Every Valheim Boss Altar: Offerings, Locations and How Far Apart They Sit
Finding a Valheim boss is a two-step problem, and most guides only describe the second. You need a Vegvisir — a small glowing runestone hidden in dungeons and ruins — to mark the altar on your map, and then the right offering to summon what lives there. The altars are not scattered randomly either: each boss has a fixed number of altars at documented distances from the world centre, which means you can predict roughly how far you will be sailing. Here is the whole set.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish altar placement rules. The offerings, counts and distances below come from the community Valheim wiki, and can change with any patch.
The Offerings
| Boss | Altar | Offering | Biome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eikthyr | Mystical altar | 2 Deer Trophies | Meadows |
| The Elder | Ancient bowl | 3 Ancient Seeds | Black Forest |
| Bonemass | Boiling death altar | 10 Withered Bones | Swamp |
| Moder | Sacrificial altar | 3 Dragon Eggs | Mountain |
| Yagluth | Mystical altar | 5 Fuling Totems | Plains |
| The Queen | Infested Citadel (Hive seat) | 1 Sealbreaker, then 3 Seeker Soldier Trophies | Mistlands |
The Queen is the odd one out and worth planning for. The first summon requires a Sealbreaker — a crafted key — while subsequent summons take 3 Seeker Soldier Trophies. The runestone spells out why: "We sealed the door and scattered the key. Leave her be."
Every altar's runestone carries a hint rather than an instruction — "HUNT HIS KIN" for Eikthyr's deer trophies, "BURN THEIR YOUNG" for the Elder's ancient seeds, "COOK THEIR REMAINS" for Bonemass's withered bones, "SACRIFICE HER SPAWN" for Moder's dragon eggs.
And bosses can be resummoned. The altar is permanent and reusable, which matters because trophies are the only way to unlock Forsaken powers — see below.
Where the Altars Are
Altar placement follows rules, not chance:
| Boss | Altars | Placement |
|---|---|---|
| Eikthyr | 3 | ≤ 1000 m from world centre |
| The Elder | 4 | Each 3000 m apart, 1000–7000 m from centre |
| Bonemass | 5 | Each 3000 m apart, ≥ 2000 m from centre |
| Moder | 3 | Each 3000 m apart, ≤ 8000 m from centre |
| Yagluth | 4 | Each 3000 m apart |
| The Queen | 5 | Each 2048 m apart |
Two things follow from this table.
Eikthyr is always close. Three altars within 1000 metres of the world centre — and you spawn at the centre — means the first boss is never a voyage.
Bonemass is always a journey. At least 2000 metres out, minimum, with five altars spaced 3000 apart. If your Swamp is nearby, the altar in it may still not be.
And because there are multiple altars per boss, the one your Vegvisir marks is not necessarily the nearest. Finding a second Vegvisir for the same boss can reveal a much closer altar — worth remembering before committing to a long sail.
Vegvisirs: Finding the Altar
A Vegvisir is a small glowing runestone that marks an altar on your map when activated. Where to look depends on which boss:
| Boss | Vegvisir found in |
|---|---|
| Eikthyr | The Sacrificial Stones — no search needed |
| The Elder | Black Forest ruins, Burial Chambers |
| Bonemass | Swamp ruins, Sunken Crypts |
| Moder | Mountain stone towers, Frost Caves |
| Yagluth | Stonehenges |
| The Queen | Infested Mines |
Eikthyr's is free — it sits at the Sacrificial Stones where you start, which is why the first boss never feels like a hunt.
The rest require going into the content anyway. Burial Chambers, Sunken Crypts and Frost Caves are all places you visit for materials, so the practical advice is simply to activate every runestone you pass rather than to hunt them deliberately.
The offering items must be placed at the altar before activating, in their designated positions — and each altar carries a runestone with the hint if you have forgotten which item it wants.
The Sacrificial Stones
The Sacrificial Stones are where boss kills become permanent power, and they have a fixed location: "always located in the very center of the world map", set with seven individual large stones around a circular foundation.
The loop is simple and easy to forget: kill a boss → take its trophy → hang the trophy on that boss's stone → the Forsaken power becomes available.
Powers are unlimited but have a cooldown, and each stone corresponds to one boss. A trophy sitting in a chest is a power you do not have — which is the single most common oversight for returning players.
The stones are also your default respawn point. If you have no bed, or your bed has been destroyed, you wake here — which is another reason the centre of the map is worth keeping developed.
On a shared server, remember trophies are per-kill, not per-player. Resummoning is the fix: the altars are reusable and unlimited, so a group can farm the same boss until everyone has their trophy. Given that Forsaken powers were rebalanced to be role tools rather than a ladder — Moder for hauling, Bonemass for tanking, Yagluth for farming — everyone having every trophy is a genuine group upgrade, not a completionist detail.
Practical tips
- Eikthyr: 2 Deer Trophies. The Elder: 3 Ancient Seeds. Bonemass: 10 Withered Bones.
- Moder: 3 Dragon Eggs. Yagluth: 5 Fuling Totems. The Queen: a Sealbreaker, then 3 Seeker Soldier Trophies.
- Eikthyr's altars are always within 1000 m of world centre. Bonemass is always 2000 m+.
- There are 3–5 altars per boss — a second Vegvisir may reveal a closer one.
- Activate every runestone you pass; they sit in dungeons you visit anyway.
- Eikthyr's Vegvisir is at the Sacrificial Stones — no hunting required.
- Hang the trophy on its stone or you do not have the power.
- Altars are reusable — resummon so everyone in the group gets a trophy.
Running your own Valheim server
Boss progress is world state — altars found, bosses killed, global keys set — and it changes the world for everyone on it, which makes it something a group should own together rather than inside one person's save. A gamever Valheim server keeps that world available around the clock for up to 10 players, takes one-click backups, and updates automatically so client and server versions never drift apart.
Conclusion
Summoning a Valheim boss takes two things: a Vegvisir to reveal the altar, and the right offering to activate it — 2 Deer Trophies for Eikthyr, 3 Ancient Seeds for The Elder, 10 Withered Bones for Bonemass, 3 Dragon Eggs for Moder, 5 Fuling Totems for Yagluth, and a Sealbreaker followed by 3 Seeker Soldier Trophies for The Queen. Altars are placed by rule rather than chance: Eikthyr's three sit within 1000 metres of the world centre, while Bonemass's five are at least 2000 metres out, each 3000 metres apart — and since every boss has three to five altars, a second Vegvisir can reveal a much closer one. Vegvisirs hide in the dungeons you already visit, so activate every runestone you pass. And the step people forget: kill the boss, take the trophy, and hang it on its stone at the Sacrificial Stones at the exact centre of the map — otherwise the Forsaken power is not yours. Altars are reusable, so resummon until everyone has one.
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