Valheim's Skill System: All 21 Skills, and What a Level Is Worth
Valheim has 21 skills, each capped at level 100, and none of them decay — the only way a skill goes down is when you die. What a level actually buys you is less obvious: +1.5% average damage per level up to 75, then a slower +1.13% after that, and the bonus is weighted heavily toward your minimum damage rather than your maximum. That distinction explains why a high skill feels like consistency rather than power.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
All 21 Skills
| Category | Skills |
|---|---|
| Melee | Axes, Swords, Clubs, Spears, Polearms, Knives, Fists |
| Ranged | Bows, Crossbows |
| Magic | Blood Magic, Elemental Magic |
| Defence | Blocking, Dodge |
| Movement | Running, Jumping, Swimming, Sneaking, Riding |
| Gathering & craft | Pickaxes, Wood Cutting, Cooking, Crafting, Farming, Fishing |
Every one caps at level 100.
Note that magic is split into two skills — Blood Magic and Elemental Magic — which means a mage levels two separate tracks rather than one. That is worth knowing before the Mistlands, since spreading casts across both halves your progression rate on each.
What a Level Actually Gives
| Range | Bonus per level |
|---|---|
| Levels 1 – 75 | +1.5% average damage and knockback |
| Levels 76 – 100 | +1.13% average damage and knockback |
At level 100 the totals are:
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Minimum damage | +240% |
| Average damage | +140.6% |
| Maximum damage | +81.8% |
Read those three rows together, because the gap between them is the whole point. Skill levels raise your minimum damage by 240% and your maximum by only 82% — so what levelling really does is compress the range. A level 10 sword swings wildly; a level 100 sword hits near its ceiling every time.
That is why high skill feels like reliability rather than raw power. Your best hit barely improves. Your worst hit nearly triples.
And it is why the drop-off at 75 matters less than it looks. By then most of the compression has already happened; the last 25 levels are polish.
How Fast Each Skill Rises
Skills do not level at the same rate, and the differences are large:
| Activity | XP gained |
|---|---|
| Spears | 2.25 per primary hit |
| Axes | 1.5 per creature hit |
| Bows | 1.5 per arrow that hits |
| Spears (secondary) | 1.5 per hit |
| Blocking | 0.5 per blocked attack |
| Blocking (parry) | 0.5 + 0.5 — double |
| Swimming | 0.3 per second |
Two things fall out of this table.
Spears level fastest of the melee weapons at 2.25 per hit — 50% quicker than axes or bows. That partly offsets the structural problem covered in the weapon damage guide, where spears are pure Pierce and four of seven bosses resist it.
Parrying levels Blocking twice as fast as blocking does. You get the base 0.5 plus another 0.5 for the parry — so the defensive technique that costs no stamina also trains you at double rate. There is no argument for blocking over parrying when both are available.
And Rested adds +50% to all skill experience. Across a long session that is a substantial fraction of your progression, gained for the cost of a fire and a roof.
Death Is the Only Way Down
There is no passive skill decay in Valheim. A skill you stop using stays exactly where it is. The only thing that reduces skills is death:
On death you lose 5% of every skill level, plus all progress toward the next level.
That 5% is a World Modifier, which means it is configurable per world rather than fixed. If your group finds skill loss punishing, it is a setting rather than a fact of life — and it is far easier to decide before a world starts than after everyone has 60 levels to lose.
The second clause hurts more than the first in practice. Losing 5% of level 40 is two levels; losing "all progress toward the next level" can wipe an hour of grinding on a skill that was at 99%.
This interacts with the death penalty settings more broadly — skill loss is one of six separate things a death can cost you, and worth reviewing together.
How to Level Skills Efficiently
- Be Rested whenever you fight. +50% to every skill, for a fire and a roof.
- Parry rather than block — same defence, double the Blocking XP, no stamina cost.
- Pick one weapon class and stay with it. Spreading hits across five weapons levels none of them.
- Do not chase levels past 75. The per-level bonus drops and most of the compression has happened.
- Set the skill-loss World Modifier before the world starts, not after.
- Remember magic is two skills. Blood and Elemental level separately.
Practical tips
- 21 skills, all capped at 100, and none of them decay on their own.
- +1.5% per level to 75, then +1.13% — the drop-off is real but late.
- At 100 your minimum damage is +240% and your maximum only +82% — skill buys consistency.
- Spears gain 2.25 XP per hit, the fastest melee class.
- Parrying gives 1.0 Blocking XP to blocking's 0.5.
- Death costs 5% of every skill plus all progress to the next level — and it is a World Modifier.
Running your own Valheim server
Skills are per-character rather than per-world, but the hours that build them depend on the world being available. A gamever Valheim server keeps that world live for up to 10 players, so a group can put in short sessions without a host holding the save — and the skill-loss World Modifier can be set once, for everyone, before anyone has levels worth losing. One-click backups and automatic updates protect the world those hours went into.
Conclusion
Valheim has 21 skills, each capped at 100, split across melee, ranged, magic, defence, movement and crafting — and magic is two separate skills, Blood and Elemental. Each level adds +1.5% average damage and knockback up to level 75, then +1.13% beyond it, but the interesting figures are the extremes: at level 100 your minimum damage is +240% while your maximum is only +82%, which means levelling compresses your damage range rather than raising its ceiling. XP rates differ sharply — spears gain 2.25 per hit, axes and bows 1.5, blocking 0.5, and parrying doubles that to 1.0 — while Rested adds +50% across the board. Nothing decays passively; the only loss is 5% of every skill on death, plus all progress toward the next level, and that 5% is a World Modifier you can change before you start.
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