Goo's Combat Overhaul

Goo's Combat Overhaul is a highly configurable combat overhaul for Valheim. It adds Souls-like combat mechanics, expands weapon identity, improves melee aggression, makes heavy weapons more usable, gives PvP more consistent damage behavior, and exposes detailed config options for damage, stagger, hyperarmor, counter damage, blocking, stamina, movement, hit-stop, ranged weapons, magic, summons, and more.

In short, the default Goo ruleset is built around more aggressive and expressive combat that reduces the tedious kiting-oriented feel of vanilla Valheim. The optional Better Free Aim mode can make unlocked melee movement-facing attacks follow movement input without rotating the camera or crosshair, while the designated roll button gives Souls-like combat players the dedicated dodge input they usually expect immediately. Running and jump attacks are designed as commitment tools that let players engage more proactively instead of only waiting for enemies to attack first. Heavy melee weapons, which are often underwhelming in vanilla Valheim, are given tools such as hyperarmor and stronger stagger pressure to encourage commitment and aggression. Counter damage rewards well-timed attacks. Tower shields have block-break behavior closer to great shields in Dark Souls/Elden Ring, only breaking after an attack empties the stamina bar, which gives them a more distinct defensive playstyle. The mod also balances PvP damage on a per-attack basis to compensate for the extra advantage high-damage attacks can gain from Valheim’s armor-damage formula.

You can use the default Goo ruleset, reset toward vanilla behavior, or manually tune nearly every part of the system. Most settings are available both through the generated config file and through flat in-game gco_* console commands.

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Default Combat Identity

The README describes the complete current 2.0.2 mod, not only the features that changed in 2.0.2. Unless a section explicitly says otherwise, numeric values below are the Goo Ruleset / fresh-install defaults. Reset to Vanilla restores native/no-op values where possible, while mod-added attacks are disabled without destroying their stored tuning.

The Goo ruleset is built around several layers working together:

• Attack identity: weapon categories and individual Primary1/2/3/4, Secondary, Running, and Jump roles can independently tune damage, stagger, stamina, movement, lunge, animation/recovery speed, rotation, hit-stop, hyperarmor, counter damage, conditional damage, noise, hit rays, multi-target behavior, building damage, adrenaline, blocking, and PvP behavior.
• Aggressive engagement: selected weapons receive running attacks and/or jump attacks. Running substitution is disabled on ice, tolerates up to 0.3 s of airtime, and does not replace a legitimate queued chain attack. Jump attacks require the configured continuous airtime threshold (1.0 s by default).
• Committed melee movement: normal free movement is low or disabled on many swings while animation-authored forward root motion is enlarged through lunge multipliers. GCO-added lunge amplification is neutralized immediately while airborne, on ice, or while gliding when the corresponding normalization options are enabled.
• Rotation: grounded locomotion uses direct Walk/Jog/Sprint rotation multipliers of 1.0x / 1.0x / 2.0x. Normal melee attack rotation is native/base attack rotation × 6.0x global × weapon-role local. Most weapon-role locals are 1.0x; Atgeir P1/P2/P3 use 0.8x. Running/jump attacks use their own 1.0x local factor in place of the ordinary weapon-role local while the global 6.0x still applies.
• Impact and trading: selected heavy attacks use hyperarmor, heavy stagger multipliers, configurable hit-stop, and stronger multi-target/hit-ray treatment. Heavy weapons are not simply sped up; their identity is based on commitment, reach, stagger and trade reliability.
• Combo normalization: several vanilla primary chains are reweighted so the native finisher does not dominate the whole chain. For attacks whose native finisher is already 2x, GCO may use a 0.55x local damage-rate value so the effective finisher is about 1.10x of the ordinary base hit after the native chain multiplier.
• Conditional damage: Sneak, Flank, Execution (damage to staggered enemies), and Counter Damage are separate systems with independent local/global values and stacking rules. Goo makes Sneak and Flank stackable, while Execution and Counter compete as non-stackable bonus paths.
• Defense: weapons, shield classes, staff blockers and the Grappling Hook expose block armor, block force, stamina, parry, block-break, movement, running-while-blocking and PvP controls. Tower shields receive a distinct great-shield style ruleset.
• Resources: negative stamina is enabled with a -50 floor and a cost-aware action gate; stamina recovery is 1.5x; running stamina is not drained while attacking or airborne; Goo otherwise leaves most food/eitr/healing/durability values neutral unless a section states otherwise.
• Armor/equipment: Goo removes armor movement penalties by default but adds per-piece knockback/stagger resistance (5% / 10% / 15% for light/medium/heavy). Selected weapons retain intentional equipment penalties: one-handed swords and clubs/maces -3%, two-handed axes and sledges -8%.
• PvP: damage randomness is removed, an alternate outgoing PvP damage curve is enabled, ranged burst is reduced where needed, and stagger/knockback/block-break values have dedicated PvP surfaces.
• Status effects and stealth: native attack-status-effect chance is configurable by category and defaults to 0.25x of the prefab's native chance. Sneak damage defaults to 2.0x global, scales by +1% per Sneak skill level, and awards configurable successful-sneak XP.
• World pressure: enemy damage to buildings defaults to 0.2x, enemy knockback dealt to 0.7x, while most other enemy speed/size/animation/projectile values stay neutral and remain configurable.
• Profiles and multiplayer: exact-prefab YAML profiles can override applicable GCO and selected native weapon/attack fields. Host config and host YAML are synchronized in-memory without overwriting guest files. Apply Mod Options is host-authoritative; Better Free Aim and weapon-particle suppression remain local preferences.

The purpose of the ruleset is not to make every weapon equally fast or equally safe. It is to give each family a coherent offensive, defensive, mobility and hit-detection identity while still exposing every layer for manual tuning.

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Combat Quality of Life

Better Free Aim

Better Free Aim is an optional alternative facing mode for unlocked melee combat. When enabled, a successful melee attack uses Valheim's native unlocked-melee snapping window but turns the character toward movement-input direction instead of look direction, without rotating the camera or crosshair. A newly started block also turns the character toward movement input.

Better Free Aim operates independently of Valheim's Attack Towards Look Direction option. Its attack snap eligibility matches Valheim's behavior when that option is disabled: after a successful start, the body snaps whenever the resolved native attack chain level is 0. Valheim's 0.2 s chain-continuation timer only determines whether chain progression resets to level 0; it is not an extra BFA cooldown. Failed starts still never snap, and the airborne rotation-lock option can suppress the snap while airborne.

Fresh configs keep Better Free Aim disabled by default. Applying Goo's Ruleset preserves the user's current Better Free Aim choice; Reset to Vanilla disables it.

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Designated Roll Button

The mod adds a dedicated roll keybind instead of forcing dodge/roll behavior to rely only on vanilla’s combined input flow.

The default designated roll key is X. Pressing it queues Valheim’s native dodge/roll directly. The roll direction follows current movement input, including diagonals, and rolls backward by default when no movement direction is held.

This is a major combat feel improvement for players coming from Souls-like action games, where a dedicated dodge button is expected. It makes defensive movement more deliberate, easier to access, and less dependent on awkward input combinations.

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Core Combat Features

Hyperarmor

Hyperarmor is GCO's attack-state interruption resistance. It is evaluated only during attacks configured to have hyperarmor and can independently scale damage taken, stagger buildup, and knockback taken. The mitigation mode can operate on raw incoming HitData, and Goo enables mitigation even when the attacker cannot be identified so environmental/indirect hits do not accidentally bypass the intended trade state.

Hyperarmor is per weapon and per attack role, and running attacks can have a separate hyperarmor profile from the normal attack they borrow. PvP damage/stagger/knockback taken can also be tuned independently.

Goo weapon identities:

• Two-Handed Sword and Two-Handed Axe normal attacks: Balanced hyperarmor, 0.80x damage taken, 0x stagger taken, 0x knockback taken.
• Their running attacks: Balanced hyperarmor, 0.80x damage taken and 0x stagger taken, but 1.0x knockback taken so the chase tool is easier to displace than a planted heavy swing.
• Sledges: Balanced hyperarmor, 0.80x damage taken, 0x stagger and knockback taken.
• Atgeirs: light Balanced hyperarmor: 0.90x damage taken but 1.0x stagger/knockback taken.
• One-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes, and Clubs/Maces: normal primaries have no hyperarmor; Secondary has Balanced hyperarmor with neutral damage/stagger protection but 0x knockback taken.
• Dual Axes, Knives, Dual Knives, Spears, Unarmed, Pickaxes and ordinary Other-category attacks do not receive Goo hyperarmor by default.
• Goo jump attacks have hyperarmor disabled by default, preserving the risk of airborne commitment.

Hyperarmor does not change the attack's outgoing damage or stagger by itself; those are separate surfaces.

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Counter Damage

Counter Damage rewards striking a target while that target is in an attack animation. It is separate from Sneak, Flank and Execution and has its own stacking rule, ding, global multiplier, local per-attack multiplier and PvP multiplier.

Goo enables Counter Damage globally and restricts dealing it to players by default. The intended counter-enabled melee identities are:

• Atgeir primary chain
• Spear primary attacks
• Two-Handed Sword Secondary
• One-Handed Sword Secondary

Running/jump attacks inherit counter eligibility from the underlying attack role they use unless their own special-attack setting overrides it. Counter Damage is non-stackable under Goo's conditional-damage arbitration: if another non-stackable bonus path would be larger, the larger final path wins rather than blindly multiplying every conditional bonus together. The Counter ding is enabled in the Goo ruleset.

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Running Attacks

Running attacks are GCO special attack substitutions for new attack starts while the player has sufficient movement velocity. They are not a second damage event layered onto a normal swing: GCO selects an underlying native attack slot, lets Valheim clone/start that attack, then applies the running attack's dedicated damage, stagger, stamina, movement, lunge, animation, recovery, rotation, hit-stop, hyperarmor, counter, block-cancel, hit-ray, multi-target, adrenaline and PvP settings.

Goo's shared running rules are: default gate 5 m/s (3.5 m/s for Two-Handed Sword, 6 m/s for Unarmed), 0.3 s airborne grace, disabled on ice, 1.0x special rotation factor multiplied by the global attack-rotation factor, after-hitbox block cancel, 2.0x attack adrenaline, multi-hit enabled, and wall-through behavior enabled for the special running ray. A legitimate queued chain attack is not replaced by running substitution.

Enabled by Goo: Two-Handed Sword, Two-Handed Axe, Atgeir, One-Handed Sword, One-Handed Axe, Clubs/Maces, Unarmed and the generic Other category. The experimental alternate Sledge moveset has its own running attack when that moveset is enabled.

Disabled by Goo but fully configurable: Dual Axes, Knives, Dual Knives and Spears.

Weapon-specific source slot, damage, movement, lunge, animation, stagger and hyperarmor values are listed in each weapon section below.

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Jump Attacks

Jump attacks are separate GCO special attacks selected only after the player has remained continuously airborne for the configured AirborneAttackMinimumAirTimeSeconds (1.0 s in Goo). They borrow a chosen native attack slot but have independent damage, stagger, stamina, animation, recovery, movement, lunge, rotation, hit-stop, hit-ray, counter, block-cancel, adrenaline and PvP controls.

Goo enables jump attacks for Two-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Axes, Atgeirs, One-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes and Clubs/Maces. Dual Axes expose a complete jump-attack surface but Goo deliberately leaves it disabled. Knives, Dual Knives, Spears and Unarmed do not use a Goo jump attack by default.

For families that borrow a vanilla 2x primary finisher (2H Sword, 2H Axe, Atgeir, 1H Sword, Club), Goo sets the jump damage-rate multiplier to 0.75x; that still leaves a heavy effective finisher because the native borrowed attack carries its own chain multiplier. Goo jump stagger is 2.8x for 2H Sword/2H Axe/Atgeir and 1.4x for 1H Sword/1H Axe/Club. In PvP, 1H Sword and Club/Mace jump attacks use a 1.17 s stagger animation duration. Jump attacks use 0x extra lunge by default, no hyperarmor, after-hitbox block cancel, and a dedicated 1.0x rotation factor before the global 6.0x attack-rotation multiplier.

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Block Canceling

Block canceling controls when an attack may transition into blocking. GCO does not simply abort the Animator state; it keeps Valheim's attack lifecycle intact and changes the remaining attack/recovery handling so hit events and chain state do not desynchronize.

Modes are Disabled, Before Hitbox, After Hitbox and Full Animation. Normal melee, running and jump attacks have separate block-cancel mode and cancel-animation-speed controls.

Goo default: all supported melee normal/running/jump attacks use After Hitbox with a neutral 1.0x cancel animation-speed multiplier. This means the player must commit through the active hit before gaining the defensive transition. The post-hitbox movement/rotation lock also survives a failed queued replacement (for example, a chained 2H-sword primary attempted with insufficient stamina) until the old animation genuinely ends or is interrupted by death, stagger, or a successful replacement attack.

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Hit-Stop / Hitlag

Hit-stop is Valheim's native impact pause made configurable at multiple layers. GCO can enable/disable it globally, scale the normal duration globally, force an absolute override in seconds, and tune each weapon/attack—including running/jump attacks—separately. PvP hit-stop has its own direct duration multipliers so PvE impact tuning does not automatically create long PvP freezes.

Goo enables hit-stop globally. Typical normal Goo multipliers are 0.6x for 2H/1H swords, 0.9x for 2H axes, 0.7x for Dual Axes, and 0.8x for Atgeirs, 1H Axes, Spears and Unarmed; categories not specially listed stay 1.0x. The 2H Axe jump attack deliberately uses a much stronger 5.0x hit-stop identity. PvP hit-stop is reduced for many heavier categories independently of the PvE value.

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Attack Movement

Attack Movement is free character locomotion allowed while an attack animation is active. It is distinct from Lunge Distance, which scales animation-authored forward root motion.

The final movement factor can include a global multiplier, the weapon/attack role, a running/jump special-attack factor, and the attack's configured application window. Goo's AttackMovementGroundingMode is GroundOnly, so GCO's normal attack-movement multiplier does not become an unintended air-control system.

Goo normal melee identity: 2H Swords, 2H Axe primaries, Dual Axes, 1H Swords, Clubs/Maces, Spears, Unarmed and Other-category melee primaries are generally planted at 0x free attack movement. Knives and Dual Knives keep 1x; 1H Axes and Atgeirs keep 1x for their normal attacks; 2H Axe Secondary keeps a limited 0.2x. Running attacks then get their own forward-mobility values, such as 3x for 1H Sword/1H Axe/Club, 2x for Atgeir, 1.6x for 2H Sword, and 2.5x for Unarmed.

Movement lock after the hitbox is tied to the real attack animation lifecycle rather than simply whether m_currentAttack is still populated.

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Lunge Distance

Lunge Distance scales positive forward animation root motion. It does not scale backward, sideways or vertical root motion, and it is separate from free Attack Movement. Normal, Running and Jump attacks have independent local lunge multipliers plus global normal/running/jump lunge multipliers and application windows.

Goo keeps the three global lunge multipliers at 1.0x and expresses weapon identity through local values. Most ordinary melee roles use roughly 2x, with deliberate exceptions documented in each weapon section. 2H Sword P1/P2/P3 are 2.8x / 3.0x / 2.5x; 1H Axe P1-P4 are 3.5x; 1H Sword and Club chains alternate 1.5x / 1.8x; Spear P1 is 1.0x; Atgeir Secondary is 1.0x; Knife/Dual Knife Secondary is 1.5x.

Goo also enables three safety/consistency rules: lunge multipliers are neutralized while gliding, while airborne, and on ice. Airborne neutralization happens immediately when physical ground contact is lost, so a strong ground lunge does not become an unintended aerial launch; the vanilla authored root-motion magnitude remains.

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Attack Animation Speed

Attack Animation Speed multiplies the active attack animation independently from recovery speed. It can be tuned globally, per normal attack slot, and separately for running/jump attacks.

Goo's global value is 1.0x; most weapons therefore retain native animation timing unless their identity specifically changes it. Notable Goo values include Sledges 1.2x, 1H Axe primaries 1.2x and Secondary 1.5x, 1H Sword/Club Secondary 1.3x, Unarmed normal attacks 1.3x, 2H Sword running 1.2x, Atgeir running 1.1x, Unarmed running 1.0x, and 1H Axe jump 1.7x. Staffs, bows, crossbows and throwables have their own animation/draw/reload/throw controls rather than inheriting melee attack speed.

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Recovery Animation Speed

Recovery Animation Speed controls the post-active portion of an attack independently from the active swing speed. It exists for normal roles and special running/jump attacks, letting a move hit quickly but remain punishable—or recover quickly without speeding its hitbox.

Goo's global recovery multiplier is 1.0x and most roles stay neutral. The main melee exception is the 1H Axe primary recovery at 0.8x; its running attack uses 1.0x, while its jump attack uses 0.8x. Recovery movement/rotation restrictions remain attached to the actual attack animation even when a queued replacement fails stamina validation.

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Attack Rotation

Attack Rotation is the turn-rate layer used while attacking. Valheim's native Attack.m_speedFactorRotation is the base; GCO then composes its own factors rather than rotating the character in a separate Update loop.

For ordinary attacks, the effective GCO attack factor is:

native/base attack rotation × Global Attack Rotation × weapon-role local factor

Goo sets the global factor to 6.0x. Most weapon-role locals are 1.0x; Atgeir P1/P2/P3 are 0.8x. Some vanilla secondaries are authored with a native 0 rotation factor (1H Sword, 2H Sword, 2H Axe, 1H Axe). GCO can borrow that weapon's native Primary1 rotation as a baseline only when the mod is intentionally giving that zero-native attack rotation; Reset to Vanilla puts those secondary locals back at 0x so their native no-turn behavior is preserved.

Running and jump attacks use the selected native attack's base rotation and replace the ordinary local factor with their dedicated special-attack rotation factor (1.0x in Goo), while the global 6.0x still stacks on top. Airborne attack rotation has another optional multiplier. Goo also locks attack rotation after the configured attack trigger/hit-ray window for most melee families; Pickaxes are left unlocked.

Locomotion rotation is separate: Goo uses Walk 1.0x, Jog 1.0x, Sprint 2.0x, Airborne 1.0x. Better Free Aim is also separate—it changes the initial snap direction/eligibility, not the continuous turn-rate multiplier.

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Stagger and Poise

GCO exposes both outgoing stagger pressure and incoming poise/stagger behavior. Per attack, stagger may multiply Valheim's native stagger power or use other supported application modes; running/jump attacks have independent values. Player and enemy poise, stagger decay speed/cooldown, facing preservation, and meter clearing are separate controls.

Goo's major melee stagger identities are: 2H Sword/2H Axe/Atgeir primaries 2.0x, secondaries 2.2x; Sledge 3.0x; 1H Axe/Club primaries 1.5x, secondaries 1.6x; 1H Sword 1.0x primary / 1.6x secondary; Spear 1.0x primary / 2.0x secondary; Dual Axe 1.0x primary / 1.5x secondary. 2H Sword/2H Axe/Atgeir running attacks use 1.9x; their heavy jump attacks use 2.8x, while 1H Sword/1H Axe/Club jump attacks use 1.4x.

Goo clears an enemy's stagger meter once it actually staggers and preserves both mob and player facing direction during stagger. Player/enemy base poise and decay rates remain 1.0x. Armor adds a separate per-piece stagger resistance of 5% / 10% / 15% for light/medium/heavy armor.

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Damage to Staggered Enemies

This is GCO's Execution system: a configurable final damage multiplier against already-staggered PvE enemies. It has a global value, local weapon/attack values, running/jump values, a stacking flag and conditional-damage arbitration with Sneak, Flank and Counter.

Goo uses a 2.0x global Execution multiplier. Most local weapon/attack values are 1.0x; Knives and Dual Knives use 1.5x local Execution values. Execution is non-stackable in Goo: it competes against the combined stackable Sneak/Flank path and wins only when its final multiplier is larger. Counter is also non-stackable. This avoids multiplying every conditional bonus into extreme burst damage while still rewarding a stagger opening.

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Damage Tuning

GCO's outgoing damage layer is split so different mechanics do not have to share one master scalar. It includes global player damage, per-weapon base damage, per-attack damage-rate multipliers, airborne/running/jump multipliers, PvP multipliers, Sneak/Flank/Counter/Execution, chop/pickaxe channels, ranged/projectile/staff damage, building damage and incoming player damage.

Several melee chains deliberately compensate for Valheim's native chain/finisher multiplier. Examples: 2H Sword/2H Axe/Atgeir/1H Sword/1H Axe/Club/Knife use local P1/P2/P3 values 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55; where P3 is the native 2x finisher, that produces an effective ~1.10x finisher rather than a sudden 2x. Dual Axes use 1.00 / 1.05 / 1.10 / 0.575 across their four-primary structure. Secondary attacks that need reweighting, such as 2H Sword/1H Sword/Club, use 0.60x local damage-rate values.

2H Sword and 2H Axe additionally use a 1.4x category base-damage multiplier and 1.4x attack stamina rate. Pickaxes use 1.5x pickaxe-channel damage. Axes preserve their chop channel. Ordinary airborne melee damage is neutral 1.0x; special jump/running attacks use their own dedicated damage multipliers.

GCO also has Effect Applying controls. For each supported category, including magic and Grappling Hook, the native attack-status-effect application chance is multiplied at the moment Valheim performs the native roll. Goo default is 0.25x; Reset to Vanilla is 1.0x. If an attack has no native attack status effect, this setting does nothing.

The same Effect Applying section contains Disable Weapon Particles, a deliberately client-local visual option. When enabled it suppresses weapon-owned particles, melee trails, and weapon-emitted lights at Valheim's held-item/effect creation paths while preserving non-visual effects such as audio; native Torch items are excluded. It restores captured visual state when turned off and does not perform a per-frame hierarchy scan. Fresh/Goo leaves it Off, and presets/sync intentionally preserve the user's local choice.

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Alternate Damage Curves

GCO has independent alternate damage curves for incoming PvE damage to players and outgoing PvP damage. The curve is evaluated before Valheim armor/resistance resolution, so it reshapes raw damage without replacing Valheim's mitigation system.

curve multiplier = clamp((anchor raw damage / current raw damage)^exponent, minimum, maximum)

Goo PvE defaults: enabled, anchor 100, exponent 0.5, minimum 0, maximum 1.0. Low incoming hits are therefore never boosted above their original raw damage, while unusually large raw hits are compressed.

Goo PvP defaults: enabled, anchor 100, exponent 0.5, minimum 0, maximum 2.0. The curve sees the attack after applicable GCO outgoing/conditional multipliers have been resolved and is the primary normalization layer for melee PvP. Reset to Vanilla disables both alternate curves.

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Damage to Buildings / Destruction

Character damage and structure damage are separate in GCO. Player attacks can have global, per-weapon and per-role multipliers for WearNTear buildings/placed pieces, including running/jump attacks when those attacks exist. Chop and pickaxe damage remain separate utility channels.

Goo keeps player-vs-building damage globally at 1.0x and leaves ordinary weapon/tool destruction entries neutral unless explicitly tuned. Enemy damage to buildings is reduced to 0.2x, making raids less destructive to structures without reducing enemy damage to players. Reset to Vanilla restores the enemy building multiplier to native/no-op and leaves mod-added attack values stored while disabling those attacks.

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Knockback Tuning

Knockback has independent outgoing, incoming, blocking, hyperarmor, armor-resistance, projectile and PvP layers. This lets a weapon have high stagger without launching enemies, or let armor resist displacement without changing damage taken.

Goo's global player/PvP knockback layers are neutral, enemy knockback dealt is 0.7x, and enemy projectile knockback is 1.0x. Most melee PvP knockback is deliberately reduced to 0.1x; bows/crossbows use 0x, while Unarmed uses its own 0.7x identity and 1.5x on Secondary. Clubs/Maces use 0.7x outgoing knockback in PvE. Armor contributes per-piece knockback resistance of 5% / 10% / 15% for light/medium/heavy gear.

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Adrenaline Tuning

Adrenaline gain can be scaled globally, per attack, for running/jump attacks, and for successful parries. The underlying Valheim adrenaline rules remain in control; GCO multiplies the relevant gain path.

Goo keeps the global rate at 1.0x and assigns 2.0x attack adrenaline to supported melee Primary/Secondary/Running/Jump attacks. Parry adrenaline has global and blocker-specific multipliers and stays neutral unless configured. Ranged, magic and other specialized systems retain their own relevant behavior rather than inheriting melee attack adrenaline automatically.

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PvP Damage

PvP damage is balanced separately from PvE damage in Goo's Combat Overhaul.

Many attacks that feel fair in PvE become too explosive in PvP because players have much smaller effective health pools than enemies, and because Valheim's armor formula makes high single-hit damage scale very aggressively.

Valheim's armor calculation is not always a simple flat reduction. When armor is high relative to the incoming hit, final damage is roughly:

damage² / (4 × armor)

This means small differences in raw damage can become much larger differences after armor is applied.

For example, against 40 armor:

30 raw damage → 30² / (4 × 40) = 900 / 160 = 5.625 final damage
40 raw damage → 40² / (4 × 40) = 1600 / 160 = 10 final damage

The raw damage only increased by about 33%, from 30 to 40. But the final post-armor damage increased by about 78%, from 5.625 to 10.

This is why random damage rolls are especially problematic in PvP. A weapon can feel inconsistent even when the raw damage difference looks small, because the armor formula can magnify that difference after mitigation.

Because of this, Goo's Combat Overhaul enables Always Do Max Damage in PvP by default. This removes random damage variance from PvP hits and makes player-versus-player damage more predictable, readable, and balanceable.

The same armor formula is also why Goo's Ruleset reduces the PvP damage of high single-shot attacks. High raw damage does not merely stay proportionally stronger after armor; it can become disproportionately stronger.

For example, again against 40 armor:

40 raw damage → 10 final damage
80 raw damage → 80² / (4 × 40) = 6400 / 160 = 40 final damage

The raw damage doubled from 40 to 80, but the final post-armor damage became four times higher, from 10 to 40.

That makes high single-shot attacks, such as heavy burst attacks, jump attacks, powerful secondary attacks, crossbows, and heavy-weapon attacks, much more dangerous in PvP than their raw numbers may suggest. Without PvP-specific reductions, these attacks can bypass too much of the intended armor protection and create sudden burst damage that is hard to react to. Bow damage is also reduced in the preset because bows have a strong range advantage.

Goo's Ruleset uses the alternate PvP curve as the primary normalization layer, so most melee per-attack PvP damage multipliers are 1.0x. Explicit final exceptions are Bow/Crossbow 0.5x and Unarmed Secondary 1.3x; Atgeir Secondary is also 1.0x. Normal melee PvP knockback is generally 0.1x; Bow/Crossbow 0x; Unarmed is 0.7x normally and 1.5x on Secondary. PvP stagger is calibrated by attack-role stagger duration/power; Knife, Dual Knife, and Dual Axe normal primaries use 0.67 s, while Bow, Crossbow and Magic default to 0 s PvP stagger duration.

The goal is not to make PvP damage low across the board. The goal is to make heavy attacks, ranged attacks, jump attacks, and other burst options strong but still readable, survivable, and fair under Valheim's armor-damage system.

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Blocking and Defense

Blocking

Blocking is decomposed into independent values rather than one generic defense multiplier. GCO exposes Block Armor, Block Force, stamina consumption, blocking stamina regeneration, block-break threshold, damage type multipliers on a blocked hit, knockback taken, effective block angle, movement, running while blocking, Souls-like block-break/stamina modes, and separate PvP variants.

Goo keeps most Block Armor at native strength but sets local Block Force to 0x for weapon, shield and staff blocker categories so blocks do not push attackers away merely because a hit was guarded. The global block-break threshold is 1.1x. Most weapons, bucklers, medium shields and staff blockers may run while blocking at 0.7x running speed; tower shields cannot.

PvP block-break thresholds are intentionally much higher: 10x for 2H Sword/2H Axe, 5x for other weapon categories, 10x for buckler/medium shields, 20x for tower shields, and 1x for staff blockers. These are independent of PvE blocking values.

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Parry

Parrying can be enabled or disabled per weapon/tool/unarmed category, shield class, staff blocker and Grappling Hook without disabling ordinary blocking. GCO can scale parry bonus, timed-block window, adrenaline, PvP parry bonus, and whether ranged/AOE parries stagger the attacker.

Goo leaves the global and local parry-window multipliers at 1.0x (Valheim's native timed-block window), enables parrying for ordinary weapons, bucklers, medium shields and staff blockers, and disables it for tower shields by default. If a blocker has no useful native parry bonus but Can Parry is explicitly enabled, GCO supplies a functional base timed-block bonus rather than exposing a dead toggle.

Goo does not allow projectile parries to stagger PvE attackers, but does allow that behavior in PvP; AOE parries do not stagger attackers in either mode by default. The effective block angle is also configurable separately from parry timing.

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Tower Shields

Tower shields have a deliberately different Goo identity from bucklers and medium shields:

• Can Parry = false by default
• equipment movement modifier -8%
• effective block-angle multiplier 1.2x (Valheim's 180° sector becomes 216° effective)
• block-break threshold 1.5x before global/PvP stacking
• PvP block-break threshold 20x
• Souls-like block break enabled: the guard only breaks when the blocked attack actually empties stamina
• Souls-like block stamina mode enabled, base rate 0.7x
• knockback taken while blocking 0x
• blocked physical damage multipliers 0x for blunt/slash/pierce, while elemental/generic blocked-hit channels remain 1x
• running while blocking disabled

Bucklers and medium shields instead use -3% movement, ordinary block-break rules, normal blocked-hit damage handling, can parry, and may run while blocking at 0.7x.

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Running While Blocking

Running while blocking is a blocker-specific locomotion feature, not a generic player speed multiplier. When enabled, Valheim's run state is allowed while the block is active and the configured running-while-blocking movement factor is applied; normal running stamina still matters.

Goo enables it for weapon blocks, bucklers, medium shields and staff blockers at 0.7x movement. Tower shields are excluded and remain committed defensive equipment. Normal blocking movement has its own separate multiplier and remains 1.0x globally unless a blocker-specific setting changes it.

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Stamina, Resources, and Player Tuning

This group also contains GCO's optional resource-HUD layer. ApplyResourceHudChanges is Off in Goo/fresh and Reset to Vanilla, so health/stamina bars stay native unless the user opts in. The four delayed grey-band direction switches (health increase/decrease and stamina increase/decrease) default On; they only matter while the HUD master switch is enabled.

Negative Stamina

Negative Stamina turns stamina from a strict zero-wall into a bounded commitment resource. Goo enables it with a floor of -50 and uses RequireCostWithinFloor: an action may start below zero only if paying its full configured cost will not cross the floor. This prevents the old edge case where 1 stamina could start an arbitrarily expensive attack.

Running stamina drain is disabled while the player is attacking or airborne under Goo. Stamina still has to recover back through zero afterward, so overcommitting creates a real recovery debt rather than free actions.

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Stamina Recovery

GCO can tune base stamina regeneration, the regeneration curve, recovery delay behavior, blocking regeneration, running drain, and action costs for attacks, jump, roll and crouch. Attack stamina is also per weapon/attack and special running/jump attacks have their own rate multipliers.

Goo uses 1.5x stamina recovery, the native/Vanilla regen curve, 1.0x jump cost, and 0x crouch stamina consumption. Negative stamina and the no-run-drain-during-attacks/airborne rules are described above. Heavy 2H Sword/2H Axe normal and special attacks use 1.4x stamina rate; Sledges use 1.25x in the normal moveset.

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Health, Eitr, and Healing

Player base health, stamina, armor, incoming damage taken, eitr, carry weight, eitr regeneration and healing can all be changed independently of weapon balance. Mead stamina/eitr/health-regeneration bonuses also have separate multipliers.

Goo intentionally leaves these survival/progression values mostly neutral: base health 25, base stamina 75, base armor 0, global player damage taken 1.0x, base eitr 0, eitr regeneration 1.0x, carry weight 300, healing 1.0x, and mead recovery bonuses 1.0x. The main resource pacing change is stamina recovery/negative stamina, not a blanket health, armor or eitr buff.

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Player Movement

Player locomotion includes walk/jog/run speed, crouch speed, jump force, roll distance/animation, rotation by locomotion state, airborne movement/deceleration, and attack-specific grounding rules.

Goo leaves run, jog, walk and crouch speed at 1.0x, and jump force at 1.0x, but splits rotation into direct state multipliers: Walk 1.0x, Jog 1.0x, Sprint 2.0x, Airborne 1.0x. This preserves Valheim's heavy ordinary walking/jogging feel while making sprint direction changes more responsive. Airborne movement and natural deceleration are 1.0x, with no horizontal deceleration floor (0).

AttackMovementGroundingMode = GroundOnly; ordinary special airborne bonuses/jump attacks require 1.0 s continuous airtime. The designated roll button uses Valheim's native dodge; Goo keeps roll animation 1.0x, roll distance 1.0x, roll stamina cost 1.0x, run stamina drain 1.0x, and jump stamina cost 1.0x. Crouch stamina consumption is the movement exception at 0x.

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Armor and Equipment Movement

Armor and equipment movement are separate from Attack Movement. GCO can override the final equipped-item movement modifier while keeping the item's tooltip consistent, and can independently scale armor's base armor value.

Goo removes movement penalties from light, medium and heavy armor by setting their custom final movement modifiers to 0%. Armor base-armor multipliers remain 1.0x. Each equipped armor piece also contributes stagger and knockback resistance by weight class: light 5%, medium 10%, heavy 15% for each resistance type.

Selected weapon identities retain equipment weight: 1H Sword -3%, Club/Mace -3%, 2H Axe -8%, Sledge -8%. Other weapon/equipment families use their native movement modifier unless their custom override is explicitly enabled. Bucklers/medium shields use -3%; tower shields use -8%.

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Fall Damage

Fall damage has independent start-height, damage-per-meter and maximum-damage controls. Goo moves the start height to 8 m while keeping Valheim's current 6.25 damage/m and 100 damage cap. This lets the more mobile combat system tolerate moderate drops without globally disabling or flattening fall damage.

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Food Tuning

Food health, stamina, eitr and healing-rate contributions are configurable, as are the unique-food rule and optional permanent food behavior.

Goo keeps the actual food stat/duration/healing multipliers at 1.0x, requires unique foods as normal, and leaves Permanent Food Buffs disabled. The system exists so players can change survival pacing without coupling those changes to weapon balance.

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Consumables and Permanent Buffs

GCO can make food, mead and Rested effects permanent, scale mead recovery bonuses, and optionally suppress consumption of food, mead, ammo, bait-style resources and similar consumables.

Goo keeps Permanent Food, Permanent Mead, Permanent Rested, and No Consumption disabled. Mead stamina/eitr/health-regeneration bonus multipliers are 1.0x. These are sandbox/custom-ruleset surfaces, not forced changes in Goo's normal combat preset.

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Gear Durability

Durability is configurable globally and per supported item: unbreakable toggles, consumption rate, base durability and maximum durability multipliers can be changed without touching combat damage.

Goo is neutral here: global unbreakable gear is off and global consumption/base/max durability multipliers are 1.0x; per-item durability values are reset to their native/no-op defaults. The subsystem exists for custom servers, testing and alternate progression rules.

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Weapon-Specific Features

Per-Weapon Tuning

Every supported weapon family has a feature-toggle layer and a set of role-aware configs. The current categories are Two-Handed Sword, Two-Handed Axe, Sledge (plus its optional alternate moveset), Pickaxe, Dual Axes, Atgeir, One-Handed Sword, One-Handed Axe, Club/Mace, Knife, Dual Knives, Spear, Bow, Crossbow, Grappling Hook, Magic/Staffs, Unarmed and Other/modded equipment.

For melee families, the available surfaces include: base/per-role damage, stagger, stamina, hyperarmor and incoming mitigation, hit-stop, attack movement, lunge, animation/recovery speed, attack rotation/lock, Counter, Sneak, Flank, Execution, Effect Apply Chance, chop/pickaxe channels, building damage, adrenaline, block cancel, block/parry/PvP defense, hit-ray geometry, multi-hit, hit-through-mobs/walls, noise, PvP damage/stagger/knockback, and where supported special Running/Jump attacks.

Common Goo melee defaults: hit-ray application is enabled for all exposed hit-ray categories; Multi Hit is enabled for every melee attack except Spear P1; all supported melee attacks use after-hitbox block cancel and 2.0x attack adrenaline; most melee PvP knockback is 0.1x; and the Effect Apply Chance category multiplier is 0.25x whenever the native attack actually has a status effect to roll. Weapon-specific non-neutral values are documented below.

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Per-Attack Tuning

Normal melee categories can expose Primary1, Primary2, Primary3, Primary4 and Secondary settings; special Running and Jump attacks have separate config groups and choose which native attack slot they borrow. The full attack-role surface includes damage/chop/pickaxe channels, stagger mode/value, Execution, stamina/eitr rate, hyperarmor and PvP hyperarmor mitigation, hit-stop/PvP hit-stop, Counter, attack movement/application window, lunge/application window, attack/recovery animation, rotation and post-trigger lock, adrenaline, PvP damage/stagger duration/knockback, ordinary knockback, block armor/force/stamina/regen/break rules, block cancel, Sneak/noise, building damage, Flank, hit-ray geometry, multi-target behavior and feature application toggles. Running/Jump groups expose their own corresponding special-attack values instead of silently inheriting every normal-role number.

The distinction matters because Valheim itself may attach chain multipliers to the borrowed attack. GCO's per-role Damage Rate Multiplier is applied in addition to that native attack data. For example, a 0.55x GCO value on a native 2x finisher is an effective 1.10x finisher, not a 45% weaker ordinary hit.

Per-role settings are resolved against the actual cloned Attack instance, not by repeatedly scanning weapon prefabs. Exact-prefab YAML can then overlay applicable values for a specific weapon without changing the category defaults for every weapon in that family.

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Two-Handed Swords

Two-Handed Swords are Goo's heavy greatsword-style commitment weapon.

System	Goo Ruleset identity
Damage / stamina	1.4x category base damage; P1/P2/P3 locals 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55 (native finisher compensation); Secondary 0.60x; normal stamina 1.4x.
Stagger / hyperarmor	P1-P3 2.0x stagger, Secondary 2.2x; Balanced hyperarmor with 0.80x damage taken, 0x stagger taken and 0x knockback taken.
Movement / lunge	Normal free attack movement 0x; P1/P2/P3 lunge 2.8x / 3.0x / 2.5x, Secondary 2.0x, applied before the hitbox.
Rotation	Local 1.0x over the global 6.0x; lock after attack trigger. The vanilla zero-rotation Secondary receives a P1 baseline only while GCO rotation is active; Vanilla Reset restores local 0x.
Running	Enabled, borrows P2; gate 3.5 m/s; damage 1.15x, stagger 1.9x, stamina 1.4x, animation 1.2x, movement 1.6x, lunge 5x; Balanced HA 0.80x damage / 0x stagger / 1x knockback.
Jump	Enabled, borrows P3; damage 0.75x on the native finisher, stagger 2.8x, stamina 1.4x, movement 0.5x, lunge 0x, no hyperarmor; vertical 2x-width hit ray.
Hit rays / cleave	P3 width 2x, height 1.6x, vertical; P1/P2 angle 1.4x, P3 angle 0.5x. Normal sword roles disable the multi-target damage penalty, so Goo enables multi-hit and through-mob/wall cleave. Running copies P2 hit-ray tuning.
Timing / defense	Normal hit-stop 0.6x; Secondary Counter Damage; all normal/running/jump attacks use after-hitbox block cancel and 2x attack adrenaline.
Equipment / PvP	Goo does not force a custom carried-movement penalty for 2H Swords; PvP uses the common damage curve, 0.1x melee knockback and strong weapon block-break resistance (10x PvP threshold).

Every row is independently configurable; the table describes only the Goo preset.

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Two-Handed Axes

Two-Handed Axes are planted, high-stagger heavy weapons with less chase lunge than 2H Swords.

System	Goo Ruleset identity
Damage / stamina	1.4x category base damage; P1/P2/P3 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55; normal stamina 1.4x; chop channel remains active.
Stagger / hyperarmor	P1-P3 2.0x, Secondary 2.2x; Balanced HA with 0.80x damage taken, 0x stagger and 0x knockback.
Movement / lunge	Primaries 0x free movement, Secondary 0.2x; normal lunge 2x. Equipment movement override -8%.
Rotation	Local 1x × global 6x, post-trigger lock; zero-native Secondary gets the P1 baseline only when GCO rotation is active.
Running	Enabled, borrows P2; damage 1.15x, stagger 1.9x, stamina 1.4x, movement 1x, lunge 0x; Balanced HA 0.80x damage / 0x stagger / 1x knockback.
Jump	Enabled, borrows P3; 0.75x damage, 2.8x stagger, 1.4x stamina, 0.5x movement, 0x lunge, no HA; vertical jump ray and intentionally strong 5x hit-stop.
Hit rays / cleave	P1 range 1.1x; Secondary range 1.1x; widths P1/P2/P3 1.25 / 1.25 / 1.4x; heights 1.3 / 1.3 / 1.5x; P3 vertical; P1/P2 angle 1.5x. Primary chain disables multi-target penalty and cleaves; Secondary retains its separate native-style behavior.
Timing / defense	Normal hit-stop is 0.9x on most 2H Axe roles, but P3 is 5x; the Jump attack also uses 5x. All use after-hitbox block cancel and 2x attack adrenaline; PvP weapon block-break threshold is 10x.

The goal is a weapon that wins through reach, stagger and trading rather than high free movement.

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Sledges

Sledges remain native-style heavy AOE control weapons by default rather than being converted into ordinary hit-ray weapons.

Normal Goo defaults are 3.0x stagger, Balanced hyperarmor (0.80x damage taken, 0x stagger/knockback), 1.25x stamina rate, 1.2x attack animation speed, 0.9x outgoing knockback, P1 lunge 2x / Secondary 1x, local rotation 1x with post-trigger lock, and an equipment movement penalty of -8%. Base damage stays 1.0x; the native slam AOE radius stays 1.0x but has a dedicated multiplier. Normal sledge attacks continue through Valheim's Area-attack path rather than GCO's ordinary direct-ray geometry.

The experimental alternate moveset is disabled by Goo. When enabled, it intentionally mirrors the designed 2H Axe ruleset for P1/P2/running/Secondary settings: 1.4x base damage, 2.0/2.2x stagger, 1.4x stamina and heavy hyperarmor. P1/P2/running use authored direct horizontal rays with base 2.4 m range, 1.3 m start height, 135° fan and 0.65 m thickness. P3 keeps the native sledge AOE. Secondary uses the real 2H Axe Secondary attack and native hit rays. The alternate mode has its own YAML-capable settings and remains opt-in.

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Pickaxes

Pickaxes remain tools first. Goo leaves ordinary combat damage, stagger, stamina, movement, lunge, animation, rotation lock and hyperarmor essentially neutral, but raises the pickaxe damage channel to 1.5x so mining/destruction utility can be tuned independently from creature damage.

Pickaxes participate in the normal PvP/block/parry/destruction/config systems where those values are exposed, and their building/destruction multiplier can be tuned separately. They do not receive Goo running or jump attacks and do not use the planted post-trigger rotation lock applied to normal melee categories.

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Dual Axes

Dual Axes use a four-primary-chain identity with broad hit coverage but no default special running/jump substitution.

System	Goo Ruleset identity
Chain / stagger	P1/P2/P3/P4 local damage rates 1.00 / 1.05 / 1.10 / 0.575; primary stagger 1.0x, Secondary 1.5x.
Hyperarmor / movement	No hyperarmor. Normal free attack movement 0x; primary lunge 2x, Secondary final lunge 0.9x; Secondary animation 1.5x.
Rotation / hit-stop	Local rotation 1x × global 6x, post-trigger lock; hit-stop 0.7x.
Hit rays	Primary widths 2.2x with 1.3x height; Secondary is deliberately narrow 0.55x but taller 1.8x. Multi-hit is enabled and the normal dual-axe penalty is disabled for cleaving roles.
Running / jump	Both config surfaces exist but Goo disables both. Running is stored as P2 (1.15x damage) and Jump as P4 with neutral values so enabling them later starts from a predictable baseline rather than old experimental behavior.
Defense / PvP	After-hitbox block cancel, 2x attack adrenaline, standard weapon parry/running-block support, and the common melee PvP normalization.

This avoids the old rapid special-chain behavior while retaining complete customization.

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Atgeirs

Atgeirs are reach/control weapons with strong stagger, counter timing, wide rays and both Running and Jump attacks.

System	Goo Ruleset identity
Chain / stagger	P1/P2/P3 local damage 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55; primary stagger 2.0x, Secondary 2.2x. Primaries can deal Counter Damage.
Hyperarmor	Balanced but deliberately light: 0.90x damage taken, 1.0x stagger taken, 1.0x knockback taken. It helps trading without granting poise immunity.
Movement / lunge	Normal P1-P3 and Secondary free movement 1x; primary lunge 2x, Secondary 1x. Equipment movement remains native unless manually overridden.
Rotation	P1/P2/P3 local 0.8x, P4/Secondary 1.0x, multiplied by global 6x; post-trigger rotation lock.
Running	Enabled, borrows P2; 1.15x damage, 1.9x stagger, 1.1x animation, 2x movement, 3x lunge, 2x ray width; 5 m/s gate.
Jump	Enabled, borrows P3; 0.75x damage, 2.8x stagger, 0.5x movement, 0x lunge, no HA, 2x ray width.
Hit rays / cleave	All normal attack-role ray widths are 2x. Multi-hit is enabled; Secondary disables the multi-target damage penalty and therefore receives through-mob/wall cleave behavior.
Timing / PvP	Hit-stop 0.8x; after-hitbox block cancel; 2x attack adrenaline. Secondary PvP damage is 1.0x, matching the general melee normalization layer.

So the Atgeir ruleset is a complete spacing/control package—not merely the 0.8x rotation setting.

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One-Handed Swords

One-Handed Swords are versatile generalist weapons with planted normal swings, strong lunges, a mobile Running attack and a heavy Jump finisher.

Normal chain damage uses P1/P2/P3 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55; Secondary uses 0.60x. Stagger is 1.0x on primaries and 1.6x on Secondary. Primaries have no hyperarmor; Secondary has Balanced hyperarmor whose Goo benefit is 0x knockback taken while damage/stagger taken stay neutral. Normal free movement is 0x; lunge is P1/P2/P3/P4 1.5 / 1.8 / 1.5 / 1.8x, Secondary 2x. Hit-stop is 0.6x; Secondary animation speed is 1.3x and Secondary can Counter.

The Running attack is enabled, borrows P3 and uses 0.575x local damage, 3x movement, 1.3x lunge and a 5 m/s gate. The Jump attack is enabled, borrows P3, uses 0.75x damage, 1.4x stagger, 0.5x movement, 0x lunge and a vertical hitbox with neutral width. Both special attacks have after-hitbox block cancel and no jump hyperarmor.

Hit-ray tuning makes P3 vertical (1.6x height, 0.7x angle) while P1/P2 angles are 1.2x. Vanilla sword prefabs also have curated model-length range multipliers (Bronze through Dyrnwyn/Nidhogg variants). Normal sword roles have multi-target penalty disabled, so Goo enables cleave through mobs/walls. Equipment movement is -3%; normal local rotation is 1x × global 6x, with the zero-native Secondary handled by the baseline/Vanilla-reset rule.

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One-Handed Axes

One-Handed Axes are mobile melee/chop weapons with faster normal animation timing and unusually strong special mobility.

Normal stagger is 1.5x primary / 1.6x Secondary. Primaries have no hyperarmor; Secondary has knockback-only Balanced protection (0x knockback taken). Normal Attack Movement is 1x, normal primary lunge 3.5x, primary animation 1.2x, Secondary animation 1.5x, primary recovery 0.8x, and hit-stop 0.8x. Goo scales the primary Chop damage channel to 0.8x; Secondary Chop remains 1x.

Running is enabled, borrows P3, uses 0.575x damage, 3x movement, 3x lunge, 1.0x recovery and a 1.5x hitbox-height multiplier. Jump is enabled and borrows the Secondary: 1.0x damage, 1.4x stagger, 1.7x animation, 0.8x recovery, 1x movement, 0x lunge, no hyperarmor.

Primary hit rays use 1.67x width and 1.5x height. Secondary and the Jump attack add 0.4 m of ray thickness to the native shape. Multi-target penalty is disabled for normal axe roles, giving Goo cleave behavior. Rotation is 1x × global 6x with post-trigger lock; the zero-native Secondary follows the same baseline/Vanilla-reset rule as swords/2H axe. Goo does not force an equipment movement penalty for 1H Axes.

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Clubs and Maces

Clubs/Maces are stagger-oriented one-handers with planted normal movement, controlled knockback and both Running/Jump attacks.

Normal P1/P2/P3 damage-rate values are 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55, Secondary 0.60x; stagger is 1.5x primary / 1.6x Secondary. Primary hyperarmor is off; Secondary has knockback-only Balanced protection (0x knockback taken). Free normal movement is 0x; lunge is P1/P2/P3/P4 1.5 / 1.8 / 1.5 / 1.8x, Secondary 2x. Secondary animation is 1.3x; outgoing knockback is reduced to 0.7x for normal, Running and Jump attacks.

Running is enabled, borrows P3: 0.575x damage, 3x movement, 1.3x lunge. Jump is enabled, borrows P3: 0.75x damage, 1.4x stagger, 0.5x movement, 0x lunge, vertical 1.67x-width ray and no hyperarmor.

Hit rays: P1/P2 width 1.4x and height 1.25x; P3/Secondary width 1.67x, height 2x, vertical; P3 angle 0.7x, Secondary angle 2x. Normal P1-P4 keep Valheim's multi-target damage penalty enabled; Secondary disables it for stronger cleave. Goo equipment movement is -3%; rotation is 1x × global 6x with post-trigger lock.

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Knives and Dual Knives

Knives and Dual Knives keep the fast/mobile end of the ruleset rather than receiving heavy-weapon commitment mechanics.

Both families have no Goo hyperarmor, neutral 1.0x stagger, 1x free attack movement, primary lunge 2x, Secondary lunge 1.5x, local rotation 1x × global 6x, and post-trigger rotation lock. Knife P1/P2/P3 damage-rate values are 1.00 / 1.05 / 0.55; Dual Knives otherwise preserve their native damage structure unless configured. Normal primaries use a 0.67 s PvP stagger duration; Secondary remains 0.83 s.

Their hit rays are deliberately generous for close-range reliability: Knife and Dual Knife normal roles use 2x ray width and 2x hitbox height. Multi Hit is enabled. Running-attack config exists for both, borrows P3 and stores the reduced 0.575x damage family, but Goo leaves Running disabled. They do not receive a Goo Jump attack by default.

Stealth is a major part of their identity: Goo local Sneak multiplier is 2.0x for Knife/Dual Knives before the global 2.0x Sneak multiplier and skill scaling, and their local Execution multiplier is 1.5x. Equipment movement remains native/no forced Goo penalty.

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Spears

Spears keep a precise thrust/throw identity rather than being turned into broad cleaving polearms.

Normal primary stagger is 1.0x, Secondary 2.0x; primary Counter Damage is enabled; hyperarmor is off; normal free attack movement is 0x. P1 lunge is 1x, later primary slots/Secondary use 2x; hit-stop is 0.8x; rotation is 1x × global 6x with post-trigger lock.

The P1 hit ray is vertical, 1.2x width, and is the one Goo melee role with Multi Hit disabled, preserving a focused single-target thrust. Vanilla spear prefabs get curated range multipliers: Flint/Bronze/Elderbark/Carapace 1.25x, Fang 1.2x, Splitnir variants 1.45x. The thrown Secondary has its own ranged behavior and does not receive GCO Flank damage.

Goo leaves the special Running attack disabled. Thrown spear and Abyssal Harpoon projectile speed is 1.5x; Spear Loyalty is exposed but off; Harpoon rope strength stays 1x. Equipment movement remains native unless explicitly overridden.

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Unarmed

Unarmed is a real GCO weapon category rather than falling through generic weapon logic.

Normal stagger is 1.0x, hyperarmor off, hit-stop 0.8x, free normal attack movement 0x, attack animation 1.3x, P1/P2 lunge 1.5x / 1.0x, Secondary lunge 2x, and rotation 1x × global 6x with post-trigger lock. P1/P2 hit rays are widened to 2.5x.

Running is enabled, borrows P2, requires 6 m/s, uses 0.575x damage, 1.0x animation, 2.5x movement and 1x lunge. No Goo jump attack is defined. Unarmed has a lower local Sneak multiplier (1.5x) than Knife/Dual Knife and uses its own PvP identity: Secondary damage 1.3x, very high Secondary stagger pressure (999x configured stagger-power multiplier) and 1.5x Secondary PvP knockback, while ordinary Unarmed PvP knockback is 0.7x.

It also participates in the normal weapon blocking/parry/running-block, block-cancel, adrenaline, conditional-damage and Effect Apply systems.

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Ranged and Magic Features

Bows

Bows have a dedicated ranged layer instead of inheriting melee timing. Configurable surfaces include draw speed, body rotation while drawing, projectile spread, base spread, projectile speed, damage/stagger/PvP values, stealth/noise, Effect Apply Chance, durability and equipment movement.

Goo's bow identity is PvP damage 0.5x, PvP knockback 0x, and PvP stagger duration 0 s, with effectively uncapped draw-aim body rotation (BowDrawRotationFactor = 999x). BowDrawSpeedMultiplier, BowSpreadMultiplier, BaseSpreadMultiplier and projectile speed are all 1.0x; the equipment-movement override is off, so the item's native movement modifier is used. Native attack-status-effect chance, when present, is still subject to the shared 0.25x Effect Apply Chance setting.

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Crossbows

Crossbows expose reload time, projectile speed, base spread, recoil, damage/stagger/PvP values, stealth/noise, Effect Apply Chance, durability and equipment movement independently from bows.

Goo sets PvP damage 0.5x, PvP knockback 0x, and PvP stagger duration 0 s. CrossbowReloadTimeMultiplier, projectile speed, BaseSpreadMultiplier and recoil are 1.0x, so the normal Valheim crossbow cadence remains intact unless the user changes it. Equipment movement uses the native item value because its override is off. Crossbow damage then participates in the same global PvP curve and conditional-damage pipeline as other player attacks.

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Spears, Harpoons, and Thrown Projectiles

Thrown spear/harpoon behavior is deliberately separate from bomb-style Throwables. Goo gives thrown spears and the Abyssal Harpoon 1.5x projectile speed. Spear Loyalty is optional and disabled; when enabled, a thrown spear is not consumed/dropped while all other throw costs and combat behavior remain. Harpoon rope/attach pull strength has an independent 1.0x default multiplier.

The Grappling Hook introduced in Valheim 1.0 is isolated from ordinary Bow/Crossbow classification even though the game serializes it through bow/crossbow-like data. Its dedicated controls cover reload speed, projectile speed, grappling range, pull/fly speed, durability burn, block armor/force, parry window/bonus/adrenaline, Sneak damage, knockback and Effect Apply Chance. Goo leaves the hook-specific gameplay multipliers at native 1x by default.

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Throwables

Bomb-style throwables such as Ooze Bombs use a dedicated category-level path. Stamina consumption, direct/propagated damage, projectile speed and throw-animation speed can be changed without affecting spears, harpoons, arrows, bolts or magic projectiles.

Goo leaves all four throwable multipliers at 1.0x. Throwable direct hits and lingering AOE damage are explicitly excluded from GCO Flank bonuses so a rear-sector multiplier cannot amplify a persistent bomb field.

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Magic Weapons and Staffs

Magic has per-staff controls rather than one blanket multiplier. Applicable staffs can tune damage, stagger, attack animation speed, eitr cost, noise, Sneak, PvP damage/stagger/knockback, projectile speed, AOE radius, spread, shield health/player-damage behavior and staff-specific mechanics.

Goo's general staff baseline is intentionally conservative: damage, direct stagger, animation, eitr, projectile/AOE/shield values stay 1x unless listed below. Magic-category PvP stagger duration is 0 s, so Goo suppresses magic PvP stagger by default even though individual staff PvP-stagger multipliers remain configurable. Older-staff exceptions include Frost staff PvP damage 0.8x and spread 0.5x; Dundr PvP damage 0.5x, direct stagger 2x, spread 0.3x, recoil 0x, reload 1x and projectile count 1x; Himmin Afl lightning-chain chance 25%; Dundr chain chance 2% per pellet. Extra lightning impact visuals are optional and off. Staff of the Wild vine damage/size/attack-speed stay 1x, vine level 0, player targeting off, and max vines 10.

Valheim 1.0 support includes Echo Spike projectile-speed + AOE-radius controls; Lightning Strike projectile-speed + AOE-radius controls; Northern Vengeance shield health, health consumption, active-shield mitigation/retaliation controls and retaliation-projectile speed; and Spirit Caller summon health/damage/health cost/spawn cap/level/size/attack-speed/PvP controls. Those four staves are explicitly reset to native/no-op Goo values so older balance assumptions do not leak onto new content. Magic Effect Apply Chance uses the shared 0.25x Goo multiplier when the native attack exposes an attack status effect.

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Staff Shields

Staff blocking is a first-class blocker family. Each supported staff can have Block Armor/Force, parry enable/bonus/window, stamina use/recovery, block-break rules, movement, running while blocking, PvP variants, effective block angle and damage-taken-on-block values. Active magical shield bubbles additionally expose their own health and incoming-player-damage behavior where supported.

Goo keeps ordinary staff block stats close to native: parrying is enabled, Block Force is 0x, running while blocking is enabled at 0.7x, and staff PvP block-break threshold is 1x. New Valheim 1.0 staff-shield-specific settings are neutral/no-op by default. Staff shields are therefore configurable without silently inheriting tower-shield behavior.

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Summons

Summons are tuned through owner-scoped/native ownership paths rather than periodic global scene scans. GCO supports Dead Raiser skeletons, Staff of the Wild vines and Valheim 1.0 Spirit Caller phantom animals.

For supported summons the config surface includes health cost, summon health/damage, PvP behavior, level, size, attack speed and spawn cap/native-cap behavior. Staff of the Wild also has vine-specific damage/size/attack speed, player-targeting and maximum active vines per caster. Dead Raiser/Spirit Caller can mirror quality/native-cap semantics.

Goo keeps summon-specific values neutral unless explicitly documented elsewhere: the system is primarily an exposed tuning surface rather than a blanket summon buff. Per-caster caps are enforced through authoritative ownership tracking, not an every-frame scene search.

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Hit Detection and Feedback

Hit feedback is not limited to hit rays. GCO also controls melee hit-stop, critical-hit dings for Counter/Flank, optional lightning-impact visuals, and the client-local Disable Weapon Particles switch described under Damage Tuning. These visual/feedback controls do not alter the authoritative damage calculation unless their corresponding gameplay system says so.

Hit Ray and Hitbox Tuning

GCO can tune the actual geometry Valheim uses for direct melee attacks: range, ray/sphere width, hitbox height, forward offset, fan angle, and horizontal/vertical hitbox style. Global multipliers stack with weapon/attack multipliers; running attacks normally copy the geometry of the native attack slot they borrow. Exact vanilla sword/spear prefabs can also have model-specific range multipliers.

Goo also enables Alternate Environment Hit Ray. The configurable GCO melee ray handles character targets, while a second environment-only pass reuses Valheim's native Attack.DoMeleeAttack() with the pre-GCO ray fields restored. This lets weapon reach/width tuning improve character contact without extending the weapon's terrain/building/tree reach or duplicating environmental damage. Reset to Vanilla disables the split-ray behavior.

Goo enables the hit-ray feature for every exposed melee family. Major authored defaults include:

Family	Goo hit-ray identity
2H Sword	P3 width 2x, height 1.6x, vertical; P1/P2 angle 1.4x, P3 angle 0.5x; running copies P2; jump vertical width 2x.
2H Axe	P1 range 1.1x, Secondary range 1.1x; widths P1/P2/P3 1.25/1.25/1.4x; heights 1.3/1.3/1.5x; P3 vertical; P1/P2 angle 1.5x.
Dual Axes	primary widths 2.2x, height 1.3x; Secondary width 0.55x, height 1.8x.
Atgeir	all normal role widths 2x; running/jump also use 2x width.
1H Sword	P3 vertical, height 1.6x, angle 0.7x; P1/P2 angle 1.2x; curated prefab-specific range multipliers.
1H Axe	primary width 1.67x, height 1.5x; Secondary and Jump add 0.4 m thickness.
Club/Mace	P1/P2 width 1.4x, height 1.25x; P3/Secondary width 1.67x, height 2x, vertical; P3 angle 0.7x, Secondary 2x.
Knife / Dual Knife	normal widths 2x, heights 2x.
Spear	P1 vertical width 1.2x; curated spear-prefab reach (1.2-1.45x depending on model).
Unarmed	P1/P2 width 2.5x.
Sledge	native normal AOE is untouched by ordinary direct rays; optional alternate P1/P2/running use dedicated absolute 2.4m/135°/0.65m rays.

Modded/non-native attack slots are deliberately left at neutral hit-ray values unless they are known compatible, reducing the chance of forcing vanilla geometry assumptions onto another mod's attack.

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Multi-Target Damage

Multi-target behavior is split into Multi Hit, Hit Through Mobs, Hit Through Walls, and Valheim's native multi-target damage penalty. These are not synonyms: Multi Hit controls whether multiple collected targets receive damage; through-mob controls whether an individual ray continues past a character; through-wall controls non-character obstructions; the penalty controls how damage is reduced across multiple targets.

Goo enables Multi Hit for every exposed melee role except Spear P1. It disables the multi-target damage penalty for all normal 2H/1H Sword roles, Dual Axes, 1H Axes, 2H Axe primaries, Atgeir Secondary, and Club/Mace Secondary. Club/Mace normal P1-P4 intentionally keep Valheim's multi-target damage penalty enabled. When the penalty is disabled, Hit Through Mobs becomes enabled; vertical hitboxes and penalty-free roles also receive Goo's through-wall behavior. Running and jump attacks retain their dedicated multi-target rules.

This is why broad sword/axe/club swings can genuinely cleave while the Spear P1 remains a focused thrust.

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Stealth

GCO has three separate stealth/positional concepts plus attack noise:

Sneak is Valheim's unaware-target mechanic. Goo sets global Sneak damage to 2.0x, enables skill scaling with base 1.0x + 0.01x per Sneak skill level, awards 1 base Sneak XP on successful Sneak attacks, scales XP with the configured Sneak multiplier, and gives ranged Sneak XP a 0.5x factor. Knife/Dual Knife local Sneak is 2x; Unarmed is 1.5x; most other melee/ranged locals are neutral. Staff local Sneak is neutral under Goo.

Flank is GCO's rear-sector mechanic. Goo enables it and its ding, uses a 120° PvE rear sector and 90° PvP rear sector, 2x global Flank stagger, and per-category local damage (generally 1.5x, 2x for Knife/Dual Knife, Sledge neutral). Bomb-style throwables and thrown-spear Secondary behavior are excluded where designed.

Execution is damage against staggered PvE enemies (2x global; Knife/Dual Knife 1.5x local). Counter is attack-state timing damage. Goo's conditional arbitration makes Sneak and Flank stackable, while Execution and Counter are non-stackable competitors. Attack-start and attack-hit noise are also configurable globally/per role and remain 1x under Goo.

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Enemy Tuning

Enemy systems can be tuned independently from player weapon systems: outgoing stagger pressure, damage to buildings, knockback, projectile speed/knockback, generic speed, movement/attack animation speed, size, melee hit-ray range/size/height/offset, base/attack rotation, post-hit-ray rotation lock, poise and stagger decay.

Goo intentionally keeps most enemy combat timing neutral (1x) so the overhaul primarily changes player combat rather than globally accelerating mobs. The main Goo exceptions are enemy damage to buildings 0.2x, enemy knockback dealt 0.7x, and post-hit-ray enemy rotation lock enabled. Enemy projectile speed/knockback, speed, attack/movement animation speed, size, hit-ray range/size/height/offset, base/attack rotation, stagger dealt, poise and stagger-decay speed are all 1x; stagger-decay cooldown is 1 s. Enemy size scaling, when changed, proportionally scales the supported melee hit-ray dimensions and then stacks with the dedicated hit-ray multipliers.

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Debug Tools

Debug tools are intended for private testing, balance work, and troubleshooting. They should not be treated as normal gameplay features unless everyone in a world agrees to use them.

Goo Combat Debug Mode uses Valheim's native god-mode behavior for the local player and gates debug-only controls such as debug fly, no-placement-cost, ghost mode, manual debug healing, adding or refreshing the Rested effect, and PvP dummy actions. GCO debug fly and ghost mode do not enable Valheim's vanilla debugmode flag, so they do not fight vanilla debug hotkeys when devcommands is enabled.

Debug keybinds are configurable and use physical-key detection. Holding normal movement input such as W, A, S, or D should not cover up a GCO debug hotkey. The default debug keys are Z for debug fly, N for no-placement-cost, P for ghost mode, H for debug healing, O for adding or refreshing Rested, K for one-shot Kill All Creatures, and L for one-shot Remove Loots. Hotkeys are ignored while chat, the console, or text-input prompts are active. In multiplayer, cheat-capable GCO debug actions are restricted to the host or Valheim server administrators.

The Debug section includes separate enable switches for debug fly, no-placement-cost, and ghost mode. Turning one of these switches off prevents its keybind or button action from toggling that state, and also forces the current GCO-controlled state off. This allows Goo Combat Debug Mode to stay active for god mode or healing while disabling individual testing powers.

Debug logging can be enabled for troubleshooting. Verbose debug logging expands coverage with detailed throttled output for player resources, movement, velocity, current weapon, weapon category, active attack role, attack/block/dodge/grounded state, GCO debug states, and related combat/runtime information. Verbose logging is intentionally noisy and should normally be used only during short test sessions.

Presets intentionally preserve the Debug section. Applying Goo's Ruleset or Reset to Vanilla will not overwrite debug logging preferences, debug keybinds, debug toggle permissions, or PvP dummy testing settings.

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PvP Testing

PvP Test Dummy

The mod includes a PvP-style test dummy feature for balance testing.

The dummy can be used to test PvP-like damage and stagger behavior without needing another player to stand still for repeated testing. This is useful when tuning PvP damage, stagger, counter damage, armor interaction, and hit-stop.

The dummy can also be controlled through debug actions and flat gco_* console commands, including spawning, despawning, and resetting the test dummy where those actions are exposed.

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Presets and Config Tools

Goo Ruleset

The Goo Ruleset is the single canonical preset used by fresh installation and by the Apply Goo command/action. Fresh configs are first initialized through the Vanilla baseline and then receive the same Goo preset routine, preventing installation defaults from drifting away from the button/console preset.

The preset covers the complete gameplay surface described in this README: weapon-role damage/stagger/stamina, running/jump attacks, hyperarmor, hit rays/multi-target rules, movement/lunge/rotation, animation/recovery/hit-stop, block cancel/adrenaline, Counter/Sneak/Flank/Execution, Effect Apply Chance, PvP curves/stagger/knockback/blocking, armor/equipment movement/resistance, player stamina/movement/resources, enemy values, ranged/magic/summons, staff/shield behavior, building damage and UI defaults.

Apply Goo deliberately preserves controls that are outside the preset itself: the current host-authoritative Apply Mod Options master switch, Better Free Aim, Disable Weapon Particles, the user's YAML opt-in state, Debug settings and keybinds. The detailed values in the weapon/system sections above are the actual final Goo defaults, not a list of 2.0.2 changes.

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Reset to Vanilla

Reset to Vanilla is the canonical no-op/native baseline used both by the full reset and by scoped per-function/per-weapon reset actions. It restores ordinary native settings where GCO has a corresponding native behavior, turns off Goo-added mechanics such as Flank/negative stamina/alternate damage curves, and disables mod-added Running/Jump/alternate movesets without erasing their stored custom values.

Important examples: global attack rotation returns to 1x; the known native-zero secondaries (1H Sword, 2H Sword, 2H Axe, 1H Axe) keep local 0x; Effect Apply Chance returns to 1x; new player Walk/Jog/Sprint settings return to 1x; new config entries created during migration use these Vanilla values rather than Goo values. Reset to Vanilla does not toggle the host-authoritative Apply Mod Options master switch. Debug settings are preserved. YAML runtime application is disabled by the full Vanilla reset, but YAML files are not deleted.

Scoped Reset This Function to Vanilla and Reset This Weapon Type to Vanilla actions call the same canonical reset logic and then restore unrelated branches, avoiding separate hand-maintained default tables.

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In-Game Console Commands

Goo's Combat Overhaul includes flat gco_* console commands so settings can be inspected and changed in game without relying only on a configuration manager. The command layout is intentionally flat because Valheim's vanilla console autocomplete works best with command names plus one autocomplete argument.

Common command forms include:

gco_get_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_set_<Branch> <Feature> <Value>
gco_reset_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_list_<Branch> [FeatureFilter]
gco_applypreset <goo|vanilla>
gco_applypreset_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_run_<Branch> <ActionFeature>
gco_save

Examples:

gco_set_2HSwords destruction_Primary1_DamageToBuildings 0.75
gco_get_2HSwords destruction_Primary1_DamageToBuildings
gco_set_Debug CombatDebugMode true
gco_set_Debug VerboseDebugLogging true
gco_run_Debug pvpDummy_Spawn
gco_applypreset goo
gco_applypreset_2HSwords destruction_Primary1_DamageToBuildings
gco_list_2HSwords destruction

Weapon and tool branches use readable names such as 2HSwords, 2HAxes, 1HSwords, 1HAxes, DualAxes, Maces, Pickaxes, Bows, and Crossbows. Feature names use underscores to compress deeper config paths into one autocomplete-friendly argument. Numeric values are typed manually; boolean, enum, and key-style values may be suggested where Valheim's console supports them.

Preset commands intentionally do not alter the Debug section. Branch-specific preset commands are available for non-Debug branches only.

Every bound config entry has both a compact primary command path and an exact full-path fallback under the All branch. Runnable one-shot actions are exposed through gco_run_*, including Goo/Vanilla preset actions, PvP dummy spawning/removal, debug flight, no-placement-cost, ghost mode, debug healing, and adding Rested. Startup audits verify both config-entry reachability and action reachability.

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Config Change Broadcasts

Config change broadcasts are multiplayer disclosure messages with a [GCO] prefix. They are meant to make visible gameplay-impacting GCO changes easier to notice in chat. This helps everyone see when gameplay-impacting settings have changed without relying on guesswork.

The UI and Icons config section includes Broadcast Config Changes. Goo's Ruleset keeps ongoing broadcasts off by default. Turning the broadcast setting off still sends one final disclosure message before suppression begins, so other players can see that future GCO config-change messages will be hidden.

Presets are announced as a single summary instead of spamming every internal config write.

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Multiplayer Notes

GCO separates host-authoritative synchronized gameplay, host-authoritative YAML profiles, and client-local preferences.

Gameplay synchronization is automatic through ConditionalConfigSync. Server-controlled GCO gameplay entries are host-authoritative; ordinary guests are read-only while the host and Valheim server administrators may edit authorized server-controlled settings. General / Lock Configuration is enabled by Goo/fresh and Vanilla defaults and is registered as the ConditionalConfigSync locking entry. Guest config files are not rewritten by host synchronization.

The host's validated exact-prefab YAML profiles are also authoritative for the multiplayer session through GCO's ConditionalConfigSync integration, but guest YAML files are never overwritten. Config and YAML generations are independent, so reloading a profile does not require rebuilding the ordinary config surface.

Apply Mod Options is a host-authoritative synchronized gameplay setting. Ordinary guests cannot disable GCO locally to bypass the host combat ruleset; the host and authorized Valheim server administrators control the shared value. Better Free Aim, Disable Weapon Particles, keybinds, diagnostic logging and other intentional local controls remain client-local. Cheat-capable GCO debug/PvP-dummy actions are separately restricted to the host or Valheim server administrators. Current YAML schema is 5.

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Installation

Install with a Valheim mod manager such as r2modman or Thunderstore Mod Manager, or manually place the compiled plugin into your BepInEx plugins folder.

Required dependencies:

• denikson-BepInExPack_Valheim-5.4.2350 (BepInEx 5.4.23.5)
• shudnal-ConditionalConfigSync-1.0.8 or newer

Version 2.0.2 targets the Valheim 1.0 code/API line.

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Configuration

GCO's generated BepInEx config is the authoritative category/ruleset configuration. Fresh configs are produced by the same canonical Goo Ruleset routine used by Apply Goo, so installation values and the preset cannot drift. On an older-version migration, compatible saved values are inherited, each genuinely new setting starts from its Reset-to-Vanilla value, and an individual malformed/unparseable entry falls back by itself instead of replacing the whole config. If the stored config version already equals the current 2.0.2, startup performs no config-file rewrite/save.

The config is organized by global systems and readable weapon-family subtrees. Feature-application toggles let a mechanic be disabled globally or for a weapon family without deleting that family's stored tuning. Console command registration is generated from the same bound entries, and host sync registration uses the same canonical binding surface, so new ordinary gameplay settings do not require a second hand-maintained command/default table.

YAML weapon profiles are optional exact-prefab overlays ([Beta] Use YAML Configs). They can override applicable GCO config entries, selected native SharedData/Attack fields, and optional custom Primary/Secondary chain templates. Profile precedence applies only within a scoped weapon/attack context; the underlying category config remains unchanged. Files are loaded/reloaded by watcher/debounce rather than constant directory scans, malformed edits keep the last known-good snapshot, and generation never overwrites an existing profile. Current schema is 5.

YAML applies to applicable weapon-scoped systems such as damage/stagger/stamina, movement/lunge (including airborne lunge normalization and the running-airborne cap), animation/recovery, rotation, hit rays/multi-target, conditional damage, Effect Apply Chance, ranged/staff values and selected native fields. Truly global player locomotion settings such as Walk/Jog/Sprint rotation remain global config values rather than per-weapon profile keys.

Useful profile commands include gco_yaml_generate, gco_yaml_reload, gco_yaml_show and gco_yaml_diagnose. Apply Goo preserves the user's YAML opt-in; Reset to Vanilla disables runtime YAML application but does not delete files. GCO uses its own internal flat-YAML implementation and has no external YamlDotNet dependency.

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Feedback

Feedback, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModdedValheim/comments/1toleqf/about_combat/

2.0.2 - Native-lifecycle cleanup, PvP fidelity, split environment hit rays, and ruleset tuning

Multiplayer authority and configuration

• Added General / Lock Configuration, enabled by Goo/fresh and Reset to Vanilla, and registered it as ConditionalConfigSync's locking entry. Ordinary guests are read-only for server-controlled gameplay settings while the host and Valheim server administrators may edit authorized synchronized settings.
• Cheat-capable GCO debug/PvP-dummy actions are now restricted to the host or Valheim server administrators in multiplayer. Apply Mod Options remains server-authoritative and synchronized, so ordinary guests cannot locally opt out of the host combat ruleset; diagnostic logging, keybinds, Better Free Aim, Disable Weapon Particles, and other intentional local preferences remain client-local.
• Raised the required ConditionalConfigSync dependency to 1.0.8.
• Fresh installs are still generated by the canonical Goo Ruleset routine. Older-version migration still preserves compatible values and assigns Reset-to-Vanilla values only to newly added or failed entries; same-version 2.0.2 configs are not rewritten merely by startup.

PvP stagger

• Reworked PvP stagger-duration transfer around Valheim 1.0's actual damage RPC/stagger boundary so the configured duration is associated with the receiver-side hit only when native stagger really triggers after status-effect stagger modification.
• Stagger animation-speed ownership now follows the live native stagger state/clip and cooperatively restores animation speed without overwriting later animation writers.
• Dual Knives normal primary PvP stagger duration is now 0.67 s, matching the existing Knife and Dual Axes normal-primary default. This is a duration-only change; Dual Knives preserve their existing Goo primary stagger-power tier. One-Handed Sword and Club/Mace jump attacks now use a 1.17 s PvP stagger duration without changing their normal-primary stagger duration/power. Bow, Crossbow, and Magic remain 0 s by Goo default.

Attack lifecycle, movement, and animation

• Removed the obsolete per-attack FullAttackAnimationDurationSeconds fallback settings. GCO attack/hyperarmor lifetime now follows Valheim's native Attack.Stop() / m_attackDone, animation exit/abort, replacement-attack, and character-destruction cleanup rather than an arbitrary attack watchdog timer.
• Attack-movement application supports BeforeHitbox, DuringHitbox, AfterHitbox, and FullAnimation phases through the native attack lifecycle.
• Fixed attack-context startup/recovery handling so movement, lunge, airborne modifiers, and animation-speed ownership do not disappear during Valheim's short transition between a successful Attack.Start() and the animator entering the attack state.

Hit rays and combat ruleset

• Added Alternate Environment Hit Ray. Goo/fresh default is On; Reset to Vanilla is Off. The configurable GCO melee ray handles character targets while an environment-only pass reuses Valheim's native Attack.DoMeleeAttack() with the attack's pre-GCO ray fields restored, so character-reach tuning does not also extend terrain/building/tree reach or duplicate character hits.
• Atgeir Secondary PvP damage is now 1.0x.
• One-Handed Axe normal primary animation speed is 1.2x, normal P1-P4 lunge is 3.5x, and primary Chop damage is 0.8x. Secondary Chop remains 1.0x.
• Club/Mace P3 now keeps Valheim's multi-target damage penalty enabled, so normal P1-P4 are all penalty-enabled; Secondary remains penalty-free. Running/Jump retain their dedicated rules.
• Corrected Dual Axes jump selection to the native three-stage Primary3 finisher while retaining compatibility for genuine modded four-stage chains.
• Unarmed running-attack movement is 2.5x and its running attack animation speed is 1.0x.
• Pickaxe Primary and Secondary now lock attack rotation from the native hitbox trigger through recovery.

Debug tools and cleanup

• Added host/admin-gated one-shot Kill All Creatures (K) and Remove Loots (L) debug actions using Valheim's maintained/native collections only when invoked; no background scene scan was added.
• Removed dead/stale implementation code that no longer participates in the final 2.0.2 runtime, while retaining explicit older-config/YAML compatibility cleanup where it is still required for migration.

2.0.1 - Animation timing and multiplayer synchronization fixes

Attack animation timing

• Fixed GCO attack/recovery animation-speed composition so configured multipliers apply over Valheim's current clip-authored animation speed instead of recapturing transient Animator.speed values. This prevents nominal multipliers from running faster than intended and prevents recovery, chained attacks, hit-stop, or native animation-speed events from compounding the baseline.
• Added global and per-supported-weapon Animation application toggles. Disabling the applicable toggle makes GCO's attack/recovery animation-speed layer neutral (1.0x) without discarding the stored speed values.
• Goo/fresh One-Handed Axe ordinary primaries use their intended 1.4x attack animation speed with 0.8x primary recovery, the Secondary remains 1.5x, and One-Handed Axe animation changes are enabled.
• Goo/fresh One-Handed Axe running attacks now use 1.0x recovery animation speed and 3.0x movement speed.

Multiplayer config and YAML synchronization

• Replaced GCO's custom multiplayer config/YAML transport with ConditionalConfigSync as a required dependency. Shared gameplay settings and the authoritative YAML profile bundle synchronize through CCS, including late-joining clients.
• Gameplay/balance settings remain server-authoritative while Better Free Aim, Disable Weapon Particles, keybinds, Debug/utility controls, one-shot preset/reset actions, and other intentional local controls remain client-local.
• Removed the obsolete Sync Config in Multiplayer and Limit Guests Authority settings. GCO synchronization is automatic while ConditionalConfigSync is installed.
• Fixed Goo/Vanilla and scoped-reset application so only final persistent config changes are published; temporary preset-calculation states are no longer exposed to multiplayer synchronization.
• Fixed GCO config serialization so an equipped weapon's effective YAML override cannot be written back into the persistent BepInEx config file.

Config lifecycle

• Fresh configs continue to be generated from the canonical Goo ruleset.
• Updating an older config continues to preserve compatible existing values and assigns Reset-to-Vanilla values only to newly added or failed-to-inherit entries. Obsolete native-sync config keys are removed during that version migration.
• Same-version configs are not rewritten or cleaned merely by startup.
• YAML profile schema remains 5.

2.0.0 - Valheim 1.0 compatibility, YAML weapon profiles, rebuilt combat rules, new magic, movement, armor, and runtime architecture

Valheim 1.0 compatibility

• Updated GCO for the Valheim 1.0 code/API line and rebound Harmony targets to the current native method signatures.
• Updated compatibility for Valheim 1.0 EffectList.Create, ItemData.GetTooltip, terminal command construction, attack/projectile/AOE paths, and related changed APIs.
• Updated the Thunderstore dependency to denikson-BepInExPack_Valheim-5.4.2350 / BepInEx 5.4.23.5.
• Added first-class support for Valheim 1.0's Grappling Hook and the new Echo Spike, Lightning Strike, Northern Vengeance, and Spirit Caller staffs.
• Audited Valheim 1.0 shield-family classification so current shields continue through GCO's buckler/medium/tower/staff defensive systems without display-name grouping.

YAML exact-prefab weapon profiles

• Added optional exact-prefab YAML weapon profiles, allowing individual weapons to override applicable GCO settings without creating separate hard-coded prefab branches.
• Added selected native SharedData and Attack field overrides plus custom primary/secondary chain templates, including template prefab, attack selection, chain-step selection, and per-step native overrides.
• Added compact/full YAML generation for the held or exact ObjectDB prefab. Existing profile files are never overwritten by generation.
• Added watcher-driven hot reload with debounce and main-thread application; no constant directory polling or scene scanning is used.
• YAML reload is atomic: malformed files, duplicate prefab profiles, unsupported paths, conversion failures, or unreadable files keep the previous known-good snapshot rather than partially applying a broken set.
• Added cooperative native-field ownership/restoration so GCO restores only values it owns and does not blindly overwrite later changes made by another mod.
• Added gco_yaml_generate, gco_yaml_reload, gco_yaml_show, and gco_yaml_diagnose, plus independent DebugYAMLConfigs diagnostics.
• Added host-authoritative in-memory YAML synchronization when Sync Config is enabled. Guest YAML files are never rewritten; local profiles return after disconnect/unsynced play.
• Decoupled ordinary config and YAML payload generations so a profile reload does not require a full config snapshot and vice versa.
• Current YAML profile schema is 5.

Multiplayer, config lifecycle, commands, and presets

• Expanded host-authoritative multiplayer synchronization to the full 2.0.0 gameplay surface while keeping guest config files and stored local values untouched.
• Better Free Aim and Disable Weapon Particles are explicitly client-local preferences and are excluded from host gameplay synchronization.
• Fresh installations are generated from the same canonical Goo Ruleset routine used by Apply Goo Ruleset, eliminating drift between installation defaults and the preset.
• Older-version migration preserves compatible values from published configs and gives newly added or individually invalid/unreadable entries their Reset-to-Vanilla values. Sync Config is enabled after an older-version migration.
• Same-version configs are not cleaned, rewritten, or saved merely by startup.
• Added one-shot Reset This Function to Vanilla controls for global gameplay functions and Reset This Weapon Type to Vanilla controls for weapon, magic/staff, and shield families. Scoped resets use the canonical Vanilla preset routine rather than separate duplicated defaults.
• Added/expanded flat gco_* console coverage for the enlarged config, preset actions, YAML actions, debug actions, and runtime tools, with startup command-coverage audits.
• Reorganized large Configuration Manager surfaces for clearer global/weapon/staff grouping and moved config-change broadcasts to UI and Icons.
• Goo Ruleset no longer forcibly changes Better Free Aim once the user has chosen it; fresh installs still start with Better Free Aim disabled. Reset to Vanilla disables it.

Player movement, airborne control, lunge, and rotation

• Split grounded player-facing rotation into direct Walk, Jog, and Sprint factors. Goo defaults are 1.0x, 1.0x, and 2.0x; Vanilla reset is 1.0x for all three.
• Added dedicated airborne rotation and airborne movement multipliers.
• Added tunable natural airborne horizontal deceleration rate and a horizontal-speed floor/bottleneck for neutral-air momentum decay.
• Split Realistic Jump behavior into independent horizontal-speed-vector locking and airborne rotation/attack-snap locking controls.
• Added an airborne-time threshold so tiny ground gaps do not accidentally trigger jump-attack/airborne bonuses.
• Added Use Vanilla Lunge While Airborne, Use Vanilla Lunge While Gliding, Normalize Lunge on Ice, and Disable Running Attacks on Ice. Goo defaults immediately neutralize GCO's added lunge scaling to vanilla 1.0x animation-authored root motion whenever the player is physically airborne; gliding/ice normalization and ice running-attack suppression remain independently configurable. Valheim's underlying movement state is not replaced.
• Added a physical-airborne running-attack grace/cap. Goo allows running-attack substitution for the first 0.3 s after actual ground contact is lost, then blocks running substitution until the player lands; this uses Valheim's existing ground-contact timer instead of a new polling timer.
• Running and jump attack rotation now uses the native rotation factor of the actual attack template selected for that special attack, with GCO's global attack-rotation multiplier applied on top.
• Reworked attack-rotation settings into true multipliers over native Attack.m_speedFactorRotation instead of absolute overrides/sentinel values.
• Native-zero rotation attacks can use the same weapon type's actual Primary 1 native rotation as their added GCO baseline, while explicit YAML zero remains an intentional zero and Reset to Vanilla preserves zero-native secondaries.
• Final Goo defaults use 6.0x Global Attack Rotation; normal local attack-rotation factors are generally 1.0x, with Atgeir P1/P2/P3 at 0.8x.
• Increased the Goo Two-Handed Sword running-attack minimum speed gate to 3.5 m/s.
• Set Goo Two-Handed Sword normal Primary1 / Primary2 / Primary3 lunge-distance multipliers to 2.8x / 3.0x / 2.5x.
• Added roll-distance tuning independent of roll animation speed, stamina, invulnerability timing, and recovery.

Running attacks, jump attacks, chains, and heavy-weapon balance

• Expanded and corrected running/jump attack handling so special attacks use native attack templates/validation without replacing legitimate queued primary-chain transitions.
• Fixed failed queued/chained attack starts—most visibly Two-Handed Sword primaries at insufficient stamina—prematurely ending post-hitbox movement and rotation recovery locks. Valheim stops the previous Attack before the replacement validates its resources; GCO now defers its own recovery cleanup in that failed-replacement case and releases it only when the attack animation actually leaves the attack state or is genuinely interrupted, including stagger or death.
• Running and jump attacks now keep independent damage, stagger, stamina, movement, lunge, animation, recovery, hit-stop, PvP, block-cancel, hyperarmor, and rotation surfaces where supported.
• Added/standardized Goo running-attack animation-speed defaults and weapon-specific movement/lunge behavior, including revised Two-Handed Sword, axe, Atgeir, Unarmed, and one-handed axe behavior.
• Rebalanced heavy-weapon base damage, stamina, stagger, jump/running stagger, secondary stagger, hyperarmor, and charge/heavy secondary damage across Two-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Axes, Sledges, Atgeirs, One-Handed Swords, Clubs/Maces, and related attacks.
• Rebalanced jump-finisher behavior so jump attacks borrowing native finishers do not inherit the full vanilla finisher damage spike; jump stagger remains independently tunable.
• Replaced the abrupt native primary-chain damage progression with a smoother Goo ruleset progression for supported melee chains while keeping the last attack as the finisher. Secondary, running, jump, projectile, and standalone custom-YAML attacks remain separate.
• Added/updated per-chain values for one-handed swords/clubs/maces, two-handed swords/axes, Atgeirs, one-handed axes, knives, and dual axes where supported.
• Added [Beta] labeling/guarding around dual-axe chain surfaces that can interact with the weapon's unusual native chain structure.
• Updated hit-ray application defaults so Goo/fresh enables the hit-ray feature layer broadly, with individual categories/slots still able to remain neutral/no-op.
• Added/updated weapon-specific hit-ray dimensions, including dual axes, knives/dual knives, two-handed axes, unarmed, spear/one-handed range helpers, and special running-attack inheritance.

Sledges and alternate moveset

• Retained the optional [Beta] alternate sledge moveset, disabled by Goo's Ruleset by default.
• Alternate Primary1/Primary2/Running use dedicated direct hit rays; Primary3 retains the native sledge AOE slam and presentation.
• Alternate Secondary uses the real Two-Handed Axe secondary melee template rather than the sledge AOE route while preserving native startup/resource validation.
• Added/retained independent alternate-sledge damage, stagger, stamina, movement, lunge, animation, recovery, hit-stop, hit-ray, and PvP settings instead of copying live Two-Handed Axe user values.
• Cleaned the alternate-sledge effect/audio path so direct alternate impacts use their intended heavy-melee hit feedback without reintroducing the sledge slam route.

Conditional damage: Sneak, Flank, Counter, and Execution

• Consolidated the former global Sneak/stealth organization and moved Sneak damage skill scaling into the Stealth system.
• Reset-to-Vanilla Sneak/backstab behavior now uses literal native/no-op values; added GCO Sneak skill scaling/XP and Flank behavior are disabled by Vanilla reset.
• Reduced unarmed/fist Sneak damage separately from ordinary weapon Sneak scaling.
• Added/expanded Flank damage eligibility and a separate global/local Flank stagger multiplier. Bomb-style throwable direct/AOE damage and sledges remain excluded from Flank bonuses.
• Fixed Flank/Counter/stagger-critical ding arbitration so the appropriate GCO feedback is not duplicated on the same hit.
• Renamed the staggered-target punish model to Execution and separated global/local Execution values from ordinary Stagger settings.
• Added a unified conditional-damage arbitration model: stackable bonuses form one multiplicative path; each non-stackable active bonus forms a competing single-bonus path; the highest final path wins. Equal results favor the stackable path and equal non-stackable ties use deterministic priority.
• Goo defaults make Sneak and Flank stackable while Execution and Counter Damage are non-stackable.
• Goo Execution defaults use 2.0x global, 1.0x local for most categories, and 1.5x local for Knife/Dual Knives.

Damage curves, PvP, stagger, and combat math

• Restored the damage-curve ordering to GCO's intended pre-armor/raw-damage model. Incoming PvE shaping is applied before Valheim armor; outgoing PvP shaping is GCO's final outgoing multiplier before the victim's normal armor/resistance processing.
• Retained separate incoming PvE and outgoing PvP curve controls with anchor, exponent, minimum, and maximum values.
• Continued per-attack PvP balancing, including reduced heavy/burst, bow, crossbow, and selected special-attack PvP output where required by the Goo ruleset.
• Expanded stagger-power tuning across heavy/polearm/one-handed attacks, including separate normal, secondary, running, and jump identities.
• Added configurable facing preservation when staggered and hardened native stagger-order interactions so GCO does not accidentally multiply Valheim's native staggered-target bonus twice.
• Enemy projectile knockback is now a literal configurable multiplier with Goo and Vanilla defaults at 1.0x.
• Added Enemy Projectile Speed multiplier; Goo and Vanilla defaults remain 1.0x.

Armor and blocking

• Added per-equipped-piece armor knockback resistance: Goo Light/Medium/Heavy defaults 5% / 10% / 15%; Vanilla reset 0%.
• Added matching armor stagger resistance at 5% / 10% / 15% Goo defaults and 0% Vanilla reset.
• Armor tooltips now show GCO knockback and stagger resistance values.
• Added explicit Valheim 1.0 armor-family classification with native movement-modifier fallback for unknown/modded equipment.
• Retained/expanded weapon, shield, staff, buckler, medium-shield, and tower-shield block/parry configuration, including Can Parry, parry-window multipliers, block-break/stagger threshold behavior, blocked-hit damage, movement, stamina regeneration, and running while blocking.
• Hardened tower/buckler/medium shield classification against display-name dependence and audited the new Valheim 1.0 shield families.

Effect Applying, tooltips, and client visuals

• Added the Effect Applying gameplay section with true per-category multipliers over Valheim's native attack status-effect application chance. Goo/fresh defaults are 0.25x; Reset to Vanilla is 1.0x.
• Effect Applying is scoped only around Valheim's native melee, area, and projectile status-effect rolls and does not permanently rewrite the shared weapon chance.
• YAML native status-effect chance can be overridden as an absolute native field; the GCO Effect Applying multiplier stacks on top during the roll.
• Moved optional extra lightning-hit visuals into Effect Applying and made them off by default.
• Added [Beta] Disable Weapon Particles, a client-local visual preference that suppresses weapon particles, trails, and weapon-owned lights for held and sheathed/back-mounted weapon models while preserving non-visual effects. Native torches are fully excluded.
• Reworked tooltip updates onto completed native tooltip paths so effective stamina, damage, status-effect/chance, armor resistance, chain-lightning, and related GCO information stays current without mutating shared prefab data solely for display.

Valheim 1.0 Grappling Hook

• Added a dedicated Grappling Hook weapon category instead of inheriting Crossbow configuration.
• Added dedicated hook reload speed, projectile speed, range/tether length, fly/pull speed, durability burn, knockback, block/parry, Sneak, and Effect Applying controls.
• Hook range scales both projectile lifetime and attached tether maximum length; fly speed scales the native pull-force components while preserving Valheim's distance-based pull curve.
• Goo/fresh and Vanilla defaults leave the new hook-specific surfaces at native 1.0x behavior unless explicitly tuned.

Magic, staff shields, and summons

• Added Valheim 1.0 Echo Spike support with generic staff controls plus projectile-speed and AOE-radius tuning.
• Added Lightning Strike support with generic staff controls plus projectile-speed and AOE-radius tuning.
• Added Northern Vengeance support for bubble/shield health, health cost/consumption, shield stagger/knockback/PvP behavior, active-parry bonus, player damage taken, and retaliation projectile speed.
• Added Spirit Caller support using the same persistent summon architecture as Dead Raiser, including health cost, summon health/damage, PvP behavior, size, attack speed, level, and native/quality cap handling.
• Retained/expanded Dead Raiser quality/native summon caps, Staff of the Wild per-caster vine caps, staff projectile/AOE tuning, Dundr projectile/reload/recoil/lightning-chain behavior, Himmin Afl chain chance, and staff-shield controls.
• New Valheim 1.0 staff-specific Goo/fresh defaults are neutral/no-op unless explicitly defined by the ruleset, so native new-staff behavior is not silently rebalanced merely by installing GCO.

Player resources, HUD, equipment, and durability

• Rebalanced final Goo player stamina-regeneration and attack/jump stamina defaults across the 2.0.0 ruleset.
• Added optional [Beta] resource-HUD controls for health/stamina grey increase/decrease bands and bar-gap behavior. The HUD master toggle remains off by default.
• Added direct movement/equipment cache refresh at equipment/config boundaries instead of repeatedly traversing equipment every modifier update.
• Reworked weapon/shield/tool durability modification to exact native durability-consumption sites instead of whole-inventory snapshot/repair passes.
• Reworked food-healing tuning to the native food-regeneration read instead of temporary shared-prefab mutation.
• Reworked negative-stamina HUD handling to the exact native stamina-HUD update scope instead of stack-trace inspection.

Better Free Aim and attack-start correctness

• Better Free Aim remains an optional local setting and no longer depends on the host's synchronized gameplay config.
• Removed the old dependency on Valheim's Attack Towards Look Direction being enabled; GCO's own BFA behavior operates only when selected and yields appropriately to native look-direction behavior.
• Hardened BFA so attack-facing snaps occur only after native Attack.Start succeeds and never occur when stamina/resources reject the attack. BFA now uses the exact native unlocked-melee snap window: it snaps whenever the successfully started attack resolves to native chain level 0; Valheim's 0.2 s chain timer only determines whether progression resets to that level.
• Airborne rotation-lock behavior can suppress BFA/native attack snapping while airborne as part of the Realistic Jump controls.

Runtime architecture and performance

• Replaced broad/per-frame cleanup work with transition/event-driven restoration where possible. Disabled GCO state is now cleaned once on the disable transition instead of repeatedly every frame.
• Moved static Character traits such as size/enemy speed to lifecycle/config refresh boundaries rather than continuously reapplying them.
• Moved static Player traits to lifecycle/config refresh boundaries; only genuinely dynamic systems remain on fixed/update paths.
• Added cooperative original/last-applied ownership tracking for player/native values so GCO does not overwrite changes made later by another system when it restores its own modifier.
• Moved Projectile/AOE context ownership to object-lifetime associations instead of broad searches or transient global state.
• Added targeted runtime refresh domains so changing one config feature does not force unrelated systems to rebuild.
• Made synchronous Harmony mutation scopes exception-safe with finalizers/restoration paths.
• Replaced unnecessary reflection/hot-path member lookup with exact native signatures, cached field references, direct native APIs, and bounded/cached fallback discovery.
• Hardened YAML/config getter overlays against recursion and kept Configuration Manager/local serialization reads separate from synchronized effective values.
• Removed stale/dead beta scaffolding and private-beta migration aliases from the official 2.0.0 source while preserving migration aliases required by published 1.4.0 configs.

Debugging and diagnostics

• Expanded categorized debug logging and throttled runtime state diagnostics.
• Added independent YAML diagnostics and exact-prefab probes through gco_yaml_diagnose.
• Updated the default GCO ghost-mode key to P.
• Presets continue to preserve Debug-section settings and debug keybinds.

1.4.0 - Official multiplayer sync, damage-curve, parry, sledge, throwable, and magic expansion

Multiplayer and authority

• Added host-authoritative gameplay-config synchronization for listen servers and dedicated servers. Guests read synchronized host values through an in-memory runtime overlay; guest config files and guest-local stored values are not overwritten.
• Added complete host snapshots on connection, live config deltas after host changes, safe restoration of local values after disconnect/sync disable, and warning-only fallback behavior for invalid payloads or version/protocol mismatches.
• Added forced host/guest version-mismatch notices showing both mod and config versions.
• Added Limit Guests Authority, allowing the host or dedicated server to block non-host guests from using GCO debug/god mode, debug flight, no-cost, ghost mode, debug healing, Rested controls, and PvP test-dummy manipulation.
• Kept diagnostic logging client-local and available even when guest debug authority is restricted.

Damage, stagger, stealth, and hit processing

• Added separately configurable alternate damage curves for incoming PvE damage to players and outgoing PvP damage against players/PvP test dummies. Goo's Ruleset enables both curves; Reset to Vanilla disables them.
• Applied player damage curves after body armor on the authoritative damage path. The curve is evaluated from actual post-armor damage for both real players and PvP test dummies, preventing Valheim's nonlinear armor equation from cancelling the configured compression.
• Added successful Sneak-attack skill XP controls, including base XP, optional scaling from the final Sneak multiplier, and a separate ranged XP multiplier.
• Added separate per-attack Hit Through Mobs and Hit Through Walls controls for ordinary melee, running, and jump attacks.
• Added an enemy projectile knockback multiplier in the Knockback section. It stacks with general enemy knockback; Goo's Ruleset uses 0x, while Reset to Vanilla uses 1x.
• When Multi-Target Damage Penalty is enabled, effective Hit Through Mobs is now disabled. The stored Hit Through Mobs value is preserved and becomes active again if the penalty is disabled.
• Added independent controls for whether player and non-player characters preserve their facing direction when staggered.
• Improved Flank feedback priority so the Flank ding suppresses the same-hit native stagger-critical ding and takes priority over the Counter Damage ding.
• Updated Sneak and Flank tooltip output and added configurable lightning-chain tooltip information where applicable.

Blocking and parry

• Added Can Parry for every weapon/tool blocking category, Unarmed, every shield type, and every staff blocker. Disabling it removes timed-parry resolution while preserving ordinary blocking.
• Added functional tower-shield parrying when Can Parry is explicitly enabled, using Valheim's native timed-block capability gate.
• Added separate PvE/PvP controls for whether parrying direct ranged/projectile attacks or standalone AOE attacks staggers the attacker.
• Added rounded whole-number Guard Boost tooltip output.
• Preserved existing parry bonus, parry-window, stamina, adrenaline, PvP, and block-category multipliers on top of the new capability controls.

Sledges and attack movement

• Added an optional beta alternate sledge moveset, disabled by Goo's Ruleset by default.
• Alternate Primary1, Primary2, and Running attacks use dedicated SledgeAlt settings and direct melee hit rays; Primary3 retains the native sledge AOE slam; Secondary uses the real two-handed-axe secondary melee attack rather than a sledge AOE.
• Set alternate Primary1, Primary2, and Running authored hit-ray range to 2.4 m and angle to 135°, with existing global and per-attack modifiers stacking afterward.
• Added independent SledgeAlt configuration for damage, stagger, resources, animation/recovery, hyperarmor, hit-stop, movement, rotation, lunge, PvP, knockback, noise, hit rays, multi-target behavior, destruction, and staggered-enemy damage.
• Alternate Secondary movement now resolves additively as (native 2H Axe secondary movement + configured SledgeAlt Secondary movement) × global attack-movement multiplier.
• Restored native sledge swing/start sounds for the alternate moveset. Primary3 retains its native slam trigger and visual presentation, while alternate-moveset impacts use a two-handed-axe hit effect.
• Added category-level Sledge slam AOE-radius tuning. It changes the native damage/hit-detection radius without resizing particles or authored visual effects.
• Goo's Ruleset now uses 1.5x normal and alternate Sledge base damage, 1.5x Sledge stamina cost across supported attacks, and 1.0x alternate normal/running PvE hit-stop duration.
• Reworked player attack-movement handling to resolve from Valheim's live Humanoid.GetAttackSpeedFactorMovement() path without mutating player Attack.m_speedFactor, preventing stale movement values after attacks end.
• Added complete Sledge feature-application coverage for hyperarmor, counter damage, hit-stop, movement/lunge, rotation, hit rays, and multi-target behavior.

Ranged, throwables, magic, and summons

• Added a dedicated Throwables section for native bomb-style projectiles such as Ooze Bombs, with stamina-consumption, damage, projectile-speed, and throw-animation-speed multipliers.
• Excluded throwable direct hits and lingering AOE damage from GCO Flank bonuses and Flank sound-priority processing.
• Added per-staff projectile-speed controls for Staff of Embers, Staff of Frost, Staff of Fracturing, Staff of the Wild, and Dundr.
• Added Staff of Embers fireball impact-AOE radius tuning through the projectile's native impact radius, with spawned-AOE/collider handling retained for compatible alternate projectiles. Particle size is not changed.
• Added Crossbow and Dundr recoil-strength multipliers.
• Added optional extra lightning impact visuals plus separate Himmin Afl and Dundr lightning-chain gameplay chances.
• Reworked Staff of the Wild vine limits into per-caster enforcement without periodic scans; excess vines remove the oldest authoritative vine owned by that caster.
• Simplified Dead Raiser summon-cap handling to use Valheim's native per-owner tameable-cap path instead of redundant GCO runtime cap rewrites.
• Added bow draw rotation-factor tuning and roll-distance tuning.

Balance and weapon defaults

• Set Two-Handed Sword and Two-Handed Axe normal, running, and jump attack stamina-cost multipliers to 1.5x by Goo default.
• Set Two-Handed Axe Primary2 damage to 2.0x by Goo default, matching its heavy primary-chain identity.
• Updated Atgeir running-attack movement to 3.0x and Atgeir ordinary/running/jump hit-ray thickness to 2.0x by Goo default.
• Updated Unarmed running-attack lunge to 2.0x.
• Updated Staff of Frost PvP damage to 0.8x, Dundr recoil to 0x, Dundr stagger to 2.0x, and Crossbow recoil to 1.0x by Goo default.
• Added or corrected independent SledgeAlt defaults so applying the Goo preset no longer copies live Two-Handed Axe user settings.

Config, commands, diagnostics, and migration

• Bumped the Thunderstore manifest to 1.4.0, matching the plugin and config schema.
• Expanded the flat gco_* console tree so every bound config entry has a primary compact command path and an exact full-path fallback under All.
• Added a dedicated Resources command branch, removed command-list/autocomplete truncation, bound previously missing debug entries, and added startup audits for command coverage, one-shot action coverage, and gameplay-feature application toggles.
• Fixed branch-level run reachability for Reset to Vanilla and Debug Mode Add Rested, while preventing persistent PvP dummy settings from being misclassified as runnable actions.
• Added targeted alternate-sledge, ranged, multiplayer-sync, movement, attack-lifecycle, and config-migration diagnostics without introducing constant scans or polling.
• Removed startup warning spam from command-name collision handling and inherited-private-field lookup while preserving deterministic command registration and runtime field resolution.
• Fresh config files use Goo's Ruleset.
• When an older config version is detected, every compatible existing value is inherited. Newly added entries and individual entries that cannot be inherited or parsed use Reset to Vanilla values; one failed entry no longer causes the rest of the config to be replaced. Sync Config in Multiplayer is enabled after every older-version migration.
• Same-version config files remain untouched on startup.
• Reset to Vanilla restores ordinary native systems to vanilla/no-op behavior while preserving stored values for mod-added running attacks, jump attacks, alternate movesets, and Debug-section settings; those mod-added attacks/movesets are disabled instead.
• Updated the README for the new multiplayer, migration, damage-curve, Sneak/Flank, stagger, Better Free Aim, parry, sledge, throwable, magic, summon, command, armor, and movement behavior while preserving its existing organization.

1.3.3 Pickaxe hitray fix

• Fixed a bug that made pickaxe's hitrays horizontal.

1.3.2 and 1.3.1 - Thunderstore tagging fix

• Removed "world generation" in the mod's tag. For some reason this website is adding world generation to my mod's tag. Config version is remains "1.3.0". Nothing is changed about the source code.

1.3.0 - Official hit-ray, enemy, stamina, blocking, and combat-tuning patch

• Bumped the mod/config schema and manifest version to 1.3.0.
• Added staggered-PvE-enemy damage controls in the Staggering and per-weapon/tool Stagger sections. The final player damage bonus against staggered PvE enemies resolves as global x local, replacing Valheim's normal staggered-enemy damage result instead of multiplying it again.
• Added stealth tuning coverage, including attack-noise tuning plus global and local backstab damage multipliers for normal attacks, running attacks, and jump attacks. Goo's Ruleset uses a 2x global backstab multiplier, 3x local backstab multipliers for knives, dual knives, and unarmed attacks, and 1x local backstab multipliers for most other supported weapons. Backstab, staggered-enemy, flanking, and counter-damage bonuses also receive stack-control behavior.
• Added flanking damage controls with separate PvE/PvP rear-angle settings and optional feedback effects. Goo's Ruleset uses a narrower 90° PvP flank angle by default.
• Retuned Goo hit-ray defaults while keeping modded/unsupported attack slots at vanilla/no-op hit-ray values by default. Two-handed axes, dual axes, knives, dual knives, unarmed attacks, one-handed axes, and selected heavy/vertical attacks receive curated Goo hit-ray shape values.
• Added prefab-specific hit-ray range multipliers for vanilla one-handed swords and spears. These stack with global and per-attack hit-ray range multipliers and with player size. Existing config migration fills these entries at 1.0x; Goo prefab-length values are applied only by Apply Goo's Ruleset or by fresh config creation.
• Added additive hit-ray thickness in meters for one-handed axe secondary attacks and one-handed axe jump attacks.
• Added player-size and enemy-size hit-ray scaling so melee attack range, size/thickness, height, and offset scale proportionally with configured character size.
• Added enemy attack hit-ray controls for range, size/thickness, height, and offset. Final enemy hit-ray fields resolve as vanilla value × enemy hit-ray multiplier × enemy size multiplier.
• Added a generic enemy speed multiplier that scales enemy movement speed and stacks with enemy attack/movement animation-speed multipliers.
• Added enemy post-hit-ray rotation locking so enemy attacks can stop turning after their hit ray/hitbox event until the attack ends.
• Added negative-stamina action gating. Goo's ruleset now uses RequireCostWithinFloor, preventing players from starting a full-cost action unless the action can fit within NegativeStaminaFloor. The old positive-only behavior remains available as PositiveOnlyLegacy.
• Added optional Souls-like block stamina calculation for weapons, tools, shields, and staffs. Tower shields use it by Goo default, with stamina cost based on stagger damage, effective block armor, configured base rate, and the block-break threshold.
• Replaced generic blocked-hit damage tuning with per-damage-type blocked-hit multipliers for global, weapon/tool, shield, and staff blocking layers.
• Added effective block-angle controls, including Goo's tower-shield default that broadens effective blocking coverage.
• Added Staff of Frost/Dundr projectile-speed tuning, spear projectile-speed tuning, spear loyalty mode, and harpoon rope-strength tuning. Goo's Ruleset sets spear projectile speed to 1.5x, keeps spear loyalty disabled by default, and exposes harpoon rope-strength tuning.
• Added Staff of the Wild and Dead Raiser spawn controls, including spawn caps, size/attack-speed/level controls, and PvP targeting toggles where applicable.
• Added full enemy/weapon debug improvements, including combat-debug-gated Add Rested control with default key O, while preserving debug keybinds during Reset to Vanilla, Apply Goo's Ruleset, and migration.
• Hardened hit-stop behavior so GCO animation-speed reapplication no longer overwrites Valheim's active FreezeFrame hit-stop sentinel.
• Changed root-motion lunge scaling to affect only positive forward movement. Backward, sideways, and vertical root motion are preserved so lunge multipliers do not amplify retreating recovery movement.
• Updated Goo default one-handed axe tuning, including faster primaries, adjusted recovery speeds, jump/running attack tuning, secondary chop damage restored to 1.0x, and Primary1/Primary2/Primary3 hit-ray height tuning.
• Updated Goo default spear lunge so all vanilla spear attack slots use 2.0x lunge.
• Updated Goo default atgeir attack movement so primary and secondary attacks use 1.0x attack movement.
• Improved config ordering and registered previously missing debug/config entries so the config UI, flat gco_* console command tree, and config-change broadcast path cover the newly exposed settings.
• Updated config migration behavior for 1.3.0: same-version configs are left untouched; compatible older configs receive safe/no-op gap-fill values for newly added entries unless the feature requires a Goo-specific migration default; configs from 1.0.4 or older are still archived and regenerated.
• Updated the README to document the new hit-ray, enemy, stamina, debug, lunge, and preset behavior without rewriting the full document.

1.2.1 - Official console-command, debug-tool, resource, durability, and destruction patch

• Bumped the mod/config schema and manifest version to 1.2.1.
• Fixed an AAA_Crafting/Auga compatibility crash by restricting non-character destructible reflection patching to Valheim's own IDestructible assembly and safely skipping unloadable types.
• Added flat gco_* in-game console commands with list, get, set, reset, applypreset, run, and save support for GCO config and action entries.
• Added vanilla-autocomplete-friendly command names such as gco_set_2HSwords, gco_get_Debug, and gco_run_Debug. Feature paths are compressed into one underscore-separated argument, such as destruction_Primary1_DamageToBuildings, so Valheim autocomplete can cover commands and feature keys without inserting long broken chains.
• Added branch-specific list/get/set/reset/applypreset/run commands for general settings, debug tools, player/enemy/PvP systems, magic, blocking, and weapon/tool categories. Preset application intentionally excludes the Debug section.
• Added multiplayer disclosure messages for GCO setting changes, preset applications, and debug-tool toggles.
• Added [General] Broadcast Config Changes, disabled by Goo's ruleset by default. Turning this setting off still sends one final disclosure message before further broadcast messages are suppressed.
• Added [General] Roll, a one-button roll keybind. Goo's ruleset defaults it to X; the roll direction follows current movement input, supports diagonals, and rolls backward when no movement input is held. ResetToVanilla disables the keybind.
• Added Goo Combat Debug Mode, which uses Valheim's native god mode for local testing while enabled and forces debug fly, no-placement-cost, and ghost mode off when disabled. GCO debug fly and ghost controls do not enable Valheim's vanilla debugmode flag.
• Added debug-gated hotkeys and one-shot buttons for debug fly, no-placement-cost, ghost mode, and manual debug healing. Default keys are Z, N, G, and H, and the hotkeys use physical-key detection so simultaneous movement input such as W/A/S/D does not block them. Added Debug-section enable/disable switches for the debug-fly, no-placement-cost, and ghost-mode controls; disabling one also forces that GCO-controlled state off.
• Goo/vanilla preset application preserves Debug-section entries, including combat debug mode, debug logging, verbose debug logging, PvP dummy controls, debug-control enable switches, and debug hotkeys.
• Added VerboseDebugLogging in the Debug section. When enabled together with DebugLogging, it enables all categorized debug channels and prints a throttled detailed local-player state snapshot covering resources, movement input, attack runtime state, weapon category, blocking/dodging, and GCO debug toggle states.
• Added NoConsumption for local testing so food, meads/potions, arrows/bolts, ammo, bait-style attack resources, and similar consumables can be used without spending the item/resource.
• Added permanent food, permanent mead, and permanent rested-buff options while preserving their healing/regeneration behavior.
• Added food healing-rate and mead stamina/eitr/health-regeneration bonus multipliers.
• Added global and per-gear unbreakable options, durability consumption-rate controls, base durability multipliers, and final max-durability multipliers for weapons, tools, shields, armor, and other durability-using gear.
• Updated durability tooltips so ordinary nonzero durability multipliers are reflected by Valheim's normal durability line, while explicit unbreakable behavior is shown as Unbreakable.
• Added [Enemies] EnemyDamageToBuildingsMultiplier; Goo's ruleset defaults enemy damage to Valheim WearNTear buildings/pieces to 0.2x, while ResetToVanilla restores 1.0x.
• Added [Player] PlayerDamageToBuildingsMultiplier, defaulting to vanilla/no-op 1.0x.
• Added global and per weapon/tool/shield/staff parry-window time multipliers. 1.0x preserves Valheim's normal timed-block window, larger values make parries more forgiving, and 0x can disable timed parries for the affected blocking layer.
• Added per-weapon/tool Destruction sections for normal attack slots, running attacks, and jump attacks to control player damage against Valheim WearNTear buildings/pieces.
• Added config migration gap-fill for new 1.2.1 entries while preserving the existing migration rule: same-version configs do not rewrite, compatible older configs keep existing values except for newly added entries, and configs from 1.0.4 or older are archived and regenerated.
• Fixed 1.2.1 migration so it no longer overwrites the pre-existing DebugLogging setting when upgrading from older compatible configs.
• Reduced Goo's horizontal hit-ray thickness bonus from +0.25x to +0.15x.
• Expanded the README's multiplayer fairness warning to cover local gameplay settings such as damage, animation speed, stamina, durability, resources, building damage, commands, and debug tools.

1.2.0 - Official special-attack, block-cancel, run-blocking, and combat-feel expansion

• Bumped the mod/config schema and manifest version to 1.2.0.
• Added targeted 1.2.0 config migration so configs from 1.1.0 receive Goo defaults only for newly added 1.2.0 entries, while same-version configs do not rewrite, clean, scan, or save on normal startup.
• Optimized startup config handling by evaluating the config version before expensive migration/cleanup work. Same-version startup still binds runtime config entries, but no longer runs orphan cleanup, stale-entry cleanup, version rewrites, or config saves.
• Removed beta/internal release artifacts from the official package; official documentation now records only the net user-visible delta.
• Separated running-attack and jump-attack tuning from the normal primary/secondary attack slots they reuse internally. Special attacks now have their own damage, stagger, stamina, attack speed, recovery speed, movement, lunge, rotation, hyperarmor, counter, hit-stop, utility-damage, PvP, noise, hit-ray, multi-target, adrenaline, and block-cancel settings where applicable.
• Added recovery-animation-speed support for running attacks and jump attacks.
• Added per-attack block canceling for normal melee attacks, running attacks, and jump attacks. Block cancel modes are Disabled, BeforeHitbox, AfterHitbox, and FullAnimation.
• Goo's ruleset now sets melee block canceling to AfterHitbox by default with 1.0x block-cancel animation speed. This allows a defensive transition after the hitbox without automatically speeding attacks up.
• Reworked block cancel input so it uses a fresh block request during the active attack instead of held-block state. Holding block after canceling one attack should no longer accelerate or cancel the next attack automatically.
• Block cancel no longer aborts attacks. It accelerates/finishes the attack flow instead of calling Valheim's attack-abort path, preventing permanent hit-stop/frozen-animation states when canceling during hit-stop.
• Block cancel preserves Valheim's normal combo-chain behavior; it does not forcibly rewrite the next combo step.
• Added hit-stop freeze hardening so block-cancel/recovery-speed logic does not preserve Valheim's frozen hit-stop animator speed as the restore target.
• Added per-attack PvP hyperarmor multipliers for melee weapons, including PvP damage taken, PvP stagger taken, and PvP knockback taken during hyperarmor.
• Added per-attack PvP counter-damage multipliers for melee weapons, including running and jump attacks.
• Added direct running-while-blocking support for weapons, shields, and staffs. When enabled, holding Run while actively blocking allows run-style movement and uses Valheim's normal run stamina cost.
• Goo's ruleset enables running while blocking for weapons, bucklers, medium shields, and staff blocks; tower shields remain excluded by default.
• Goo's ruleset sets running-while-blocking movement speed to 0.7x for enabled weapons, bucklers, medium shields, and staffs. Tower shields keep run-blocking disabled.
• Added per-weapon blocking movement-speed support and fixed blocking movement-speed resolution so the active blocking item/category is used instead of only the currently classified attack weapon.
• Goo's ruleset keeps global blocking movement speed at 1.0x and gives tower shields 0.5x damage taken while blocking.
• Reworked attack movement handling after testing: standard attacks scale Valheim's live attack movement, while 2H axe normal attacks and 2H axe running attacks use the direct movement-factor path needed for that moveset.
• Goo's ruleset sets normal primary attack movement to 0x for melee categories except knives and dual knives, which keep 1.0x primary movement for dagger identity. 2H axe secondary keeps 0.2x direct movement.
• Goo's ruleset sets all melee attack adrenaline multipliers to 2.0x, including configured running/jump attacks.
• Added chain-safe running attack behavior: GCO no longer substitutes a running attack when the player is already inside an attack animation, so queued/chained attacks remain normal chain attacks.
• Goo's ruleset sets all running-attack velocity gates to 5.
• Added and tuned running attacks for supported melee categories while leaving knives and dual knives disabled by Goo default. Knife and dual-knife running-attack metadata remains configurable if manually enabled.
• Goo's ruleset running attack tuning now includes: 2H sword uses Primary3 with 0.7x damage, 1.0x movement, and 2.0x lunge; 2H axe uses Primary2 with 1.0x damage, 0.9x movement, and 0x lunge; 1H axe uses Primary3 with 0.7x damage, 3.0x movement, and 3.0x lunge; 1H sword uses Primary3 with 0.7x damage, 3.0x movement, and 1.3x lunge; clubs/maces use Primary3 with 0.7x damage, 3.0x movement, and 1.3x lunge; atgeirs use Primary2 with 1.0x damage and 3.0x lunge; unarmed running attacks use 2.0x movement and 1.0x lunge.
• Goo's ruleset disables running attacks for one-handed knives and dual knives by default, while keeping their configurable Primary3 running-attack setup available for manual use.
• Added/finalized jump attack tuning. Dual Axes jump attack now uses Primary4 and deals 0.45x damage by Goo default.
• Goo's ruleset gives 2H axe Primary3 5.0x hit-stop duration and gives 2H axe jump attacks 5.0x PvP hit-stop duration.
• Goo's ruleset sets Dual Axes secondary lunge to 0.9x and spear Primary1 lunge to 1.0x.
• Fixed special-attack value leakage so running/jump attack values no longer silently inherit normal Primary2/Primary3 tuning for unrelated features.
• Expanded global scalar controls for attack movement, lunge distance, attack rotation, hit-stop, PvP hit-stop, animation speed, recovery speed, PvP knockback, blocking damage/knockback, hit rays, and AI noise. These global controls stack with per-weapon/per-attack values and default to 1.0x unless Goo's ruleset explicitly changes them.
• Added/expanded per-weapon feature sections so large weapon configs are grouped by gameplay system: damage, staggering, hyperarmor, hit-stop, counter damage, resources, attack movement and lunge, animation, attack rotation, PvP damage, knockback, blocking and parry, hit ray, AI noise, and special attacks.
• Added broader staff and shield block options to match weapon block tuning, including block damage taken, knockback taken, PvP block-break, and run-blocking behavior.
• Preserved ResetToVanilla behavior: vanilla reset restores new 1.2.0 systems to disabled/no-op values where possible, while Goo's ruleset reapplies the curated 1.2.0 defaults.

1.1.0 - Official hit-ray, multi-target, config-readability, and staff-spawn tuning patch

• Bumped the mod/config schema version to 1.1.0.
• Added targeted 1.1.0 config migration so configs older than 1.1.0 receive Goo defaults for newly added 1.1.0 hit-ray, AI-noise, multi-target, and staff-spawn controls without rewriting older user-tuned settings.
• Reworked config option names to use readable spaced labels, with migration from old compact keys where possible.
• Added per-attack AI aggro/noise controls for attack-start noise and attack-hit noise while leaving Goo's defaults at vanilla/no-op 1x.
• Added per-attack melee hit-ray controls for ray-based melee attacks: start height, offset, range, angle, thickness, and horizontal/vertical hitbox type.
• Added hit-ray support for normal melee attacks, running attacks, and jump attacks. Airborne attack bonuses do not independently alter hit-ray settings.
• Excluded sledges from hit-ray tuning because sledges use Valheim's AOE-style attack system rather than ordinary melee hit rays.
• Added per-attack multi-target damage-penalty toggles for supported melee attacks, reduced to simple Enabled / Disabled choices.
• Updated ResetToVanilla multi-target behavior to restore Valheim's vanilla no-penalty family: all sword attacks, 2H axe primary-chain attacks, Dual Axes, and atgeir secondary.
• Updated Goo's ruleset multi-target behavior so swords and axes stay free of multi-target falloff, selected vertical attacks are also falloff-free, and spear primary keeps Valheim's multi-target falloff despite its new vertical hitbox.
• Tuned Goo's melee hit-ray defaults to better match weapon visuals and reduce phantom reach, including updated spear primary range/type, 1H sword and 2H sword vertical attacks, club/mace vertical attacks, 1H axe primary thickness, 2H axe vertical/running/primary attack values, and Dual Axes primary/secondary hit-ray values.
• Added StaffGreenRoots / Staff of the Wild spawned-vine level control.
• Added StaffSkeleton / Dead Raiser spawned-skeleton size, attack-speed, and level controls.
• Cleaned stale hit-ray config keys, obsolete hitbox option names, sledge hit-ray entries, and earlier compact config entries after migration.

1.0.9 - Official staff, PvP, player-size, food-rule, and attack-role cleanup patch

• Finalized Player Size config naming and made player size also scale player-owned melee attack reach/range by applying the size multiplier to cloned attack hitbox/range fields.
• Fixed attack-role modifier leakage for nonstandard movesets such as Dual Axes, Spears, and Unarmed by restoring provisional attack-field tweaks and reapplying the correct values after Valheim confirms the authoritative primary/secondary role.
• Removed Unarmed Primary3 support because unarmed only has two primary-chain attacks.
• Retuned unarmed by Goo's ruleset: Primary1 PvP damage 1.0x, Primary1 animation speed 1.2x, Primary2 PvP damage 0.7x, Primary2 animation speed 1.2x, Primary2 lunge distance 1.5x, Secondary PvP damage 1.3x, and Secondary animation speed 1.3x.
• Goo's ruleset now requires 1.0s minimum airborne time before airborne attack bonuses or special jump attacks trigger.
• Goo's ruleset now sets 2H sword secondary PvP damage to 0.40x, 2H sword running-attack PvP damage to 0.75x, and 2H sword jump-attack PvP damage to 0.60x.
• Added spear throw projectile-speed tuning; Goo's ruleset sets spear throw projectile speed to 1.2x.
• Added StaffSkeleton damage and PvP damage multipliers.
• Finalized Dead Raiser / StaffSkeleton summon-cap config naming and fixed summon-cap control so the cap is resolved from the Dead Raiser item quality instead of the spawned skeleton creature level.
• Added Dead Raiser / StaffSkeleton quality-4 summon-cap support.
• Improved StaffGreenRoots / Staff of the Wild spawned-character logic so root/vine size and speed tweaks only apply to confirmed StaffGreenRoots spawns and cannot stack repeatedly on the same spawned character.
• Replaced the old bounded staff-spawn scene sweep with direct staff-spawn origin propagation through the active SpawnAbility coroutine, Character.Awake, projectiles, and AOEs.
• Added StaffLightning and StaffIceShards projectile-speed tuning.
• Goo's ruleset now sets StaffIceShards spread to 0.5x.
• Added Player.MustEatUniqueFood. Goo's ruleset disables it, allowing duplicate foods in multiple food slots; ResetToVanilla restores Valheim's unique-food requirement.
• Updated the PvP test dummy: default health 250, default armor 150, and full-heal countdown starts only after the dummy has been attacked. PvP dummy hit logging is now disabled by default.
• Improved attack debug logging with attack hashes and authoritative role-correction messages to make modifier-leak issues easier to verify.
• Cleaned stale duplicate config reset lines, obsolete helper methods, old player-size and summon-cap config keys, and stale default wording left from the v1.0.9 development cycle.

1.0.8 - Official balance cleanup and config-history fix

• Bumped the mod/config schema version to 1.0.8.
• Fixed the release changelog packaging mistake by preserving older changelog history instead of replacing the whole changelog file.
• Removed the obsolete standalone [Magic] movement config surface. Staffs now use staff-specific config sections.
• Removed the obsolete general [Shields] config surface. Shields now use buckler, medium-shield, and tower-shield sections.
• Goo's ruleset now sets mace/club secondary attack animation speed to 1.3x.
• Goo's ruleset now sets bow projectile speed to 1.1x.
• Bows, crossbows, and direct-attack staffs now use 0x PvP knockback by Goo's ruleset.
• Fireball staff PvP stagger is now 10x by Goo's ruleset.
• Unarmed Primary1 PvP damage is now 1.3x.
• Unarmed Primary2 PvP damage is now 1.4x.
• Clubs/maces now use 0.7x general knockback by Goo's ruleset.
• Bucklers, medium shields, and tower shields now use 1.1x general block-break threshold by Goo's ruleset.
• Dead Raiser / StaffSkeleton now has HealthConsumptionRate, matching the StaffShield-style cast health-cost tuning surface.
• Added MaxVinesSpawned to Staff of the Wild / StaffGreenRoots, defaulting to Valheim's vanilla 10.
• Added Dead Raiser / StaffSkeleton beta spawn-cap config values: BaseSpawnCapLevel1Beta = 1, BaseSpawnCapLevel2Beta = 2, and BaseSpawnCapLevel3Beta = 3. These remain Beta because Valheim still appears to enforce a hard skeleton summon cap of 3.
• Added stale cleanup for removed standalone Magic and general Shields config keys.

1.0.7 - Official PvP, staff, blocking, and attack-context stability patch

• Fixed attack modifier leakage between attacks of the same weapon. Primary, secondary, running, jump, and chain attacks now use stricter attack-role context so one attack's modifiers should not carry into the next attack.
• Fixed the sledge/pickaxe category mixup. Pickaxes now have their own category instead of inheriting sledge behavior through shared moveset logic.
• Fixed one-handed sword secondary/heavy attack animation-speed scaling so small multipliers no longer behave like extreme speed changes.
• Fixed PvP knockback not applying correctly. PvP knockback now uses the same outgoing modifier path as normal knockback and PvP damage.
• Removed the Beta label from PvP knockback config names because the PvP knockback path is now functional.
• Goo's ruleset now sets melee-weapon PvP knockback to 0.1x.
• Reworked Goo's PvP stagger ruleset:
  • Tier 1 PvP stagger power is now 5x.
  • Tier 2 PvP stagger power is now 10x.
  • Tier 3 PvP stagger power is now 20x.
  • Unarmed secondary PvP stagger power is now 999x.
• Added PvP stagger-duration / hitstun tuning for attacks.
• Added PvP block-break threshold tuning for weapons, shields, and staffs.
• Restored PvP block armor defaults to vanilla/no-op 1x.
• Added separate shield-type config sections for bucklers, medium shields, and tower shields.
• Added weapon and shield support for Block Force, Parry Bonus, PvP Parry Bonus, PvP Block Force, and PvP Block Break Threshold tuning.
• Goo's ruleset now sets general Block Force to 0x for weapons, shields, and staffs.
• General Block Force and Parry Bonus now update tooltips. PvP-only block/parry stats do not update tooltips.
• Block Force at 0x is hidden from item tooltips.
• Added staff-specific config sections for direct-attack and utility staffs.
• Added staff block tuning, staff attack movement, and staff attack rotation configuration.
• Added StaffShield active-shield tuning for cast health cost, stagger mitigation, knockback mitigation, and active-shield parry bonus.
• Added staff projectile controls for Dundr / StaffLightning and Staff of Frost / StaffIceShards.
• Added Staff of the Wild vine damage, size, and attack-speed options.
• Added experimental PvP targeting toggles for Staff of the Wild and Dead Raiser spawned entities.
• Added PlayerBaseEitr and PlayerBaseEitrRegenRate.
• Fixed base eitr so added eitr is not repeatedly removed by Valheim's periodic max-eitr refresh.
• Added DoMaxDamage in the Player section. When enabled, player attacks use the maximum skill-scaled damage value, and weapon tooltips show the max effective value instead of a damage range.
• Removed the broken KeepStaminaBarVisible feature and its stale behavior.
• Added a PvP test dummy debug tool based on Valheim's TrainingDummy prefab.
• Config migration now archives configs older than 1.0.5 out of the active config path while preserving/migrating overlapping 1.0.5 and 1.0.6 values.

1.0.6 - Feedback route, removed mod configuration menu dependency

• Removed mod configuration menu from the mod's dependencies.
• Added a reddit page in the README so that users can leave feedbacks for the mod.
• The config version remains unchanged, so old configs will not be overwritten.

1.0.5 - Official running, jump, airborne, utility-damage, sledge, and poise patch

• Added configurable RunningAttackMinimumVelocity speed gates for supported running attacks. Goo's ruleset uses a 3.0 minimum velocity gate for supported running attacks.
• Added RunningAttackUsed, allowing running attacks to use Primary1, Primary2, Primary3, or Secondary when that attack slot exists for the weapon.
• Retuned Goo's running attacks: two-handed swords, one-handed swords, one-handed axes, and clubs/maces use 0.7x running-attack damage; running attacks use BeforeHitbox movement so recovery movement is forced to 0 after the hitbox emerges.
• Expanded special jump-attack support to supported weapon categories, with jump attacks taking priority over running attacks. Goo's ruleset uses 0x jump-attack lunge and requires 0.4s airborne time.
• Added per-attack airborne damage, stagger, and rotation multipliers. Categories without a Goo-enabled special jump attack receive 1.3x airborne damage by Goo's ruleset.
• Added per-attack chop and pickaxe damage multipliers. Goo's ruleset disables airborne chop damage so airborne attacks do not accelerate tree chopping.
• Retuned sledges as a single-primary-attack heavy weapon: 1.5x base damage, 2x stagger, 1.5x animation speed, 0.9x knockback, 0.9x PvP knockback, 1.5x stamina consumption, and an -8% movement penalty by Goo's ruleset.
• Set two-handed swords, two-handed axes, one-handed axes, and clubs/maces to stronger stagger defaults, with one-handed axe secondary attacks retaining 3x stagger.
• Set two-handed axe base damage back to 1.0x by Goo's ruleset while preserving its dedicated Primary1 attack damage modifier.
• Renamed attack movement config keys to AttackMovementModifier and RunningAttackMovementModifier for attack movement multipliers; stale old attack-movement entries are cleared by config cleanup.
• Added player jog-speed, player base-rotation, experimental player size, player/enemy poise, stagger-decay speed, and non-staggering-hit stagger-decay cooldown controls.
• Added enemy controls for stagger dealt, knockback dealt, attack animation speed, movement animation speed, size, generic rotation, and attack rotation.
• BetterFreeAim now also affects blocking: while blocking with movement input, the mod suppresses Valheim's crosshair-facing block rotation and keeps the player facing movement direction without moving the camera/crosshair.
• Replaced ApplyGoosSettings with SetToGooRuleset.
• Configs older than 1.0.5 are refreshed to Goo's current ruleset once and stale entries are cleared.

1.0.4 - Documentation typo fix

• Fixed package/documentation typos; no gameplay changes.

1.0.3 - Official weapon baseline, airborne, armor, shield, and PvP tuning patch

• Added BaseDamageMultiplier for every weapon category. It scales the weapon's full outgoing damage package, including elemental, chop, and pickaxe channels when present, and updates displayed tooltip damage.
• Added final-value BackstabDamageRate by weapon category. Tooltip backstab lines update through this value, with vanilla-style defaults such as 6x for knives.
• Primary and secondary DamageRateMultiplier settings now function as runtime attack/motion-value modifiers instead of directly changing tooltip damage.
• Added per-attack-slot AirborneDamageMultiplier for player-owned combat melee attacks initiated mid-air. Swimming does not count, tools/Other are excluded, and Goo preset uses 1.12x.
• Added non-character destructible damage coverage so configured outgoing player damage modifiers also apply to trees, rocks, pieces, and other destructibles through their HitData damage channels.
• Added two-handed axe jump attack support. When enabled, a two-handed axe primary attack initiated airborne and not swimming uses the finisher-blow chain animation with its own modifier set; jump attack takes priority over running attack.
• Updated two-handed axe running attacks to use the second primary-chain attack. Goo preset gives this running attack 0.8x damage, 0x lunge, and 0.6x PvP damage.
• One-handed axes, one-handed swords, and clubs/maces use 0.7x running-attack damage by Goo preset while remaining user-editable.
• Added PvP-only knockback force multipliers for normal, running, and jump attacks. Goo preset sets PvP knockback to 0 while leaving general/PvE knockback unchanged.
• Added armor base-armor multipliers grouped under [Armor], classified by vanilla movement penalty: light/no-penalty, medium -2%, and heavy -5%. Armor tooltips update through these values.
• Expanded shield tuning under [Shields], including block power, deflection force, timed-block/parry bonus, block stamina use, block-break threshold, and movement modifier.
• Made block stamina consumption and block-break threshold configurable by active blocking weapon/shield type.
• Refined BetterFreeAim so chained attacks do not receive repeated direction snaps while a character is already in an attack animation.
• Goo preset updates: two-handed swords and two-handed axes use 1.25x base damage, two-handed axe Primary1 uses 2x attack damage, unarmed Primary1/Primary2/Primary3 use 2x animation speed, fall damage starts at 8m, and combat melee attacks initiated mid-air use 1.12x airborne damage.
• Added config-version handling so configs older than 1.0.3 are refreshed to Goo's current preset once and stale entries are cleared.

1.0.2 - Official weapon-chain, lunge, running-attack, and PvP tuning patch

• Added Primary1 / Primary2 / Primary3 / Secondary attack-slot config support for melee weapon chains, allowing normal primary-chain attacks to be tuned separately.
• Added melee lunge-distance/root-motion multipliers with configurable application modes: BeforeHitbox and FullAnimation. Goo preset uses BeforeHitbox by default.
• Added running attacks for supported melee weapons. Running attacks can use their own damage, stagger, stamina, animation-speed, PvP damage, PvP stagger, knockback, adrenaline, and lunge multipliers.
• Dual Axes running attacks now use Primary1 for stability while still receiving running-attack-specific modifiers.
• Added per-attack knockback-force multipliers and an enemy knockback-force multiplier.
• Added per-attack PvP stagger multipliers. Goo preset uses high melee PvP stagger while keeping ranged/magic PvP stagger neutral.
• Goo preset now sets melee PvP damage to 0.6x and ranged/magic PvP damage to 0.3x.
• Replaced the old equipment movement-penalty toggle model with direct movement modifier overrides. Goo preset removes armor movement penalties, sets two-handed axes to -8%, and sets tower shields to -5%.
• Movement modifier tooltips now hide the movement line when the final configured value is 0.
• Goo preset damage/stagger refinements: two-handed swords and two-handed axes receive updated damage/stagger identity, with two-handed axes keeping hit-stop enabled by default.
• Removed the confusing public ActiveHitboxFrames hyperarmor path and related active-hitbox duration config entries.
• Removed stale ranged/magic configs that did not contribute useful behavior, keeping only functional ranged/magic options.
• Added a run-drain toggle so Goo preset can prevent extra held-run stamina drain during attacks and while airborne.
• README, manifest, and changelog updated for the official 1.0.2 release.

1.0.1 - Official player systems and movement patch

• Added negative stamina support for all stamina-consuming actions: actions are allowed only when current stamina is strictly above 0, and spending clamps to the configured negative floor instead of vanilla 0. Goo preset enables this with a -50 floor.
• Fixed negative stamina so it regenerates upward normally instead of being snapped back to 0 by vanilla max-stamina refreshes.
• HUD-facing stamina reads are clamped to show 0 while internal stamina is negative.
• Added player-system config entries for base health/stamina/armor, max carry weight, jump/run/roll/crouch stamina rates, roll animation speed, stamina recovery, stamina regen curve, healing rate, fall damage tuning, player movement speed multipliers, and jump-force multiplier.
• Goo preset player defaults: max carry weight 450, jump stamina consumption 0.5x, crouch stamina consumption 0x, stamina recovery rate 1.2x, stamina regen curve Vanilla, and fall-damage start height 10m.
• Added stamina regen curve modes: Vanilla, Constant, and Reverted. Constant is a flat 9 stamina/sec before recovery/status/global multipliers.
• Added bow draw/spread and crossbow reload-time configs. Dundr-specific controls are intentionally excluded for now.
• Added block stamina consumption and block-break threshold configs.
• Added player movement multipliers for run speed, walk speed, crouch speed, and jump force.
• Added armor/weapon movement-penalty toggles. Goo preset disables negative movement penalties from armor/capes/utility/trinkets while preserving weapon/shield/tool movement penalties. Positive movement bonuses still apply.
• Movement-penalty tooltips now mirror the gameplay toggle by hiding disabled negative movement-penalty lines for the relevant item category.
• Replaced the old arbitrary Movement.AttackMovementSpeedActiveWindowSeconds timer with Movement.AttackMovementTiming. Default UntilAttackTrigger applies attack movement during windup and restores at Valheim's real OnAttackTrigger, keeping recovery punishable. FullAttackAnimation keeps the movement multiplier until attack cleanup.
• Moved bow configs under [Bows] and crossbow reload under [Crossbows].
• Removed the counter-damage ding feature and all ding playback calls for stability. Counter damage itself remains unchanged.
• Improved and throttled categorized debug logging for player systems, negative stamina, ranged tuning, blocking, and movement testing.

1.0.0 - First official release