The Valheim Elder Ancient Bowl is the second main objective you’ll need to focus on after you deal with Eikthyr or the first boss in the video game developed by Iron Gate. Like Eikthyr’s Mystical Altar, The Elder Ancient Bowl features a small puzzle, and to summon The Elder or the second boss, you’ll have to solve another riddle.
As such, below, I’ll tell you how to use the Valheim Ancient Bowl, what items you have to burn, and where to find them. The Elder Ancient Bowl is found in the Black Forest biome, just like the Eikthyr Mystical Altar in the Meadows biome.
What Is the Elder Runestone in Valheim
Once you arrive at the location marked on your map, you’ll find The Elder Sacrificial Altar, which differs slightly from the previous one. If you look around, you’ll see an Ancient Bowl burning in the middle and a Runestone like the one below.

Approach the Runestone and read it to notice the message: Burn their young. From the previous altar, you may remember that these runestones hint at the items that must be offered to summon a boss.
This one is no different. But what does Burn their young mean in Valheim? Well, it refers to offspring. Or, if you want, seeds. In our case, we are talking about Ancient Seeds.
How To Get Ancient Seeds for the Elder Ancient Bowl
Luckily, the Valheim Ancient Seeds don’t require too much effort since they come from multiple sources. The bad thing is that the drop rate is terrible, meaning that you’ll spend some time getting the required amount, which is 3.
Therefore, here is where to find Ancient Seeds in Valheim. The best sources for the Valheim Ancient Seeds are the Greydwarf Spawners like the one below.

The Greydwarf Nests have a 100% Ancient Seeds drop rate, meaning that once destroyed, a nest provides one Ancient Seed. To find these, circle the Elder Altar in the Black Forest. The second best source is represented by the Greydwarf Brutes and Greydwarf Shamans (pictured below).

These enemies spawn in the Black Forest biome and are easy to identify; however, they are also the hardest to kill—especially the Brutes. The drop rate here is below 100%, meaning that not all of them will provide Ancient Seeds, but they spawn constantly.
And finally, you can get Ancient Seeds from random chests, and these are the worst sources, not only because they are rare but also because the drop chance is terrible.
How To Summon the Elder Boss
After you get 3 Ancient Seeds, it’s time to return to the Ancient Bowl in Valheim and make the offering. Equip the Ancient Seeds by dragging them to the upper bar, then approach the bowl and press the corresponding key to burn them.

Remember that you need three seeds to summon the Elder. Again, we won’t go into details on defeating the Elder, but you may want to try some fire arrows, or obviously, you can create a new character and try using the God Mode Valheim cheat to observe the Elder’s attacks.
This boss drops the following items:
- Swamp Key – used to unlock the Sunken Crypts in the Swamp Biome
- Elder Trophy
How To Use Elder’s Trophy
Upon obtaining the Elder Trophy, you must return to the Sacrificial Stones. Place it on the tallest stone (pictured below) to get a new Power.

Unlike Eikthyr’s Power, this one is focused on increasing the speed when cutting wood. Make sure you activate it, but remember that you can have only one power equipped, so whenever you want to switch between them, you’ll have to return to the Sacrificial Stones. And that’s it! That’s how you summon The Elder boss and how you use the Valheim Ancient Bowl, so how about we talk about Bonemass next?
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