Valheim's Siege Engines: The Battering Ram Is Also an Automatic Miner
The Battering Ram deals 600 pickaxe damage every 20 seconds, automatically, for as long as it has fuel — and pickaxe damage is what mining is. Park one against a silver vein and it will strip the vein while you do something else. Almost every guide describes it as a siege weapon for breaking Charred fortress doors, which it is, but the more useful application is the one nobody mentions. Here are both of Valheim's siege engines, with the numbers.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
The Battering Ram
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Materials | Flametal ×10, Surtling Core ×2, Ashwood ×20 |
| Durability | 3,000 |
| Damage | 600 pickaxe per punch, 0 chop |
| Attack rate | Automatically every ~20 seconds while fuelled |
| Fuel | Up to 25 units of Wood, Finewood, Corewood or Ashwood |
| Fuel use | 1 unit per 20 seconds — 500 seconds on a full load |
A full tank is roughly 25 punches over eight minutes, entirely unattended.
You operate it by standing between the front arms and activating it, which lets you steer; activating again or dodge-rolling releases you. So the workflow is: drive it into position, fuel it, and walk away.
Note the 0 chop damage. It does not fell trees, which is the one thing people assume a giant ram would be good at.
It Is Also an Automatic Miner
Pickaxe damage is the damage type that breaks rock and ore. The Battering Ram deals 600 of it per punch, which means it works on:
- Rocks
- Copper veins
- Tin veins
- Silver veins
- Giant remains
And it does this on a 20-second timer without you touching it. For a resource that has to be mined by hand for the entire rest of the game, an unattended 600-damage pickaxe strike every 20 seconds is a genuine automation option — the only one Valheim offers.
The practical limits are honest ones. It costs Flametal, which is Ashlands-tier, so this is late-game automation rather than an early shortcut. And you still have to carry the ore home, since ore cannot be teleported — the Ram solves extraction, not logistics.
One more use worth knowing: against Stone Golems it deals 1,200 damage — double its normal output. Stone Golems are otherwise among the most tedious enemies in the game to kill, so if you have a Ram and a Golem in the same place, that is the answer.
The Catapult
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Materials | Flametal ×10, Charred Cogwheel ×1, Ashwood ×20 |
| Durability | 3,000 |
| Grausten Payload | +55 m range |
| Explosive Payload | 40 – 50 m |
| Size | 3.9 × 4 × 6.5 |
Loading is unusual and worth explaining, because it is not obvious in game: put the ammunition in a hotbar slot, aim at the catapult's ammo bucket, and press that hotbar number. The catapult fires immediately on being loaded — there is no separate fire command.
It will launch any item placed in the bucket, not only the two designed payloads, which is the kind of mechanic players enjoy discovering.
The two real payloads split by range: Grausten reaches further (+55 m) while Explosive covers 40 – 50 m with, as the name suggests, a different effect on arrival.
When to Use Which
| Battering Ram | Catapult | |
|---|---|---|
| Range | Adjacent | 40 – 55 m |
| Damage type | Pickaxe (600) | Payload-dependent |
| Best against | Walls, doors, ore veins, Stone Golems | Fortresses, anything behind a wall |
| Durability | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| Automatic? | Yes, every 20 s | No — fires on load |
Here is the connection that makes the Ram frightening against a base: stone structures are weak to pickaxe damage.
Stone is otherwise excellent — 1,500 durability, resistant to Fire and Frost, immune to Poison and Spirit, and it takes no rain damage. Its single vulnerability is pickaxes, and the Battering Ram deals 600 pickaxe damage per punch, automatically. A stone wall does not stop one.
Both cost Flametal and Ashwood, so neither is available before the Ashlands — and both carry 3,000 durability, which means they survive being shot at while they work.
How to Use Siege Engines
- Build the Ram for ore, not just for walls. 600 pickaxe damage every 20 seconds is unattended mining.
- Fuel it fully — 25 units gives 500 seconds of work.
- Take it to a Stone Golem if one is in your way; it deals double.
- Remember it does 0 chop damage. It will not clear a forest.
- Load the Catapult from a hotbar slot while aiming at the bucket — it fires on load.
- Use Grausten payloads for the extra range and explosives when you are closer.
Practical tips
- 600 pickaxe damage every 20 seconds, automatically — the Ram mines while you do something else.
- It breaks rocks, copper, tin and silver veins, plus giant remains.
- 1,200 damage against Stone Golems — double effectiveness.
- 0 chop damage. It is not a lumberjack.
- Stone is weak to pickaxes, so stone walls do not stop a Battering Ram.
- The Catapult fires the instant you load it — there is no separate trigger.
Running your own Valheim server
An automatic miner is only automatic while the world is running — on a single-player save, a fuelled Battering Ram stops the moment you log out. A gamever Valheim server keeps it punching for up to 10 players, so a vein that takes eight minutes of fuel is stripped whether or not anyone is watching. One-click backups protect Ashlands-tier equipment that cost Flametal to build, and automatic updates keep client and server aligned.
Conclusion
Valheim has two siege engines, both costing Flametal ×10 and Ashwood ×20 and both carrying 3,000 durability. The Battering Ram deals 600 pickaxe damage per punch, automatically every 20 seconds, on 25 units of fuel lasting 500 seconds — and because pickaxe damage is what breaks rock, it doubles as the only automatic mining tool in the game, working on rocks, copper, tin and silver veins and giant remains, plus 1,200 damage against Stone Golems. It deals 0 chop damage, so it will not touch trees. The Catapult covers 40 – 50 m with Explosive payloads and +55 m with Grausten, loads from a hotbar slot aimed at its bucket, and fires the instant it is loaded. And the detail that matters if you are on the receiving end: stone is weak to pickaxes, so a stone wall does not stop a Battering Ram.
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