Applies to Valheim 1.0, patch 1.0.21 (released on Steam October 28, 2026). Boss, item and spawn numbers come from the community Valheim Wiki. Patch details come from Iron Gate's 1.0.21 notes.
Moder is the fourth Forsaken and the boss of the Mountain, and she is the first boss most players spend longer finding than fighting. She has 7,500 health, she breathes 200 Frost down a 30-meter line, and she is weak to Fire and immune to Frost, Spirit and Stagger. That immunity list quietly ruins the gear plenty of players bring. The Frostner loses most of its damage here, and the Spirit component of your Silver Sword does nothing.
This guide covers where her altar spawns, how to carry 600 weight of Dragon Eggs, all four attacks with what they actually do through armor, how many arrows you need at your Bow skill, and what her 10 Dragon Tears unlock.
Quick answer: To beat Moder in Valheim, place 3 Dragon Eggs from Drake Nests on her Forsaken Altar in the Mountain. Find the altar with a Vegvisir in a Frost Cave or at a Mountain Tower. She has 7,500 HP, is weak to Fire and immune to Frost, Spirit and Stagger. Wear frost resistance (Wolf chest, Wolf Fur Cape or Frost Resistance Mead), bring a Draugr Fang with Obsidian arrows, stay out of her breath line, and melee her when she lands. She drops her trophy and 10 Dragon Tears.
What do you need before fighting Moder?
Moder sits right after Bonemass in the Valheim boss order. Bonemass drops the Wishbone, which finds the buried Silver this whole tier is built from. If you have no Silver yet, our Valheim ores guide covers where to dig, and our Valheim Mountain guide covers surviving the biome.
Before you place the eggs, have these sorted:
- Frost resistance. Her aura forces the Freezing effect, even if you lure her out of the Mountain. Freezing removes all health regen, cuts stamina regen by 60% and deals 1 damage per second.
- A Silver-tier bow or melee kit. The loadout table below has exact recipes.
- 3 Dragon Eggs, on the altar or close to it.
- Your three best foods, plus healing and stamina meads.
- A forge or a portal near the altar. The wiki warns that your weapons can break during this fight.
- Daylight. At night, Fenrings and starred Wolves can join in.
What are Moder's stats, weaknesses and resistances?
These are base (0-star, single-player) values from the wiki's Moder page.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Health | 7,500 |
| Summon | 3 × Dragon Egg at her Forsaken Altar (Mountain) |
| Weak | Fire (150% damage) |
| Immune | Frost, Spirit, Stagger |
| Neutral | Blunt, Slash, Pierce, Poison |
| Drops | Moder trophy, 10 Dragon Tears |
| Forsaken Power | +300 carry weight, always tailwind while sailing, Resistant vs Frost, +10% move speed for 300 s |
The immunities decide your weapon. The wiki calls the Frostner "ineffective" here, and the numbers agree: only its 35 Blunt counts, because its 40 Frost and 20 Spirit are both ignored. A Silver Sword keeps its full 75 Slash and loses its 30 Spirit. Frost arrows are out too, since her immunity zeroes their 52 Frost.
Staggering is also off the table, so parrying her won't open a double-damage window the way it does on most enemies.
How do you find Moder's altar?
Every world has three Moder altars, spaced at least 3,000 meters apart and all within 8,000 meters of the world center (wiki: Forsaken Altars). You only need one.
To mark the nearest altar on your map, find a Vegvisir, the small glowing runestone that reveals a boss location:
- Frost Caves. These are the dungeons with the spiky rock and blue icicle entrance. A Vegvisir may sit inside.
- Mountain Towers. Check the ground around these ruined towers.
This is the step that burns the most time. In a recent r/valheim thread, one player describes "searching for moder for 3 days straight" and another crossed four Mountain biomes before finding a stone, so don't assume your first Mountain has one. Sail along the coast and clear the Frost Caves you see. That same thread shows several Vegvisirs in one cave, so clear each cave fully before moving on.
Gamepad players get a small fix here. Iron Gate's 1.0.21 notes list: "Fixed a bug where you couldn't filter Boss or Death markers with Gamepad." If your map is cluttered with markers, you can now filter them on a controller.
You'll know the altar on sight: a round stone platform with glowing red markings and the inscription "SACRIFICE HER SPAWN".
Where do you get Dragon Eggs, and how do you carry them?
You need 3 Dragon Eggs. Each one sits in the middle of a Drake Nest, and each world has 200 of these nests, placed on relatively flat ground above 100 meters altitude. Up to 3 Drakes guard a nest, each with a 66% chance to spawn.
Drakes have only 100 HP, but each attack fires three balls of 90 Frost from 5 to 15 meters away, on a 6-second cooldown. Clear them with arrows before you touch the egg. They don't respawn at the nest, and they drop the Drake Trophies your helmet needs plus Freeze Glands for Eyescream.
The egg itself is the real problem:
- Weight: 200 each, so three eggs weigh 600. A Megingjord from Haldor adds 150 carry weight for 950 coins and is worth buying before this trip.
- Portals: Dragon Eggs can't go through a normal Portal. Only a Portal Stone carries them, and you won't have one at this stage.
- Respawn: a taken egg returns after 8 real-time hours (480 minutes).
Don't haul eggs across the sea. The wiki's Dragon Egg page says you can "simply" collect them in the same Mountain biome as the altar. Put a chest near the altar, stash your spare gear, and shuttle one egg at a time. You can set eggs on the platform without sacrificing them, which frees your weight for the next trip.
What attacks does Moder use?
Moder alternates between flying and landing. Two of her attacks work from the ground up close, one from range on the ground, and one from the air.
| Attack | Damage | When | Range | Cooldown | How to counter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold Breath | 200 Frost | Grounded | 5 to 20 m, 30 m beam | 8 s | Strafe sideways, she tracks you while firing |
| Ice Barrage | 16 icicles, each dealing 30 Pierce + 200 Frost | Airborne | 5 to 25 m | 8 s | Run, roll, block, or hide behind terrain |
| Bite | 120 Pierce | Grounded | Within 7 m | 30 s | Stay off the center line of her head |
| Claw | 110 Slash | Grounded | Within 10 m | 30 s per claw | Parry with a Silver Shield or roll |
All of them also carry 200 to 1,000 Chop and Pickaxe damage, which is why she flattens the trees and rocks around you. Don't rely on natural cover for long. Icicles that miss form crystals as tall as your character, with 10 health each, and they fall apart after 30 seconds.
How much does frost resistance actually help?
Far more than "50%" suggests, because resistance applies before armor and armor gets stronger against smaller hits. This table is our own calculation from the wiki's damage formula, at 61 armor (a quality 1 Wolf set), maximum damage roll, no block. The left column is hypothetical for that set, because its chestpiece and cape already give frost resistance. It shows what you'd take at the same armor with no resistance source.
| Attack | No frost resistance | With frost resistance |
|---|---|---|
| Cold Breath | 139 | 41 |
| One icicle | 169 | 69 |
| Bite | 59 | 59 |
| Claw | 50 | 50 |
| One Drake frost ball | 33 | 8 |
Without resistance, a single breath takes about 139 of a typical 144 health pool. With it, the same breath takes 41. Resistance sources don't stack, so one is enough: the Wolf Hide Chestpiece, Wolf Fur Cape, Lox Cape, Feather Cape or Frost Resistance Mead. If you wear one of those, skip the mead and bring a healing mead instead.
The table also shows why melee is safer than it looks. Up close, her physical hits are half the size of her frost attacks.
What is the best gear for Moder?
Recipes are quality 1 values from the wiki pages for the Draugr Fang, Obsidian arrow, Silver Sword, Silver Shield and Wolf Armor.
| Slot | Pick | Why | Recipe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | Draugr Fang | 47 Pierce + 5 Poison | 10 Ancient Bark, 20 Silver, 2 Deer Hide, 10 Guck (Forge 2) |
| Ammo | Obsidian arrow | 52 Pierce, best damage at this tier | 8 Wood, 4 Obsidian, 2 Feathers = 20 arrows (Workbench 3) |
| Ammo alt | Fire arrow | 11 Pierce + 22 Fire, about 44 after her weakness | 8 Wood, 8 Resin, 2 Feathers = 20 arrows |
| Melee | Silver Sword | 75 Slash counts in full | 2 Wood, 40 Silver, 3 Leather Scraps, 5 Iron (Forge 3) |
| Shield | Silver Shield | 60 block armor, parries her claws | 10 Finewood, 8 Silver (Forge 3) |
| Armor | Wolf set | 61 armor, built-in frost resistance | 64 Silver, 18 Wolf Pelt, 4 Wolf Fang, 2 Drake Trophy, 1 Chain, 1 Wolf Trophy |
Even with a Fire weakness, Obsidian beats Fire arrows. The wiki ranks them Needle, then Obsidian, then Fire, then Poison. Needle arrows come from a later biome, so Obsidian is your realistic best, and Fire arrows are the cheap fallback if you're short on Obsidian. Poison arrows waste damage because reapplied poison doesn't stack.
Food: Wolf Skewer (65 health), Wolf Jerky (33/33) and Eyescream (65 stamina) gives you 144 health and 169 stamina. For a pure bow run, swap the Skewer for Onion Soup (60 stamina). Our Valheim food tier list has more options.
Meads: Medium Healing Mead restores 75 HP over 10 seconds on a 2-minute cooldown. Tasty Mead doubles stamina regen but halves health regen.
How many arrows do you need for Moder?
This is a theoretical estimate from the wiki's skill formula, not a tested kill count: 7,500 HP divided by a fully charged Draugr Fang shot with Obsidian arrows (99 Pierce, quality 1), at average damage, solo, with every shot landing. It counts Pierce only, leaving out the bow's small Poison damage and any boss regeneration.
| Bow skill | Average hit | Arrows to kill |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 40 | 190 |
| 25 | 54 | 138 |
| 50 | 69 | 109 |
| 75 | 84 | 90 |
Real fights miss a lot, especially while she's flying, so pack well above your line. The wiki's bunker method suggests 300+ arrows, which is 15 crafts: 120 Wood, 60 Obsidian and 30 Feathers. A quality 1 Draugr Fang has only 100 durability, so upgrade it or carry a spare.
How do you beat Moder, step by step?
The bow plan (safest, best for solo):
- Clear Drakes and Stone Golems around the altar. Do it in the morning.
- Place a portal and a forge nearby, then raise a few earth pillars with the Hoe for cover. She destroys rocks and trees, so plan to lose some.
- Eat, activate your Forsaken Power, and place the eggs. Eikthyr's run and jump stamina saving is a good pick here, since Bonemass's power does nothing against Frost.
- Keep your distance. The wiki says that if you do, it's possible to finish the whole fight without taking damage.
- When she lands, fire and strafe sideways out of the breath line. When she flies, break line of sight until the barrage lands, then shoot.
- Repeat, and repair at the forge before your bow breaks. If it does break, you can finish her in melee.
The melee plan (fastest):
- Fight on flat ground. If she can't see a flat path to you, she won't approach, and she'll eventually take off.
- Stay out of range while she's airborne, then run in the moment she lands.
- Swing with the Silver Sword. Parry her claws with the Silver Shield and roll through anything else.
- Back off and reset when she lifts off. Don't chase her into the air.
The bunker cheese (slow, very safe): dig a trench around the base of the summoning platform, then jump in and hug the side after you place the eggs. Wait for her to land above you and shoot straight up. The wiki says her breath and melee attacks can't connect while you're under her next to the indestructible platform. Bring 300+ arrows, a fully upgraded bow and stamina foods.
In a group: bows cover the air phase, and any melee players take over when she lands. Only one player should use each damage-over-time arrow, so rotate one on Poison and Needle or Obsidian, and another on Fire.
What do you get for killing Moder?
- 10 Dragon Tears. Two build an Artisan Table (with 10 Wood), which unlocks the Blast Furnace, Spinning Wheel, Windmill and Stone Oven within 40 meters. The Blast Furnace is what lets you smelt Black Metal in the Plains.
- Moder's trophy. Hang it at the Sacrificial Stones for her Forsaken Power. For the full ranking, see our Forsaken Power tier list. It lasts 5 minutes per use, and the tailwind makes it the pick for long sailing trips.
- World changes. The "A cold wind blows from the mountains" Drake raid stops. "The horde is attacking!" Fuling raid can now begin if Yagluth is still alive. Haldor sells Wider Pockets, and the Bog Witch adds the Scythe Handle, Toadstool, Fragrant Bundle and Mountain Peak Pepper Powder.
Next up is the Plains. Our Yagluth guide picks up from here.
Did patch 1.0.21 change Moder?
No. The 1.0.21 notes on Valheim's official site list no changes to Moder, Drakes or Dragon Eggs, and neither do the Steam notes for earlier 1.0 patches we checked. The gamepad marker fix above is the only change that touches this fight, and only just.
FAQ
What is Moder weak to in Valheim? Fire, which deals 150% damage. Even so, Obsidian arrows out-damage Fire arrows. She's immune to Frost, Spirit and Stagger, and neutral to Blunt, Slash, Pierce and Poison.
How many Dragon Eggs do you need to summon Moder? Three, placed on her Forsaken Altar in the Mountain. Each egg weighs 200 and comes from a Drake Nest.
Can you teleport Dragon Eggs in Valheim? Not through a normal Portal. Only a Portal Stone can carry them, so collect eggs in the same Mountain biome as your altar and carry them on foot.
Does Moder despawn if you die or leave? No. A summoned boss stays until it's defeated. To recover a grave, eat at your base and run in light, since she wanders rather than guarding your body. Players in this r/valheim thread also suggest having a friend join to kite her away while you grab it.
How much health does Moder have? 7,500 HP at base, three times The Elder's 2,500. Extra nearby players and harder world modifiers make her tougher.
What does Moder drop? Her trophy and 10 Dragon Tears. You need 2 tears for each Artisan Table, so 8 are left for more tables or item stands.
The bottom line
Moder is a logistics check more than a skill check. Find a Vegvisir, wear one frost resistance source, shuttle three eggs with a chest beside the altar, and bring Obsidian arrows rather than the Frostner. Then stay out of the breath line and hit her when she lands. Her fire weakness matters far less than most guides imply. Her Frost and Spirit immunities and the 8-second breath are what decide the fight.
More Valheim guides? Keep your run moving with our biome and boss coverage.
- Valheim Mountain guide: how to survive the Mountains
- Valheim boss order: all bosses and how to beat them
- How to beat Yagluth in Valheim
- Valheim weapon tier list
Stats come from Valheim Wiki creature and item data, checked against Iron Gate's Patch 1.0.21 notes for Valheim 1.0.21 (2026-10-28). Damage and arrow tables are our own calculations. Values are base (0-star, single-player) and may change in future patches.
