Eikthyr is the first of Valheim’s Forsaken, a huge stag with iron chains coiled around a set of crackling antlers. He does not wander the world and cannot be stumbled into. He only exists once you perform the offering at his altar in the Meadows, which means the whole encounter comes down to one trigger you control completely.
Quick answer: Put two Deer Trophies in hotbar slots 1–8, stand in front of the Mystical Altar in the Meadows, aim at it and press the matching number key twice. The message “You make the sacrifice” appears and Eikthyr spawns within seconds.
Eikthyr summoning requirements
The full checklist is short. There is no quest flag, no boss order gate, and no cooldown between attempts.
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Offering | Deer Trophy x2 (consumed on each summon) |
| Location | Mystical Altar, Meadows biome |
| Altar marker | Vegvisir runestone at the starting Sacrificial Stones |
| Boss health | 500 HP |
| Repeatable | Yes, unlimited times with two fresh trophies |
Mark the Eikthyr altar on your map with the Vegvisir
You spawn in the middle of the Sacrificial Stones, the ring of standing stones that tracks all seven Forsaken. The stone carrying antlers belongs to Eikthyr, and just beside it sits a small glowing red runestone on a pedestal. That runestone is a Vegvisir, and it is the only reliable way to locate a boss altar.
If you have already left the starting stones, any red runestone you find in the Meadows will register the closest boss altar as well. Manual exploration works too, but there is no reason to do it when the marker is guaranteed.
How to farm two Deer Trophies
Deer roam the Meadows in small groups, usually near open grass and water. They are extremely skittish and will bolt the moment they notice you, so a bow is worth crafting before you start hunting. A Crude Bow with wood or flint arrows is enough.
Tip: hunting is not wasted time even when trophies refuse to drop. Deer meat cooks into one of your better early foods and deer hide feeds the whole starting armor set.
Spawn Eikthyr at the Mystical Altar
The altar is a raised stone table ringed by rough pillars, with a deer statue nearby as a hint about the offering. Clear Greylings, Necks and boars out of the area before you start. Anything still alive when the boss lands will join the fight.
Why the offering does not register
Only a handful of things stop the summon from firing. The trophies are still in your inventory instead of a hotbar slot. You are aiming at the pillars or the ground rather than the altar itself. Or you are holding a different trophy, since only the Deer Trophy is accepted here.
Failing the fight afterwards costs you only the two trophies that were consumed. Your gear stays on your corpse and can be recovered normally, and Eikthyr remains active near the altar until he is killed or you lead him far enough away.
Eikthyr’s three attacks and how to counter them
Eikthyr has 500 health, cannot be staggered, and shrugs off chop and pickaxe damage entirely. He also carries an aura that forces darkness and stops rain while he is alive. His entire moveset is three attacks on generous cooldowns.
| Attack | Behaviour | Counter |
|---|---|---|
| Antler (5s cooldown) | Melee swipe, 20 pierce, 4.5m reach in a narrow arc | Block with a wood shield or strafe sideways |
| Charge (25s cooldown) | Ranged lightning beam, 15 damage, fans out 45 degrees over 20m | Break line of sight behind the altar pillars |
| Stomp (40s cooldown) | 10m radius lightning burst, 15 damage, used when you are within 6m | Sprint out of the circle when he rears up |
The bow is the safest answer. Eikthyr turns slowly and never regenerates health, so shooting from range and stepping aside as he closes will win the fight even with plain wood arrows. Fire arrows shorten it noticeably.
Use the stone pillars around the altar as your circuit. Run a wide loop, keep a pillar between you and the boss when his antlers start crackling, then fire one or two arrows during his recovery animation. Melee works too with a flint spear and a shield, but it demands tighter stamina control.
Go in with the Rested buff and three foods active, something like cooked deer meat, a grilled neck tail and raspberries. Leather armor and a wood shield are enough protection at this stage.
Drops, Forsaken Power, and what changes in your world
When Eikthyr dies he bursts into loot, leaving one Eikthyr Trophy and three Hard Antlers. The antlers are the important half, since one antler plus 10 wood at a workbench makes the antler pickaxe, your first mining tool and the key to copper and tin.
Carry the trophy back to the Sacrificial Stones and hang it on the hook attached to Eikthyr’s stone. You must interact with the hook specifically, not the stone body. Once mounted, interacting with the stone grants the Forsaken Power, which cuts running, jumping and swimming stamina costs by 60 percent for 300 seconds on a 20-minute cooldown, and it also affects nearby allies.
| Reward or effect | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hard Antler x3 | Crafts the antler pickaxe (1 antler + 10 wood) |
| Eikthyr Trophy | Mounts on the Sacrificial Stones to unlock the Forsaken Power |
| Forsaken Power | Run, jump and swim stamina use reduced 60% for 5 minutes |
| World event change | “Eikthyr rallies the creatures of the forest” stops; “The forest is moving…” begins |
| Spawns | Greydwarfs start appearing in the Meadows at night, 0-star only |
That last row is the part people forget. Killing the first boss makes your home base a target, so put up walls or stake defences before the next Greydwarf raid rolls in. After that, the loop restarts: mine copper and tin in the Black Forest, work your way to bronze, and start hunting Vegvisir stones for The Elder.
