Valheim Update Refines Controls, Fixes Achievements, and Optimizes Console Performance

What changed#

This update introduces several quality-of-life improvements, balance adjustments, and platform-specific fixes:

• Control and Accessibility Options: Players can now set an alternate dodge key, rebind hotbar slots beyond the standard 1-8 keys, customize the radial wheel, and delete unwanted keybinds. A new gameplay setting allows players to skip the opening cinematic, and an accessibility option has been added to toggle blocking. On controllers, the Motion Sensor and Sheath inputs have been swapped back to their original configuration, and a bug that made diagonal stick movement 30% too slow has been resolved.
• Combat and Gear: Character rotation now snaps toward the intended attack direction when the “attack towards look direction” setting is active. The Deep North battleaxes have been upgraded to the correct tool tier, allowing them to chop down all types of trees. Additionally, the Helmet of the Protector can no longer be crafted directly at the Black Forge, and the ballista now accepts trophies from Bjorn, Vile, and all Deep North enemies.
• Resource and World Changes: Jotun puffs and Magecaps will no longer respawn once harvested. Placeable boulders will now persist in the world, though they can only be placed on the ground, provide ground-level support, and will break if the terrain beneath them is destroyed. Timberwood building components have also been restricted so they do not appear prematurely in early-game biomes.
• Multiplayer and Technical Fixes: A major bug where player- and monster-driven terrain modifications caused multiplayer lag, portal issues, and visual seams has been resolved. Biomedata caching is now disabled to prevent errors that blocked players from joining remote servers. To protect item integrity, cheated stackable items will no longer stack with legitimate items, and a bug that falsely marked clean players as temporary cheaters has been corrected.
• Console Optimizations: On both the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, developers resolved an issue where the TV output would repeatedly switch between 120 Hz and 60 Hz when accessing system menus or virtual keyboards, which previously caused temporary black screens.

Why it matters#

These adjustments resolve lingering issues that disrupted both combat fluidity and cooperative play. Correcting the diagonal controller input speed drastically improves maneuverability during intense fights. For builders and multiplayer hosts, fixing the terrain modification bug removes a major source of server lag and portal failures. Furthermore, the anti-cheat corrections ensure that players’ inventories aren’t accidentally corrupted by false cheating flags, protecting legitimate progress.

What to do next#

Players can download the update on their respective platforms. Due to platform submission processes, the update may take a few days to reach all systems. However, crossplay remains fully operational, meaning you can continue playing with friends on other platforms even if the patch hasn’t landed for everyone yet. Once updated, head into your settings menu to configure the new custom keybinds and toggle the intro cinematic skip.

Source: Community Announcements