Every gear tier in Valheim is gated by one metal, and every metal is gated by a boss, a pickaxe and a furnace. Get the order wrong and you spend an evening hitting a rock that will never break. This guide maps all of it: where each ore spawns, which tool mines it, which station smelts it, and roughly how much one node gives you.
It applies to the live build, Valheim 1.0.20 (released 2026-10-15). Yields and spawn rules come from the Valheim Wiki node data; patch status is checked against Iron Gate's Patch 1.0.20 notes, which did not change any ore.
Quick answer: Valheim's metals go Copper + Tin (Black Forest) → Bronze → Iron (Swamp crypts) → Silver (Mountain) → Black Metal (Plains) → Flametal (Ashlands) → Bloodgold (Deep North). Copper, Tin and Scrap Iron need any pickaxe, starting with the Antler Pickaxe from Eikthyr. Silver needs an Iron Pickaxe and is found with Bonemass's Wishbone above 120 m. Black Metal Scrap is dropped by Fulings, not mined. Flametal needs a Black Metal Pickaxe. Copper, Tin, Iron and Silver smelt in a Smelter; Black Metal, Flametal and Bloodgold need a Blast Furnace. No ore or metal goes through a wooden Portal: use a ship, a cart, the Portal – Stone or the "Portal items" world modifier.
What order do you get the ores in Valheim?
Valheim unlocks one metal per biome, in boss order. Each boss drops the item that lets you reach or mine the next ore, which is why the Valheim boss order and the metal order are the same ladder.
| Metal | Biome | Raw material | Tool needed | Station | Unlocked by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copper | Black Forest | Copper Ore (deposits) | Antler Pickaxe+ | Smelter | Eikthyr (Hard Antler) |
| Tin | Black Forest | Tin Ore (shore rocks) | Antler Pickaxe+ | Smelter | Eikthyr (Hard Antler) |
| Bronze | — | 2 Copper + 1 Tin | — | Forge | Copper + Tin |
| Iron | Swamp | Scrap Iron (Muddy Scrap Piles) | Any pickaxe | Smelter | The Elder (Swamp Key) |
| Silver | Mountain | Silver Ore (veins) | Iron Pickaxe+ | Smelter | Bonemass (Wishbone) helps |
| Black Metal | Plains | Black Metal Scrap (Fuling drops) | None | Blast Furnace | Moder (Dragon Tears) |
| Flametal | Ashlands | Flametal Ore (Lavaiathan veins) | Black Metal Pickaxe+ | Blast Furnace | Mistlands (Yggdrasil Wood for the pickaxe) |
| Bloodgold | Deep North | Petrified Tissue | Ember Charges | Blast Furnace | Fader (Embers) |
Three hard numbers decide your pacing. A Copper Deposit holds about 117 Copper Ore, a Silver Vein about 83 Silver Ore, and a Flametal Ore Vein about 82 Flametal Ore on average, per the wiki's node tables. Deposits do not respawn, so every new tier means a new trip.
Where do you find Copper and Tin in Valheim?
Both live in the Black Forest, and both need nothing better than the Antler Pickaxe (10 Wood + 1 Hard Antler from Eikthyr).
Copper Deposits are big mossy boulders with dark yellow streaks that catch the light. The trick is that most of the deposit is underground. The wiki counts 138 nodes per deposit running down to the dig limit, with each node rolling a 33.3% chance of 2–4 Copper Ore. Two tips that save hours:
- Dig around it, not into it. Mine the dirt around the base until the remaining nodes float, and the deposit usually collapses into ore at once. If it doesn't, a hidden contact point (a tree root or a ledge) is still holding it up.
- Expect about 10% to be lost under the eight-meter dig limit. That's normal, not a bug.
Tin Deposits are small dark-and-silver rocks along river banks, lake edges and coastlines in the Black Forest. Each one breaks in a single chunk and drops 3–4 Tin Ore. Tin also shows up in barrels near Black Forest stone ruins, so you can have Tin before you even own a pickaxe.
How to make Bronze: smelt both ores in a Smelter (20 Stone + 5 Surtling Cores), then combine 2 Copper + 1 Tin at a Forge for 1 Bronze. There's also a batch recipe: 10 Copper + 5 Tin gives 5 Bronze. Bronze builds the Bronze Pickaxe (10 Bronze + 3 Corewood), Bronze armor and the weapons in our tier list that get you through the Swamp.
How do you get Iron in Valheim?
There is no Iron ore vein in a normal world. Iron comes from Scrap Iron, and Scrap Iron comes from the Swamp.
- Kill The Elder for the Swamp Key. It's reusable: you never lose it, and you only need it the first time you open each crypt. Our guide to beating The Elder covers the fight.
- Find a Sunken Crypt in the Swamp and unlock its iron gate.
- Mine the Muddy Scrap Piles inside with any pickaxe.
Muddy Scrap Piles are the only metal node in the game that does not guarantee a drop. Inside crypts, each pile has 30 segments and each segment has a 14.29% chance of Scrap Iron, so the wiki averages about 4.3 Scrap Iron per pile. Buried outdoor piles in the Swamp are better at about 6 per pile, but you need a Wishbone to find them.
Other Iron sources worth knowing:
- Oozers in the Swamp sometimes drop Scrap Iron.
- Ancient Swords and Ancient Armor in the Mistlands drop Scrap Iron or Copper Scrap at 50/50, about 7.5 of each per sword (needs a Black Metal Pickaxe).
- Iron Ore from fishing (a bonus drop from Giant Herring), and Iron bars from smashing wooden doors in Frost Caves.
Iron is the metal you'll never have enough of. It goes into the Iron Pickaxe (20 Iron + 3 Corewood), the Blast Furnace, Padded armor in the Plains and a lot of Mistlands gear. The Swamp survival guide covers crypt runs in more detail.
Where do you find Silver in Valheim?
Silver is in the Mountain biome, but only high up. The wiki's spawn rules say a Silver Vein needs at least 120 m altitude, a slope under 30 degrees, and it's placed four meters under the ground. You need an Iron Pickaxe or better; an Antler Pickaxe and Stone Golems can't break it.
You have three ways to find a vein:
- The Wishbone (dropped by Bonemass). Its in-game description reads: "This ancient bone remembers the location of many forgotten things." Equip it, and green particles and a ding start about 20 m from a buried vein, getting faster as you close in.
- Prospecting with a Stagbreaker. Slam the snow. A "Too hard" message with no rock in sight means silver underneath. The Iron Sledge works too but is less precise.
- Luck. Some veins spawn on uneven ground and poke out of the snow.
Every Silver Vein has the same Y-shaped layout of 100 nodes, each rolling a 33.3% chance of 2–3 Silver Ore, for about 83 Silver Ore per vein. Dig away the snow under it and break one node, and the whole vein drops at once. A quick altitude check: if Drakes and Obsidian are spawning around you (100 m), you're close to silver height.
How much do you need? The wiki puts it at 214 Silver for one of each Mountain-tier item and 730 Silver to fully upgrade them. Budget for nine veins if you want everything maxed. Silver Ore is also the joint-heaviest ore in the game at 14 weight per piece (tied with Petrified Tissue), so bring a cart or plan a short hike to the coast. Our Mountain guide covers Frost Resistance and Moder.
How do you get Black Metal in Valheim?
Black Metal breaks the pattern: you can't mine it. Black Metal Scrap is dropped by Fulings (including Berserkers and Shamans) and found in chests across the Plains.
That makes the Plains feel different from every biome before it. One r/valheim player put it neatly in a thread on how easy the Plains feel: Fulings are "roving mobs who literally just deliver resources to your door step." In practice, the fastest Black Metal farm is a Fuling Village: pull the goblins out a few at a time, then loot the village's chests. The Yagluth guide covers how to clear villages and deal with Deathsquitos.
Black Metal Scrap smelts only in a Blast Furnace (20 Stone + 5 Surtling Cores + 10 Iron + 20 Finewood). The furnace needs an Artisan Table nearby, and that needs 2 Dragon Tears, which means Moder must be dead first.
Black Metal makes the Plains weapons, shields and the Lox Saddle, but no armor; Plains Padded armor uses Iron. The wiki counts 98 Black Metal for one of each weapon and shield and 358 to max them. The Black Metal Pickaxe (25 Black Metal + 3 Yggdrasil Wood) only becomes craftable once you reach the Mistlands, since Yggdrasil Wood grows there.
How do you get Flametal in Valheim?
Flametal is the Ashlands metal, and the ore sits on top of Lavaiathans: rocky spires in the lava. You need a Black Metal Pickaxe (tool tier 3) to mine it.
Each Flametal Ore Vein has 27 nodes, each dropping 2–4 Flametal Ore, for about 82 ore per vein. Two catches:
- It can sink. Each hit has a 1% chance to disturb the Lavaiathan. After 20 seconds it starts sinking into the lava for good, and every unmined node goes with it.
- Reaching it. Some veins sit near land. For the rest, players use Basalt Bombs or a tamed Asksvin to cross the lava.
To mine faster, activate The Elder's Forsaken Power (+60% pickaxe damage). The wiki notes a quality-4 Black Metal Pickaxe then breaks a node in one hit. Flametal Ore also drops from Charred Fortress chests and Dvergr crates in Charred tower ruins. Smelt it in a Blast Furnace. Old pre-Ashlands Flametal Ore shows up as "Ancient ore" and can't be used anymore. The Ashlands guide covers the biome and Fader.
How do you get Bloodgold in the Deep North?
Bloodgold is the Deep North metal added in 1.0, and it's not an ore vein. Kill a Gammeltroll, which turns to stone, then break the statue with Ember Charges to free Petrified Tissue. Pickaxes don't work on it, which is the most common mistake. Smelt Petrified Tissue in a Blast Furnace: one bar per piece, 30 seconds and 2 Coal each. Ember Charges need Embers from the Eternal Pyre, so Fader must be dead first. The full chain is in our Bloodgold farming guide.
Can you teleport ore in Valheim?
Not through a normal wooden Portal. Every ore and every smelted metal, from Copper Ore to Bloodgold, carries the "can't be teleported" icon. You have three options:
- Ship it or cart it. A Karve or Longship for long hauls; a Cart (20 Wood + 10 Bronze Nails) for overland runs.
- Portal – Stone. Unlocked early in the Ashlands: 10 Greydwarf Eyes + 30 Grausten + 2 Molten Cores at a Stonecutter. It carries ores, metals, Dragon Eggs and Hildir's Chests. The portal you step into must be a Stone portal, so a Stone-to-wood link only works in one direction with metal.
- World modifiers. In the world's modifier settings, the "Portal items" option allows all items through normal portals. It's a legitimate world setting, not a cheat, but it changes the game's logistics a lot.
On a normal world, the standard pattern is a smelter outpost: build a Smelter and Charcoal Kiln next to the ore, carry bars home by boat, and take the portal back yourself empty-handed. Our portals guide explains tags and pairing.
How does smelting work in Valheim?
Both furnaces work the same way, per the wiki:
| Station | Build cost | Smelts | Speed and fuel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smelter | 20 Stone, 5 Surtling Cores | Copper Ore, Copper Scrap, Tin Ore, Scrap Iron, Iron Ore, Silver Ore | 30 s per bar, 1 Coal every 15 s |
| Blast Furnace | 20 Stone, 5 Surtling Cores, 10 Iron, 20 Finewood | Black Metal Scrap, Flametal Ore, Petrified Tissue | 30 s per bar, 1 Coal every 15 s |
That's 2 Coal per bar, and each station holds 10 ore and 20 Coal at a time. A Charcoal Kiln turns 1 Wood into 1 Coal every 15 seconds. Smelters need a vent: if smoke can't escape above them, they stop working. Both stations also speed up while you sleep.
FAQ
What is the first ore in Valheim? Copper and Tin, both in the Black Forest. You need the Antler Pickaxe first, made from Eikthyr's Hard Antler and 10 Wood.
Why can't I mine silver in Valheim? You need an Iron Pickaxe or better. The Antler and Bronze Pickaxes can't break Silver Veins. Also check your height: veins only spawn at 120 m or higher.
Is there iron ore in Valheim? Not as a vein. Iron comes from Scrap Iron in Swamp Sunken Crypts and buried Muddy Scrap Piles. Small amounts of Iron Ore come from fishing up Giant Herring.
Where is black metal in Valheim? In the Plains. Fulings drop Black Metal Scrap and Plains chests contain it. You can't mine it, and it smelts only in a Blast Furnace.
Do ore deposits respawn in Valheim? No. Copper, Tin, Silver and Flametal nodes are gone once mined. When an area runs dry, explore new Black Forests, Mountains or Ashlands.
Can ore go through portals in Valheim? Not through a wooden Portal. Use a ship or cart, build a Portal – Stone once you reach the Ashlands, or turn on the "Portal items" world modifier when creating the world.
The bottom line
Mine Copper and Tin as soon as you have the Antler Pickaxe, take the Swamp Key into every crypt for Scrap Iron, and don't go up a mountain without the Wishbone and an Iron Pickaxe. From the Plains on, the metal comes from monsters and lava instead of rocks, and it all goes into a Blast Furnace. Plan every trip around the portal rule and you'll waste far fewer evenings.
More Valheim guides? Pick the next biome on your list.
Ore spawn rules, node counts and yields are from the Valheim Wiki node and item data, checked 2026-10-28 for Valheim 1.0.20 (2026-10-15). Yields are averages and can change in future patches.
