Hail warrior. Today we are going to help you on your journey through the 10th Norse world of Valheim by showing you how to find copper and talking about why you will need it. Copper, along with Tin is your ticket out of the stone age and a means of basically being able to progress through the early-game.
What is Copper?
Copper is a mineable resource with a gold-like color. Copper, in Valheim is a rather light metal which can’t do a great deal of things on its own. Even though first acquiring copper and processing it is no easy task, you may find yourself wondering what to do with it. Well hold on to your metals friend, we are going to show you why you NEED this shiny metal resource.
Uses for Copper in Valheim
Copper, will have to be brought up from copper bearing rocks. Once you smash up these rocks, with a pickaxe of your choice you will obtain copper ore. This is the raw resource associated with copper and will have to be processed using a smelter in order to be of any use. Copper ore on it’s own is used for a few things like the Forge and some furniture items.
Copper is fused together with Tin to create Bronze. This is your stepping stone to larger and stronger weapons in Valheim. You will have a hard time taking on The Elder without advancing to the bronze age.
Copper is also used in a few recipes of its own, including the copper knife which can be made at the forge and a few other structures and furniture pieces.
Where to Find Copper
Once you have defeated the first boss character, Eikthyr, the beast will drop a resource known as Hard Antler upon being defeated. This Hard Antler can by used at the Workshop to create an object known as the Antler Pickaxe. There is no other way to break rocks at the beginning of the game as to build the next strongest pickaxe you actually need bronze.
Once you have defeated Eikthyr and gotten yourself a Antler Pickaxe its time to head to the Black Forest biome. Copper and Tin are found only in the Black forest. If you run around the forest long enough you should be able to find some copper. Look out for the large moss-covered rocks. Some of the rocks will look as though there are bands of something going through them. These are copper-bearing rocks and your way of obtaining copper ore. When you look at the rock it should tell you that it is a copper resource.
Then, equip your antler pickaxe and go to town on the resource. Be careful and watch your back as the Black Forest is a dangerous place to starting characters. Copper Ore is an extremely heavy material so make sure you empty your inventory before you make the trip to the Black Forest. Now that you’ve gotten this far, we have found some copper ore. It’s time to process it and get our first copper!
If your Antler Pickaxe breaks don’t worry you don’t have to fight Eikthyr again! You can repair tools and armor. Check out this short guide.
Smelting Copper
You will have to process this raw copper ore first before you plan on using it. This can be done in a smelter. To smelt copper and refine it you will need copper ore, coal and a smelter.
The gist of getting a smelter is, you must find burial chambers in the Black Forest and recover Surtling Cores from the end of them. You can use these cores, with stone to create a smelter. You can view this guide to find out how to get Surtling Cores.
On one side of the smelter you can out the ore in. On the other side, coal. Very simple. The coal will not burn without there being ore to process and vice versa. So you will not be wasting any materials by throwing too much or too little coal inside the smelter.
Using Copper to Forge Bronze
Now that you’ve got some copper, you can read our guide on getting tin, or just apply the same method as in this guide to get it.
Once you have both Copper and Tin you can fuse them together at the Forge to create Bronze! Your first major step into becoming a Viking. To create Bronze, you will need 2 units of copper and one unit of tin. You can create 5 units of Bronze at a time if you have all the required metals to save crafting time. Now that you have your first Bronze, you will see a huge amount of crafting options available to you in the building menu and the Forge.
I would first recommend you spend your time crafting a wagon, so you can easily run trips to get bulk copper and tin, or a Bronze Axe. This way you can cut down thicker trees like Birch and Oak, and start collecting Fine Wood.
This has been a short guide on how to get copper in Valheim. We talked in depth about some of the uses for copper and how you can get it. Thanks for sticking around and as always if you have any more questions or comments just write them down below. Cheers. Valhalla awaits!