This guide describes the best way to mine silver in Valheim under almost any circumstance.
Best Silver Mining Method
This guide describes the current best practices for mining silver in Valheim. That method is collapsing the entire vein. Aside from this method there exist two other accepted methods: the conventional method and the surface implosion method. Collapsing is superior in every way I can think of to the conventional method and is much easier to execute and more reliable than the surface implosion method. To those ends, I have no trouble calling this method the best practice.
This method became possible after the Hearth and Home Update. Guide published 3/25/2022 and still works as of the first implementation of Frost Caves into the game.
ステップ:
1. Bring an iron pickaxe and antler pickaxe and like 12-24 木材 (作業台, キャンプファイヤー(s), a chest to help sort the loot) and find a silver vein.
2. Over a silver vein, dig straight down with an antler pickaxe on a single square until you’re as deep as you can go.
3. Following the footprint of the vein, continue digging below it, pretty much as deep as the game will allow. If it’s a little too low, just dig alongside it instead of under.
ノート: Once the center of the vein is found, placing a campfire will grant the “restING” buff while underneath the node, raising stamina regeneration rate by A LOT for most of the area of the vein. Swing away! Multiple campfires reduce the risk of accidentally leaving a “休んでいる” area before achieving a “restED” buff if one is necessary. A workbench can also be placed directly under the vein, for extremely quick repair of antler pickaxe.
4. After the entire vein is exposed (or while you’re exposing it), dig at least one chunk outward around its entire perimeter.
5. Destroy any rocks or trees that are touching or very close to the vein. Also destroy player-placed objects that are very close to it or touching it (workbenches, portals, 等). Should this be step 2? Your call.
6. Hit silver vein anywhere with iron pickaxe several times.
7. Reap the rewards!
ノート 2: You may encounter a slight problem if the vein is so deep that the game won’t allow you to dig the terrain lower than the vein. This will often affect not the center, but one or more of the outlying extremities of the vein. If this happens engage in step six at the point(s) where the vein is touching the terrain. You may have to break several chunks of the vein manually, but if all steps were followed the whole vein should collapse fairly shortly. The goal is to separate it from the terrain and other objects.
Additional cool things about mining silver like this:
- The shelter provided by the floating vein alone protects from freezing in the event mead expires and you don’t have gear yet and forgot to bring wood for a fire (very vulnerable to frost damage though if drakes swoop in).
- If you brought 6 copper and a portal with you, you have a place to smelt your initial silver in relative safety. You can easily get forge LVL 2 または 3 and craft armor and Draugr fang/sword/knife and then go about your mountain business.
- To get the silver out, you don’t have to build a ramp: just stand with your face against a flat wall and ctrl+click the silver in your inventory and it will land up top. Don’t throw it off a cliff unless you want to!
- Once you’re done give a wolf a swift kick into the pit and you have a place to tame it.
ボーナス: since you’re in a hole, stone golems can’t get you. If you wake one up you can have it “patrol” to kill wolves for you, even at night, while you’re making all the mining noise. Wolves CAN wind up down there when something weird happens, だから気をつけて. 注目すべきは, しかし, that you REALLY don’t want a stone golem anywhere near WHILE you are digging; when you knock a new chunk of earth out that a golem was standing on your wind up with a new roommate in what might then turn out to be your crypt. When you want to leave you’ll probably have to take out your golem security guard or kite it away first.
Click the youtube link for a video demonstration. I won’t be mad if you sub, どちらか.
Behind the scenes trivia: I’ve typed “vein” more times today than cumulatively in my entire life leading up to now.
If you want to see examples of all this out in the wild, my Hardcore “speedrun” playlists all feature the use of this technique when not everything goes to plan, usually around days 14-18.