PvP on a Valheim Server: How to Turn It On, the Ward and the Rules

The toggle belongs to each player

PvP is turned on in the inventory (Tab): next to your character there's a button labelled “Take damage from other players (friendly fire)”. Click it and you'll see “Friendly fire enabled”; click it again and you'll see “Friendly fire disabled”.

For two players to hurt each other, both need it on. Whoever has it off takes no hits from anyone, not even from players who have it on. That's why a “PvP server” is really an agreement: everyone turns it on and nobody turns it off to escape a fight.

Valheim has no server option to force it or forbid it: not in the launch options and not in the world modifiers. If you want it mandatory, you need a mod (more on that below) or clear rules.

Being killed by another player

It's a death like any other: you respawn at your bed (or at the start if you don't have one) and what you were carrying stays where you fell, in your grave. What you lose depends on the world's death penalty modifier: with “Casual” you keep what you have equipped; with “Hardcore” you lose everything, items and skills.

On a server with real PvP, think that penalty through. With the normal one, whoever wins a fight can walk off with a lot; with “Hardcore”, one ambush wipes out weeks of someone's play, and that drives people off a server more than anything else.

The ward: your base, locked

To keep people out of your house, Valheim has the ward. You build it with the hammer from 5 Finewood, 5 Greydwarf Eyes and 1 Surtling Core: Finewood comes from birch and oak trees, which need the bronze axe, and the cores come from the Black Forest's burial chambers.

While it's active, other players can't build or dismantle pieces around it (about 32 metres) or open its doors and chests; if they try, they get “The ward stops you”. You don't need PvP on for this: it protects just the same on a peaceful server, and it's the simplest way to stop a newcomer from taking someone else's things.

What it doesn't do is stop everything: it won't stop you being attacked inside if you have PvP on, and it doesn't hold back the game's enemies. For what you really can't lose, there's also the Personal Chest (10 Finewood and 8 Iron): only whoever built it can open it.

1. Put it in the middle of your base

   With the hammer. Once it's built, look at it: it shows who owns it (“Owner”) and whether it's “Active” or “Inactive”.

2. Deactivate it to give permission

   Press E on it and choose “Deactivate”. While it's inactive, each friend who wants permission walks up and presses “Opt-in”: they're added to the “Permitted” list.

3. Activate it again

   Press E and “Activate”. From then on, only you and the permitted players can build, dismantle and open doors and chests in its area.

4. If someone leaves the group

   Have them press “Opt-out” while the ward is deactivated; if they're not around to do it, the safe way is to dismantle it and place a new one, which starts with an empty list.

The map on a PvP server

On the big map (M) there's a checkbox that lets others see where you are. On a peaceful server it helps you find each other; with PvP, untick it if you don't want to be followed home.

If you want finding each other to be genuinely hard, there's the “No map” world modifier: nobody has a map or minimap, and you navigate by the landscape. It changes the game a lot, so talk it over with everyone first; how it works and the catch that the world remembers it, in the world modifiers guide.

The Cartography Table (10 Finewood, 10 Bone Fragments, 2 Bronze, 5 Leather Scraps and 4 Raspberries) does exactly the opposite: it shares what you've explored. On a team server, give each team its own inside its protected base.

The rules that keep the peace

Because the game leaves so much to good faith, a server with people who don't know each other needs written rules. The ones that save the most arguments: PvP always on or always off (no switching it on just to attack), no wrecking bases without a declared war, safe zones (the spawn, the boss altars) and what happens to the grave of whoever dies.

One catch worth knowing: in Valheim the character is saved on each player's computer, not on the server. Anyone can join with whatever they bring from their single-player game (why). If the server is competitive, there are mods that keep characters on the server; if it's among friends, just ask everyone to start from scratch.

And for rule-breakers: an admin can kick with kick and ban with ban from the console, and with the permitted list only the people you choose get in. All of it in administering a Valheim server and private Valheim server.

Mandatory PvP, teams and more: with mods

What the game doesn't have (PvP always on, no-fighting zones, teams or a ward with more options) is added by community mods, which you'll find on Thunderstore. Almost all PvP mods also need to be on the players' PCs, so everyone needs the same ones in the same version; how to share them, in Valheim multiplayer mods.

Before installing one, check on its Thunderstore page that it's up to date with 1.0: many mods fell behind with the update, and an old mod can stop the server from starting.

With NapNodes

1. The world's difficulty

   In “Settings” → “World difficulty and modifiers” you'll find “Death penalty” and “No map”. They save on their own and apply when you restart the server with “Restart”.

2. PvP mods

   In the server's “Mods” tab: you search Thunderstore and install them with their dependencies (and BepInEx the first time). They load on restart.

3. Admins, bans and permitted players

   The IDs go in adminlist.txt, bannedlist.txt and permittedlist.txt, in “Files”, inside .config/unity3d/IronGate/Valheim. Edit them with the server stopped and start it again so it reads them.

4. Before a war

   Make a backup in “Backups” (with a plan; the free server doesn't have them): if someone finds a way to flatten what they shouldn't, you go back to how it was.

Frequently asked questions