History YMMV / Valheim

** [[BigCreepyCrawlies Seekers]] are the main enemies that populate the Mistlands. In addition to hitting hard, they are resistant to all physical attacks from the front. And unlike any other previously encountered enemy, a regular seeker can take flight to quickly close the distance between you and it, bypassing any obstacle or elevation from the biome's increased verticality. Seeker Soldiers, while unable to fly, can destroy structures and knock you back a far distance.
** The Gjall are massive flying creatures that spit fireballs and drop ticks in combat.

** The Swamp is notoriously tougher than the Black Forest and Meadow biomes you are likely to explore and familiarise yourself with beforehand. The Swamp, in addition to being dark even in daytime, is filled with felled unbreakable trees to jump past and puddles to swim through, both of which will slow the player's navigation of the biome to a crawl without the Rested buff increasing their stamina regeneration. Of course, the Swamp is also covered in a perpetual rain, incurring a stamina regeneration penalty for as long as the player is outside and ensuring they can't get an easy Rested buff from campfires should it run out. And *then* come the enemies, three of which can inflict a longer lasting and much stronger poison than what was seen from bees and graydwarf shamans prior. Accompanying said poisonous creatures are hard-hitting enemies that can be difficult to spot from a distance and can attack from range, which can quickly spell disaster if unprepared.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: Though hard to pull off as it's chance more than anything, few things in Valheim are as funy as managing to kill an enemy via falling tree.

** [[BigCreepy-Crawlies Seekers]] are the main enemies that populate the Mistlands. In addition to hitting hard, they are resistant to all physical attacks from the front. And unlike any other previously encountered enemy, a regular seeker can take flight to quickly close the distance between you and it, bypassing any obstacle or elevation from the biome's increased verticality. Seeker Soldiers, while unable to fly, can destroy structures and knock you back a far distance.

** Deathsquitos are arguably the most famous enemy for how many expeditions they have ruined. At only 10 hp even early game players can one-shot them quite easily. The catch is that Deathsquitos deal 90 damage a hit, fly and are among the fastest enemies in the game, being very difficult to outrun. Experienced players with the gear to bring down the damage to acceptable levels and a good shield tend to be fine, but players below the silver age are likely to find themselves in trouble. Deathsquitos have a large aggro range, can be difficult to see coming and have a habit of hanging out near the borders of other biomes, sometimes locking onto players still well into a neighbouring biome. Their ability to fly means they may also fly over water to harass any boat accidentally sailing too close to a plains coast. Deathsquitos are so loathed it has spawned a multitude of memes and the developers even nerfed their initial damage output.

** Seekers are GiantCreepyCrawlies that, well, seek you out and can take ridiculous amounts of damage. Seeker Soldiers are even worse.

** The Swamp is notoriously tougher than the Dark Forest and Meadow biomes you are likely to explore and familiarise yourself with beforehand. The Swamp is full of poisonous creatures, status-debuffing conditions like frequent rain and hard-hitting enemies that can be difficult to spot.
** After the Swamp and Mountain biomes comes the Plains, an even bigger spike (to the point where hiding from plains foes in a swam is a valid strategy), almost entirely due to the Deathsquitoes and Fulings.

** The fear of being overwhelmed by enemies while in a far away place, difficult to reach location or a high level biome. Whether the player (accidentally) runs into too many enemies at once or runs out of stamina, death means all your precious gear you might have spend hours on to assemble is left right where you died. Getting it back can be a tough ordeal, to the point where a community exists that will aid players for free in retrieving their gear, known as the Body Recovery Squad.

** Nighttime in general. As night falls, a particular theme starts playing regardless of the biome you're in. Enemy spawn rates increase, including the chances to encounter the more powerful star versions of regular foes. Some biomes also feature dangerous night-exclusive enemies.

** Ooze from blobs can be crafted into poisonous grenades or a refreshing energy drink.
* ThatOneAttack: Anything that can poison you. Due to how health regeneration works, there is no quick method of replenishing health. Getting poisoned on low hp or when your food runs out can quickly seal your fate.
** The gas cloud attacks of Blobs and Oozers are particularly nasty, as it's near instantaneous once executed and can't be blocked by any means. The poison inflicted by Oozers also has a high duration value.

** After the Mistlands update, some components are found only in (appropriately enough) dvergur component crates. Many players take issue with needing to steal from the dvergur (just about the only thing ''not'' trying to kill them on sight), eading to all manner of strategies to get the components without getting their hands dirty (such as kiting Seekers or Gjall towards dvergur outposts).

** The swamp biome has all the ingredients that make swamp levels notorious. It is rife with [[DemonicSpiders dangerous enemies]] that can poison you, catch you off guard, and deal a lot of damage. The area has low light even during the day and it often rains. The many puddles and gnarled trees hamper your movement and can obscure hostile creatures to boot.

** The Forsaken require sacrifices to summon that are either rare (deer heads only have a 50% chance of dropping from deer), found on tough enemies (Ancient Seeds are dropped by Greydwarf Brutes and Nests, which constantly spawn greydwarves until destroyed) or hostile biomes (Withered Bones are easy to find in crypts but require surviving the swamps and the crypts), or both (Dragon Eggs in the cold, blizzard-prone mountains, fortunately they can be seen from a distance; Fuling totems are in camps swarming with the BossInMookClothing Fulings).

* GameBreaker: Having the Stagbreaker greatly helps with exploring burial chambers as it lets you hit the skeletons behind a door without opening it, often flattening them at no risk to yourself.

* {{Squick}}: Sausages are made with meat and Draugr entrails, you know, the slimy, rotten, and putrefied undead ''humans'' you find all over the swamp.

** After the Mistlands update, some components are found only in (appropriately enough) dvergur component crates. Many players take issue with needing to steal from the dvergur (just about the only thing ''not'' trying to kill them on sight), eading to all manner of strategies to get the components without getting their hands dirty (such as kiting Seekers of Gjall towards dvergur outposts).

** The mountains combine hard to survey terrain with many opportunities to die from fall-damage and some of the most annoying enemies in the game. Aside from the aforementioned [[DemonicSpiders Wolves]] and [[GoddamnedBats Drakes]], the [[MightyGlacier Golems]] are extremely sturdy and hard-hitting enemies that are basicaly immune to ranged attacks. This means they have to be fought close-up on difficult terrain while they destroy the landscape. Thanks to the cold and fast enemies, it is also rather difficult to recover lost equipment, especially during the very tedious boss battle against the flying dragon that loves destroying player bases. On top of that, the exclusive dungeons, the Frost Caves, are also much harder discover than those in the Swamps or Black Forest.

* DifficultySpike: The Swamp is notoriously tougher than the Dark Forest and Meadow biomes you are likely to explore and familiarise yourself with beforehand. The Swamp is full of poisonous creatures, status-debuffing conditions like frequent rain and hard-hitting enemies that can be difficult to spot.

** Fulings. They can be very hard to spot in the high grass of the Plains, usually attack in packs of two to three, and one of the deadliest creatures in the game in melee. Not helping things is that, despite being a grade-A BeefGate monster, they look like goblins. In games that aren't ''Valheim'', Goblins tend to be on the bottom of enemy power rankings and serve as [[TheGoomba tutorial enemies]], which can lead to the player to underestimate them ([[DeathByGenreSavvy usually fatally so]]).

** Fulings. They can be very hard to spot in the high grass of the Plains, usually attack in packs of two to three, are ''extremely'' fast, and one of the deadliest creatures in the game in melee. Not helping things is that, despite being a grade-A BeefGate monster, they look like goblins. In games that aren't ''Valheim'', Goblins tend to be on the bottom of enemy power rankings and serve as [[TheGoomba tutorial enemies]], which can lead to the player to underestimate them ([[DeathByGenreSavvy usually fatally so]]).

* BreatherLevel: Arguably the plains, once the player has at least Iron Age equipment (which is 2 tiers lower than the area). It does have many powerful enemies but they are either easy to avoid/outrun (Fulings, Lox) or to kill (Deathsquito). Most importantly, the terrain is mostly flat, which it makes easy to navigate and survey, and doesn't have any adverse weather effects. Compared to the swamps and mountains, this makes for a rather relaxed exploration as long as you pick your fights carefully.

* BreatherLevel: Arguably the Plains, once the player has at least Iron Age equipment (which is 2 tiers lower than the area). It does have many powerful enemies but they are either easy to avoid/outrun (Fulings, Lox) or to kill (Deathsquito). Most importantly, the terrain is mostly flat, which it makes easy to navigate and survey, and doesn't have any adverse weather effects. Compared to the swamps and mountains, this makes for a rather relaxed exploration as long as you pick your fights carefully.

* ThatOneLevel: The swamp biome has all the ingredients that make swamp levels notorious. It is rife with [[DemonicSpiders dangerous enemies]] that can poison you, catch you off guard, and deal a lot of damage. The area has low light even during the day and it often rains. The many puddles and gnarled trees hamper your movement and can obscure hostile creatures to boot.
** The mountains combine hard to survey terrain with many opportunities to die from fall-damage and some of the most annoying enemies in the game. Aside from the aforementioned Wolves and Drakes, the Golems are extremely sturdy and hard-hitting enemies that are basicaly immune to ranged attacks. This means they have to be fought close-up on difficult terrain while they destroy the landscape. Thanks to the cold and fast enemies, it is also rather difficult to recover lost equipment, especially during the very tedious boss battle against the flying dragon that loves destroying player bases. On top of that, the exclusive dungeons, the Frost Caves, are also much harder discover than those in the Swamps or Black Forest.

** Fittingly, Bats in the Frost Caves. They are weak and die in one hit but are VERY numerous, attack in hit&run tactics, are only really attackable for a short moment during their attack, before they gain distance again and don't even drop anything useful. A fully equipped player will usually have to stand still, wait and methodically kill those pesky things for a minute while being in no real danger from their weak attacks. Most annoyingly, they do respawn after some time, so if a player dies in the cave, they can recovering the equipment while naked a huge pain because they are so fast and hard to avoid.

* BreatherLevel: Arguably the Plains, once the player has at least Iron Age equipment. It does have many powerful enemies but they are either easy to avoid/outrun (Fulings, Lox) or to kill (Deathsquito). Most importantly, the terrain is mostly flat, which it makes easy to navigate and survey, and doesn't have any adverse weather effects. Compared to the swamps and mountains, this makes for a rather relaxed exploration as long as you pick your fights carefully.

** Wolves are relatively easy to kill for a prepared player but can quickly become very dangerous when appearing during a fight with something else or while out of stamina, which is very common on the mountains. Since they both move and attack very fast, it is almost impossible to gain distance and recover depleted stamina and they usually have no problem navigating the difficult terrain to hunt their prey. A pack can potentially stunlock even well-equipped players to death if they are positioned correctly. To make matters worse, a special event can appear in large packs literally out of nowhere and, unlike with most events, can happen outside of bases. This is almost impossible to survive or outrun, unless the player can quickly reach a nearby base or portal.

* BreatherLevel: Arguably the Plains, once the player has at least Iron Age equipment. It does have many powerful enemies but they are either easy to avoid/outrun (Fulings, Lox) or easy to kill (Deathsquito). Most importantly, the terrain is mostly flat, which makes easy to navigate and survey, and doesn't have any adverse weather effects. Compared to the swamps and mountains, this makes for a rather relaxed exploration as long as you pick your fights carefully.

* GoodBadBugs: The Abyssal Harpoon is a spear with rope attached to it, and it's main purpose is to [[YouWillNotEvadeMe pull enemies closer to you and prevent them from running away]. But as [[WebVideo/SoundSmith]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8v7HCg-TRs figured out]], speared creatures build up force if they get stuck on something, which when they get unstuck will send them flying a short distance. And because players can be speared as well, and sitting in a chair counts as being "stuck", this exploit could be used to send players to '''the other side of the map'' in seconds.

* GoodBugsBadBugs: The Abyssal Harpoon is a spear with rope attached to it, and it's main purpose is to [[YouWillNotEvadeMe pull enemies closer to you and prevent them from running away]. But as [[WebVideo/SoundSmith]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8v7HCg-TRs figured out]], speared creatures build up force if they get stuck on something, which when they get unstuck will send them flying a short distance. And because players can be speared as well, and sitting in a chair counts as being "stuck", this exploit could be used to send players to '''the other side of the map'' in seconds.

* ThatOneSidequest: Finding Haldor the Merchant. For one, there is no indication in the game he even exists[[note]]Outside of the game, though, he appears in one of the screenshots on the game's Steam store page.[[/note]], and finding him is almost purely RNG, with the only limitation being that he's "somewhere" in the Black Forest. With good luck he might be near your starting area or the Elder altar, but with bad luck... let's just say there's a reason most guides tell you to just turn on cheats and fly around, or use a seed with his location already known. The good thing is you don't really ''need'' to find him, his wares are nice but not required to complete the game, just make it easier.
* UncannyValley: Troll faces are animated, unlike the flat textures of other enemies and the player character. They also turn their heads to look at the player, which makes them even more unnerving.

* ThatOneSidequest: Finding Haldor the Merchant. For one, there is no indication in the game he even exists[[note]]Outside of the game, though, he appears in one of the screenshots on the game's Steam store page.[[/note]], and finding him is almost purely RNG, with the only limitation being that he's "somewhere" in the Black Forest. With good luck he might be near your starting area or the Elder altar, but with bad luck... let's just say there's a reason most guides tell you to just turn on cheats and fly around, or use a seed with his location already known. The good thing is you don't really ''need'' to find him, his wares are nice but not required to complete the game, just make it easier.

* GuideDangIt:
** Figuring out how to obtain Sea Serpent scales without using a guide is quite an ordeal. If a serpent is slain on open water, its valuable scales will sink and can't be retrieved. In order to obtain them, the serpent must be defeated on land. How do you pull this off? Turns out you can craft a harpoon. However, the harpoon can't be made using stone, flint or metal. Instead, the player must venture out into the open sea to search for Leviathans, enormous yet benign creatures of which only the top of their stony carapaces are not submerged. The player must hop onto the island-like creature and use a pickaxe to mine the Abyssal Barnacles found there, which will yield Abyssal Chitin. With enough of this Chitin, a harpoon can then be made. Finally, the player can set out to find a sea serpent and harpoon it. Once you got one harpooned, you must make your way to the nearest coast all the while making sure the Serpent's struggles don't sink your boat first. Sail too fast, however, and your line breaks, resulting in the serpent swimming off. Once on land you must balance your stamina as you alternate between attacking the serpent and re-harpooning it. Quite often random mobs will come harass you as you drag your catch ashore. If you don't balance your stamina well, your line will break and the serpent slithers back into the ocean, fleeing immediately. Good luck, sailor!
** Learning how to tame animals is a small quest in and by itself, and every tameable animal requires its own food and plan for capturing and containing them while you try to tame them.

* DemonicSpiders: Valheim is home to quite a few unpleasant creatures that can present the player with a nasty Surprise

** Their competitors for the title? [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Trolls]]. Enormous blue brutes, while relatively slow and clumsy, they are relentless in pursuing you due to their large field of vision and their ability to just step over or smash to pieces most obstacles. They're also just as [[SmashMook strong]] and [[IncrediblyDurableEnemies tough]] as their massive size implies when you'll initially encounter them and your best equipment is flint and deer hides.

** Deathsquitos are arguably the most famous enemy for how many expeditions they have ruined. At only 10 hp even early game players can one-shot them quite easily. The catch is that Deathsquitos deal 90 damage a hit, fly and are among the fastest enemies in the game, being very difficult to outrun. Experienced players with the gear to bring down the damage to acceptable levels and a good shield tend to be fine, but players below the the silver age may find themselves in trouble. Deathsquitos have a large aggro range, can be difficult to see coming and have a habit of hanging out near the borders of other biomes, sometimes locking onto players still well into a neighbouring biome. Their ability to fly means they may also fly over water to harass any boat accidentally sailing too close to a plains coast. Deathsquitos ar so loathed it has spawned a multitude of memes and the developers even nerfed their initial damage output.
** Fulings. They can be very hard to spot in the high grass of the Plains, usually attack in packs of two to three, are ''extremely'' fast, and one of the deadliest creatures in the game in melee. Not helping things is that, despite being a grade-A BeefGate monster, they look like goblins. In games that aren't ''Valheim'', Goblins tend to be on the bottom of enemy power rankings, which can lead to the player to underestimate them ([[DeathByGenreSavvy usually fatally so]]).
* DifficultySpike: The swamp is notoriously tougher than the Dark Forest and Meadow biomes you are likely to explore and familiarise yourself with beforehand. The swamp is full of poisonous creatures, status-debuffing conditions like frequent rain and hard-hitting enemies that can be difficult to spot.

** The swamp. Aside from the game [[DifficultySpike ramping up the difficulty]] it is simply an unnerving place to be. The majority of enemies here are undead and the many trees in combination with the dim lighting makes it common to not notice a hidden foe. At night the place becomes shrouded in pitch black darkness and silent and deadly [[DemonicSpiders Wraiths]] may catch you by surprise. All of this is wrapped by a foreboding soundtrack that really screams "you shouldn't be here".