Valheim is full of things for you to discover and offers all sorts of weapons to take down enemies. However, one weapon is different from all the others: the Abyssal Harpoon. This weapon works quite differently than spears, swords, or axes.
What kind of weapon is it? The Abyssal Harpoon is a throwing weapon, similar to a spear. It is purely designed for ranged combat, making it ideal for hunting both on land and at sea.
Unlike the spear, the harpoon is attached to a rope, so you won’t lose it when you throw it. It automatically returns to you. The weapon is particularly interesting for players in a group, as you can fully utilize its advantages.
What makes it so special? The damage of the harpoon is extremely low, but killing enemies is not its task. Instead, the barbs of the harpoon get lodged in the enemy, and it gets stuck.
This allows you to drag hit enemies behind you and force them in a certain direction – at least until the rope snaps from too much distance or your stamina runs out. Since you cannot use another weapon simultaneously, it’s best to use it in a group. One player can skewer a target with the harpoon while others attack it.
Unlike most other weapons in the game, the harpoon is only available in one quality. You cannot upgrade it or craft better versions of it.
Crafting the Abyssal Harpoon in Valheim – Here’s how
What you need for the harpoon: Crafting is quite simple. You only need chitin to learn the recipe. You can find chitin in the ocean. To navigate it, you need a ship – preferably a longship or a karve; a raft is not advisable.
In the ocean, leviathans or krakens randomly appear that look like islands. On these “islands,” you can find deposits of chitin that you can mine with a pickaxe . But be careful, as soon as you start mining, the kraken will try to dive again.
It announces this with a rumble. Once it begins to move, you have a few seconds to escape back to your ship before it dives. So hurry and flee back to your ship to avoid ending up in the water. You won’t need a lot of chitin anyway. The crafting materials are:
- 8 x Fine Wood
- 30 x Chitin
- 3 x Leather Scraps
You will also need a level 2 workbench. In our guide, you will learn how to upgrade your workbench in Valheim.
What can I do with the harpoon? Mainly, the harpoon serves two purposes: to drag sea serpents onto land to kill them for their scales and to defeat bosses.
With the scales of sea serpents, you can craft one of the best shields, if your friends help. The enemies can also be defeated solo, but dragging them onto land is nearly impossible alone. With a bit of help, you can get the shield more easily.
You can easily lure bosses into a trap with the harpoon, such as a pit, to defeat them there. However, if you prefer to defeat them normally, you can find in our guide all the bosses of Valheim and how to summon and defeat them.
In general, the harpoon is worth it if you want to go hunting. If you want to stop deer from fleeing, skewer them and let your friends take down the prey. However, you can also use the harpoon to create chaos.
Through the tension and pulling force of the harpoon, crazy ideas can be implemented. For example, players have now built human catapults that shoot themselves – and sometimes don’t quite hit the target…
