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The cup runneth over with open-world survival crafting games. Amongst this flood of choices, a handful of top-tier games stand out. Valheim is one of them. The Viking adventures that take place in this gorgeous, procedurally generated world are enough to entertain players for hundreds or thousands of hours. After a while, however, even the most captivating game can do with a bit of a refresher, even with regular updates. That’s where mods come in. From new items to game-changing mechanics, these are the best Valheim mods you can get your hands on, in no particular order.
20. Clock
(Updated on October 2, 2024 – updated images, links, and format)
The Clock mod makes a tiny but critical change by adding a clock. In a game where night brings danger to the fields and forests, being able to check the time at a glance is a massive boon. The player can either choose to know the exact time or a more general indicator such as Early Evening and the current day. Never miss dinner again!
19. Instant Monster Loot Drop
When a monster dies in Valheim, there’s a pause before the monster explodes and dumps whatever loot it’s carrying. The pause doesn’t exactly last ages, but when the player is eager to get on with their next activity, it can be annoying. The Instant Monster Loot Drop mod fixes that by eliminating the frustrating delay between slaying and reward.
18. Willybach’s HD Valheim
Valheim is something of a technical marvel. It can play on low-spec laptops as well as high-end PCs, and even at its ugliest, there’s something beautiful about it. That said, its graphics aren’t to everyone’s liking. If you’re in search of a straightforward graphical upgrade, look no further than Willybach’s HD Valheim. This Viking adventure has never looked better.
17. Mass Farming
Fans of survival crafting games are used to plucking resources out of their gardens and off the forest floor. With so much to collect, however, grabbing everything one at a time can be frustrating and dull. Mass Farming fixes that by allowing the player to grab everything in a radius around them with a simple button press. That means getting back to the action faster, which is always nice.
16. Valheimraft
Inspired by the ocean survival game Raft, Valheimraft allows players to build their very own rafts. Braving the ocean feels a lot better when you’re doing so in a custom craft of your own design. Set sail and throw down an anchor at will thanks to this mod. Whether the player can actually design a good seafaring vessel is a different matter.
15. Custom Textures
Do you want to spice up your game’s visuals but don’t want to use someone else’s premade images? If so, Custom Textures is the mod for you. This mod allows you to replace textures in the game with your own PNG files. Armor, weapons, tools, terrain, player models, and more can all be tweaked with this mod. Finally you can make the game as beautiful, ugly, or weird as you want. These textures will fit right in with the already gross Bile Bags.
14. FarmGrid
Not every player wants to farm, and not every farmer cares about messy gardens. For some, however, the sight of a disorderly garden plot inspires rage. With FarmGrid you’ll never have to worry about haphazardly placed vegetables again. This simple mod allows you to snap your crops to a grid when planting them, making sure everything stays nice and tidy.
13. Unrestricted Portals
With a map as large as the one in Valheim, fast travel is a necessity. By default, however, some items can’t be brought through portals. That can make traveling an inconvenience if the player wants to pack all of their goodies. Unrestricted Portals solves that by allowing the player to manually edit item permissions and give themselves full access to portal travel.
12. Better Archery
When it’s done well, archery can be one of the most satisfying styles of combat in gaming. The default archery system in Valheim isn’t exactly bad, but it’s not life-changing either. The Better Archery mod spruces up archery as a whole. Adding realistic arrow physics, retrievable arrows, better aim, and more, this is one of the best Valheim mods for ranged combat.
11. Better UI
So much in a game depends upon the user interface. If the UI isn’t good, it can be hard to find important information. The Better UI mod aims to improve things in Valheim by putting certain info at your fingertips. The map, skills, enemies, and cooking stations all receive some needed QoL tweaks, making this a great mod for those that just want things a bit more convenient.
10. Plant Everything
A rewrite of the Planting Plus mod, Plant Everything allows the cultivator to plant berry bushes, thistle, dandelions, mushrooms, and previously unavailable tree types, as well as other flora. For players who want the deepest farming experience they can get, this ranks amongst the best Valheim mods. Food plays a large role in keeping the player buffed, after all, and sometimes it’s just nice to have pretty plants.
9. Craft Build Smelt Cook Fuel Pull From Containers
Though Craft Build Smelt Cook Fuel Pull from Containers isn’t a name that rolls off the tongue, this mod makes a major QoL change. With it, the player can draw resources from nearby chests when using the blast furnace, cooking station, and other crafting stations. Not having to run back and forth to grab resources makes meal prep and other activities far less aggravating. With this mod, the player can focus on crafting.
8. Epic Loot
The Epic Loot mod makes major changes to the game, adding loot drops, magic items, and enchanting to Valheim. Monsters now drop Magic, Rare, Epic, and Legendary magic items, just as they would in Diablo and similar ARPGs. Though this fiddles with the game’s balance, it also makes hunting monsters much more interesting.
7. Equipment and Quick Slots
What makes Equipment and Quick Slots one of the best Valheim mods is that it gives equipment dedicated inventory slots and adds three additional quick slots with their own hotkeys. Sometimes little QoL changes like this one go further in improving the gameplay experience than major overhauls. Combat in Valheim is fast and vicious, and being able to access gear on the fly is a big deal.
6. Valheim Plus
Valheim Plus makes sweeping changes to the game, aiming to improve the experience overall. With this mod the player can modify the stats of characters, enemies, and buildings at will. It also improves the building system by allowing the player to place objects with greater precision. Tweaks to the difficulty and other QoL changes make this mod one of the best overall improvements around.
5. OdinArchitect – Custom Buildings
The feature that keeps many Valheim players engaged for so long is base building. The player constructs their home or village one stone and log at a time and watching it all come together is one of the game’s best experiences. OdinArchitect – Custom Buildings expands upon the base experience with new and altered construction pieces. Your dreams of Viking architecture just got grander thanks to one of the best Valheim mods.
4. Smarter Containers
Inventory management plagues some games more than others. Survival crafting games tend to suffer on this front due to the sheer number of resources that must be collected. The Smarter Containers mod keeps the player organized by teaching containers to redirect items to their appropriate storage areas instead of splitting stacks unnecessarily. With several helpful organization features, Smarter Containers is a great pick.
3. Trash Items
When inventory management becomes too much of a hassle, the best solution is to just throw some things out. With every item the player picks up, their encumbrance increases, and the Trash Items mod gives the player a quick and convenient fix. This mod adds a trash can to the inventory screen, and the player can drag and drop items into it to destroy them forever.
2. First Person View
The First Person View mod does exactly what it sounds like: changes the game from third-person view to first. The game wasn’t designed to play that way, and it’s certainly an adjustment. Once you get used to it, however, you begin to appreciate Valheim in a new way. The first-person perspective only makes this gorgeous game that much more immersive, making it one of the best Valheim mods.
1. Valheim Legends
Despite having skills, weapons, and other powers, Valheim is a survival crafting game first and foremost, not an RPG. The Valheim Legends mod changes that, introducing character classes to the game. Each of the 12 classes has unique abilities that change how you approach combat. Did this already huge game need classes? Probably not, but we’re glad that they’re here. There are already Mage Caps, after all. Maybe it’s time for some proper mages.
