Valheim relies on difficulty and challenge to remain exciting. One of the hardest enemies in the game, the boss Bonemass, seems to pose a particularly large threat. However, the developers apparently see no reason for a nerf – on the contrary.
What kind of boss is this? Bonemass is the third boss in the game and is located in the Swamp biome. The boss is a massive, green mass of decaying corpses and skeleton parts that poison the area around them.
He has several abilities, such as creating poison clouds or summoning additional enemies to attack you. He is considered by many players to be the toughest boss so far, especially since he appears relatively early in the game.
One significant feature is that he possesses resistance to damage types from most weapons, such as piercing and slashing damage. This renders the usual equipment of many players ineffective and makes the boss tricky. Now he has even become harder.
This is the new patch: On February 25, the developers released a new update for Valheim (via Steam). It included adjustments for three bosses: Bonemass, Moder, and Yagluth.
The developers did not reveal exactly what was changed, but the update description states: “Some balancing fixes were made to bosses to make them more challenging (you just killed them too quickly).”
Specifically, Bonemass now has a shorter cooldown on his melee attacks, Moder gains 2,500 health points, and Yagluth gets slightly better resistances and double the health, as players could previously kill him in under a minute (via Twitter).
Bonemass Sparks Discussion – Too Strong or Too Weak?
This is what players are discussing: Bonemass has been a point of discussion among players for some time. Especially solo players find him tough, a few even consider him too tough. On reddit, there are always posts from players complaining that they cannot defeat Bonemass (via reddit).
However, these posts rarely receive support. Apparently, the majority of players find Bonemass just right as he is – or at least simply not too hard. In other threads and also on Steam, there are more frequent requests from players not to make Bonemass and Valheim in general easier (via Steam).
In a thread on reddit, the user InsidiousDefeat even addresses the devs directly: “Please do not nerf Bonemass.”
Valheim should be challenging and hard, after all, players should prove themselves as powerful warriors worthy to fight alongside the Norse god Odin. Some players even suspect that Odin himself is watching their progress.
Apparently, this feeling of challenge and achievement would be lost if Valheim becomes too easy.
How do I defeat Bonemass? The main difficulty with Bonemass lies in his poison and his resistances against most weapons, especially bows and arrows. When fighting against him, be sure to pack the following:
- Poison resistance mead – our guide explains how to make mead in Valheim
- Stamina and healing potions (also mead)
- The right food for good buffs – we have the best food in Valheim listed here along with recipes
- A mace or a club – you can find the best weapons in Valheim in our list
- Frost arrows for your bow, if you can already craft them
Even a simple wooden club can deal more damage to Bonemass than a hunting bow. Make sure your weapons deal blunt damage, then the third boss should not be a problem. Also, get familiar with the controls.
Unlike Eikthyr and the Ancient, you can hardly block or parry Bonemass’s attacks. It’s better to dodge his attacks and lure him around his altar. Since he is quite slow, you can attack him multiple times after one of his attacks and then escape.
We explain in our guide on MeinMMO in detail how to summon and defeat all bosses in Valheim.
