Valheim Wolf Armor Guide - How To Find Silver And Craft Mountain Gear

Wolf Armor is the sixth tier of protection you can get in Valheim, but like everything else in the Viking survival game, crafting it isn't easy. You'll need to locate Silver, one of the toughest metals to find, and that takes special requirements. On top of that, you'll have to survive the cold of the Mountain, which can be lethal all on its own. This guide will help you find Silver, give you all the info you need to survive the mountains, and run down the requirements for each piece of armor, so you know exactly what to hunt for before you get started.

How To Find Silver

Locating Silver in the Mountain biome is a multistep process. It's buried underground, rather than popping up on the surface like Tin and Copper. That means Silver is a way more difficult ore to mine, and you won't find it without a little help or a lot of luck. To find Silver underground, you need a special item called the Wishbone.

How To Get The Wishbone

The Wishbone is an item you can only earn by defeating the Bonemass, the boss of the Swamp biome. That's a lengthy process on its own, one that requires delving into the Sunken Crypts dungeons found scattered around the Swamps. For that, you'll need the Swamp Key, which you can earn by defeating the Black Forest boss, the Elder.

Beating the Bonemass can be tough, so you'll want to search for Iron and gear up long before you go after the boss itself. To find it, delve into Sunken Crypts and look for a rune stone that will mark the Bonemass on your map. Once you've done that, you'll need to find its altar and make a sacrifice of 10 Withered Bones to draw the giant blob out to fight you.

The Bonemass does a ton of damage with its melee swipes, and most of its attacks will leave you poisoned, so make sure you're making Poison Resistance Mead ahead of the battle. Blunt damage works well against the Bonemass, so the Iron Mace is a good melee weapon to bring along too. We found the most success, however, with Frost Arrows. The Bonemass resists piercing damage but is susceptible to Frost damage, which still makes the arrows very effective. You'll need to venture into the Mountain biome to get them, though.

Kill the Bonemass, and it'll drop a Wishbone, which is an equippable item. With that in hand, you're ready to head to the Mountain biome to search for Silver.

How The Wishbone Works

The Wishbone detects buried treasures, and it does so basically by acting as a metal detector, blinking and beeping when you draw close to underground items. With the Wishbone equipped, you'll see turquoise lines emanate from your character and hear a sort of pinging sound when you draw close to something that's buried. That's your indicator that you're on the right track--but don't start digging just yet.

As you get closer to a buried item, the Wishbone will pulse faster and faster, so it's a good idea to have your sound turned up to help you identify when you're drawing closer to an item. If the pulses are a few seconds apart, you're still a pretty long way from your destination. Don't start mining in earnest until the pings are pretty close together.

You'll also need to note that some Silver is probably beneath your feet a fair distance. This can make it tough to locate, although your pickaxe will take you down pretty quickly. Keep your Wishbone equipped the entire time you're mining, as it'll help you figure out if you're moving too far away from a Silver vein. The actual Silver nodes can be tough to spot, but you'll know you've found some when your Wishbone quits blinking altogether.

How To Explore The Mountain Biome

You'll find mountains before long as you explore in Valheim; essentially, if the elevation is rising ahead of you, you're on the right track. It can be tough to see through forests and swamps to find the Mountain biome, so if you're having trouble locating the right place on foot on a given island, consider hopping into a boat and sailing around a bit. Mountains aren't especially common as far as the other biomes go, but they can be much easier to spot at a distance.

The thing to remember is that mountains are cold. Venture too high in elevation and you'll suffer from the Freezing debuff, which will slowly sap your health until it kills you. Freezing, like poison, can quickly be your undoing if you encounter any of the Mountain biome's denizens, so don't start climbing until you're ready to go.

To circumvent freezing, you'll want to make Frost Resistance Mead. You'll need both a Cauldron and a Fermenter to make the potion, but it's worth the effort. Use the Cauldron to make Frost Resistance Mead base from 10 Honey, 5 Thistles, 2 Bloodbags (taken from Swamp Leeches) and 1 Greydwarf Eye. After brewing that, toss it in the Fermenter and wait--brewing takes about an hour, but you'll get six Frost Resistance Mead potions for your trouble, and each one will protect you from the cold for 10 minutes.

You'll also want to gear up as best you can with Iron armor and weapons from the Swamp biome. The Mountains are full of tough enemies, not the least of which are Wolves, who will likely rip you apart a few times as you explore the area. Keep lots of arrows handy for your bow, and get ready to make a run for it if a pack of wolves descends on you. They attack fast, hit hard, and can easily stagger you if you try to block them with a shield.

Mountains are steep but note that with some Stamina, you can usually sprint up their slopes. Just make sure you have a plan for where you can stop and recharge your Stamina before you start venturing upward.

Once you can start making Wolf Armor, it's recommended that you craft the Wolf Fur Cape as soon as possible. Wearing either the Wolf Fur Cape or the Wolf Chest Armor will give you Frost Resistance, making you immune to freezing; the Wolf Fur Cape requires the least amount of Silver, so it's your best bet for fending off the cold right away.

What You'll Need To Mine Silver

As with Copper and Tin, you're going to need a pickaxe to mine Silver, but your old Hard Antler pickaxe won't do. Silver is too hard to break with anything less than an Iron Pickaxe, so factor in the extra 20 Iron you'll need to make one into your plans for upgrading your gear in the Swamps.

The first thing you should do in the Mountain biome is set up a base. A house with a fire will give you a place where you can survive should your Frost Resistance Mead run out. It's a good idea to fashion a portal in this location as well so you don't constantly have to climb up and down the mountain to get anything done. A house will also help you avoid getting mauled by wolves as you cross country. Bring Wood, Fine Wood, Surtling Cores, and Greydwarf Eyes with you before you venture out, so that you can rig up some shelter and a portal on the fly. These things will definitely help you get out of emergencies. Just remember to fashion the other end of the portal before you leave your main base--and don't forget to label it so you can make the connection.

What You'll Need To Create Wolf Armor

Once you've got a base set up and start mining Silver, you can get together the other items you'll need to craft Wolf Armor and other Silver gear. The prerequisites are pretty involved, though--you're going to need at least some Copper at some point, and some Iron Chains or Bronze as well.

First and foremost, you'll need both a Workbench and a Forge, with both upgraded to Level 2. It's probably a good idea to create a Mountain base that contains a Smelter and a Kiln so you can refine Silver Ore on-site. You'll also need Copper to build your Forge, and Bronze for some of the Forge upgrades.

You'll unlock a bunch of recipes once you refine Silver Ore. Here's the armor you can make with Silver:

• Wolf Chest Armor
• Wolf Leg Armor
• Drake Helmet
• Wolf Fur Cape

Each item has its own unique requirements to craft, however. While you're in the Mountain biome, you'll need to hunt wolves and drakes, the flying ice dragons you see hovering around the area.

Wolf Chest Armor Requirements

• Forge Level 2
• 20 Silver
• 5 Wolf Pelts
• 1 Iron Chain

Wolf armor generally requires a lot of Silver and a few wolf pelts, but each piece of armor also has an extra, slightly less obvious requirement. For the Wolf Chest Armor, that's an Iron Chain. Find these in the Sunken Crypts of the Swamp biome. You'll only need one for the armor, but if you can find a few more, Iron Chains are useful for building Forge Bellows, which can upgrade your Forge fairly easily; the other Forge upgrade add-ons require Bronze.

Wolf Leg Armor Requirements

• Forge Level 2
• 20 Silver
• 5 Wolf Pelts
• 4 Wolf Fangs

For the Wolf Leg Armor, you'll need Wolf Fangs in addition to the usual crafting materials. The good news is that these are fairly easy to come by; you should get them naturally as you hunt wolves for their pelts or just fight them off as you explore the mountains.

Drake Helmet Requirements

• Forge Level 2
• 20 Silver
• 2 Wolf Pelts
• 2 Drake Trophies

Though it's part of the Wolf Armor set, the Drake Helmet adds the requirement to hunt drakes as well as wolves. You'll find these creatures easily enough--they're flying blue dragons you can usually spot at a pretty decent distance. Use your bow to take them down; they're not tough to fight and don't have a ton of health, but make sure to keep moving when the drake stops flying to hover and shoot ice blasts at you. The enemy will fire three at a time, but you can dodge them without much trouble.

Drake Trophies might require you to hunt for a bit since not every drake will drop them. But like wolves, drakes are plentiful in the Mountain biome, so you should meet this requirement without too much trouble.

Wolf Fur Cape Requirements

• Workbench Level 2
• 4 Silver
• 6 Wolf Pelts
• 1 Wolf Trophy

The Wolf Fur Cape takes the least amount of Silver to craft, so you'll want to knock it out first rather than last. That's because wearing the cape will give you automatic Frost Resistance and keep you from freezing in the Mountain biome, and that'll make continuing your mining operation a whole lot easier. You'll need a Wolf Trophy for this one, so keep an eye out for star-quality wolves as you hunt. Also, note that you'll make the cape at your Workbench, so you'll need to upgrade it once to get access to the recipe.

With the complete Wolf Armor set, you're ready to start hunting down Moder, the dragon boss of the Mountain biome. It's a good idea to keep mining Silver to make additional weapons and further upgrade your armor to make it stronger, because your next stop is Valheim's toughest region: the Plains.