Assassin's Creed: Valhalla Guide: Vital Tips Before Starting The Game

By this time, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is out and your excited and ready to start your journey as the viking Eivor. I’ve played more than 30 hours of the game so far and have compiled a few tips you should know about the game in order to be more prepared as you start your first playthrough.

Don’t worry, you can revisit Norway again

The game starts in Norway and has a good chunk of land to explore, complete with their own set of treasure and loot to find. You will soon find yourself heading to England and will be asked if you are ready to set sail. Don’t think you’ll miss out on unlocking everything in Norway if you decide to set sail. You can fast travel back to Norway at any time, so no rush.

Upgrade your ration and arrow capacity at least once

At the start of the game, leather and iron ore are common materials that can be found all throughout the game. These materials can be used to upgrade your weapons but as much as it’s tempting, it would be best to use your first batch of materials on upgrading your arrow and ration (healing) capacity as soon as you can as the starting supply is rather too small for comfort.

Prioritize building the Assassin’s Bureau

Once you arrive in England, Eivor can now help grow Raven Clan’s new settlement with the resources looted from your raids. Aside from the blacksmith, which the game tasks you to construct, use the next batch of resources to build the Assassin’s Bureau, or the Hidden Ones Bureau, as the game calls it.

The Assassin’s Bureau unlocks a new system in the game where you hunt down and assassinate key characters in The Order (the game will explain this part). Unlocking this sooner than later will be ideal as you might come across some of these targets during your adventures.

Once you have the ability to unlock the Barracks, do so as it unlocks the game’s form of multiplayer, as it gives you the ability to hire lieutenants created by other players and have them join your raiding party. You too can create your own lieutenant and if anyone hires him/her, they will bring back silver as a reward.

Consider picking up the Brush with Death skill at the start

I found this to be a vital tool for starters, especially those new to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. What this does is that after a successful dodge, time slows down, giving you free easy hits to enemies before everything goes back to normal. The skill can be found early in the skills tree in the stealth section (yellow nodes. After getting backstab, keep going up until you unlock the batch of nodes with Brush with Death and you’re all set.

Don’t neglect your flyting skills

Ah, the viking’s version of rap battles. This verbal battle of wits is a fun mini-game that should not be neglected. Every time you win a flyting battle, you slowly increase your flyting level. Having a high enough flying level for certain conversation could give you an additional dialogue choice that could give you an advantage or lead you to the right direction.

Teach your horse how to swim right away

Sometimes you need to cross a bridge but it’s just a waste of time to either swim or commandeer a boat. Luckily, you can upgrade your chosen mount to swim through the deepest of waters by unlocking the skill through the stables. If you haven’t built a stables for your settlement, don’t worry. Select cities have their own stables, just look for the horse icon in the map.

This is what I picked up so far playing Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. My review of the game is in progress but I’ve played a hefty amount of the game and is easily growing to be my favorite title from the franchise.

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