Iron Gate Developers Explain Health and Stamina Tweaks in Valheim DLC
By Jack O'Dwyer
A recent spotlight video uploaded to the official Valheim YouTube channel expanded on the resource changes coming in Hearth and Home.
The video was uploaded to Iron Gate's Channel on Monday, Aug. 16, and focused on how players could use food to affect their combat and playstyles. According to the narration, because food has been broken down into specific categories that adhere to its benefits toward health and stamina, respectively, this has also changed how the game uses those resources.
Iron Gate Developers Explain Health and Stamina Tweaks in Valheim
Thanks to the new categories and new division of food benefits, players have even more control over how they want to play Valheim and build their character. This is by design, the narrator explains, intentionally giving players the choice and ability to adapt how they see fit.
"We know that we have different types of players," the narrator said, "Hopefully this will allow you to lean more into the playstyle of your choice."
Players who want to deal more damage can pick stamina-based foods as this will help them deal more damage by increasing the capacity for combat. The more energy you have, the longer you can fight, and the more swings you can get in before you need to pause to recover.
However, defense or "tank" builds will be more or less forced to pick health foods. As of Hearth and Home, blocking power will be based on how much health the player has. It's a direct scale that informs how long players can block by impacting the damage they can withstand.
Additionally, with the introduction of the new "stagger bar" to the immediate right of the player, health is more important than ever. The stagger bar shows how many hits a player can take while blocking before they fall back and become staggered. This, too, scales off health—and can be filled and recovered quicker or slower according to that stat.
Iron Gate's channel has a handful of similar spotlight detailing the changes coming in the Hearth and Home DLC. Interested parties are encouraged to watch them to get to most from their time in Valheim.