How to use the Valheim abyssal harpoon

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How to craft it
How it works

If you've been watching Valheim videos, you've probably seen players using the Valheim abyssal harpoon for fun experiments, like flinging each other into orbit (not really) or pulling monsters through the air. There are practical uses for the weapon-slash-tool as well, like harpooning sea serpents and dragging them to shore (so their scales don't sink when they're killed) or pulling animals like boars into breeding pens.

How do you get the Valheim abyssal harpoon? It's an item you craft, though explaining how to craft it is a big spoiler for one of Valheim's most enjoyable surprises. So, if you want to keep everything in the game fresh, you might want to simply skip this whole thing. Just get out into the world and explore, and you'll eventually, probably, figure it out.

How to craft it

How to get the Valheim abyssal harpoon

Crafting the abyssal harpoon requires:

Chitin x30
Fine wood x8
Leather scraps x3

Most of that is easy. Leather scraps come from boars, and fine wood can be gathered while chopping down birch and oak trees in the Meadows using a bronze axe or better.

Here's the tricky part: finding Chitin. Chitin is a resource only found on Leviathans, which are small green islands that you'll randomly find while sailing across the Ocean biome. Those islands are, well, alive. If you spot a Leviathan, you can sail close to it and climb onto it, where you'll find abyssal barnacles along the Leviathan's surface.

Valheim Leviathan — Valheim's Leviathan, with abyssal barnacles (Image credit: Iron Gate Studios)

You can mine abyssal barnacles with any type of pickaxe, but be warned. Once you start mining each barnacle, there is a 10% chance the Leviathan will wake up and begin dramatically submerging itself into the water. The danger here is that it will submerge all the way, leaving you to swim, which will quickly sap your stamina. Make sure your ship is close by so you don't drown. Once the Leviathan wakes up, you have about 20 seconds before it submerges beneath the water.

Once you have the required resources, the abyssal harpoon can be crafted at a level 2 workbench.

How it works

How to use the abyssal harpoon

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To use the abyssal harpoon, equip it in a weapon slot. Clicking the attack button will throw the harpoon like a spear, and if that attack hits another creature or player, it will act as a leash, connecting you to them. Clicking again will release it. If a harpooned creature tries to move away from the player, it will be pulled back toward them. If you attempt to attack the creature with the harpoon or with another weapon, the connection will be broken.

The abyssal harpoon only does 10 pierce damage, so it's unlikely you'll kill the creature or player unless they're already wounded (though backstabbing with it will increase the damage dealt). If you're running or otherwise using stamina, and your stamina bar depletes, the creature will become unattached.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.