Assassin's Creed Valhalla puts you in the boots of Eivor Varinsdottir, a Norse raider who leaves Rygjafylke in Norway in the year 873 and rebuilds a clan settlement called Ravensthorpe on English soil. Unlike Origins in Egypt or Odyssey in Greece, the spine of this game is a settlement you grow through six levels, a raiding economy that feeds it supplies and raw materials, and a skill constellation of star nodes instead of a perk menu.
Starting Assassin's Creed Valhalla can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a rpg game built around Ravensthorpe settlement building and Raids and River Raids. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bear branch melee | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Wolf branch ranged | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Raven branch stealth | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Dual wield hybrid | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Raid captain | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Wolf branch ranged. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Raid captain as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Ravensthorpe settlement building
Ravensthorpe climbs six named levels, Encampment, Colony, Hamlet, Borough, Village and Town, and every level is bought with buildings rather than with time. Tier one covers the Blacksmith, Barracks, Hidden Ones Bureau, Stable and Aviary and Trading Post. Tier two adds the Fishing Hut, Brewery, Bakery, Shipyard, Tattoo Shop and Museum. Tier three brings the Cartographer and the farms that feed the longhouse.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Ravensthorpe settlement building works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Ravensthorpe
The Raven clan's settlement in England and the hub for everything. Hytham runs the Hidden Ones Bureau and the Order tracker, Valka reads the visions in the Seer's Hut, Gunnar works the Blacksmith, Randvi keeps the alliance map in the longhouse and Reda's stall arrives once the settlement grows.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Hidden Blade: it's the most accessible early upgrade. Kept from the earlier games and upgradeable at Gunnar's Blacksmith, where each rank raises its assassination damage multiplier. The gameplay options also let you decide whether assassinations always kill or run a skill check against high-level targets.
Step 4: Understand Raids and River Raids
Blowing the horn on the longship sends your crew at a monastery or riverside camp, and the chests they break open are the main source of supplies and raw materials. Without raiding, settlement construction simply stops. The free River Raids mode added in 2021 runs three rivers, the Exe, the Severn and the Dee, with randomised layouts and a separate reward track.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Rygjafylke
The Norwegian home region and the opening act. It teaches raiding, longship travel and the Bear and Raven basics before England opens, and it holds Kjotve's Fortress where the Rage of Helheim book sits behind an ice wall.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Ravensthorpe settlement building
Ravensthorpe climbs six named levels, Encampment, Colony, Hamlet, Borough, Village and Town, and every level is bought with buildings rather than with time. Tier one covers the Blacksmith, Barracks, Hidden Ones Bureau, Stable and Aviary and Trading Post. Tier two adds the Fishing Hut, Brewery, Bakery, Shipyard, Tattoo Shop and Museum. Tier three brings the Cartographer and the farms that feed the longhouse.
Raids and River Raids
Blowing the horn on the longship sends your crew at a monastery or riverside camp, and the chests they break open are the main source of supplies and raw materials. Without raiding, settlement construction simply stops. The free River Raids mode added in 2021 runs three rivers, the Exe, the Severn and the Dee, with randomised layouts and a separate reward track.
The skill constellation
Skill points buy nodes on a star map split by colour. Red Bear nodes cover melee, blue Wolf nodes cover ranged, yellow Raven nodes cover stealth and assassination. Most nodes are flat stat increases and the named ones are the reason to push a branch: Heavy Dual Wield and Sprint Bash in Bear, Charged Shot and Arrow Reinforcement in Wolf, Chain Assassination and Counter Roll in Raven. Gear carries the same three tags, so a Raven weapon rewards a Raven-heavy tree.
Jomsviking barracks
The Barracks lets you design a Jomsviking who then goes online for other players to hire. When another player recruits yours you collect 100 silver from the quartermaster. You can hire other players' Jomsvikings from docks for 100 silver each and take up to six warriors along on a raid, and unlike your named allies they can die permanently.
Alliance map and pledges
Randvi's alliance map inside the longhouse is the quest hub. You pledge to a region, play its arc, and bring an alliance back to the map. Regions carry a suggested power number, from 20 in Ledecestrescire and Grantebridgescire up to 55 in East Anglia, 90 in Oxenefordscire and 130 in Sciropescire, and going more than about 30 above your own power turns every fight into chip damage.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Pledging to Sciropescire at suggested power 130 while sitting at power 60, then concluding the combat is broken
2. Spending every skill point on flat stat nodes and never reaching Chain Assassination, Heavy Dual Wield or Charged Shot
3. Hoarding supplies and raw materials instead of building, which leaves Ravensthorpe at Encampment and locks the Cartographer, Museum and farms behind a level you never bought
4. Chasing every new weapon drop instead of upgrading two sets, so nothing ever reaches a useful rank
5. Sailing to Vinland expecting to bring the endgame arsenal, then panicking when the game takes all of it at the shore
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Ravensthorpe settlement building and Raids and River Raids
- Choose Wolf branch ranged as starting build
- Clear Ravensthorpe main content
- Acquire Hidden Blade or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Rygjafylke
- Supplies and raw materials only come from raiding in useful quantities. If your settlement build queue has stalled, the fix is a raid loop rather than another hour of exploring.
- Follow the suggested power numbers on the alliance map in order: 20 for Ledecestrescire and Grantebridgescire, 55 for East Anglia, 90 for Oxenefordscire, 130 for Sciropescire. More than about 30 points above your own power and enemies stop taking meaningful damage.
Tips for New Players
- Supplies and raw materials only come from raiding in useful quantities. If your settlement build queue has stalled, the fix is a raid loop rather than another hour of exploring.
- Follow the suggested power numbers on the alliance map in order: 20 for Ledecestrescire and Grantebridgescire, 55 for East Anglia, 90 for Oxenefordscire, 130 for Sciropescire. More than about 30 points above your own power and enemies stop taking meaningful damage.
- Build the Hidden Ones Bureau in the first tier. It unlocks the Order tab that tracks which members of the Order of the Ancients you have identified, and without it you are hunting 45 targets with no list.
- Customise your Jomsviking's appearance rather than accepting the default. Other players browse them at docks, and every recruitment pays you 100 silver collected from your own quartermaster.
- Books of Knowledge are the abilities. Rage of Helheim is behind an ice wall in Kjotve's Fortress, Dive of the Valkyries is in a cellar at the Isle of Ely Monastery, and Thorn of Slumber sits in the middle tower at Gryttirsand.
- Man's Best Friend is not in a Book of Knowledge at all. Talk to Knud at Ravensthorpe, free the wolf he asks about near the settlement, and the ability is the quest reward.
- Gear in Valhalla is upgraded rather than replaced. Take one Bear set and one Raven set to Gunnar and keep upgrading them instead of swapping to every drop, because the rune slots and set bonuses only pay off at high rank.
- Excalibur needs all 11 Treasures of Britain tablets, each held by a Lost Drengr. Those fights punish button mashing badly, so a Wolf bow build clears them long before a melee build can.
- River Raids came free in 2021 and the three rivers, the Exe, the Severn and the Dee, generate randomised layouts. It is the most efficient supplies and raw materials loop in the game once the story raids are exhausted.
- Feast buffs from the settlement stack and last a long time. The Cattle Farm, Grain Farm and Fowl Farm add ranged damage, armour and melee damage respectively, so eating before a Zealot hunt is free stats.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Valhalla different from Odyssey and Origins?
The settlement. Ravensthorpe grows through six levels, Encampment to Town, and buildings are paid for with supplies and raw materials that only raiding produces. Origins and Odyssey had no equivalent economy. Valhalla also replaces the ability menu with a skill constellation of star nodes and adds the Jomsviking system, where players design warriors other players hire.
Which skill branch should I pick first?
Bear if you want to fight in the open, because Heavy Dual Wield is the standout node and Valhalla's melee is generous. Raven if you want the classic Assassin's Creed loop, since Chain Assassination is the branch's real payoff. Wolf is the specialist pick and shines against Lost Drengr and Zealots.
How do Jomsvikings work?
Build the Barracks, design a warrior at the quartermaster, and yours goes online for other players. Every time someone recruits yours you collect 100 silver from your own quartermaster. You hire other players' Jomsvikings at docks for 100 silver and take up to six warriors raiding, and they can be killed for good.
How do I get Excalibur and Mjolnir?
Excalibur needs all 11 Treasures of Britain tablets, each guarded by a Lost Drengr, placed in pillars in a hidden chamber. Mjolnir needs the complete Thor armour set, which means defeating the three Daughters of Lerion and the Order of the Ancients Zealots, then recovering the hammer in Hordafylke in Norway.
Where is Ravensthorpe and can I move it?
Ravensthorpe sits on a river in England, established after Eivor leaves Rygjafylke in Norway, and it cannot be relocated. What you control is which buildings go up and in what order, and each new building pushes the settlement toward the next of its six levels.
More Assassin's Creed Valhalla Guides
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Assassin's Creed Valhalla Overview
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Best Builds
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Tier List
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Walkthrough
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Tips & Tricks
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Weapons Guide
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Combat Guide
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Boss Guide
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Maps & Locations
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Crafting Guide
- Assassin's Creed Valhalla Classes & Characters
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