Death in the brutal and unforgiving world of Valheim is almost guaranteed. Whether a player is crushed by a falling tree, or falls foul to one of the Wolves in the harsh Mountain biome, losing all your items can seem like the end of the world.
Have no fear. Death is not the end in Valheim, and it is possible for a player to retrieve their inventory. So begins the tricky task of navigating back to the gravestone, which could be almost anywhere on the map. These tips should make that particular journey a little easier.
Updated by September 20, 2021, by Harry Alston:With the Hearth and Home update reigniting the love for Valheim, we’re returning to this list with some extra tips on how to recover your items when you die in Valheim. There are some useful tips here about temporary base-building and resetting mob spawns.
10 Death Is Not The End
In a world of Viking and Norse lore, it makes sense that death is not the end of your adventures in Valheim. Upon death, the player drops a tombstone and useful death marker that points back to where you met your untimely end.
Sometimes the trek back to your tombstone isn’t a difficult one. You might have been accidentally crushed by a falling tree a few steps from your base. No problem. You can run over and get your full inventory back in a few minutes. On the other hand, you might have fallen foul of one of Valheim’s more intimidating monsters several miles from your home base.
9 You Spawn With No Equipment
If you die in Valheim you will lose everything. No equipment (your silver gear, your trusty cape) and no meads or other items. This means the journey back to your tombstone is always going to be a difficult one, particularly if you died many miles from your base.
It might be the case that you simply have to rebuild. Start afresh. This is easier to stomach if the gear you dropped wasn’t that rare or interesting, but sometimes just getting back to basics is the best way to eventually retrieve your gear at a later date. Valheim is harsh, you just have to roll with it.
8 Build Temporary Bases Wherever You Go
This is more of a pre-emptive tip, but an easy way to get back to where you die is to build stand-in bases wherever you are. Sleep in a bed and you will respawn there when you die. This saves you running halfway across the map (through all sorts of nasty stuff) only to die again when you get there.
It only needs to be a simple base: a little hut, a comfy bed, and a storage chest for anything essential that you don’t want to lose before you wander into the deadly Planes…
7 Restock At Your Home Camp
Before you head out with no armor and no weapons, take a moment to peruse the chests in your home base. More than likely you have enough resources to craft some basic items that will give you a better chance of retrieving your items without dying all over again.
If you’re further through the game and decided to hold on to some of your lower-quality gear, you can also chuck on some armor and grab an iron sword. Even the smallest advantages will make the adventure to your tombstone that bit easier to handle.
6 Killed By A Spooky Enemy? Sneak Back
This is a more hit-and-run approach that might work if you died at the hands of a powerful enemy. Mostly recommended for tombstones located close to your camp, you might have the skills to dive in, snatch your loot, and get out before the monster notices you’re there.
As long as you’re quick on your feet and can loot your tombstone fast enough, you should be able to get your items back before the enemy does enough damage to kill you again. This does work better if the journey back to your tombstone isn’t some epic adventure. For tombstones on the other side of the map, it is definitely recommended to prepare with some rudimentary gear.
5 Sleep In A Bed To Reset Spawns
One of the most common problems for recovering items is if your tombstone is an area highly populated with bad guys. Sleeping in a bed can reset the spawns on mobs, which will clear out busy areas, if only for a short moment.
If you’ve died in an area like the Plains this won’t be as useful. Mob spawns are very high and will easily kill a naked player. Better used for death spots closer to your base, or in lower level areas. Good luck!
4 Died At Sea? Don’t Worry, Your Tombstone Won’t Disappear
The ocean biome isn’t particularly hostile, but if you do run into one too many Serpents you might still die in the middle of the sea. Don’t worry, your tombstone and death marker won’t disappear or sink to the bottom of the ocean.
You can still return and pick up your loot like normal. The tombstone will be bobbing there for as long as you need it to be. There was a glitch that meant the tombstone sometimes disappeared at sea, but that was fixed in a February patch.
3 Rope In Some Friends To Help
Valheim can be enjoyed as a solo player or with friends. Those friends can become extremely useful if you’ve died and lost your entire inventory.
However frustrating it might be to have lost your gear, ask your friends for an escort to the tombstone and you should be able to retrieve your items without a problem. They can fend off any enemies while you make your way back to the loot.
2 Also, Watch Out For Your Friends
When a tombstone is dropped by a player in Valheim, the loot is accessible to all players on the server, including your Viking companions. Those same friends helping you cut down trees might well be after some of your loot.
There’s no way to play around this in Valheim, although it might spoil some friendships if your pals pillage your tombstone straight away. All you can do is try and get to your tombstone as quickly as possible.
1 Contact The Valheim Body Recovery Squad
An invention of a player named Rim Jaynor, the Valheim Body Recovery Squad is a group of players a hapless Viking can contact via Discord.
These Viking Knights will help players retrieve their items upon death by joining the server and escorting a helpless player to their tombstone, taking care of pesky enemies, and keeping the player safe with meads and a helping hand.
NEXT: Valheim Player Figures Out How To Get Into Crypts Without A Swamp Key
