Valheim Skills and How to Level Them Up

Nearly everything you do in Valheim is tied to a skill in some way. Sprinting, jumping, swimming? Check, check, and check. There are presently 15 skills in the game, and this guide covers them all and what they do for you.

They break down into three subcategories: damage done to enemies, damage to environmental objects, and personal attributes. Currently, character capabilities cap at Level 99 and if you die after reaching a certain threshold, you’ll lose 10% of your experience towards the next level. 

Valheim Skills

Damage

The damage to enemy types are tied to the various weapons currently implemented available in Early Access. For each successful strike landed on a troll or greyling, for example, gives you a measure of XP towards the next level, which increases the damage you do with that weapon.

Here are the current weapon competencies:

• Axes
• Bows
• Clubs
• Knives
• Polearms
• Spears
• Swords
• Unarmed

Environmental

Your environmental abilities are aimed at resource gathering, namely pickaxes and woodcutting. You level these by using your pick to mine stone and various metals, such as tin and copper. The higher your pickaxe ability, the less stamina you use per swing. 

As for wood cutting, it’s kind of a double-dip as you’ll gain axe competency and the one for woodcutting when chopping down trees, fallen logs, and stumps. Leveling woodcutting, like increasing pickaxe prowess, drains less stamina the higher the level.

Personal

The last set includes your personal masteries — ones that affect your character directly. These are the easiest to raise as they’re common actions. Beefing up run decreases the amount of stamina needed to sprint; the same goes for swimming.

Jump increases your jump height, while sneak reduces stamina drain and can reward you with bonus critical damage on attacks. Lastly, block grants improved damage reduction and stamina used to absorb blows from incoming attacks.

How to Check Skill Level

You can find your skills in the inventory screen. Press “Tab” to open the menu, then click on the second symbol from the left under your character name.

Your current level in any particular area is denoted by a number and yellow bar, while your progress towards the next tier is measured by the thin red bar below that. 

Hopefully, this helps you to better understand the current skill system in Valheim. If you’re new in your adventure, consider checking out our starter help guide, building guide, guide on building a raft and sailing, or tips on marking locations on your map. As always, make sure to keep checking Gameskinny for more Valheim tips, tricks, and guides!