In Valheim, armor—like many of your other gear pieces—is tied to your progress in each biome. That’s because you can only gather the required materials there to craft it. Each region offers two to three sets to choose from. They all come with different properties that help you in that specific area. Equip them at the right time, but also swap them out when you find a better set. The difference between light and heavy armor can also help you stay mobile when it matters. Below, we’ll look at all currently available armor, the bonuses they offer, and how to craft them.
Valheim Meadows armor: Rag set and Leather set
Every Valheim player starts with a rag armor set. It offers only minimal protection and consists of a tunic and pants. There are no bonuses, but you can upgrade it once with leather scraps. We do, however, recommend switching to the next set as soon as possible.
A clear step up is the Leather set, which you can craft from deer hide and bone fragments. Like all sets, you can upgrade it up to four times, although that becomes feasible later on. While it doesn’t provide a set bonus either, it is statistically stronger. If you want to dive into Valheim’s adventure with friends, you can rent a Valheim server. Here too, we suggest focusing on Leather so everyone has all three pieces.
Valheim Black Forest armor: Troll hide, Bear armor, and Bronze
The Black Forest is one of the few biomes with three armor sets. The lowest armor rating comes from the Troll hide set made with troll hide and bone fragments. It’s still a significant upgrade over Leather. If you equip all three pieces, you gain +15 Sneak as a set bonus. The cape is optional, but very cool.
A kind of sidegrade is the Bear armor. It offers a bit more defense and is crafted from bear pelts, claws, and blueberries. With this set, you can activate Berserker Mode to truly unleash in combat. Gain stamina and health regeneration and deal more damage with slash weapons—but you’ll also take slightly more damage yourself.
With the Bronze armor, you can opt for a heavy set. It makes you slower but tougher. You’ll need bronze and deer hide to craft it. There’s no set bonus here. Overall, we generally recommend the Bear armor instead.
Valheim Swamp armor: Root armor and Iron armor
The Swamp gets much more interesting thanks to one of the best sets in the game. Combine roots, ancient bark, and deer hide to craft Root armor and enjoy its benefits. Each piece has individual effects with resistances to poison and piercing. However, you are more vulnerable to fire. The full set bonus is +15 Bows. You do give up a bit of mobility, even though it’s a light set.
Alternatively, you can go back to metal with the solid Iron armor. There are no set bonuses here, but you get more defense. It suits slower, more precise playstyles. You can also mix and match pieces from both sets to get the most out of their individual perks.
Valheim Mountains armor: Fenris set and Wolf armor
In the snow-covered mountain ranges, you’ll have to hunt to craft the next two sets. For the light Fenris set, you’ll need Fenris hair, wolf pelts, and a Cultist trophy. This set makes you faster and more agile overall, grants +15 Unarmed, and provides resistance to fire. In return, it offers less protection.
The Wolf armor is noticeably sturdier and stronger, and it keeps you warmer for longer. You’ll also need silver and two Drake trophies. It makes you slower, but it excels at defense. Defense isn’t everything, though, which is why we tend to recommend the Fenris set.
Valheim Plains armor: Vileborn set and Padded armor
The wide-open Plains offer two sets that shine depending on your playstyle. The light option is the Vileborn set, which requires loot from Viles, bear pelts, and linen. It’s the better counterpart to Bear armor, with a huge set bonus for regeneration and damage with piercing weapons—but you’ll be more vulnerable to incoming hits.
The classic alternative is Padded armor. You’ll need plenty of iron and linen, but it’s far sturdier and provides more defense. As always with heavy armor, you’ll be slower and there are no bonuses, but you’re better protected overall.
Valheim Mistlands armor: Eitr set and Carapace armor
With the Mistlands comes a new armor focus, as the Eitr set is all about enhancing your magical abilities. You’ll need linen, feathers, refined eitr, iron, and scales. The set grants fast eitr regeneration, resistance to frost, a weakness to fire, and the Featherfall effect with the cape, which almost completely negates fall damage.
Of course, you can also opt for heavy Carapace armor, though it requires more materials: carapace and mandibles from Seekers, scales, refined eitr, and, as usual, iron. It makes you slower but offers high defense. We also recommend using the Feather cape here.
Valheim Ashlands armor: Ask, Embla, and Flametal
The current endgame biome, the Ashlands, offers three sets: a light, heavy, and magical armor set. Your choice comes down to playstyle, since all three are strong—use them according to your weapon setup.
The Embla set once again focuses on eitr regeneration, offering up to +130% for the full suit. To craft it, you’ll need linen, Flametal, Asksvin hides, and refined eitr.
The Ask set is the light armor, with bonuses that reduce stamina consumption while running, jumping, and attacking. It’s crafted from linen, lox hides, and Asksvin hides. The cape additionally grants the Wind effect—use wind direction to your advantage, on land and at sea.
Finally, you can go back to heavy armor if you gather enough Flametal, charred bones, refined eitr, Asksvin hides, and Morgen hearts. This set also grants heat resistance, which is very handy in the Ashlands. The matching cape reduces stamina use when attacking and dodging.
Conclusion: Best armor per biome in Valheim
The right armor can make your time in a given Valheim biome much easier. We recommend always aiming for the next best option, especially when you’re preparing to face the biome boss. Don’t forget that you can upgrade every set to make it stronger. You’ll often need to upgrade your workbench for that, which is sometimes only possible in the next biome. You can show off all your sets with an armor stand, by the way. And who knows which sets will be available in the far north with version 1.0.
