6 presets · 5 sliders · 5 switches · Valheim 1.0.17
World modifiers & difficulty
Every setting in the game's World Modifiers menu is a set of world keys. On Hard creatures deal 50% more damage and you deal 15% less; on Very Hard it is 100% more and 30% less. Raids come once per 3.8 h of play on Normal.
The host can change them in a running world with setworldpreset Hard or setworldmodifier combat hard. Menu settings never count as cheats for achievements.
Presets
What each preset button sets, shown as the sliders and switches it moves (the menu reads them back the same way).
| Preset | Combat | Death penalty | Resource Rate | Raid Rate | Portals | Switched on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | Easy | Normal | Normal | Less | Normal | — |
| Hard | Hard | Normal | Normal | More | Normal | — |
| Hardcore | Very Hard | Hardcore | Normal | More | No boss portals | No Map |
| Casual | Very Easy | Casual | x 1.5 | None | Portal Items | Player based raids, Passive enemies |
| Hammer Mode | Normal | Normal | Normal | None | Normal | No Build Cost, Passive enemies |
| Immersive | Normal | Normal | Normal | Normal | No portals | Fire Hazards, No Map |
Easy
“Combat is easier and there are fewer raids on your base.”
playerdamage 110enemydamage 75eventrate 150enemyspeedsize 95Hard
“Combat is harder and monsters will raid your base more often.”
playerdamage 85enemydamage 150eventrate 60enemyspeedsize 110enemyleveluprate 120Hardcore
“Combat is a lot harder and enemies will raid your base more often. When you die, all your skills and all the items you are carrying will be lost forever. You have no map and you may not use portals or exit boss dungeons while a boss is alive.”
playerdamage 70enemydamage 200eventrate 60deathskillsresetdeathdeleteitemsnomapnobossportalsenemyspeedsize 120enemyleveluprate 140Casual
“In casual mode combat is a lot easier, enemies will not attack you until provoked, and there are no raids on your base. Resources are more plentiful, and you will not drop items or lose skills on death.”
passivemobseventrate 0resourcerate 150playerdamage 125enemydamage 50deathkeepequipskillreductionrate 15teleportallplayereventsenemyspeedsize 90Hammer Mode
“In hammer mode you can build all build pieces for free once you have discovered the recipe. There are no raids on your base, and enemies will not attack you until provoked. Other difficulty settings are normal.”
nobuildcostpassivemobseventrate 0Immersive
“In immersive mode you have no map, and you may not use portals. You will need to use your own wits to keep track of where you are in the world! Other difficulty settings are normal.”
nomapnoportalsfireCombat
“Governs how much damage you give and take. Also governs how likely you are to encounter higher leveled enemies, and how dangerous they are.”
| Setting | Your damage | Damage you take | Enemy speed & size | Star chance | Hits to kill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very Easy | ×1.25 | ×0.5 | ×0.9 | ×1 | ×0.8 |
| Easy | ×1.1 | ×0.75 | ×0.95 | ×1 | ×0.91 |
| Normal | ×1 | ×1 | ×1 | ×1 | ×1 |
| Hard | ×0.85 | ×1.5 | ×1.1 | ×1.2 | ×1.18 |
| Very Hard | ×0.7 | ×2 | ×1.2 | ×1.4 | ×1.43 |
Hits to kill = 1 ÷ your damage (before armor and resistances, which work the same on every setting).
Death penalty
“Governs what happens when you die.”
Casual
“You do not drop equipped gear, and skills are reduced a lot less than on normal mode.”
Items: Equipped items stay on you, the rest in the tombstone
Skills: 0.75% of each skill
Very Easy
“You drop all items, and skills are reduced a lot less than on normal mode.”
Items: Everything goes to the tombstone
Skills: 0.75% of each skill
Easy
“You drop all items, and skills are reduced less than on normal mode.”
Items: Everything goes to the tombstone
Skills: 2.5% of each skill
Normal
“You drop all items, and skills are reduced normally.”
Items: Everything goes to the tombstone
Skills: 5% of each skill
Hard
“Equipped items are dropped, the rest of your inventory is lost permanently, and skills are reduced faster.”
Items: Unequipped items destroyed, equipped ones in the tombstone
Skills: 7.5% of each skill
Hardcore
“You lose all carried items and skills permanently.”
Items: Everything you carry is destroyed
Skills: All skills reset to 0
Resource Rate
“Governs the amount of resources you gain from the world and from enemies.”
x 0.5
×0.5
x 0.75
×0.75
Normal
×1
x 1.5
×1.5
x 2
×2
x 3
×3
Multiplies what creatures, chests, rocks, trees and pickables drop, rounded, never past the item's maximum stack. Not scaled: trophies, and the few drops the game marks as fixed.
Raid Rate
“Governs how often enemies may raid your base.”
| Setting | Check every | Chance | One raid per |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | no raids | ||
| Much Less | 92 min | 10% | 15.3 h |
| Less | 69 min | 13.3% | 8.6 h |
| Normal | 46 min | 20% | 3.8 h |
| More | 28 min | 33.3% | 83 min |
| Much More | 14 min | 66.7% | 21 min |
“One raid per” is the average play time until a check starts one, if a raid can start for you (each raid has its own conditions — see raids).
Portals
“Changes how portals work in the game.”
Portal Items
Every item goes through portals, ores and metals too
“Allows you to bring all items with you through portals for a more casual playstyle. This will circumvent the progression and exploration of the world as it is intended.”
Normal
26 items can't go through a wooden portal (ores, metals and a few more); portals work any time.
No boss portals
Portals don't work while a boss is active, and dungeon doors won't let you out of an active boss dungeon
“You will not be able to use portals or exit boss dungeons while a boss is active.”
No portals
Portals don't teleport ("Blocked")
“You will not be able to use portals to teleport yourself across the world.”
Which items are held back: portals.
Switches
No Build Costnobuildcost
“Build pieces require no materials to build. You still need to discover recipes as per usual.”
Player.HaveRequirements: Piece.FreeBuildKey() (GlobalKeys.NoBuildCost)
Player based raidsplayerevents
“Raids are based on the progress of each individual player, rather than on which bosses have been killed on the server. This setting is recommended if you want the game to be slightly friendlier to players with different progress.”
RandEventSystem.GetValidEventPoints: GlobalKeys.PlayerEvents (each player's keys)
Fire Hazardsfire
“Wood can catch fire and spread throughout the whole world, not just in the Ashlands.”
CinderSpawner.CanSpawnCinder: outside the Ashlands only with GlobalKeys.Fire
Passive enemiespassivemobs
“Enemies won't attack until you provoke them.”
BaseAI.CanSenseTarget, MonsterAI.UpdateTarget: GlobalKeys.PassiveMobs
No Mapnomap
“You will not have access to the map or the minimap. This makes the game harder than intended.”
Game.UpdateNoMap → Minimap.SetMapMode(None)
Changing them in an existing world
setworldpreset | [name] Resets all world modifiers to a named preset |
setworldmodifier | [name] [value] Sets a world modifier value |
resetworldkeys | [name] Resets all world modifiers to default |
Run them in the console (F5) as the host or an admin; the game doesn't count them as cheats. Names: presets easy, hard, hardcore, casual, hammer, immersive; modifiers combat (veryeasy, easy, default, hard, veryhard); deathpenalty (casual, veryeasy, easy, default, hard, hardcore); resources (muchless, less, default, more, muchmore, most); raids (none, muchless, less, default, more, muchmore); portals (casual, default, hard, veryhard). A dedicated server takes the same names as launch arguments.
Achievements
A world counts as cheated only if it holds a key the menu can't set, so every preset and modifier here keeps achievements. These ask for a Combat setting:
- The Master Hunter — “Kill every kind of creature on hard difficulty.” (Hard or harder)
- The Tough Viking — “Defeat all bosses on normal difficulty or higher.” (Normal or harder)
- The Toughest Viking — “Defeat all bosses on hard difficulty.” (Hard or harder)
Questions
›What does Hard difficulty change in Valheim?
Combat set to Hard: creatures deal 50% more damage, you deal 15% less, creatures are 10% bigger and faster outdoors, and starred creatures are 20% more likely. The Hard preset also sets raids to More: a raid every 83 min of play on average instead of 3.8 h.
›What happens when you die on each death penalty?
Casual: equipped items stay on you, the rest in the tombstone; skills: 0.75% of each skill. Very Easy: everything goes to the tombstone; skills: 0.75% of each skill. Easy: everything goes to the tombstone; skills: 2.5% of each skill. Normal: everything goes to the tombstone; skills: 5% of each skill. Hard: unequipped items destroyed, equipped ones in the tombstone; skills: 7.5% of each skill. Hardcore: everything you carry is destroyed; skills: all skills reset to 0.
›Can you change difficulty in an existing world?
Yes. The host or an admin can type setworldpreset (Resets all world modifiers to a named preset), setworldmodifier (Sets a world modifier value), resetworldkeys (Resets all world modifiers to default) in the console. They are not cheats in the game's code, so they work without devcommands.
›Does Hammer mode or any world modifier disable achievements?
No. The game marks a world as cheated only when it holds a key the World Modifiers menu can't set (ServerOptionsGUI.WorldContainsCheatedModifiers); Hammer mode sets nobuildcost, passivemobs, eventrate 0, all from the menu. 3 achievements do ask for a Combat setting: The Master Hunter (Hard or harder), The Tough Viking (Normal or harder), The Toughest Viking (Hard or harder).
›Does Valheim get harder with more players?
Yes, on every setting: each creature counts the players near it. The numbers are on the multiplayer page.
Formula
A scalar key's value ÷ 100 becomes the rate (Game.UpdateWorldRates); no key means ×1.
playerdamage — Character.Damage × Game.m_playerDamageRate (any target that isn't a player)
enemydamage — Character.Damage × Game.m_enemyDamageRate (any attacker that isn't a player)
enemyspeedsize — Character.Awake (scale) and Character.UpdateWalking (speed) × Game.m_enemySpeedSize, unless InInterior()
enemyleveluprate — SpawnSystem.GetLevelUpChance, SpawnArea.GetLevelUpChance × Game.m_enemyLevelUpRate
eventrate — RandEventSystem.UpdateRandomEvent: interval × Game.m_eventRate, chance ÷ Game.m_eventRate
resourcerate — Game.ScaleDrops (CharacterDrop, DropTable, Pickable, PickableItem; not Game.m_nonScaledDropTypes)
skillreductionrate — Skills.OnDeath → LowerAllSkills(m_DeathLowerFactor × Game.m_skillReductionRate)
ServerOptionsGUI (StartGui_ServerOptions prefab), Game.UpdateWorldRates, Valheim 1.0.17