Valheim Portals Guide: Setup, Stone Portal and Metal (1.0)

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How to use portals in Valheim 1.0: recipes, tags, the Stone Portal, which items are blocked, and the server setting that lets ore and metal through portals.

Valheim logo above two Vikings resting at a campfire in a dark forest

You have a base at home, a mine across the sea and a stack of ore that the portal refuses to take. This guide covers how to use portals in Valheim 1.0: how to build and tag them, the two portal types, what they block, and the world setting that lets metal through on your own server. Valheim 1.0 came out on 9 September 2026 and its patch notes list no new portal, so 1.0 has the same two as before: the wooden Portal and the Stone Portal from the Ashlands update.

Quick answer: Valheim portals work in pairs. Build two near a workbench, give both the same tag (case-sensitive, up to 10 characters) and walk into one to come out of the other. A wooden Portal costs 20 Finewood, 10 Greydwarf Eyes and 2 Surtling Cores and blocks ores and metals. The Stone Portal (30 Grausten, 10 Greydwarf Eyes, 2 Molten Cores, built with a Stonecutter in range) lets ores and metals through, the Deep North's Petrified Tissue included. To let every item through wooden portals on a dedicated server, set the portals world modifier to casual: start the server with -modifier portals casual, or type setworldmodifier portals casual in the F5 console as an admin. Sacrificial Blood never goes through any portal.

How to Use Portals in Valheim

  1. Get the recipe. It shows up in the hammer menu once you have picked up one Finewood, one Surtling Core and one Greydwarf Eye.
  2. Place it near a workbench. A portal needs a workbench in range to be placed (20 metres around a basic one), but it keeps working without one.
  3. Tag it. Interact with the portal and type a tag, for example mine.
  4. Build the second portal at the other end and give it exactly the same tag. Once the pair connects, the portal shows it with light and sound.
  5. Walk in. A teleport usually takes about eight seconds, and you cannot be hurt while it runs.

Finewood comes from Birch and Oak trees, which need at least a Bronze Axe, so most groups build their first portal in the Black Forest stage. Surtling Cores come from Burial Chambers in the Black Forest and from Surtlings, which live around fire geysers in the Swamp. Portals also work while you are encumbered, so a full load of wood or stone goes home without a cart.

The Two Portal Types in Valheim 1.0

Portal (wood)Stone Portal
Materials20 Finewood, 10 Greydwarf Eyes, 2 Surtling Cores30 Grausten, 10 Greydwarf Eyes, 2 Molten Cores
Station in rangeWorkbenchStonecutter
AvailableBlack Forest stageEarly in the Ashlands
Durability4001000
Ores and metalsBlockedAllowed

Iron Gate added the Stone Portal in the Ashlands update (patch 0.218.15, May 2024). Patch 0.218.21 made it buildable on stone and black marble floors as well, and patch 0.221.4 made its stairs climbable. Grausten comes from Ashlands ruins and rock formations. Molten Cores lie inside Putrid Holes and on the ground or in chests in Charred Fortresses.

Two things to plan for. The Stone Portal is about twice the size of the wooden one: the Valheim Wiki puts it at four walls high, four 2x2 floor tiles wide and two deep, so leave room in your hub. And the Stonecutter it needs costs 2 Iron. If you arrive in the Ashlands without iron, carry Grausten and Molten Cores home through a wooden portal, build a Stone Portal next to your home Stonecutter and link it to the wooden portal in the Ashlands. Step into the stone side with your iron, then build a Stonecutter and a second Stone Portal on arrival.

Neither portal takes rain damage, so you do not need a roof for the weather. They do have hit points, so keep them inside your base walls.

What Can Go Through a Valheim Portal

Items a wooden portal refuses show a small blue portal icon crossed out in red. The Valheim Wiki's list:

  • Metals and ores: Copper, Tin, Bronze, Iron, Silver, Black Metal, Flametal and Bloodgold, with their ores and scrap (Copper Ore, Tin Ore, Scrap Iron, Silver Ore, Black Metal Scrap, Flametal Ore and others)
  • Deep North: Petrified Tissue, the ore you smelt into Bloodgold
  • Other items: Dragon Eggs, Hildir's Chests, Mechanical Springs, Dvergr Extractors, Iron Pits and Charred Cogwheels

Most other things go through: wood, stone, coal, food, hides, trophies, and gear and weapons you have already crafted (they are not on the list), metal ones included. All three wooden portal materials can be teleported too, so you can carry a spare portal kit while you explore.

The Stone Portal lets through all the items above. The catch is that the portal you step into decides. A Stone Portal linked to a wooden one carries iron from the stone side to the wooden side, but you cannot take that iron back the same way, because the wooden portal will not accept it. For a metal route, build Stone Portals at both ends.

One item never travels by portal: Sacrificial Blood, dropped by Kall Fimbulbringer, the boss Iron Gate added in 1.0. The wiki says neither portal takes it and the all-items world setting does not change that, so the game's ending starts with one last boat trip. Our Valheim boats guide covers that trip.

Let Metal Through Portals on Your Server

World modifiers came with Hildir's Request (patch 0.217.14, August 2023), which Iron Gate described as settings "for portals, resources, raids and more". The Portal Settings slider has four steps, as the Valheim Wiki lists them:

Step in the menuWhat it doesServer value
Portal itemsBlocked items pass wooden portals too, so no Stone Portal is needed (Sacrificial Blood aside)casual
NormalThe usual blocked listnone (the default)
No boss portalsPortals do not work while a boss is activehard
No portalsNo portals in the world at allveryhard

The setting belongs to the world, so it covers every player and every portal on it. In a world you host from the game, pick your world on the start screen, open World Modifiers and move Portals to Portal items. On a dedicated server you have three routes.

1. Start parameter. Patch 0.217.22 made world modifiers work on dedicated servers, and Iron Gate's server guide lists casual, hard and veryhard as the portal values. Add this to the server line in your copy of start_headless_server.bat (Linux: start_server.sh) and restart:

-modifier portals casual

If the line also has -preset, put the modifier after it, because a preset overwrites any modifiers set before it.

2. Admin console while the server runs. Put your ID (format Steam_7656..., shown in the F2 panel in game or in the server log) on its own line in adminlist.txt in the server's save folder and restart. In Steam, add -console to Valheim's launch options, as Iron Gate's developer mode guide describes. Join the server, press F5 and type:

setworldmodifier portals casual

To go back, setworldmodifier portals normal does not work, the wiki notes. Use resetworldkeys, which Iron Gate's notes describe as resetting all world modifiers to default, then set any others you want again. Patch 0.217.22 also added a -resetmodifiers start parameter. If you used route 1, take -modifier portals casual off the start line too, or the next restart sets it again. Our Valheim console commands guide lists the other admin commands.

3. Upload a world that already has it. World modifiers are saved in the world itself, so a world you created at home with Portal items keeps that setting on a server. On our Valheim server hosting you get FTP access to the worlds folder for exactly that upload.

Test it. Pick up one Copper Ore or Scrap Iron and walk into a wooden portal. If it still refuses, the setting did not apply: check that no -preset comes after the modifier and that the server really restarted.

Two cautions. Iron Gate's 1.0 FAQ says some world modifiers block certain achievements, and the wiki ties a few boss achievements to the Normal, Hard or Very Hard presets, so check that list first if your group collects them. And it changes the game for everyone: no more ore runs by boat. Agree on it as a group before you switch.

The stricter settings work the other way. With No boss portals, portals and dungeon exits stay blocked while a boss is active, and since the 0.217.11 public test notes a boss counts as active from the first time it is aggroed, not from the moment it spawns.

Valheim Portal Setup: Building a Network

A layout that works on most worlds:

  • Home hub. One room at your main base with a portal per destination, and a sign above each one. Leave space for Stone Portals later.
  • Mining outposts. A wooden portal back home for food and repairs, and a Stone Portal pair once you have one, so the ore comes home too.
  • Boss altars. A portal near each summoning spot, outside the fight area. On a No boss portals world it only works before or after the fight.
  • Explore portal. Carry 20 Finewood, 10 Greydwarf Eyes and 2 Surtling Cores. When you find a new area, build a portal tagged explore and retag a spare hub portal to match.

Mind how tags pair up. Tags are case-sensitive, so Mine and mine never connect, and two portals with no tag connect to each other. When more than two portals share a tag, the Valheim Wiki says they pair off in the order the tags were set and each one links to only one partner, so a third mine portal stays unlinked. Since patch 0.217.46, a portal is no longer linked once its partner is destroyed.

On a shared world, agree on tag names with your group and write them on the hub signs, so nobody reuses a tag and steals someone else's link. A dedicated server keeps the network reachable when the host logs off.

Valheim Portal Not Working? Quick Checks

  • No connection: compare both tags letter for letter, case included, and check that no third portal uses the same tag.
  • The portal refuses you: look for the crossed portal icon in your inventory. One forgotten ore blocks the whole trip.
  • Works one way only: you have a Stone Portal linked to a wooden one, and you are carrying metal into the wooden side.
  • Blocked near a boss: the world uses No boss portals and the boss is still active.
  • Can't place it: the wooden portal needs a workbench in range, the Stone Portal a Stonecutter.
  • Stuck in the loading screen: a teleport can take up to 15 seconds when the exit is blocked, after which the game looks for a free spot above the portal.
  • Odd portal behaviour in multiplayer on 1.0: patch 1.0.14 fixed a bug where terrain changes by players or monsters could cause portal problems in multiplayer. Keep the server and every player on the current patch, which was 1.0.21 (28 October 2026) when we checked.

FAQ

How do portals work in Valheim? Two portals with the same tag form a pair. Walk into one and you come out of the other after about eight seconds, wherever it stands on the map.

Can you teleport metal in Valheim? Not through a wooden portal. A Stone Portal from the Ashlands lets ores and metals through, as long as the portal you step into is the stone one. A world with the Portal items modifier lets everything through except Sacrificial Blood.

How do I let ore through portals on my Valheim server? Start the server with -modifier portals casual (after any -preset), or as an admin press F5 and type setworldmodifier portals casual. Test it with one ore in a wooden portal.

Does a Stone Portal connect to a wooden portal? Yes, tags work the same for both types. Metal only travels from the stone side, because the portal you step into decides what you may carry.

Why is my Valheim portal not connecting? Usually the tags differ in case or spelling, or a third portal uses the same tag. A portal also loses its link when its partner is destroyed, so rebuild or retag it.

What does a portal cost in Valheim? A wooden Portal takes 20 Finewood, 10 Greydwarf Eyes and 2 Surtling Cores. A Stone Portal takes 30 Grausten, 10 Greydwarf Eyes and 2 Molten Cores.

Sources

All opened on 3 November 2026:

Related: Valheim progression guide, Valheim boats and sailing, Valheim dedicated server, Valheim console commands