The Frost Foundry is the workhorse crafting station of the Deep North, and you cannot skip it. Almost every Nord weapon and armor piece added in Valheim 1.0 passes through it, along with the Intricate Key you need to open the Gates of Mörkhalla. The catch is that it runs on a new casting system, so building the station is only the first half of the job.
Quick answer: Pick up a Frostcore in the Winding Tunnels to unlock the recipe, then build the Frost Foundry with 15 Iron, 20 Stone, and 10 Frostcore near a Workbench. To craft gear, place a Cast on top of the foundry, add Liquid Frost as fuel, and collect the finished item when the process ends.
Unlock the Frost Foundry recipe with Frostcore
The recipe does not appear in your Hammer menu until you touch a Frostcore. These glowing blue, snowflake-shaped orbs cling to the walls of the Winding Tunnels, the maze-like dungeon that generates in the Deep North biome. Simply picking one up flags the recipe as learned.
To reach the tunnels, look for an Abandoned Village and head to its largest structure, usually a Viking longhouse. Inside you will find a hole dug into the floor that drops down into the dungeon. Watch for a fall trap right at the entrance, and bring a light source, because the passages are dark and tight.
Inside, you will fight Elakings that swarm out of Wardrobe Shafts on the walls and the burrowing Eyeless One. Break every Wardrobe Shaft to expose hidden loot and rubble, and keep collecting Frostcores as you go. You need 10 for the Frost Foundry and another 10 for the Frigid Kiln, so aim for at least 20 before you leave.
Frost Foundry build materials
Once the recipe is learned, the station needs a Workbench nearby and the following resources.
| Material | Amount | Where to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Iron | 15 | Smelt Scrap Iron mined from Sunken Crypts in the swamp |
| Stone | 20 | Mined or picked up across most biomes |
| Frostcore | 10 | Winding Tunnels dungeon in the Deep North |
Iron comes from Scrap Iron deposits inside the Sunken Crypts. Mine the chunks with a Pickaxe and run them through a Smelter to turn them into usable bars. It is worth stocking up on Iron before the voyage north, since you will also want spares for other Deep North stations.
How Moulds and Casts work
The Frost Foundry does not craft gear from a recipe list. Instead, every item follows a two-part chain. First you need the correct Mould, then you turn that Mould into a Cast, and only the Cast goes into the foundry.
Moulds drop from breaking piles of rubble inside the Winding Tunnels, and some come from the enemies there. Drop rates are random, so the exact Mould you want may take several runs to appear. Moulds exist for weapons, armor sets, and the Intricate Key.
Once you have a Mould, take it home and convert it into a Cast at a crafting table. The Galdr Table handles casts for most gear, while the Intricate Key cast is made at the Black Forge. Bloodgold is the common material for Deep North casts, and you will need to upgrade the crafting table to access the full list of options.
For reference, the Intricate Key chain is a clear example of the full loop.
| Stage | What you need |
|---|---|
| Find the Mould | Mould: Intricate Key from rubble in the Winding Tunnels |
| Make the Cast | Mould plus 5 Bloodgold at the Black Forge, creating Cast: Intricate Key |
| Forge the item | Place the Cast on the Frost Foundry and add Liquid Frost |
Get Liquid Frost from the Frigid Kiln
The Frost Foundry runs on Liquid Frost, not wood or coal. You produce Liquid Frost by feeding Ice into a Frigid Kiln, the companion station unlocked by the same Frostcore pickup.
The Frigid Kiln costs 20 Stone, 10 Frostcore, and 5 Ice, and it also needs a Workbench nearby. Ice is easy to gather early, since the frozen creature cadavers scattered along the Deep North shoreline break apart into Ice when you hit them. Stock up on Ice as soon as you land.
Crafting a full Deep North gear set burns through a lot of Liquid Frost. To keep pace with demand, build several Frigid Kilns around your base and keep them all loaded with Ice.
Use the Frost Foundry to forge gear
You will know it worked when the finished item sits on the station and can be collected into your inventory. If nothing happens after placing a Cast, the station is out of Liquid Frost, so top it up from a Frigid Kiln. Missing the right Cast means you still need the matching Mould from the Winding Tunnels, or you have not yet upgraded the Galdr Table to reveal that cast option.
With the foundry running and a steady Liquid Frost supply, the rest of the Deep North opens up. Every Nord weapon, each armor set, and the keys that unlock the biome’s deeper dungeons all flow from this single station and its casting loop.
