Valheim Iron Farm

Farming Iron in Valheim is not the easiest task to complete. It’s found through first obtaining a Swamp Key by killing the SECOND Boss (Click Here for a guide on how to best take on the Valheim Bosses), and then maneuvering one of the most treacherous locations in the game: A Swamp Crypt. Not only THAT, but it’s heavy and fills up your inventory almost immediately, so how exactly are you supposed to bring back even one stack of this stuff, which will only craft you ONE piece of armor??

That my friends, is exactly what we’re going to tackle today!

Quick "How To"

Valheim Best Swamp Biome

If you already know where to farm Iron, great, skip this part. If not this is pretty vital information.

If you have JUST started playing, sorry, but Iron is not exactly in the near future, unless you got some buddies helping you speed tackle the big bosses. Other than that, you need to have the second boss on your mind: The Elder. Once you’ve defeated the massive tree, you’ll be given a Swamp Key (sometimes swamp KEYS). These keys will unlock a crypt over in the swampy biome, a dungeon looking stone building with two green fires lit out front. 

One thing you need to be mindful of in the swamp when approaching a Crypt is the Elite Blobs, which are incredibly tanky, deal heaps of damage, and will break into TWO blobs when “killed” (basically like a second boss phase). If you’re not ready to fight them, you can easily ignore them. Just don’t let them get too close.

World Hopping Method

Valheim World Hopping

This is the BEST, but most “exploity” sort of way to farm iron. But it’s totally allowed due to the games inventory transfer system as you hop world to world. This makes farming out good areas all the more convenient and quick, allowing you to simply hop to one of your maps, grab HEAPS of Iron, and then travel back to your MAIN world to drop them off. That’s exactly what we’re going to do today.

For this, you’ll need to find yourself a map with an easily accessible swamp, hopefully one filled with Crypts to explore and farm. This will be a “Farm World”, only used for this specific task, not one that you’ll be trying to build up. BEFORE You’ve even created your swamp world, take your character on your MAIN world, the one where you’ll want to have all the iron, and put them in your house, pretty much empty handed besides your armor, sword & shield, Bow with some good arrows, your pickaxe, and your Swamp Key(s). Park your character on this main world right beside a chest, and then logout. Now go ahead and create yourself a new world for the Swamp Farm. When you’ve created your swamp world and you’ve located your Swamp Crypts, this is where the fun begins.

The absolute BEST Swamp Seed I’ve personally found so far (got super lucky finding this one) is: TSaHwhQCa8

Honestly, just take a couple look at HOW MANY crypts there are, and how close it is to spawn. You’ll never run out of Iron, and you’ll be able to farm Crypt after Crypt, as there are 17 located in this SINGLE Swamp!

Head into the Crypt and just start mining the whole place out of EVERY LAST BIT of the Muddy Piles between rooms. These piles contain heaps of Iron Scrap, which is later smelted into Iron for you to use on anything you want. Once your inventory is absolutely overflowing with Iron, you’re at your limit (even OVER your limit), logout of that world and login to your MAIN world. Now, because Valheim uses that system of bringing your character exactly as they are from world to world, you’ll have the heaps of Iron sitting in your inventory. Drop it all in your chest, and then head back to your swamp world to keep mining!

This is HANDS DOWN the fastest and best way to Farm Iron in Valheim, and although it will definitely feel like your “cheating the system,” Iron is very difficult to acquire, especially the amount you need to even just craft a COUPLE items (usually 20 Iron PER item, and that’s before upgrades!) Just remember that you’ll need swamp keys for each and every crypt you open, so if you’ve found multiple crypts, you’ll need multiple keys through killing The Elder.

Regular Iron Farming Method

Valheim Scrap Pile

This way is 100 times slower and more grindy than the world hopping tactic, but for those of you that WANT to stay on your one world either for immersive purposes, or you just want a “pure” run, well, this method if for you!

At this point you already know how to craft a cart and HOPEFULLY you have already found a Swamp on your current world, alongside a Crypt. After killing The Elder boss, you’ll have gained either one or two Swamp Keys, allowing you to enter the Swamp Crypts, which is not just your way to fighting the next boss, but your way of farming Iron! Thing is, this is a DANGEROUS and heavy lifting task, requiring multiple “back and forth” trips in and out of the Crypt to the outskirts of the swamp. Here’s how you best farming Iron!

Before we actually go to the Swamp Crypt, there’s an item you want, a belt called the Megingjord that allows you to carry 150 MORE carry weight! This is a must have for this task, as without it you are seriously going to slow down your run. The Merchant sells this belt for 950 gold, which you should surely have by this point if you’ve been running the various crypts and dungeons in the Black Forest (Make sure you sell all, your amber, pearls, and ruby’s to the merchant for more gold). 

Next, and this isn’t a must but it’s a highly recommend: 2 or 3 Pickaxes (Bronze preferred). There are a LOT of muddy piles in the Crypts to farm, and trust me, you’ll go through one pickaxe like it’s nothing. I recommend bringing a couple because unless you have a forge near the swamp, you won’t be repairing anytime soon. 

Valheim Swamp Cart
Valheim Scrap Iron

Bring your cart a good, say, 20-30 second run OUTSIDE the Swamp, and build it into a little shack or something, totally sealed off. The reason for this is to keep it out of sight from Draugr’s, who will absolutely destroy it, but also keep it from the occasional enemy in the OUTSKIRTS of the swap that come across it (Those pesky Greydwarfs will attack it on sight!). So, once your cart it fully secured, and it’s SUNRISE (please go in at sunrise), head to your crypt and go on in. Only reason I say day is to prevent you from having to maneuver the insanely dark swamp at night.

When you enter the crypt, do your thing! Mine as much of the Muddy Piles as you possibly can, getting as much Scrap Iron as you can hold, and once your inventory is completely full, but NOT over encumbering you, so you can high tail back to your cart, load it all up, and head back in. Repeat this process as much as you want, and once either you’ve mined it all or your cart is full, you know have ALL the iron you’ll need for a good while!

Once again, this isn’t the best tactic, but it’s the second best for solo players. Obviously if you have a couple friends to help out this will be even MORE beneficial. You could even mind multiple crypts at once and never have to come back.