I took a good look at all the things I could craft. While I had zero use for having a hoe, for now, to level the ground with for some proper building areas. It just did not feel right moving forward without having one. Even if later on I’ll just stick it in a chest and store it away till much later.

I could also craft up some leather armor. That however required taking out quite a few deer. Deer in Valheim like many creatures are not that bad once you have the right tool to take them down. I however had yet to gather the necessary resources to craft a bow.

A bow itself as well will be one of the many things I’ll want to have with me when facing off against Eikthyr. For that, I was going to need some scrap leather. That I could get off something a bit easier to hunt that won’t flee on me boars.

The plan was originally to hunt boars and then move up to deer. I however had deleted the boars in my areas for crafting other things and I was still short a bow that would allow me to long-range deer keeping them fleeing from me.

I would need to keep an eye on wind direction making sure my scent was not bellowing blown towards the deer itself. While I’m not quite certain that was the case how it noticed me in the past I rather play it safe and a bit more lifelike since I’d have to repeat this quite a few times to get enough deer skin for a full set of armor.

I used things like trees and rocks to stay out of sight of any deer I spotted. The end goal was to sneak behind them. Then bash them a couple of times if needed with whatever weapon I had at the time. I would shortly upgrade from having a club to a flint knife.

All of this improved quite a few skills for me. It also helped me relearn quite a few different game mechanics. Including my need to be mindful of how much-remaining stamina I have and maintain it the best I can for the task at hand.

This was a lesson I had to relearn the hard way in Valheim. I was starting to get a little too confident in staying out after dark. Thankfully the areas I had been exploring are not that bad after dark. I did encounter the Black Forest but I made sure to note where it was and head back the other way.

At that point I had ten deer hides on me at the time. I was starting to find quite a few of them in the forest I was traveling through. I had just spotted another deer and from a mental standpoint, I had plans to return once I had 12 hides. That was however getting way too greedy and I should have known better.

I went out for the deer and met a slightly more powerful foe than I was expecting. With my low skills I met quite a quick death after defeating a few other enemies prior and not having my health back to full. I was also being slightly lazy since I was mostly hunting deer on eating different foods to boost my overall health maximum.

The corpse run back sucked since I lacked anything worth fetching back at my base. It was also the middle of the night and I should have just waited for daylight. It was however a long enough run back I wanted to get a head start.

About halfway back to my corpse, I ended up getting killed again. Lacking a proper weapon to fight with and not eating any food other than raspberry will do that to you. At least my second attempt was successful in getting both corpses.

I also spent a decent amount of time cooking up the entire meet I had gathered. It was now time to make the last preparation I would need for the boss fight. Other than crafting far too many arrows, and a spear, and ensuring I was going to be well-rested. It did not feel like I could do much else at this early stage of the game to be ready.

Sure a lot of my skills still sucked. That would end up making things a bit more challenging in the fight than I was expecting. It was however not a fact I consider would be resulting in a losing battle on my part this early in the game.

Thankfully I already had the alter location marked on my map. I just needed to offer deer antlers to spawn in Eikthyr. I did not feel a need to prepare the local area further than killing anything I might get aggression on while running around fighting the boss.

In the past, I could have sworn my encounter with Eikthyr was more done at range. However being solo meant I was always having to deal with him charging at me. This ended up being a close-range combat situation for most of the fight. I’m rather glad I crafted a spear just in case I needed it. I ended up preferring using it over the flint knife.

I did my best to avoid getting hit directly on by his main attacks. A lot of times I would just run around regaining enough health till I could almost let him fully catch me in an attack. That would then cause him to stagger long enough that I could move around to his backside with the spear and get a few well-placed hits in before I had to rinse and repeat.

I admit I should have waited until the next full day to start the encounter with this boss. It ended up taking so much longer than I was expecting it lasted into the night. Creating a bit of an extra challenge.

Final Thoughts

It’s now great to have my first power unlocked. I’ll be using the reduced stamina usage when it’s active quite a lot for exploring and getting myself out of tricky situations that I’ll find myself in when I head back to the Black Forest.

Other Content

• Valheim | A Rough Start

Information

Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Valheim.