Every Sword in Valheim: Nine Weapons, and the One Property No Other Class Has
Valheim has nine swords — seven one-handed and two two-handed — running from the 35-damage Bronze sword to the 170-damage Slayer. They cost less stamina than most classes for the damage they do, and they carry one property nothing else in the game has: sword damage is not reduced when a single swing hits several enemies or objects. Every other weapon class pays for cleaving. Swords do not.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
Every Sword
| Sword | Damage | Stamina (primary / secondary) |
|---|---|---|
| Bronze sword | Slash 35 / 53 | 8 / 16 |
| Iron sword | Slash 55 / 73 | 10 / 20 |
| Silver sword | Slash 75 / 93, Spirit 30 / 45 | 12 / 24 |
| Black metal sword | Slash 95 / 113 | 14 / 28 |
| Mistwalker | Slash 75 / 75, Frost 40 / 58, Spirit 0 / 15 | 16 / 32 |
| Nidhögg | Slash 135 / 153 | 16 / 32 |
| Dyrnwyn | Slash 145 / 163, Fire 10 | 16 / 32 |
| Krom (two-handed) | Slash 150 / 168 | 20 / 40 |
| Slayer (two-handed) | Slash 170 / 188 | 20 / 40 |
The two-handed pair sit at the top, but not by as much as you might expect — Krom's 150 is only five above Dyrnwyn's 145, and Dyrnwyn is one-handed, which means it can be paired with a shield. That is a real trade rather than a straight upgrade.
Secondary stamina is exactly double primary on every sword in the class. 8/16, 10/20, 12/24, 14/28, 16/32, 20/40 — no exceptions. It is the tidiest stamina table of any weapon class.
Cleaving Without a Penalty
The class description is short and it is the reason to carry a sword:
Sword damage is not reduced when several enemies or objects are hit by a single attack, unlike most other weapons.
That inverts the usual arithmetic. In most of Valheim, a swing that connects with three Greylings splits its damage; a sword hits all three for full. The more crowded the fight, the better a sword performs relative to its damage number — which is the opposite of how the class reads on a stat sheet.
It also applies to objects, so a sword clearing a room of destructibles is doing full damage to each.
Swords also have low knockback, which is the flip side: they do not create space. A club pushes enemies out of range; a sword keeps them in it. Against a crowd that is exactly what you want if you are cleaving and exactly what you do not want if you are trying to disengage.
The Three Elemental Swords
Three swords add a second damage type, and they are not equivalent:
Silver sword — Slash 75/93 plus Spirit 30/45. Spirit is the anti-Undead type, and Silver is the sword built for the Swamp and the Mountain. Against anything Spirit-immune — which is most of the game — you are wielding a 75-damage sword.
Mistwalker — Slash 75/75 plus Frost 40/58 plus Spirit 0/15. The notable entry is the flat 75 slash with no upgrade scaling, against every other sword's rising min/max. Its growth is entirely in the Frost component, which is what makes it a Mistlands weapon rather than a generalist. Frost also applies the slowing effect, which is worth more than the raw number against anything that closes distance.
Dyrnwyn — Slash 145/163 plus Fire 10. The fire component is small and flat, so this is essentially the best one-handed slash weapon in the game with a minor burn attached. At 145 base it out-damages Nidhögg's 135 and comes within five of two-handed Krom.
Choosing Between Them
- Dyrnwyn is the practical endgame pick for most players: 145 slash one-handed leaves your off-hand free for a shield, and gives up only five damage to Krom.
- Slayer at 170/188 is the raw ceiling, and costs you the shield slot entirely.
- Mistwalker is a specialist, not an upgrade. Its slash does not scale — the growth is all in Frost — so it is worth carrying where Frost lands and not otherwise.
- Silver sword is only good against the Undead. Its Spirit half is dead against most of the game.
- Lean on the no-cleave-penalty rule. A sword against a crowd performs better than its number suggests, which is the class's actual identity.
- Remember the stamina doubling. Every secondary attack costs exactly twice the primary, so the secondary is a deliberate spend rather than a rotation filler.
Running your own Valheim server
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Conclusion
Valheim's nine swords run from the Bronze sword at 35 slash to the two-handed Slayer at 170, with secondary stamina exactly double primary on every one of them — the tidiest table of any class. Their defining property is that sword damage is not reduced when one swing hits several enemies or objects, which no other weapon class shares and which makes swords better in crowds than their raw numbers suggest; the trade is low knockback, so they hold enemies in range rather than pushing them out. Three carry an elemental component and they are not equivalent: the Silver sword's Spirit 30/45 only matters against the Undead, Mistwalker's slash is a flat 75/75 with all its scaling in the Frost component, and Dyrnwyn at 145/163 is the strongest one-handed slash in the game with a token 10 Fire. Since Dyrnwyn gives up only five damage to two-handed Krom while keeping your shield slot, it is the practical endgame choice for anyone not committed to a two-hander.
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