Fenring and Ulv in Valheim: Two Werewolves, and Fire Works on Exactly One
Valheim has two werewolf-like creatures on the Mountain and they are easy to confuse: the Fenring, which walks on two legs and only appears at night, and the Ulv, which trots on all fours inside caves. They differ by 250 health and, more importantly, by the one thing you would reach for. Fenrings are weak to Fire. Ulve are very resistant to it.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
Side by Side
| Fenring | Ulv | |
|---|---|---|
| Health 0★ / 1★ | 300 | 50 / 100 |
| Where | Mountain surface, night only | Frost Caves and Howling Caverns |
| Posture | Two legs | All fours |
| Fire | Weak | Very resistant |
| Poison | Resistant | Weak |
| Stagger threshold | 50% | 50% |
| Attacks | Claw 85 Slash (3s), Jump 95 Slash (8s) | Bite 80 Slash (5s), Slash 70 Slash (9s) |
| Drops | Wolf fang (100%), trophy 10% | Wolf fang 50%, trophy 10% |
The fire and poison columns are exact mirrors. Fenring: weak to Fire, resistant to Poison. Ulv: very resistant to Fire, weak to Poison. If you carry one answer onto the Mountain, it works on half of what lives there.
The Fenring
300 health, surface-dwelling, and it exists only in the dark:
Middle of the Mountains during the nighttime, despawn at dawn. Limit 2, frequency 3, no stars.
Three things follow from that spawn rule. They cannot be starred — every Fenring in the world has 300 health. They vanish at sunrise, so a fight you disengage from does not need finishing if the sun is coming up. And the limit is 2, so you are never swarmed by them the way you can be by wolves.
Its two attacks are both pure Slash and both hit hard:
| Attack | Damage | Cooldown | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claw | 85 Slash | 3s | 3-metre, 90-degree horizontal arc, used within 2.5 m |
| Jump | 95 Slash | 8s | The gap-closer |
85 Slash every three seconds is a serious damage rate against Bronze or Iron armour, and the 8-second jump means you cannot simply outrange it. The counter is its weakness: Fire, which the Mountain does not otherwise discourage. Fire Arrows on a 300-health, no-star enemy is a short fight.
It drops Wolf fang at 100% — better than the Ulv's 50% — plus a 10% trophy.
The Ulv
50 health at zero stars, 100 at one star, and it lives underground:
| Spawn | Detail |
|---|---|
| Frost Caves | Common spawn point, no stars |
| Howling Caverns | Common spawn point, 1-star only |
That is a clean split: Frost Cave Ulve are always 50 health; Howling Cavern Ulve are always 100. No two-star version spawns anywhere.
Its attacks are close to the Fenring's in damage despite one sixth of the health:
| Attack | Damage | Cooldown | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bite | 80 Slash | 5s | 2.2 m, 25-degree arc, within 1.5 m |
| Slash | 70 Slash | 9s | Downward strike with both paws |
80 Slash from a 50-health creature is the imbalance that kills people. An Ulv dies to almost anything but hits nearly as hard as a Fenring with six times the health. In a Frost Cave — enclosed, dark, with several spawn points — that arithmetic goes badly if you are not clearing them at range.
Very resistant to Fire is the trap. Frost Caves are exactly where a player carrying Fire Arrows for the Mountain expects them to work, and they do not — an Ulv shrugs off the one thing that kills Fenrings outside. Poison is the Ulv weakness, which is rare enough to be worth knowing, though at 50 health almost any non-fire arrow does the job. The real instruction is negative: do not rely on fire underground.
Both Drop Wolf Fangs
| Creature | Wolf fang | Trophy |
|---|---|---|
| Fenring | 1, guaranteed | 10% |
| Ulv | 50% | 10% |
Wolf fangs feed the Fang spear, Drake helmet, Wolf armour and other Mountain-tier gear, and the ordinary Wolf is the usual source. What this table says is that a Fenring is a strictly better fang source than an Ulv — guaranteed against a coin flip — and that hunting Fenrings at night is a legitimate alternative to farming wolves if the wolves are giving you trouble.
Fighting Them
- Fire outside, anything but fire inside. Fenrings on the surface burn; Ulve in caves are very resistant, and poison is their actual weakness. It is the cleanest loadout rule on the Mountain.
- Neither can be two-starred. Fenrings have no stars at all; Ulve are 0★ in Frost Caves and 1★ in Howling Caverns, and that is the whole range.
- Let the sun do the work. Fenrings despawn at dawn. A losing night fight has a deadline.
- Both stagger at 50%. That is 150 damage on a Fenring and 25 on an Ulv — the Ulv staggers almost instantly.
- Kill Ulve at range. 50 health means one arrow; 80 Slash means you do not want the second bite.
- Fenring limit is 2. You will not be swarmed on the surface, which makes the 300-health fight manageable solo.
- Take Fenrings for fangs. 100% against the Ulv's 50%.
Running your own Valheim server
Frost Caves reset and Fenrings return every night, which only holds together in a world that keeps running between sessions. A gamever Valheim server keeps that world persistent for up to 10 players, with one-click backups.
Conclusion
Valheim's two werewolves are separated by the one thing that decides your loadout. The Fenring has 300 health, spawns only on the Mountain surface at night with a limit of 2, despawns at dawn, cannot be starred, and attacks with an 85 Slash claw every 3 seconds and a 95 Slash jump every 8. It is weak to Fire and resistant to Poison, and it drops a Wolf fang at 100%. The Ulv has 50 health in Frost Caves and 100 in Howling Caverns — no other tier exists — and hits for 80 Slash and 70 Slash, nearly Fenring damage from one sixth the health. It is very resistant to Fire and weak to Poison, the exact inverse, which makes the Fire Arrows you brought for the Mountain useless the moment you go underground. Both stagger at 50%, which is 150 damage on a Fenring and just 25 on an Ulv. The practical rule is short: fire on the surface at night, never fire in the caves — poison if you have it, anything non-fire if you do not — and take Fenrings when you need fangs, since theirs is guaranteed and the Ulv's is a coin flip.
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