Ward Cores

Ward Cores

Wards protect the buildings in their range. Every ward holds an energy pool, and hits on pieces inside its radius are paid from that pool instead of from the pieces' health. The core installed in the ward sets the pool's size. The pool recharges over time, and Sap speeds that up.

How it works

• Each point of damage to a piece in range of an active ward costs the ward 1 energy instead of the piece's health. Protected pieces take hits without their weaknesses.
• Wards absorb hits from monsters, raids and players without access, and hits without an attacker such as fire and falling trees. Weather wear, collapse from missing support and hits by players with access stay vanilla.
• Overlapping wards split the cost evenly. When a ward can't pay its share, the others pay the rest.
• An area attack counts as one hit: each ward pays the average over the pieces it hit.
• A ward regains 1 % of its maximum per second, and a quarter of that for 5 s after each absorbed hit.
• Below 30 % charge, a ward lets part of each hit through, up to half when it is empty.
• A drained ward switches off, access protection included, and comes back on at 30 %. New wards and newly installed cores start empty, so a new ward is off for its first 30 s.

Floating numbers show the damage that reaches a piece and, in light blue with a ⚡, the energy the ward paid.

Cores

To install a core, look at a ward you have access to and press the core's hotbar key. Every ward starts with a built-in Surtling Core. Installing another core gives back the previous one, and installed cores drop when the ward is torn down or destroyed. A new core starts empty. Item tooltips show each core's "Ward Power".

| Biome | Core | Max energy | |---|---|---| | Black Forest | Surtling Core (built-in) | 600 | | Black Forest | Wooden Protection Idol | 800 | | Black Forest | Bronze Protection Idol | 1,000 | | Black Forest | Thunder Stone (sold by Haldor) | 1,000 | | Swamp | Iron Protection Idol | 1,200 | | Mountain | Frostcore | 1,400 | | Mountain | Dragon Tear | 1,600 | | Mountain | Silver Protection Idol | 1,800 | | Plains | Torn Spirit | 2,000 | | Plains | Black Metal Protection Idol | 2,200 | | Mistlands | Wisp | 2,400 | | Mistlands | Black Core | 2,600 | | Mistlands | Black Marble Protection Idol | 2,800 | | Ashlands | Molten Core | 3,000 | | Ashlands | Embers | 3,200 | | Ashlands | Flametal Protection Idol | 3,400 | | Deep North | Liquid Frost | 3,600 | | Deep North | Frostfire Essence | 3,800 | | Deep North | Thunderblood Essence | 3,800 | | Deep North | Bloodgold Protection Idol | 4,000 |

Cores with an effect

Four cores do more than shield. Their settings are in [Thunder], [Fire] and [Frost], with a switch per core.

The Thunder Stone strikes the attacker with lightning once per attack, for half the damage the wards absorbed, and staggers it. It hits monsters and players without access; bosses are never staggered.

The Molten Core sets the attacker on fire once per attack, for half the absorbed damage, burning over 8 seconds. Further attacks add their own burns on top. Fire resistance counts, and the fire never spreads to your buildings.

The Frostcore chills hostile creatures in its radius, and players without access who have PvP on: 5 % slower each second, up to 60 %, scaled by frost resistance. Tamed animals, fleeing animals and bosses are left alone. The chill costs the ward nothing.

Liquid Frost chills like the Frostcore and also deals frost damage each second, 1 % of the target's max health. The ward pays half of the damage dealt from its energy.

Thunder Stone and Molten Core wards on the same attack share the payback instead of doubling it.

Sap

Players with access feed a ward Sap from the inventory with Shift+E. While Sap burns, the ward recharges an extra 1 % of its maximum per second. One Sap lasts 60 s, and a ward holds up to 50.

Hover text

Core: Dragon Tear
Charge: 1200 / 1600 - 75%
Sap: 4 / 50 - 3m 12s
Status: Ready - Protection 100%

The status is green at full protection, orange while the ward lets damage through, and red while it holds nothing. Texts are in English and German, following the game's language.

Settings

The settings are in BepInEx/config/valheim.wardcores.cfg. With a Configuration Manager (F1), the core list is a table with a searchable item picker.