How can you avoid wasting time on unnecessary crafting in a speedrun?
In Valheim speedrunning, avoiding unnecessary crafting is critical to saving time and optimizing your run. The key is to focus only on essential items and skip anything that doesn''t directly contribute to your progression. This means prioritizing tools, weapons, and armor that are necessary for defeating bosses and exploring new biomes, while ignoring decorative or non-essential items.\n\nStart by crafting only the most basic tools: a stone axe, a hammer, and a flint spear. These are essential for gathering wood, building a workbench, and defending yourself against early-game enemies. Avoid crafting items like the crude bow or wooden shield unless absolutely necessary, as they can waste valuable resources and time. Instead, rely on your spear for early combat and focus on gathering materials for the next tier of tools.\n\nOnce you have a workbench, prioritize crafting a pickaxe to mine tin and copper in the Black Forest. These metals are essential for upgrading your gear and crafting bronze tools. However, avoid crafting unnecessary bronze items like the bronze axe or bronze mace. Instead, focus on the bronze pickaxe and bronze atgeir, which are more versatile and useful for both mining and combat. This approach minimizes resource waste and keeps your inventory streamlined.\n\nWhen transitioning to the Swamp biome, prioritize crafting iron gear over other items. The iron pickaxe, iron mace, and iron armor are essential for surviving the Swamp and defeating Bonemass, the third boss. Avoid crafting iron tools like the iron sledge or iron atgeir unless you have excess materials, as they are not critical for progression. Instead, focus on upgrading your iron mace and shield, as these will be your primary tools for dealing with Swamp enemies.\n\nIn the Mountains biome, prioritize crafting frost-resistant gear like the wolf armor and drake helmet. These items are essential for surviving the cold and tackling the fourth boss, Moder. Avoid crafting unnecessary items like the silver sword or silver shield unless you have extra materials. Instead, focus on upgrading your draugr fang bow and frostner, as these weapons are highly effective against Mountain enemies and Moder.\n\nFinally, in the Plains biome, prioritize crafting padded armor and black metal weapons. These are essential for surviving the Plains and defeating Yagluth, the final boss. Avoid crafting decorative items or non-essential gear like the black metal axe or black metal shield. Instead, focus on upgrading your black metal sword and atgeir, as these are the most effective weapons for Plains combat.\n\nTo further optimize your speedrun, always plan your crafting ahead of time. Gather only the materials you need for essential items and avoid over-farming resources. Use portals to quickly return to your base for crafting and upgrades, and always keep your inventory organized to avoid wasting time searching for items. By following these strategies, you can minimize unnecessary crafting and maximize your efficiency in a Valheim speedrun.