When you first start out in Valheim, you’ll not only create your Viking character, you’ll also create a “seed” for your game world. The seed is a code that corresponds to the locations of all the elements of the world when it’s generated, dictating where biomes, resources, bosses, and everything else in Valheim is located. The game will randomly create seeds for you, but if you want more control, you can put in the seed code to spawn into a specific world. We’ve gathered all the info you need to know about how seeds work in Valheim, how to evaluate them, and which ones you might want to use as you’re planning your Viking excursions.

Keep in mind that this guide is for Valheim players who aren’t interested in the joy of exploration–much of what makes the game interesting is exploring your game world, finding what secrets it hides, and working to survive with imperfect knowledge of what you’ll face. But if you want to fast-track your way through a Valheim run, set up the perfect place to build an awesome Viking base, or just have more control over your experience, use this information to pick the right seed for you and get everything you want out of your Valheim game world.

How To Find Your World Seed

Your seed is determined by a code that’s a combination of capital and lowercase letters and numbers. You’ll find that code on the Select World screen when you first fire up Valheim. This is where the game stores your game worlds and allows you to spawn into them–it’s also where you can set up single-player, local, or dedicated servers. The “New” button allows you to create a new game world, which allows you to either specify the seed you want to use or generate a random one.

Valheim Seed Map Viewer

When you generate a random game world, you might still want to know what’s in it and how things are laid out. Normally, you wouldn’t have anything to do but jump into the game and start exploring it, which is a process that can take a very long time. Alternatively, if you’re willing to cheat and you’re playing in a single-player game world, you can use console commands to view the entire game map (check out our console commands guide for how that works).

There’s a better way to check out a seed now, though, thanks to Reddit user wd40bomber7, who created Unofficial Valheim World Generator. The browser-based program lets you input a seed code and see the map it creates. You can also choose to have specific elements, like bosses, camps, crypts, and resourcesVenir de Tragamonedas Gratis Online. The generator can generate seeds randomly too, so you can check out a map ahead of time and then use that seed code in Valheim when you find one you’re happy with.

What Makes A Good Seed

Seeds in Valheim are pretty subjective–what makes a good one depends on the experience you want to have. If you’re just starting out, you likely want a seed with a lot of Meadows in your immediate spawn vicinity, which will keep the difficulty from ramping up on you too early as you explore Valheim and make your first few tiers of gear. However, if you want reliable progression with consistent pacing, you also want a starting location that’s pretty close to multiple biomes–particularly the Black Forest, Swap, and Mountain biomes. Those three biomes contain metals for making Bronze, Iron, and Silver gear, and if you have to travel to other islands to get them, you’ll probably wind up creating multiple outpost bases. So a good seed keeps those locations nearby to where you intend to put down a main base, minimizing the amount of boat travel you’ll need to do to make higher-tier equipment.

It’s also handy to start in seeds that have bosses relatively nearby–especially the first three. Again, you don’t want to have to travel far and wide seeking out the bosses you need to kill, because that can hamper your ability to fight them effectively or heal up in an emergency. If you get into trouble seeking a boss who’s several islands away and requires sailing to reach, you increase your risk of dying in inconvenient places and creating situations in which you have to recreate a lot of your gear.

So in a general sense, seeds with lots of biomes close to their start, but not so close you get hit by tough enemies right away, are pretty solid. But your needs will likely vary. If you’re a veteran player with a high-level character, you might want something that’s a bit more of a boss rush; if you’re hoping for a tougher experience out of the gate, you can opt for seeds that throw you into higher-difficulty biomes earlier. And so on.