VikingOarsmen

Viking Oarsmen

A BepInEx mod for Valheim that lets players row their ship by hand. Craft an oar, equip it, sit on a bench: your character grabs it over the side and paddles the ship forward. W/S shift gears just like the helm's rudder, and the more of the crew rows, the faster you go.

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How to craft the oars

Two oars, two workbenches. Equip the oar like a weapon, climb aboard and sit on a bench.

| Oar | Drakkar Oar | | --- | --- | | | | | Workbench level 1
6 Fine Wood
Rows the raft, karve and longship | Workbench level 2
16 Yggdrasil Wood, 8 Resin
The only oar that rows the Drakkar, and it rows every other ship too |

Getting started in 4 steps

1. Craft and equip. Make the oar at the workbench and equip it like a weapon.
2. Sit on a bench. Board a ship and press E on a bench. Rowing starts automatically, in neutral.
3. Shift gears. W/S step through the gears, same controls as the ship's own rudder, minus steering. While rowing, W/S never stand you up.
4. Get up. Leave the bench with E or Jump, same as the helm. Getting up, dying or switching away from the oar stops rowing immediately.

| Gear | Reverse | Neutral | Gear 1 | Gear 2 | Gear 3 | | --- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | | Indicator | ▼ | ● | ▲ | ▲▲ | ▲▲▲ | | How to get there | S from neutral | start here | W from neutral | W again | W again |

If you sit on a bench without the right oar, pressing W/S tells you which one to equip.

You can row with the sail up. The two forces add together. Only the crew on the benches row: whoever is at the helm steers, and holding on to the mast or the prow doesn't row either. The raft has no bench of its own, so the mod adds one, at the front of its left side ahead of the mast, for one rower (only players with the mod see it).

Which oar for which ship?

| | Raft | Karve | Longship | Drakkar | | --- | :---: | :---: | :---: | :---: | | | | | | | | Oar | yes (one bench added by the mod) | yes | yes | no | | Drakkar Oar | yes | yes | yes | yes |

Features

Rowing

• Oar required: craft the oar at a tier-1 workbench (6 Fine Wood) and equip it like a weapon. Off the ship it works as one: a slow two-handed club with the battleaxe's wide sweeping swings, using the Clubs skill.
• Drakkar Oar: the Drakkar's benches sit too high for the oar, so it takes a longer one, painted after the Drakkar: craft it at a level-2 workbench (16 Yggdrasil Wood, 8 Resin). It is the only oar that rows the Drakkar, and it rows any other ship too. As a weapon it hits harder than the oar.
• Gear shifting: sitting on a bench with the oar equipped puts you in neutral automatically. W/S step through reverse, neutral and gears 1–3, exactly like steering a ship, except it never turns.
• Crew-powered speed: each rower adds thrust based on their gear (reverse and gears 1–3), and the crew's thrust adds up: by default a rower in gear 1 adds 8% of the push of a full sail in a strong tailwind, and one in gear 3 about 14%, up to 1.5 times that sail in total. Thrust is scaled per ship type (raft, karve, longship, drakkar), and it eases in and out over a second and a half.
• A bench on the raft: one crew member can sit at the front of the raft and row while another steers.
• Helm keeps control: rowing only pushes along the bow and never turns the ship. The helmsman steers with the vanilla rudder and can't row; only the crew on the benches can.
• Stamina cost: each stroke costs stamina, on a per-gear cadence (gears 2 and 3 stroke faster, so they drain faster). Running out withholds that gear's thrust — you keep your selected gear, and it resumes on its own once stamina refills, like swinging a weapon without enough stamina.

Visuals