Valheim: How To Defeat The Sea Serpent

Navigating the open ocean is one of the easiest ways to get around Valheim’s expansive map. 

More often than not, you’ll find yourself trapped by open water when travelling on foot. If you need to get to a boss or certain biome and try to go by land, the far-reaching ocean usually forces you to take the long way around. 

However, building a boat solves all of these problems. You can simply take your Raft, Karve or Longship and sail the open seas, arriving at your destination much faster. 

Unfortunately, the ocean presents its own set of challenges, with the primary hump being getting past the nagging Sea Serpents that consistently attack your ship.

Defeating the Sea Serpents in Valheim 

A Longship is the required mode of transportation when taking on a Sea Serpent. (Picture: Iron Gate AB)

To find a Sea Serpent, all you need to do is sail out into the open ocean. Staying close to the shoreline or in shallow water won’t cause any serpents to appear, so you have to head out relatively far. 

Once one does find you though, you need to be prepared. Before setting off on your journey, ensure that you have at least a Karve ship, the Raft will be destroyed, a Finewood Bow or higher and an Abyssal Harpoon if you have access to one. If not, shooting arrows at the serpent will get the job done. 

• Read more: Valheim Abyssal Harpoon: How to get and where to mine Chitin

While you can take on the Sea Serpent solo, it’s recommended to take at least 1-2 companions. The serpent can cause major damage to your ship and kill you if you’re not careful, so having one or two extra sets of hands is massively helpful.

As a Sea Serpent approaches you, simply start firing as many arrows as you can at it. If you have a group of friends and access to an Abyssal Harpoon, you can use it to latch onto the serpent, ensuring it can’t swim away and giving the archers a more stable target to shoot. 

If you’re soloing the serpent, you can use the harpoon to latch onto the beast and drag it to land, where you can then shoot at it with arrows. Be careful though, as the serpent will continually attack your boat while you’re rowing to land. If you try and shoot an arrow while the serpent is harpooned, the line will break, so you can’t attempt that. 

Abyssal Harpoons are a great tool to bring down serpents. (Picture: Kysen, Iron Gate)

After enough arrows, the serpent will eventually go down. If you’re by yourself, this will take some time and your Karve or Longship will sustain some serious damage, as the serpent likes to get up close and personal.

However, as long as you’re hitting your shots consistently, you’ll be able to harvest some Serpent Meat, Serpent Scales and perhaps a Serpent Trophy. 

• Read more: Valheim: A guide to Comfort Levels and maximizing Rested

Serpent Meat can be cooked like any other food item in Valheim and Serpent Scales are used to craft the Serpent Shield. If you receive the rare Serpent Trophy drop, you can hang it up in your base as decoration. If you are unsure how to hang Trophies in your house, check out our guide.