How to Build a Raft

In order to build a boat in Valheim you will need to have placed a workbench nearby and have your Hammer ready in your toolbar.

Upon selecting the Hammer, enter the miscellaneous tab and select either a Raft, Longship, or Karve. As you’ll soon learn, each vessel has its own advantage – whether this is in terms of speed, durability, and even player seating.

If this is your first time building a boat in Valheim, you’ll probably be looking to build a Raft. While this may be one of the more challenging vessels to handle, a Raft will definitely be more than enough to satisfy your needs early on in the game.

You can learn more on the different vessels below, as well as how to craft every boat in Valheim.

How to Control Your Raft

Let’s face it, sailing in Valheim isn’t exactly easy, especially when you’re first starting out. While it may seem simple in concept, utilizing the rather clunky mechanics correctly can be a little challenging, even for the more skilled sailor.

So in order to start sailing in Valheim, board your raft and man the rudder by pressing E. Now that you’re holding the rudder, you can start moving the raft forward by pressing W to release your sail, where as pressing S will roll up your sail and you’ll begin moving backwards. In turn, pressing A will steer you left and pressing D will steer you right.

Upon turning the rudder, you will have likely noticed a small yellow steering wheel will have appear at the top of the handle. This yellow wheel will play a key part in controlling your Raft.

As you begin turning the wheel, you will begin to notice a small yellow bar that will appear around the outer edge of the wheel, which will indicate just how far you are turning right or left on the rudder.

You will also notice that as you increase and decrease in speed, three little arrows will appear above the yellow steering wheel. This will indicate the speed at which you’re traveling.

How to Sail with the Wind

Now that you have the general movement down, you’re probably wondering how you can start picking up speed? Well this is where things start to get a little more complicated, as being able to successfully sail your Raft will take quite a bit of practice.

Before you can begin sailing, you will need to understand the fundamentals of using the wind to your advantage.

Firstly, wind direction can currently be indicated by two different methods:

• A small white arrow that’s found in the bottom-left corner of your mini-map.
• A golden ship that features a white wind icon that’s found just below your mini-map.

While the white arrow on your mini-map is a great way to get a quick glimpse at the general direction of the wind, using the large golden ship icon will give you a much more detailed look at how the wind will affect your sailing.

As you can see in the image above, the golden ship icon indicates the direction in which your ship is traveling. Whereas the white wind icon showcases the direction in which the wind is blowing.

If you’re looking to travel somewhat long distances, you’ll ideally want to have the wind against your back, as this will help you reach your highest speed.

Do note that the wind is dynamic and it will frequently change, so if your wind icon has turned grey, it will typically mean that you are no longer sailing in the direction that the wind is traveling.

If you’re traveling against the wind or your wind icon turns grey, we highly recommend that use the paddle (one arrow) option, as it will allow you to slowly, but surely, move forward as sailing into the wind will normally stop you dead in the water.