Valheim Ascended

A full RPG overhaul for Valheim.

Valheim Ascended is an attempt to build a complete RPG framework on top of Valheim. The goal is to bring everything you'd expect from a full RPG under one roof: a character equipment screen, social systems, classes and abilities, tooltips and UI enhancements, professions and crafting, quests, and a vanilla-friendly progression system. Instead of piecing together a dozen separate mods, this is one package trying to do all of it.

⚠️ Early Access

This is a solo passion project. Everything here is built and maintained by one person.

Features are still incomplete, nothing is balanced, and things will break between updates.

Because this mod touches so many of Valheim's systems, compatibility with other mods has not been tested. Expect conflicts with anything that modifies combat, UI, stats, or progression.

Pick your class after defeating Eikthyr. You can preview all five talent trees before committing.

Each class branches into subclass paths through the talent tree. Once you commit to a branch the other side locks. Respec is available for a coin cost.

6+ abilities per class, all with custom VFX and SFX.

• Pick any 3 from your unlocked pool. Mage gets 5 slots (includes LMB/RMB).
• Castbar system for windup abilities with hold-to-aim indicators
• All abilities are cooldown-based. Mage and Paladin abilities cost Eitr.
• 15 capstone abilities with unique mechanics like Siege Engine (magazine-fed crossbow), Wind Runner (momentum-based ranged buffs), Living Shadow (shadow clone), and more
• All ability VFX are visible in multiplayer

Around 50 nodes per class with subclass gates, multi-rank passives, keystones, and capstones.

• 207 total passives across all 5 classes
• 20 talent points earned from boss kills
• Abilities unlock at talent point thresholds (Tier 1 at 5 pts, Tier 2 at 10)
• You can browse all 5 trees read-only before picking a class

Three professions, each with a dedicated UI panel and its own crafting mechanics.

Enchanting

A discovery-based mixing system. Combine trophies with base materials to create enchantments.

• Each trophy has 2 hidden tags, and which tag is active depends on the slot you put it in
• 16 trophy tags across 256 combos, each with an Offensive and Defensive variant, for 512 total enchantments
• Research panel to reveal hidden tags, or just discover them by experimenting
• 2 enchant slots per item with reroll and remove buttons
• 15 affix effects wired up (Lifesteal, Execute, Thorns, Berserker, Fortify, Undying, etc.)
• Enchanted items display combo names like [Enchant 1] Iron Sword of [Enchant 2]

Smithing

Component-based gear customization with stat tradeoff sliders.

• Component slots (Head, Shaft, Blade, etc.) with 3 modification choices each
• Every mod is a dual-axis slider: Brutality vs Impact, Force vs Resilience, Lethality vs Fortitude
• Set Forging lets you assign armor to set templates with 2-piece and 4-piece bonuses
  • Set bonuses are not wired up yet and are flagged for revision.

Shipwright

Build and maintain ships using raw materials instead of pre-built upgrades.

🚧 Shipwright UI is under construction. Screenshots coming soon.

• Exploded diagram UI where you click parts to inspect and modify them
• 18 materials across 5 categories, each with different effectiveness and weight
• Heavier ships sit deeper in the water but are tougher
• Parts degrade while sailing. Sealant slows decay, and you can hammer-repair at sea.
• Materials map directly to Valheim's actual ship physics (sail force, rudder speed, stability, wind angle)

The entire UI is custom. Every panel is draggable, scalable, and has a hotkey.

• Custom health, stamina, and eitr bars with delayed damage/use trails
• Equipment panel with 3D character preview
• 44-stat detail panel with collapsible per-source breakdowns
• Party HUD, target lock, weapon sheathe
• In-game settings with 6 UI scale sliders, font scaling, and full hotkey rebinding for both mod and vanilla actions
• Toast notifications for milestones and level-ups, welcome guide, snap-to-grid for panel placement

Installation

Requires: Valheim (0.221.12) + BepInEx 5

Install via r2modman or Thunderstore Mod Manager (recommended). The mod manager handles everything automatically.

For manual installs, copy the entire ValheimAscended folder (DLL, assets, and config files) into BepInEx/plugins/. The DLL alone won't work.

Hotkeys

All hotkeys are rebindable in the in-game Settings panel.

Feedback & Bugs

This is a one-person project. Feedback is welcome and it genuinely shapes what gets worked on next.

0.3.5 2026-06-20

A big Rogue pass: stealth becomes a real ability (Concealment), the Assassin gains a per-hand Weapon Poisons kit, the Living Shadow capstone is reworked into Ethereal, and Envenom is revamped to detonate your coatings. This was way more effort than i intended it to be as i found massive issues with the custom bleed se's when it came to multiplayer, entire SE zdo had bugs and also needed to figure out the shaders for this one.

New

• New system: Concealment (Rogue stealth). A real stealth system built around a new ability. Vanish into the shadows: nearby mobs lose track of you and you turn near-invisible. Breaks on attacking, taking a hit, or sprinting. Your stealth-breaking strike is a guaranteed crit (the opener) and blasts fear into the mobs around your target. Blade Dance and Shadow Anchor also drop you into a brief stealth as they end, without arming Concealment's cooldown.
• New system: Weapon Poisons (Rogue). Two coating slots on the rogue ability bar, one per hand. Click a slot to coat that hand's weapon (after a short windup); every hit then stacks a poison on the target. Each weapon's coat sticks to that weapon and follows it across hands. Three poisons:
  • Nerve Toxin: slows the target and weakens its attacks.
  • Sanguine Venom: heals you for a share of its damage.
  • Vipersbane: the highest base damage, with no extra effect.

Reworks

• Living Shadow is now Ethereal. The Rogue capstone is reworked. Stealth from any source now phases you Ethereal instead: you stay visible and mobs fight you normally, but you gain attack speed, spend less stamina per attack, and your crits bleed your ability cooldowns. It never breaks and runs its full duration.
• Envenom revamp. Envenom now also consumes your weapon-coat poisons (alongside vanilla poison) as an instant burst, and each coating type detonates on consume: Nerve staggers the target, Sanguine heals you, and Vipersbane adds bonus damage, all scaling with the stacks consumed.

Removed

• Shadow Tether: removed, replaced by Concealment.

Talent Adjustments

• Nerve Toxin is no longer a standalone talent; it now lives in the Weapon Poisons kit as one of the three coatings.
• That freed Assassin node is now Toxic Opener: your opening hit out of Concealment no longer crits. Instead, it lands a damage-over-time poison worth 140% of the crit bonus it would have dealt. (Under Ethereal, the first hit of each window applies it.)

Multiplayer

• Bleeds and weapon poisons now tick down and wear off correctly in multiplayer. Previously a poison or bleed you applied could deal no damage or hang on a target forever, depending on who was hosting the enemy.
• Damage and kill credit from your bleeds and poisons go to you, not whoever is hosting the enemy.
• Allies now see your Concealment fade and your Ethereal shimmer.

Bug Fixes

• Movement abilities (leaps, dashes, blinks) no longer drop you out of bounds, like onto a dungeon-entrance roof above the floor.
• Disengage caltrops now spawn on the ground where you land, not on the roof above.
• Mages can fish again. A fishing rod now disables spell-casting like any tool, so the attack button casts the line and block reels the fish in.

Refinements

• Ability and quick-slot keybinds no longer fire while you are typing in a text field, like naming a sign or a portal.