Coal is another Valheim crafting material you’ll need to get early in the game if you wish to improve your settlement or get better gear for your Viking.
The Valheim Coal; however, unlike other materials (Flint for example) can be found or can be produced. On top of that, if you need large quantities, you can also farm Coal in Valheim.
So, below I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Coal in Valheim, including how to farm it.
But first, let’s see why you need it.
How To Use The Valheim Coal
This specific material plays a major role once you unlock the ability to mine. Or after you defeat the first boss, and get the Antler Pickaxe.
The said axe allows you to mine various types of Ore, but you can’t use them in their current state.
This means that you’ll need to smelt them into bars, and to do this you need a Smelter.
The Valheim Smelter or the smelting process requires two components: Coal and Ore (Copper, Tin, Iron, or Silver).
Or simply put, first you need Coal to get your Smelter up and running, and then you’ll need it whenever you want to smelt something.
How To Get Coal In Valheim
There are several methods to get Coal in the video game developed by Iron Gate and one method to farm it.
This material can also be found in random chests; however, this is the worst method because we know how rare they are.
Overcooking Food
The second method requires a Cooking Station and it costs you food. Or simply put you trade Raw Meat or Neck Tails for Coal.
Basically, after you build the Cookin Station you will have to overcook your Raw Meat and Neck Tails.
Just place these items on the Cooking Station and wait for them to overcook. As a result, you’ll get Coal but the food is wasted.
Keep in mind that both Raw Meat and Neck Tails have specific cooking times (25 seconds and 20 seconds), which means that you’ll need to wait for more than that to burn them.
From Wood
Next, we have the third method which requires Wood and the Charcoal Kiln.
The building itself is unlocked along with the Smelter, and this is the proper way to get Coal in Valheim. To build a Charcoal Kiln you need two crafting materials:
- 20 Stone
- 5 Surtling Cores – found in Burial Chambers or dropped by Surtlings
Once you build this structure, you will be able to produce this material; however, there are several things you should know about the process.
The Charcoal Kiln uses Wood, Core Wood, or Fine Wood to produce Coal and the process takes 25 seconds. You’ll get one unit for every unit of wood; however, if you have various types of wood in your inventory you should be careful because there is a specific order you’ll need to know.
In other words, the Kiln prioritizes Normal Wood, then Core Wood, and finally Fine Wood, so you want to make sure you don’t waste other wood than the one you have in excess.
Surtlings Drops
Finally, you can get Coal from Surtlings which can be found in the Swamp Biome.
These enemies also drop Surtling Cores and they are quite common, but keep in mind that they can set your character on fire and deal damage over time.
If you’re looking to get Coal from them, there is a trick which basically allows you to farm this material.
How To Farm Coal In Valheim
Since Surtlings also drop Coal, the farming method involves a Valheim cheat or command line that allows you to summon these enemies as many times as you want.
The steps you’ll need to follow are quite straightforward but be careful because there is also a chance to be killed in the process, so make sure you activate the God Mode we already discussed. Here is what you have to do next:
- Press F5 to enter the game’s console
- Type imacheater to enter Cheat Mode
- Type god to activate God Mode
- Now type event surtlings to start an event during which Surtlings come after you. You can do this in any Biome
- For every Surtling you kill you’ll get Coal
- Use event surtlings to summon more
And that’s it, Vikings! Now you know how to get Coal in Valheim, and also how to farm it.
