Bears, trinkets, and various in-game improvements await Valheim players in the Call to Arms Update. Enjoy new features while experiencing much-awaited overhauls to some existing systems. So, without further ado, here’s what you need to know about Valheim’s latest update.

What’s in the Valheim Call to Arms Update?

The Valheim Call to Arms Update is live, but only in the Public Test branch at the time of writing. Nonetheless, it comes with new content, new features, various improvements, and bug fixes. For starters, this update brings a new Adrenaline resource system, tied to equippable Trinkets. Once activated, these effects grant temporary perks during battle, adding an extra layer of strategic depth to the game. Different systems also received overhauls and improvements. For instance, a new Perfect Dodge Roll skill rewards precise timing with stamina regeneration. Also, perfect blocks no longer cost stamina, increasing player survivability during tough combat scenarios. Additionally, the Call to Arms Update brought long-awaited yet still welcoming changes to the game. In particular, players can now hit enemies on slopes better than before, reducing the need for repositioning while fighting in multilevel terrains. This patch also introduces new threats, particularly Bears and their undead counterpart, the Viles. Defeating these enemies rewards players with new materials that can be used to craft new gear, including the Bear armor set. Find out more about the Valheim Call to Arms Update for the Public Test branch by checking out the full patch notes in the next section.

Valheim Call to Arms Update Full Patch Notes – August 20, 2025

New Content

New Mechanics

• Trinkets: Equip these items to gain adrenaline during battle, and thus unlock temporary perks.
• Adrenaline: You gain adrenaline by hitting enemies, triggering a Forsaken Power, using certain magic attacks, as well as performing Perfect Blocks and Perfect Dodge Rolls. When the bar is full, you get an adrenaline surge which gives you a temporary perk designated by your equipped Trinket. Adrenaline will fade when you are not in active combat, and you will only gain adrenaline as long as you have a Trinket equipped.
• Wooden Weapons: By using wooden weapons you can practice combat against your friends without hurting each other.
• New skill: Perfect Dodge Roll (Dodge an attack that would have caused you damage and get a % of stamina back)

Creatures

• Enemy: Bear
• Enemy: Vile

Crafting

• Material: Blob Vial (purchasable)
• Material: Ectoplasm
• Material: Ghost Trophy
• Material: Bear Hide
• Material: Bear Trophy
• Material: Bear Paw
• Material: Vile Trophy
• Material: Vile Ribcage

Food

• Bear Meat

Clothing

• Chest Armour: Patterns of the Bear
• Leg Armour: Loincloth of the Bear
• Helmet: Headdress of the Bear
• Chest Armour: Vilebone Cage
• Leg Armour: Vilebone Drapes
• Helmet: Vilebone Visage
• Hat: Sweat Band (purchasable)

Weapons

• Bottled Blob: Poison
• Bottled Blob: Oozer
• Bottled Blob: Tar
• Bottled Blob: Lava
• Bottled Blob: Frost
• Wooden Sword
• Wooden Greatsword
• Wooden Axe
• Wooden Two-handed Axe
• Wooden Mace
• Wooden Sledge
• Wooden Spear
• Wooden Atgeir
• Wooden Knife
• Fist Weapon: Paws of the Bear
• Fist Weapon: Vilebone Maulclaws
• Battleaxe: Black Metal
• Battleaxe: Skull Splittur

Trinkets

• Heart of the Forest
• Bronze Pendant
• Iron Brooch
• Nimble Anklet
• Crystal Heart
• Wolf Sight
• Fins of Destiny
• Evasion Mantle
• Bracelets of the Brave
• Pulsating Earrings
• Resounding Shackle
• Jörmundling
• Brimstone

Build Pieces & Furniture

• Combat Practice: Archery Target
• Combat Practice: Battle Brother
• Furniture: Bearskin Rug

Miscellaneous

• New location: CombatRuin01
• 3 new hairstyles (Mullet, Castellan & Vinland Shave)
• 5 new beard styles (Mustache, Handlebar, Trimmed, Waxed, Crumb Catcher)

Fixes & Improvements

Combat Changes

• Perfect Block no longer cost stamina
• Reduced movement speed penalty on Battleaxes, Sledgehammers, and Tower Shields
• Vertical fighting improvements, now easier to hit enemies in slopes!

Rebalanced Forsaken Powers

• Eikthyr: 60% reduced stamina usage for running, jumping, and swimming
• The Elder: 60% Chopping and Mining damage increase, 30% health regeneration increase
• Bonemass: 25% resistance VS pierce, slash, and blunt damage, 100% reduced block stamina usage, 5 stamina on return per block
• Moder: Always tailwind, 300 increased carry weight, 10% increased movement speed, 50% frost resistance
• Yagluth: 50% Lightning resistance, 25+ Farm skill, 10% increased damage
• The Queen: 100% increased Eitr regeneration., 100% reduced sneak cost, 50% poison resistance
• Fader: 100% Adrenaline increase, 50% reduced stagger meter modifier, 50% fire resistance

Item stands

• These items are now allowed to be placed on item stands:
• Barley Flour
• Tankard
• Ancient Seed
• Dragon Tear
• Volture Egg
• Cores
• Padded Helmet
• Carapace Helme
• Fresh Seaweed
• Fragrant Bundle
• Thistle
• Celestial Feather

New item stand position & orientations on some items

• Atgeirs
• Axes
• Bombs
• Bows
• Crossbows
• Knives
• Maces
• Pickaxes
• Shields
• Sledges
• Spears
• Staffs
• Swords
• Tower Shields
• All Fish
• All Helmets
• Cooked Lox meat
• Rotten Meat
• Blueberries
• Carrot
• Cooked Bonemaw Meat
• Cooked Serpent Meat
• Cooked Neck Tail
• Cooked Boar Meat
• Raspberry
• All Meads
• Cultivator
• Feaster
• Fishing Rod
• Hammer
• Hoe
• Scythe
• Asksvin Saddle
• Lox Saddle
• All Trophies
• Goblin Totem
• Scythe handle

Miscellaneous

• Updated old hairstyle names
• Updated localisation
• Ghost visual overhaul
• Upgraded Unity engine to 6000.0.46f

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug that caused community servers to no longer be advertised in the community list on non-Steam platforms.
• Fixed UGC text not being filtered properly when the author is a Mac App Store user who wasn’t logged into Game Center at the time of writing.
• Fixed log spam when nearby or viewing hover text for signs, tamed animals and portals without text/name/tag.
• Fixed a bug that showed “TEXT HIDDEN, CHECK UGC SETTINGS” for UGC written by muted players - now there’s separate text for that case.
• Fixed a bug that caused the shield generator to not take damage if it was network owned by a different client than whatever dealt damage to it.
• Fixed join code in pause menu not being hidden when toggling off HUD visibility.
• Fixed join code copy to clipboard functionality.
• Improved how block list is synchronized between local storage and cloud storage.
• Fixed input loss in UI at low frame rates.
• Fixed select button not working properly when using an Xbox One Controller on Mac.
• Fixed a bug that allowed tab navigation when various popups in the world and server selection menus were open.
• Added the option in the settings menu to enable the developer console. The command line argument “-console” overrides the setting.
• Fixed a bug that caused integers with a value of zero to be reset to their default value when loading a world save file.
• Fixed a bug that made it possible to copy the join code with gamepad even when there was none.
• Modded text in start menu has been moved.

Server List Improvements

• Rewrote the server list to reduce redundancies and improve performance, scalability, reliability and server retrieval speed.
• Improved retrieval speed of community servers via the PlayFab backend.
• Added a new “refreshing” icon displayed instead of the “?” icon when refreshing servers. The “?” icon has been repurposed for servers whose matchmaking data can’t be retrieved but the server may be online.
• The community server list is now no longer retrieved in the background unless the “friends” or “community” tab has been visited. This mitigates an issue for some Steam users that caused retrieval of the community server list via the Steam backend to overload their network.
• Fixed a bug that caused retrieval of matchmaking data via PlayFab in the server list to hit the rate limit.
• Fixed a bug where typing R in the “filter” box refreshed the server list.
• (For modders) The player limit displayed in the server list is no longer hard coded.

Steam Only

• Fixed some issues with the Steam profile pictures displayed in-game. The image no longer looks washed out and now generates mipmaps to reduce aliasing at lower resolutions.
• Matchmaking data for servers on the Steam backend can now be properly retrieved via the Steam backend. This improves server retrieval speed for servers on the Steam backend in the favorite and recent lists.

Xbox Only

• If the user has left a server as a result of entering suspend mode, show a notification when resuming from suspend mode.
• The developer console is now disabled by default, and can instead be enabled via the new gameplay setting.
• Massively improved retrieval speed of the friends server list.