Bonemass is dead, his Wishbone has found you silver, and the next stone at the Sacrificial Stones belongs to Moder, the frost dragon of the Mountains and mother of every Drake you have shot down. Where is her altar, how do you get three heavy Dragon Eggs there, and what keeps you alive against her ice? This guide covers the whole fight. For all eight bosses, see our Valheim bosses in order guide.
Quick answer: Moder in Valheim is the fourth boss. Her altar stands in the Mountains, marked on your map by a Vegvisir in a Mountain tower or Frost Cave. Summon her with three Dragon Eggs from Drake nests; each weighs 200 and cannot go through a regular portal, so collect them near the altar. She has 7,500 health, takes 50% extra fire damage and is immune to frost, spirit and stagger, so leave the Frostner at home. Bring Frost Resistance Mead or a frost resistant cape, a Draugr Fang with Obsidian or Fire Arrows, and a Silver Sword or Iron Mace for when she lands. She drops 10 Dragon Tears for the Artisan Table, which builds the Windmill, Spinning Wheel and Blast Furnace you need in the Plains.
Where to Find Moder in Valheim
Moder's altar is a stone platform high in the Mountains, with a runestone that reads "SACRIFICE HER SPAWN". The community Valheim Wiki counts three per world, 3,000 metres apart and no more than 8,000 metres from the world centre (Forsaken Altars).
A Vegvisir, the glowing runestone that marks the nearest altar on your map, sits in two kinds of places:
- Mountain towers. Square stone ruins, each with a 63% chance of a Vegvisir. The larger Draugr forts with an outer wall and four corner towers never have one (Mountain Tower).
- Frost Caves. The Mountain dungeons of Cultists and Ulvs can hold one too (Frost Caves).
You can also check your seed in a map viewer, as our Valheim map viewer guide shows.
Sort out frost protection before you climb. Outdoors the Mountains apply Freezing: no natural health regeneration, 60% slower stamina regeneration and 1 damage per second. Frost Resistance Mead, a Wolf Fur Cape, the Wolf armour chest, the Fenris Coat, a Lox Cape or a Feather Cape prevents it while you stay dry.
How to Summon Moder: Three Dragon Eggs
Moder needs three Dragon Eggs on her altar. Every Drake Nest, a ring of rocks and ice, has one glowing egg in its centre. A world has 200 nests, all above 100 metres of altitude on fairly flat ground, so search the plateaus near the peaks. Up to three Drakes guard each nest and do not respawn; a taken egg grows back after 8 real-time hours.
Drakes have 100 health, are weak to fire and spit three ice balls of 90 frost damage each from 5 to 15 metres. Keep their Freeze Glands: every frost weapon and frost food needs them.
The eggs are the awkward part. Each weighs 200 and cannot go through a regular portal, while your base carry weight is 300. Going over it makes you Encumbered, which slows you and stops you attacking or blocking (Inventory). Three habits save trips:
- Take eggs from the same Mountain range as the altar. The wiki says you rarely need to ship them.
- Place each egg as you bring it. The wiki's boss strategy page says eggs can sit on the platform without starting the fight, so you never carry more than one.
- Buy the Megingjord. Haldor's belt adds 150 carry weight for 950 coins (Megingjord).
Once summoned, Moder stays until she is dead, even if you log out, use a portal or die (Forsaken Altars). You can summon her again with three new eggs.
Moder's Attacks and How to Dodge Them
Moder switches between flying and landing, and her aura applies Freezing even outside the Mountains. The numbers are from the wiki's Moder page:
| Attack | Used | Range | Cooldown | Damage | How to avoid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice barrage | In the air | 5 to 25 m | 8 s | 16 icicles, each 30 pierce and 200 frost | Run sideways, roll, block, or use terrain as cover |
| Cold breath | On the ground | 5 to 20 m | 8 s | Up to 200 frost in a 30 m line | Step out of the line; she turns to follow you |
| Claw | On the ground | Within 10 m | 30 s per claw | 110 slash in a 12 m, 50 degree arc | Parry with a shield, or roll |
| Bite | On the ground | Within 7 m | 30 s | 120 pierce in an 8 m arc | Keep out of the narrow arc in front of her head |
- Ice barrage. Each icicle leaves a crystal about as tall as you for 30 seconds. Crystals have 10 health, so you can smash them.
- Cold breath. The range counts from the middle of her body, about 5 metres behind her head, so standing close enough to stop it is hard but possible.
- Cover. Her attacks carry heavy chop and pickaxe damage and knock down trees and natural rocks. The strategy page suggests raising a pillar of earth with the hoe instead.
What Moder Is Weak To
Fire is her only weakness, and her immunities decide your weapons:
| Type | Effect | Damage she takes |
|---|---|---|
| Fire | Weak | 150% |
| Blunt, slash, pierce, lightning, poison | Normal | 100% |
| Frost, spirit | Immune | 0% |
| Stagger | Immune | None |
The percentages come from the wiki's resistance page. In practice:
- Skip the Frostner. Most of its damage is frost and spirit. The strategy page names the Silver Sword or even the Iron Mace instead; the sword's 75 slash counts in full, its 30 spirit does nothing.
- Arrows. The strategy page ranks Needle, Obsidian, Fire, then Poison. Needles come from Deathsquitos in the Plains, so most players bring Obsidian Arrows: 52 pierce, 20 per craft from 8 Wood, 4 Obsidian and 2 Feathers at a level 3 Workbench. Fire Arrows (11 pierce, 22 fire, from Wood, Resin and Feathers) do slightly less but are easier to make.
- Poison is mostly wasted. A new poison hit does not add to poison already ticking, so in a group only one player should use poison arrows.
- No stagger. The wiki says a Silver Shield parries her claw easily, but a parry gives you no stagger opening.
Gear to Bring in Valheim 1.0
Nearly all her damage is frost, so frost resistance comes first.
- Frost resistance. Frost Resistance Mead halves frost damage for 10 minutes and stops Freezing. Make the base in a Mead Ketill from 10 Honey, 5 Thistle, 2 Bloodbags and 1 Greydwarf Eye and ferment it for two in-game days for six meads. The capes and chest pieces above give the same resistance, and resistances do not stack, so with one on, the mead adds nothing.
- Armour. The strategy page says this fight does not need top-tier armour, since her attacks are easy to avoid at a distance. Wolf armour, 20 per piece with a frost resistant chest, is the Mountain set (armour sets guide).
- Weapons. A fully repaired Draugr Fang (47 pierce plus poison, level 2 Forge), a Silver Sword or Iron Mace, and a Silver Shield (weapons by biome guide).
- Food and meads. Wolf skewer, Eyescream and Onion soup or Serpent stew (food guide), plus Medium Healing Mead and Tasty or Minor Stamina Mead, as the strategy page suggests.
- Forsaken power. Bonemass's power cuts pierce, slash and blunt damage by 25% and makes blocking free. Powers last 5 minutes, share a 20 minute cooldown and also reach players within 10 metres (Forsaken power).
- Repairs. Weapons can break, so keep a Forge or a portal nearby.
Prepare the Arena Before You Summon
From the strategy page:
- Start early in the day. At night, starred Wolves and Fenrings may join in.
- Clear the area. Kill nearby Drakes and Stone Golems. Trenches keep Golems out; Wolves are hard to block.
- Block wild spawns. Overlapping workbenches stop spawns and can draw Moder's attacks away from you.
- Hide your base. She may attack exposed structures she sees, though not walls and roofs on purpose.
- Eat and drink first, before you place the third egg.
How to Beat Moder
The wiki says that if you keep your distance, you can finish this fight without taking a hit.
Melee. You deal the most damage when she lands. If she sees no flat path to you, she barely moves until she takes off again, so fight on open, even ground. You can even end up under her body, where her attacks cannot reach.
Ranged. She takes arrows in the air and on the ground and moves badly over rough terrain. It is slower but safer. Watch your bow's durability; if it breaks, switch to melee.
The hole method. Dig a hole next to the summoning platform before you place the last egg. After summoning, jump in and press against the platform. When she lands, shoot almost straight up: her breath and melee cannot reach you. The wiki suggests 300 or more arrows, a fully upgraded bow and stamina food like Eyescream or Muckshake.
Fighting Moder With a Group
The wiki's creature page says every extra player within 100 metres gives a creature 30% more effective health and 4% more damage, so against three players Moder has 12,000 effective health and hits 8% harder. A group still has the edge: bows while she flies, melee when she lands.
The world's combat setting changes more. On Hard, enemies deal 150% damage and you deal 85%; on Very hard, 200% and 70%; on Easy, 75% and 110% (World Modifiers). On a dedicated server that is the -modifier combat start flag, explained in our Valheim dedicated server guide. With the world on a server, such as our Valheim hosting, anyone in the group can log in for another try without the host's PC. Our Valheim servers accept Windows (Steam) players only.
What Moder Drops and What It Leads To
Moder drops 10 Dragon Tears and her trophy.
Dragon Tears to the Artisan Table. An Artisan Table costs 2 Dragon Tears and 10 Wood, so one kill covers five tables, and tears go through portals (Dragon Tear). Within 40 metres of a table you can build the Blast Furnace, Spinning Wheel, Windmill and Stone Oven: black metal, linen thread and barley flour for the Plains. Our Valheim progression guide shows the order.
Trophy to Forsaken power. Hang the trophy at the Sacrificial Stones for always tailwind while sailing, +300 carry weight, 10% more movement speed and 50% frost resistance, the values Iron Gate set in patch 0.221.4. The tailwind works only while you steer and only for you, and changes the wind's direction, not its strength, so the wiki suggests saving it for a headwind.
What changes in your world. Drake raids stop, and Fuling horde raids become possible until Yagluth is dead (Events). Haldor sells Wider Pockets, an extra row of eight inventory slots, for 1,000 coins. The Bog Witch adds Mountain Peak Pepper Powder, the spice for the Hearty Mountain logger's stew feast, along with the Scythe Handle, Toadstool and Fragrant Bundle.
You will meet her again. In Valheim 1.0's final fight, Kall Fimbulbringer calls up the Aspect of the Dragon Mother, with 1,500 health (Kall Fimbulbringer). Iron Gate's notes from 1.0 to 1.0.21 on 28 October 2026 contain no change to Moder or her eggs. Next up is Yagluth in the Plains, covered in our Yagluth guide.
FAQ
Where is Moder in Valheim? At a stone altar high in the Mountains. A Vegvisir in a Mountain tower or a Frost Cave marks the nearest of the world's three altars on your map.
How do you summon Moder? Place three Dragon Eggs on her altar. Each Drake nest on the high Mountain plateaus has one, guarded by up to three Drakes. You can place them one at a time.
Can you teleport Dragon Eggs in Valheim? Not through a regular portal. Each egg weighs 200, so take them from nests in the same Mountain range as the altar and carry one at a time.
What is Moder weak to? Fire, at 150% damage. She is immune to frost, spirit and stagger, so use Obsidian or Fire Arrows, a Silver Sword or an Iron Mace instead of the Frostner.
What does Moder drop? 10 Dragon Tears and her trophy. Two tears and 10 Wood build an Artisan Table; the trophy gives tailwind, +300 carry weight, faster movement and frost resistance.
Did Valheim 1.0 change Moder? Not her own fight: the patch notes up to 1.0.21 contain no Moder change. 1.0 added her aspect to the Kall Fimbulbringer fight.
Sources
All opened on 2 November 2026:
- Iron Gate on Steam: Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived (9 September 2026), Patch 1.0.21 (28 October 2026), Patch 0.221.4: Call To Arms (Forsaken power values)
- Valheim Wiki: Moder, Boss strategies, Forsaken Altars, Mountain, Mountain Tower, Frost Caves, Freezing, Dragon Egg, Drake Nest, Drake, Inventory, Megingjord, Resistance, Obsidian Arrow, Fire Arrow, Needle, Silver Sword, Draugr Fang, Frost Resistance Mead, Forsaken power, Creatures, World Modifiers, Dragon Tear, Artisan Table, Blast Furnace, Events, Kall Fimbulbringer