Valheim is the latest survival game to become viral, selling four million copies just three weeks after its early access release. This game takes place in a purgatory made with influences from both Viking culture and Norse mythology. While playing, gamers take control of a Viking in their afterlife. They can travel to different biomes (Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp, Mountains, Plains, and Ocean) and face each new challenge that comes their way.

This being a survival and sandbox game, you’ll have different tools and materials at your disposal to make the journey way more interesting.

What’s A Smelter

Once you get the hang of collecting basic materials for survival, things like Stone, Wood, and Leather, you’ll want to see what else is out there. One of the most important things you can do to obtain higher armor and equipment is build a smelter.

The smelter will use the ores you find in the game to create bars, and then you will be able to use those bars to create more items.

What Can You Melt In The Smelter

You’ll have to use the following ores in the smelter:

  • Tin Ore: This ore is located at the tin deposits in the Black Forest biome. Put it in the smelter to create Tin, which can later be used to craft Bronze or to build a Cauldron. Copper Ore: You’ll find this one in the copper deposits at the Black Forest biome. Copper ores become copper, which you can later use to craft Bronze or Copper Knives. You can also use copper to build a Forge, a Forge cooler, or a Sconce. Scrap Iron: This Ore is at the muddy scrap piles you’ll find in the sunken crypts of the Swamp biome. Scrap Iron produces Iron which can be later used to craft and build a wide array of things. Silver Ore: You’ll find this one in the freezing Mountain biome. The Silver you get from Silver Ore can be used for crafting.

How To Build A Smelter

But before you can go and collect the ores you want to melt, you’ll have first to learn how to create the furnace that will melt everything in the first place.

Step #1: Find the recipe

You can’t build something without the proper instructions. To find the Smelter’s recipe, you’ll need to wander into the Black Forest biome. Once there, start looking for abandoned tombs or dungeons (the ones that are guarded by skeletons). After you find one, defeat the guard and look for Surtling Cores in the area. This Cores will be scattered in chests located in rooms, alleys, or along the dungeon corridors. They are easy to spot, as they are bright and orange-red. Finding those will unlock the recipe.

Step #2: Find the ingredients

To make the Smelter, you’ll need x20 Stones and x5 Surtling Cores.

Stones are easy to find; you can pick them up from the ground, use a pickaxe to mine them from larger chunks of stone, Copper Deposits or Silver Deposits, or get them when a Greydwarf, a Greydwarf Shaman, a Greydwarf Brute, or a Stone Golem drop them.

Surtling Cores are found in Burial Chambers (those caves with skeletons guards we talked about early on) or in random chests. Apart from being found in these places, the Surtling Core can be dropped by defeated Surtlings. They live in the Swamp-type biomes.

Step #3: Building the Smelter

Finally, you can proceed to build your Smelter. With the ingredients in your inventory, head over to the Workbench and use the x20 Stones and x5 Surtling Cores by right-clicking on it and then going to the crafting tab. Keep in mind that the furnace has to be placed directly onto the terrain.

How To Use The Smelter

After all this hard work, your furnace is done and ready for action. Now all you have to do is place Coal on the right side and the ore you want to melt on the left.

What Do You Need For The Smelter To Work

As you can see, the Smelter needs Coal in order to work. Coal is produced in at the Charcoal Kiln, which will also be unlocked when you find the Surtling Cores.

The Charcoal Kiln also needs x5 Surtling Cores and x20 Stone to be crafted. Moreover, this buildable structure will produce one Coal every 16 seconds in exchange for Wood, Core wood, or Fine Wood.

You should know that you can put up to 25 pieces inside the kiln. However, it will use regular Wood first, then Fine Wood, and finally Core Wood.

How Much Time Does The Smelter Take?

This furnace needs one Coal per 15 seconds as fuel, and it takes 31 seconds to smelt one bar. That mean’s that you’ll need around two Coals to get one bar.

Still, if you really want to speed things up, you could fill the smelter just before sleeping. The smelter will then refine ore at a more rapid pace during this sleep phase.

NEXT: Valheim: Basics For Beginners