Sons of Valhalla: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

I Died So You Don't Have To — My Honest Take on Sons of Valhalla

I’ve been playing this game since the first public beta, and I’m still salty about my first run. I loaded in, picked the big axe, thought I was a god, and got absolutely wrecked by the first real camp because I didn’t understand stamina or shield positioning. I spent my first three runs trying to stack poison on the second boss and got destroyed EVERY TIME. That boss doesn’t give a damn about poison. You’ll learn that the hard way, like I did.

Sons of Valhalla is not a hack-and-slash. It’s a slow, methodical, punishing combat puzzle where every swing matters and one misstep means you’re staring at a loading screen. The art is gorgeous — those Viking sunsets hit different — but the game will not hold your hand. It expects you to figure out its language. I’m writing this because the tutorial is a half-assed whisper and the forums are full of guys talking about “footwork” like they’re fencing. You don’t need fencing. You need the real shit.

This guide is for the person who just bought the game, spent two hours in the first zone, and is wondering if they wasted forty bucks. You didn’t. But you are missing about a dozen things the game never tells you. I’m going to fix that.

Why Players Struggle — Real Frustrations Head-On

Let’s be real. This game has a learning curve that feels like a brick wall. Here’s exactly why you’re dying:

• Stamina is the real final boss. You think you have enough. You don’t. The game runs on a brutal stamina economy. Swinging a heavy axe twice and rolling once depletes your entire bar. That third enemy you didn’t account for? You’re dead because you can’t block.
• The block and parry timing is tighter than a tick. The window for a perfect parry is about 12 frames at 60 FPS. That’s half a quarter of a second. Miss it, and you eat the full hit. The game doesn’t tell you that some attacks are unblockable until the wind-up is halfway done.
• Positioning matters more than any gear. I see so many players trying to face-tank three enemies at once. This game punishes greed. If you're not constantly mindful of your back against a wall or an obstacle, you will get flanked and stun-locked to death in about four seconds.
• The “recommended” weapons are traps. The starting loadout feels okay, but the game gives you a broadsword that’s far slower than it looks. I spent my first day thinking all weapons were slow. Turns out, the short sword and fast shield combo is a secret “easy mode” that the game doesn’t advertise.
• Farming feels pointless until you understand the breakpoints. You can grind for an hour for a leather upgrade, but if you don’t know which armor slot scales with your build, you’re wasting time. The game’s crafting UI is garbage for explaining this.

The biggest pain point, though, is the lack of feedback. When you die, you rarely know why. Was it your positioning? Your stamina? A missed parry? The game just says “you died,” and that’s it. So I’ll tell you the real secret: 90% of deaths in this game come from running out of stamina while trying to block a heavy attack you should’ve dodged. That’s it. That’s the game.

Getting Started / First Steps — What You Actually Need Day One

Forget the story for a second. Forget the pretty environments. You need to survive the first three hours. Here is exactly what to do:

1. Rebind Your Dodge. The default dodge is on Space, which is fine, but the roll (double-tap) is mapped to the same key and it’s clunky. I rebound it to Shift for dodge and Space for jump/roll. It saves your life in tight corridors. Do it now.

2. Pick the “Raider” Starting Kit (Short Sword + Round Shield). Ignore the big two-hander. The short sword swings faster, costs less stamina, and the light attack combo can interrupt most basic enemy attacks. The round shield has a slightly wider parry window than the kite shield. It’s measurable — about 4 frames extra. That’s huge when you’re learning.

3. Master the “Two-Tap” Parry. You don’t need perfect parries yet. The game has a mechanic where tapping block twice in quick succession gives you a sloppy parry that still staggers most humanoid enemies. It costs a little extra stamina, but it’s forgiving. Practice this on the first camp’s shield guys. Once you can do it without thinking, move on to perfect parries.

4. Never Fight More Than Two Enemies at Once. Lure enemies out with a thrown weapon or a quick arrow. The game doesn’t explain it, but throwing your axe at the edge of a group’s aggro range pulls one enemy. Do this constantly. I can’t stress this enough. The combat system is not designed for crowd control. You will get surrounded and die.

5. Upgrade Your Stamina First. I know. The big health pool looks tempting. But a larger stamina bar lets you block, dodge, and attack more. It’s the difference between dying to a simple wolf pack and clearing the first fort. Rush the Stamina Boon at the first campfire you find. Everything else comes second.

6. Learn the “Block-Cancel.” If you start a heavy attack animation and see an enemy winding up, you can cancel the attack by pressing block. This is a get-out-of-jail card. It costs a tiny amount of stamina, but it’s far better than eating an axe to the face. I’ll link this in the tips section below.

Your first goal is to clear the Coastal Camp (the first real fort). Don’t try to stealth it. The game doesn’t have a proper stealth system. Instead, circle the perimeter, pick off the two lone patrols, then rush the archer on the platform. Kill him first. He has 40 HP and dies to two light swings. After that, you can handle the remaining three ground troops one by one.

Expert Tips & Tricks — Advanced Techniques That Actually Work

You’ve got the basics. Now let’s get dangerous. These are the techniques I use to clear runs in under 90 minutes (on Normal, anyway).

1. Weapon Swap Mid-Combo. This is a hidden tech. If you have two weapons equipped (say, a short sword and a hand axe), you can attack once with the sword, then press the weapon swap key (Q) during the recovery animation, and attack immediately with the second weapon. This chain is faster than any single weapon’s full combo. The short sword’s light attack into the hand axe’s heavy does a disgusting amount of burst damage — about 85 damage in under 1.5 seconds. That kills most basic units outright.

2. The “Stamina Shield” is a Lie. The game describes certain shields as having “high stamina damage reduction.” That only applies to blocking. If you parry, your shield’s stats mostly don’t matter. Parry uses a flat stamina cost. So don’t waste gold on a “better” shield for parrying. Spend it on your weapon upgrade instead.

3. Fire is King in the First Two Biomes. Head to the swamp area as soon as you can. There’s a merchant who sells oil flasks. Throw one at a group of three enemies, then use your torch (press R) to ignite it. The fire does 15 DPS for 8 seconds and it spreads to other flammable enemies. This is the best crowd control tool until you get to the third biome. I’ve cleared entire forts with just two oil flasks and a torch.

4. Use the Environment for Damage. This isn’t obvious, but the game has a lot of interactive hazards. The hanging logs on the first map can be shot down with an arrow. They do 50 damage to anyone underneath and knock them flat. The spike pits in the caves do 100 damage and you can fall into them too, so be careful. I’ve cheesed several tough mini-bosses by kiting them into those spikes.

5. The “No Armor” Speed Build. This is niche but powerful. If you stay at 0 armor weight (just your default clothes), your dodge roll has zero recovery frames. You can chain rolls infinitely. You also move 15% faster. This makes boss fights trivial because you can circle them forever. The downside is you die in 2-3 hits. I used this build on the third boss and killed him without taking a single hit. Try it if you’re stuck on a specific boss. This mechanic is similar to the “glass cannon” approach in Hades, though here the speed boost is tied to weight, not a boon.

6. Boss Attack Patterns Are Scripted to Stamina. Here’s the biggest secret: bosses in Sons of Valhalla have three phases, and they only transition when their stamina reaches 0. That means you can keep a boss in Phase 1 forever if you stop hitting them when their stamina is low. This sounds stupid, but it lets you control their moveset. For the Jotun fight (the big troll), Phase 2 has an unblockable stomp that hits in a huge AoE. If you never deplete his stamina past the first bar, he never stomps. Just chip away at his health slowly. It takes longer, but it’s 100% safe.

Common Mistakes to Avoid — What Got Me Killed (Probably Twice as Fast)

I’ve died maybe 200 times in this game. I’m not proud. But I learned. Here’s what not to do:

• Don’t Upgrade Armor Pieces Individually. The game lets you upgrade helmet, chest, legs, and gloves separately. This is a trap. Each upgrade costs materials that are rare early on. Instead, focus on getting the full set bonus. Wearing three pieces of the same tier gives you a hidden +5% damage reduction and +10% stamina regen. One piece at max level is worse than three pieces at mid-level.
• Don’t Hoard Resources. I’m a chronic hoarder in games. Don’t be like me. The Iron Ingots and Fine Leather you find in the first biome become obsolete by the second biome. Use them. Upgrade your short sword to +5 before you even touch the side quests. Trust me. The damage jump from +3 to +5 is about 22%, which is the difference between three-shotting archers and one-shotting them.
• Don’t Fight the Wolves Head-On. Wolves are the most frustrating enemy in the game. They circle you and attack in groups. Their attack pattern is: fake lunge, then real lunge. Don’t block the fake one — it wastes stamina. Instead, wait for the real lunge, dodge sideways, and hit them from the side. They have low health (25 HP) but their stagger resistance is high. One side hit kills them.
• The Shield-Breaker Perk is Useless. There’s a skill that says “your attacks do more shield damage.” Sounds great, right? Wrong. It only applies to physical attacks, and it’s a flat +3 damage to shield stamina. Most shields have 50+ stamina. It’s a waste of a skill point. Take the Vitality Surge (heal on kill) instead. It stacks multiplicatively with other heal effects and can restore up to 15% of your health after a big fight.
• Don’t Sell Runes to Merchants. The rune system is confusing. The game feeds you low-level runes that seem useless. But you can combine three runes of the same type at the crafting table to get a higher-tier one. I sold an “Elk’s Strength” rune for 50 gold early on and later learned it could’ve been upgraded to a rune that gives +30% heavy attack damage. Never sell runes. Ever.
• Don’t Rush the Third Boss. The third boss (the Valkyrie) has a one-shot mechanic if you haven’t upgraded your health ring to at least +4. I learned this the hard way. She does a grab attack that deals pure damage based on your missing health percentage. If you have 100 HP or less, you die outright. The health ring at +4 gives you 130 HP, which lets you survive with about 10 health. Go farm the catacombs for the crafting materials if you’re under-leveled.

FAQ

Q: Is there a “best” weapon in the game?
A: Not really, but the Dane Axe (found in the third biome) is statistically the best for damage output if you can handle its slow speed. It does 65 base damage and has a special heavy attack that cleaves through shields. For new players, the Seax (a short blade found early) is better because it swings fast and costs almost no stamina.

Q: How do I get more skill points?
A: You get one skill point per level, but you also find Rune Stones hidden around the map. There are eight in the first biome. Each gives you a free skill point. The game doesn’t mark them on your map unless you buy a map fragment from the merchant. Check behind waterfalls and in dead-end caves.

Q: The second boss (the Shield Maiden) keeps wrecking me. Any tips?
A: She has a three-hit combo that ends with a shield bash that breaks your guard. Don’t block the last hit. Roll to your left (your left, her right) because her shield is on her left arm. She has a 500 HP health pool but takes extra damage (110%) from fire. Oil flask + torch makes this fight trivial. Also, her parry window is wider than it looks — about 15 frames. Wait for the blue flash on her weapon, then parry.

Q: Is there a new game plus?
A: Yes, but it’s weird. You keep your weapons and skills, but enemies get double health and some new attack patterns. Armor upgrades reset to 0, which is annoying. I’d recommend a fresh run with a different build instead. The early game is more fun when you’re not overpowered.

Q: What’s the deal with the “Raven” mechanic?
A: The ravens you see flying around are optional challenges. If you kill three in a single zone, you get a permanent buff (like +5% crit chance or +10% movement speed). They’re hard to hit because they move fast, but using a throwing axe or a bow with a lead shot works. I usually skip them until I have a bow with a scope mod. For more on ranged builds, check out my Valheim guide — the archery mechanics have a similar projectile lead.