Swords, axes or polearms, in Valheim you are spoiled for choice. But one category is often overlooked because its actual damage isn’t particularly high. Yet daggers and small knives are extremely strong weapons if you know how to use them. Sure, their normal stats may not be the best, but they generally aren’t meant for direct one-on-one combat either. With knives you have to be skillful, learn to sneak and attack your enemies out of nowhere! That’s the only way to unleash their true power. We take a look at all the knives for you and show you how to use them properly. You can find an overview of all other weapon types in our weapons guide (Valheim Weapons Guide: Every Weapon Type, Strengths, and Best Uses) .
Valheim Knives for the Early Game: Flint and Copper
Knives have a low attack value, often with pierce and slash damage. Their attacks are fast, have a short range and use only little stamina. So they are well balanced, but not everyone’s cup of tea. Their primary attack is a 3-hit combo with double damage at the end. The secondary attack leaps at the enemy with 3x the damage. But you can also deal 6x damage if you attack enemies that haven’t spotted you yet. This is exactly where the strength of daggers lies!
Like all weapons, you can upgrade your daggers and usually use them for one or two biomes. You can also combine them with shields, except for one pair of knives. Or you can try the Forge of Potential to go beyond the maximum level. Look for the forge on your own Valheim server that you can rent from us. Or farm resources there together with your friends to upgrade your knives.
Flint Knife: Your First Knife Weapon
You can put together your first dagger from flint, wood and some leather scraps. Depending on its upgrade level, the weapon deals 5–8 pierce and slash damage each. This means the knife always lags behind other weapons like axes or swords, but we have already explained how you can get more damage out of them. Their agility and sneaky attacks are simply their strength!
We also advise you to train your sneaking early on. This way you use less stamina and enemies notice you much more slowly. Of course, you can also train the knife skill and deal more damage that way.
Crafting the Copper Knife: Strong Against Trolls
In the Black Forest you can upgrade directly to your second dagger with copper and wood, which is very effective against the huge trolls in particular! The weapon now deals 12–15 pierce and slash damage each, but you also have to keep its fast attack in mind. If you don’t have enough defense, you can use it together with a shield. We recommend the Bronze Buckler for this!
Valheim Knives in the Mid Game: Abyssal Razor and Silver
Abyssal Razor: A Knife Made from Sea Monster Chitin
You can craft this extremely cool-looking knife for your adventure in the Swamp, but you have to look for the necessary materials elsewhere. You need leather scraps, Fine Wood and chitin. Chitin is probably what you’ll have to find first. It is mainly found in the Ocean, on the backs of Leviathans. Mine the Abyssal Barnacles there with your pickaxe and collect chitin until the Leviathan dives. Sometimes it is also dropped by Coral Cod when fishing.
The knife deals 20–23 pierce and slash damage, making it a good upgrade over the Copper Knife. And with its jagged yellow blade it simply looks great!
Silver Knife for the Mountains: With Spirit Damage
The following Silver Knife is much easier to craft again. You need silver, wood, leather scraps and iron. It is the only knife that deals 12 spirit damage in addition to 25–28 pierce and slash damage each. Probably because of the silver, which, according to legend, is strong against the supernatural.
Valheim Knives for the Late Game: Black Metal, Skoll and Hati and Nord Dagger
Black Metal Knife for the Plains
On the Plains you have the Black Metal Knife, which now deals 34–37 pierce and slash damage. Craft it from Black Metal, Fine Wood and Linen Thread. It is a solid and strong weapon, but you have to use it properly.
Skoll and Hati: The Dual Blades in Valheim
In the Mistlands you can then switch to the dual blades Skoll and Hati at the Black Forge. These weapons are unique and, with 45–48 pierce and slash damage each, much stronger than the Black Metal Knife. You need similar materials, including Black Metal, iron and Fine Wood again.
The daggers can only be used two-handed, which sets them apart from all other weapons in this category. This lets you attack faster, but you can’t use a shield. They are the knife weapon of the Mistlands, but can lose effectiveness in the Ashlands.
The Mighty Nord Dagger from the Deep North
In fact, knives skip the Ashlands. Only in the Deep North does a new dagger await you again, the strongest weapon in this category. With it you deal 75–90 pierce and slash damage each, which is really impressive! You also once again have the choice between two upgrades: Frostfire and Thunderblood.
Frostfire Dagger: Use a Frostfire Essence for additional frost and fire damage, but reduced normal damage.
Thunderblood Dagger: Use the Thunderblood Essence for slightly more pierce and slash damage plus lightning damage.
As with all weapons in the Deep North, you first need the mould, which you can find in the Winding Tunnels, at Memorial Sites or in Mörkhalla. We already have a guide on how to craft Nord weapons (Valheim 1.0: Weapon crafting in the Deep North with Bloodgold & upgrades) . In addition, you need Bloodgold, Timberwood and then Liquid Frost for the cast.
Conclusion: Knives and Sneak Attacks Are a Strong Secret Weapon
At first glance, knives and daggers in Valheim seem very weak, yet they can deal an enormous amount of damage. Combine your knife with sneaking and you are much stronger than with many other weapons. On top of that, with slash and pierce damage you cover two damage types at once. In direct combat, daggers attack very quickly, use little stamina and can therefore kill enemies fast. You should definitely not underestimate them and give them a try the next time you play Valheim.
