The oceans of Valheim are largely vacant currently, making sailing from island to island a seemingly passive voyage. However, there is one gigantic species of pr🥂edator that lurks in the deeps.
Serpents are larger than life sea monsters, and if their sheer 🌃size wasn't enough to chill your bones, they are also terrifyingly aggressive. If you have run afoul of these nightmarish creatures, here's everything you need to know to avoid a shipwreck and a watery grave.
Preparing For Your Open Sea Adventure
If you're just beginning to explore the waterways around Valheim, you're probably not ready for this momentous undertaking. That's because the Raft which you are first able to craft is simply unequipped to withstand a run-in with these monstrous serpents. The other reason is that a single player will have difficulty taking down a Serpent at any level, let alone a Viking just learning how to set sail. Optimally, you will set out with a small hunting party of about three Vikings to comfortably overpower these great beasts.
Weaponry
Before embarking on this dangerous voyage, you'll need to make sure you have all the right equipment and not just a sturdy Karve or Longship. You'll also want to craft plenty of Frost Arrows, and even the Frostner war hammer can come in handy. This means you won't want to actively seek out a Serpent until you have ventured into the Mountains biome to collect Freeze Glands🔴 from the Drakes that dwell there.
You'll likely be relying heavily on ranged attacks, so a well-crafted bow is also advised. You should have a Finewood Bow at the very least,🃏 but if you can manage to craft a Hunting Bow, or better yet, the Draugr Fang before setting out, those are optimal choices.
Tools of The Sea
You will also want to have an Abyssal Harpoon in your arsenal. This won't be used for fighting purposes, but it is an invaluable tool when nearing the end of the battle. To craft one of these, you'll need eight Fine Wood logs, thirty pieces of Chitin, and three Leather Scraps. Fine W🌱ood is collect𓂃ed from chopping down Birch and Oak trees, while Leather Scraps are a common drop from Boars.
Chitin is a bit more difficult to obtain, being that you need to mine them from the backs of Leviathans. These gigantic sea dwellers appear like small islands covered in barnacles. While they are docile creatures, they don't take kindly to Vikings mining away their Abyssal Barnacles with a pickaxe. Each barnacle you mine produces a 10% chance the Leviathan will cry out and retreat below the waves. So ♌always be ready to make a dash back to your boat when farming for Cꦅhitin.
Slaying The Mighty Serpent
When a Serpent does lurk out from the depths, you will need that Longship or at least a Karve to stand a chance of outmaneuvering them. They are very hostile beings and will not only aim for the living beings aboard the boats but the vessels themselv꧟es. This is one of the reasons it's a good idea toಌ bring at least one crewmate along on the voyage, so one may steer the boat while the other continues the assault.
Serpents have a weakness against frost damage, hence the frost-laden arsenal of arrows and Frostner. Using the Draugr Fang bow will cause additional poison damage, ensuring the Serpent is taking constant damage — no matter how insignificant. Though Serpents are resistant to this type of damage, they are not immune, and every bit of damage helps against these ✃mighty reptiles.
The Frostner war hammer is capable of savaging Serpents if they come within striking range of the boat, but it is also a great way to finish them of𓆏f quickly once haulingꦓ them ashore.
Salvaging the Spoils
You'll need to use the Abyssal Harpoon to drag the Serpent ashore before finishing it off. Otherwise, valuable resources such as Serpent scales and the trophy will sink to the depths of the Ocean floor, which is currently impossible for players to reach. Simply kiting the Serpent into the shallows is not enough, as they will give up the chase once you lure 🍰them too far from their original spawn point.
An Abyssal Harpoon only causes 10 points of piercing damage, making it safe to use on most creatures without killing them, let alone a giant sea serpent. Be swift about bringing the Serpent ashore, and don't try to attack it anymore before you have it successfully beached as the line will snap if you assault it again. The line may also break if the Serpent tries dragging yဣou through any obstacles, but if it swims too far out of range in a clear shot, the harpoon will aut🍸omatically drag the Serpent back to you.
As noted before, once you successfully beach this giant Serpent, you can finish it off swiftly by hauling away at it with the Frostner war hammer. Once it's been slain, all of its loot, including the trophy and Serpent Scales that🌟 are too heavy to remain buoyant in deeper waters (or in some cases fail to spawn entireꦐly), should drop safely on the shore.