Idols are rare consumables in Valheim 1.0, which you can use at the Forge of Potential to upgrade your equipment beyond the standard maximum Level +4 on weapons and armor. This guide will provide you with tips and tricks on how to find all possible idol locations in the game and how to use them.
How to Find & Use Idols
There are two main types of idols in the game: Battle Idols, which are used to upgrade weapons and other combat gear, and Protection Idols. which are used to upgrade your armor pieces. Note that all idols, regardless of the type, are tiered by material and power level. Each upgrade will consume one idol and raise your item’s level by one. However, there’s also a certain risk, as there’s roughly a 35% chance that the upgrade will fail, and instead of upgrading, it will destroy the item, returning only a portion of the crafting materials to your inventory.
Idols drop very rarely from chests and sometimes other containers like pots or barrels inside structures and biomes. They appear randomly, so it’s hard to know exactly if you will get an idol or not, but there are certain patterns that you can follow to locate various tiers of idols. Once you find some, here’s how you can use them:
- Locate the Forge of Potential, which is the new hidden forge exclusive to the Mountains biome.
- Interact with it while carrying the appropriate idol and the gear you want to upgrade.
- Once you attempt the upgrade at the forge, the idol will be consumed.
- Note that higher-tier gear requires higher-tier idols.
For example, Wood idols are needed for early Meadows gear, Black Metal idols are for Plains gear, Black Marble idols are for Mistlands or Ashlands gear, and Flametal or Bloodgold idols are for late game gear. Only attempt upgrades on gear you can afford to lose, especially at higher levels.
All Known Idol Locations
Here’s a list of all possible idol locations in the world, but remember that chances are random, giving you only a slight advantage of finding them there:
| Idols | Locations |
|---|---|
| Bronze Battle Idol | Chests in Troll Caves, half-buried crypts, and stone house ruins, primarily in Black Forest. |
| Bronze Protection Idol | Same locations as the Battle version: Troll Caves, half-buried crypts, and stone house ruins. |
| Iron Battle Idol | Chests in Swamp ruins and graves. |
| Iron Protection Idol | Chests in Swamp crypt rooms, ruins, and graves. |
| Black Marble Battle Idol | Chests in Morgen holes and Charred Fortresses (Ashlands), or Mistlands Dvergr guard towers. |
| Black Marble Protection Idol | Chests in Morgen holes, Charred Fortresses, and Mistlands towers; also by breaking pots in Charred ruins. |
| Flametal Battle Idol | Chests in Deep North huts, lumber camps, villages, ship settings, shipwrecks, and Mistlands towers. |
| Flametal Protection Idol | Ancient and Jotun’s chests in Mörkhalla, Mistlands towers, and various Deep North chests and barrels. |
| Wood Idols | Meadows and Black Forest structures. |
| Silver Idols | Chests of the Mountains biome. |
| Black Metal Idols | Plains structures and chests. |
| Bloodgold Idols | Deep North endgame chests. |
