Quick answer: The Deep North adds roughly 30 new materials in Valheim 1.0, but they come from six different source types — not one mining route. The first thing to farm is Frostcore (from Frysling kills and Frost Cave "Frostcore Hangers") and Ice (mined with a Black Metal Pickaxe), because together they build the two new stations: the Frigid Kiln (turns 5 Ice into 1 Liquid Frost) and the Frost Foundry (hardens Casts into Nord gear). After that, gather Timberwood and creature drops by recipe, and only start the heavy Petrified Tissue → Bloodgold chain once you have a Stone Portal ready, because Bloodgold can't pass through a normal wooden portal. This guide is stamped to patch 1.0.16; every quantity below is community-measured on the live 1.0 build, not officially published by Iron Gate.
The Deep North is the eighth and final biome, shipped with Valheim's 1.0 launch on September 9, 2026. Unlike earlier biomes, its useful loot doesn't sit in tidy ore veins you clear with a pickaxe. Instead the Deep North is a resource network: cold materials, wood and biological materials, creature drops, extraction targets, dungeon loot, and processed outputs — each collected a different way. Try to farm it like the Swamp and you'll waste hours; plan around the specific Nord item you want to craft and each trip pays off.
⚠️ Version note: Valheim 1.0 launched September 9, 2026; the current live build is patch 1.0.16 (valheim.com patch notes), developed by Iron Gate AB and published by Coffee Stain Publishing (Steam AppID 892970). Iron Gate has not published a full Deep North material list or exact recipe costs, so the numbers here are community-measured and datamined on the 1.0 build. Where a value can shift patch to patch, this guide flags it — always confirm against the in-game recipe.
Key Takeaways
- Six source families, not one node list: cold materials, wood/biological, creature drops, extraction targets, dungeon loot, and processed outputs.
- Farm Frostcore + Ice first. 20 Frostcore builds both new stations; Ice becomes Liquid Frost at a 5:1 ratio.
- You need a Black Metal Pickaxe for Ice — a lower-tier pickaxe won't cut it, and ice sheets are a genuine drowning hazard.
- Bloodgold is not mined. You break petrified Gammeltroll statues with Ember Charges (a pickaxe does nothing), smelt the Petrified Tissue in a Blast Furnace, and it needs a Stone Portal to carry home.
- Moulds are consumed when you make a Cast — one mould is not a reusable blueprint.
- Gather by recipe. Decide which Nord weapon, shield, or saddle you want next, then collect only what it needs.
What are the six Deep North source families?
The single biggest mistake returning players make is treating the Deep North as one big quarry. The shipped 1.0 biome spreads its value across six source types, and each one asks for a different tool, prerequisite, and return plan:
| Source family | Representative materials | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Cold materials | Frostcore, Ice | Kill Fryslings, mine ice with a Black Metal Pickaxe |
| Wood & biological | Timberwood, Frozen Branch, Seal Blubber | Break snowy wood objects; collect creature-specific drops |
| Creature drops | Moose Hide/Meat/Sinew, Seal Pelt, Long Claws, Nornathread, Leather Straps | Kill the relevant creature |
| Extraction targets | Petrified Tissue | Throw Ember Charges at petrified Gammeltroll statues |
| Dungeon loot | Moulds, Scrap Iron, Silver Necklace, Memorial Coal | Search Winding Tunnels and Mörkhalla props/chests |
| Processed outputs | Liquid Frost, Bloodgold, Cast items | Convert inputs at the correct station chain |
Two objects sit outside this taxonomy and trip people up. Malicious Ice is not an ice vein — breaking it gives no material and instead starts the Jotun invasion event. Malicious Blood drops from that invasion's Black Ice Core; it's a boss-summon item for Kall Fimbulbringer, not an ordinary harvest. Keep both off your normal resource checklist.
One more planning rule up front: if you're continuing an existing world, sail into northern terrain you had not explored before 1.0. World generation is lazy and permanent, so areas you'd already loaded may keep their old placeholder snow instead of the real Deep North. A fresh world is the cleanest option for resource generation — and either way, back up your world file before you go.
How do you get Frostcore and Ice? (build the cold-processing chain first)
The first useful Deep North reserve is Frostcore and Ice, because together they unlock the cold-processing workshop that everything else feeds into.
Frostcore comes from two places. Fryslings (small Deep North enemies) drop 1 Frostcore each and are renewable, so they're your long-term supply. Frostcore Hangers appear in the Mountain biome's Frost Caves — these are finite and do not regrow, so grab the initial cave stock, then farm Fryslings after. Frostcore stacks to 20 and weighs 1, and you need 10 per cold station, so 20 Frostcore is your first hard target.
Ice requires a Black Metal Pickaxe — a Deep North necessity most guides bury. It comes from Deep North ice sheets, black ice shards, frozen corpses, and frozen Greydwarves or Skeletons. According to community source data, Black Ice Shards roll 1–3 Ice each and larger Ice Shards roll 3–5, but these are rolls, not guaranteed totals — don't plan on a fixed number from any given shoreline. Ice stacks to 50, weighs 1, and is portal-safe.
⚠️ Ice sheets are a real hazard. They're slippery, they crack, and pieces can drop into the water. Fall through or end up on the wrong side of a broken sheet and you can drown or get stranded with no way back up. Treat the frozen shoreline as an active danger, not a calm quarry.
Once you have the inputs, build the two new stations (each needs a nearby Workbench):
| Station | Recipe (community-measured, 1.0.16) | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Frigid Kiln | 20 Stone, 10 Frostcore, 5 Ice | Turns 5 Ice → 1 Liquid Frost |
| Frost Foundry | 15 Iron, 20 Stone, 10 Frostcore | Hardens Casts into finished Nord gear/keys |
Counted together, both stations cost 20 Frostcore, 40 Stone, 15 Iron, and 5 Ice. Crucially, that starting 5 Ice is not the whole requirement — every additional 5 Ice produces 1 Liquid Frost, and Liquid Frost is the fuel the Frost Foundry burns to harden gear. Liquid Frost stacks to 50, weighs 2, and is portal-safe, so keep collecting Ice after the Kiln is up.
Where do you find Timberwood and creature drops?
Alongside the cold chain, most Nord recipes want Timberwood and a handful of creature-specific materials. These are gathered by source, not with one universal tool.
Timberwood is the easiest material to misread — it is not a standing-tree wood. You get it from snow-covered branches, old logs, roots in holes, Mörkhalla props, and Winding Tunnel roots, plus dungeon loot rolls. Timberwood Cones give you a renewable planting route, so spend direct sources on the craft in front of you and preserve Cones for a long-term reserve. Timberwood stacks to 50, weighs 2, and is portal-safe. For scale: many Nord weapons want 10 Timberwood, a Nord Greatshield wants 20, and a Moose Saddle wants 5.
Creature drops are more specific. Collect these against a known recipe rather than clearing every spawn:
| Creature | Drops (community-measured) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Moose | 4–6 Moose Meat, 2–3 Moose Hide, 2–3 Moose Sinew | Meat cooks at an Iron Cooking Station; Hide & Sinew are craft inputs |
| Adult Seal | 2–3 Seal Pelt, 2–3 Seal Blubber | Baby Seals give no Pelt — don't count them |
| Barka | 1 Frozen Branch | Direct crafting material |
| Elaking | 1–2 Elaking Hair Bundle | Crafting material |
| Eyeless One | 1–2 Long Claws | Crafting material |
| Hexen | 1–3 Nornathread | Crafting material |
| Krigen | 1–3 Leather Straps | Crafting material |
Inside the Winding Tunnels you'll also spot Luminous Larvae on the walls — passive glow-worm pickups (not enemies or nodes) that you grab by hand. They stack to 50, weigh almost nothing, and picking one up can unlock the Hooded Lantern. Grab them whenever you pass.
How do you make Bloodgold in the Deep North?
Bloodgold is the Deep North's top-tier metal — and it is not mined. This is the #1 player error, so it's worth being exact.
The chain runs like this:
- Get Embers in the Ashlands. Embers come from Fader-linked burning material and the Eternal Pyre build piece, so Fader (the Ashlands boss) needs to be dead. Embers stack to 50, weigh 0.5, and are portal-safe.
- Craft Ember Charges at a Workbench. 2 Seal Pelts + 1 Embers = 10 Ember Charges (each charge costs 8 stamina to throw).
- Break a petrified Gammeltroll. Find a petrified Gammeltroll statue and throw about two Ember Charges at its ankles. A pickaxe — including the Black Metal Pickaxe — cannot damage it.
- Collect Petrified Tissue. Community data reports 1–3 Tissue per statue (rolls, not a fixed amount).
- Smelt it in a Blast Furnace. Put Petrified Tissue + Coal into a Blast Furnace (not a Smelter, and not a Black Forge) to produce Bloodgold.
- Forge Nord gear. Combine Bloodgold with a mould (dungeon loot) and other materials at the appropriate forge to make a Cast, then harden the Cast in the Frost Foundry using Liquid Frost.
Because one batch is 10 charges and two charges handle one statue, one craft covers about five extractions. And plan your logistics: Petrified Tissue and Bloodgold each weigh 14 and stack to 30 — a full stack weighs 420 — and Bloodgold cannot pass through a wooden portal. You need a Stone Portal route from the statue site to your Blast Furnace to your base before you start extracting.
What do Winding Tunnels and Mörkhalla give you?
The two Deep North dungeons are where your moulds come from, and moulds decide which crafts are even possible.
Winding Tunnels — up to 40 per world, 32–48 rooms each, no map marker (so mark the entrance yourself). Value is spread across rubble piles, Wardrobe Shafts, roots, and loot containers, all roll-based. Community-inspected rolls: a Pile of Rubble has roughly a 2.9% mould chance and a 28.6% Timberwood chance; Wardrobe Shafts carry small chances at moulds and the Mould: Intricate Key, plus a high Timberwood chance. The lesson is to search the whole dungeon rather than count on any one room. Tunnels also yield Frostcore, Scrap Iron, Silver Necklace, Long Claws, Luminous Larvae, and more.
Mörkhalla — up to 40 per world, 4–5 rooms each. Smaller, but chest-dense: Ancient Chests roll 5–7 times, Jotun's Chests roll 2–4, and their tables include moulds, Timberwood, Scrap Iron, and Bloodgold-related loot. Coal piles and firepits hold Memorial Coal — note that's the correct item name (not "Memorial Core"), and current data lists no recipe or use for it yet, so don't let it displace real craft inputs on an early haul.
Mörkhalla's end rooms also contain Malicious Ice. Breaking it produces no material — it triggers the Jotun invasion ("The Jotun Advance"). Clear the invasion, break the Black Ice Core, and you get Malicious Blood, the item that summons the final boss. Leave Malicious Ice alone unless you're ready for that fight.
One warning about moulds: a mould is consumed when you use it to create a Cast. Finding one mould does not give you an unlimited blueprint — it's one craft. Record which moulds you find, then gather only the supporting materials for that specific item.
How do you carry it all home? (portal rules)
The Deep North haul splits cleanly by portal status, and getting this wrong means a wasted trip.
| Portal-safe (normal portals) | Stone Portal required / unconfirmed |
|---|---|
| Ice, Liquid Frost, Timberwood, Embers, most biological drops | Petrified Tissue, Bloodgold (Frostcore's flag is unconfirmed — verify in-game) |
A wooden portal simply refuses to let you enter carrying restricted cargo. A Stone Portal accepts it and can send it on to another Stone Portal or a wooden portal under normal rules. Since Petrified Tissue and Bloodgold are also heavy (14 each), the smart move is to build a Blast Furnace + Stone Portal outpost near your Gammeltroll sites, process there, and only move what your next craft needs. Everything else — Ice, Liquid Frost, Timberwood, Embers — rides home through ordinary portals.
What should you farm first? A stockpile order
Don't collect every new item equally. Build your first stockpile around the next craft:
- Gather 20 Frostcore, 40 Stone, 15 Iron, and 5 Ice for both cold stations.
- Build the Frigid Kiln, then keep mining Ice for Liquid Frost (5:1).
- Build the Frost Foundry once you have a mould + Cast plan to feed it.
- Collect Timberwood for the craft in front of you; preserve Cones for renewal.
- Mark Winding Tunnels and Mörkhalla, then revisit for moulds and loot.
- Prep Embers + Seal Pelts only when a Bloodgold run is planned — with a Stone Portal already in place.
Pick the Nord weapon, shield, trinket, or saddle you actually want, reserve its exact inputs, and the Deep North stops feeling like an endless grind.
FAQ
What's the first thing to farm in the Deep North? Frostcore and Ice. You need 20 Frostcore (from Fryslings and Frost Cave Hangers) and some Ice (mined with a Black Metal Pickaxe) to build the Frigid Kiln and Frost Foundry — the two stations every Deep North craft depends on.
Is Bloodgold mined with a pickaxe? No. Bloodgold is not an ore. You break a petrified Gammeltroll statue by throwing Ember Charges at it (a pickaxe does nothing), collect the Petrified Tissue, then smelt that Tissue with Coal in a Blast Furnace to get Bloodgold.
How do you make Liquid Frost? Put Ice into a Frigid Kiln. Every 5 Ice produces 1 Liquid Frost, which is the fuel the Frost Foundry uses to harden Casts into finished Nord gear. You need the Frigid Kiln built first, which itself requires Frostcore.
Can Bloodgold go through a portal? Not a wooden portal — it's restricted cargo. You need a Stone Portal to move Bloodgold and Petrified Tissue. Ice, Liquid Frost, Timberwood, and Embers all travel fine through ordinary portals.
Do I need a new world for the Deep North? Not strictly — your old world, character, and base carry into 1.0, and unexplored northern terrain generates the new biome. But areas you'd already explored may keep the old placeholder snow, so Iron Gate recommends a new world for the cleanest generation. Back up your world file either way.
What is Malicious Ice for? Nothing you can harvest. Breaking Malicious Ice in a Mörkhalla end room starts the Jotun invasion event; defeating it and breaking the Black Ice Core gives Malicious Blood, which is used to summon the final boss, Kall Fimbulbringer.
More Valheim guides
Building your Deep North endgame? These sibling guides cover the biome step by step.
- Valheim Deep North Guide: How to Survive the Final Biome
- Valheim Deep North Gear Guide: Best Weapons & Armor
- How to Get Bloodgold: Deep North Farming Guide
- Valheim Final Boss: How to Beat Kall Fimbulbringer
- Valheim Moose Guide: How to Tame and Ride a Moose
- Valheim Portals Guide: How to Build, Tag & Use Portals
