Frost Foundry: swords, greatswords, atgeirs, maces, sledges, bows, crossbows, spears, daggers, knuckle chains, and more. Two infusion paths sit on top: Frostfire (fire plus frost, less raw physical) and Thunderblood. A clean physical Nord roll can out-DPS an infusion on the wrong enemy. Grade the infusion to the pack, not the tooltip total.

S in Deep North usually means “the Nord weapon that matches your role and the frostbite rules.” Greatswords and sledges are S when you can plant your feet. Atgeirs stay S in cramped Mörkhalla halls. Crossbows (Thunderblood / Frostfire lines) are S for players who already liked the Ashlands crossbow cadence. Staves — Lightning Strike, Echo Spike, Spirit Caller, Northern Vengeance — are S on Caller armor and eitr food, B on a random melee survivor who equipped one “to try.”

Kall Fimbulbringer is a boss, not a dummy. Bring the weapon you can still swing when the blizzard UI is screaming. A B-tier mace you have 200 hours with beats an S-tier greatsword you forged on the walk over. Read the Deep North guide for molds, Gammeltrolls, and why your Ashlands sword is only an A here.

Default worlds cannot portal metals, so an unrepaired Nord brick in a far chest is C until a local forge exists. Casual portals on world modifiers change that math. Re-rank when you change armor: Fenris makes bows look better, Protector makes two-handers look better. These letters assume three foods and a bed, not god from the console.