0.221.10|Feb 2, 2026
View on Steam↗Patch 0.221.10 – Five Years of Valheim!
3/5 Moderate
Valheim celebrates its 5th anniversary with the new Early Axes weapon, a major Unity 6 engine upgrade, and massive performance optimizations for armor stands and Steam Deck.
Key Changes
- 1Upgraded game engine to Unity 6000.0.61f1 for improved stability and performance
- 2Added the Early Axes weapon and Celebratory Cap for the 5th anniversary
- 3Massively reduced CPU usage of armor stands to fix base performance lag
- 4Xbox UI now renders at native resolution (up to 4K) on Series S|X and One X
- 5Steam Deck Performance mode now targets 60 FPS with optimized battery life
- 6Carapace Buckler adrenaline gain on perfect block reduced from 10 to 5
- 7Added a new radial menu for emotes and two new emotes (Vibe, LoveYou)
- 8Added three new hairstyles: Champion, Chronicler, and Sunbringer
- 9Introduced a new 'Low' SSAO quality option for better performance on low-end PCs
- 10Removed grass from reflections to reduce GPU overhead
All Changes
⚔️Equipment & Items(5)
- newEarly Axes: Added the Early Axes as a new weapon type.
- newCelebratory Cap: Added the Celebratory Cap as a new headwear item.
- newFrosted Sweetbread: Added Frosted Sweetbread as a new consumable food item.
- newMysterious Axe Head: Added Mysterious Axe Head as a new crafting material.
- newCurious Axe Head: Added Curious Axe Head as a new crafting material.
💇Character Customization(9)
- newChampion hairstyle: Added the Champion hairstyle.
- newChronicler hairstyle: Added the Chronicler hairstyle.
- newSunbringer hairstyle: Added the Sunbringer hairstyle.
- changeCastellan hairstyle: Tweaked the appearance of the Castellan hairstyle.
- changePainter Curls hairstyle: Tweaked the appearance of the Painter Curls hairstyle.
- changePulled Back Curls hairstyle: Tweaked the appearance of the Pulled Back Curls hairstyle.
- changeTidy Curls hairstyle: Tweaked the appearance of the Tidy Curls hairstyle.
- newVibe emote: Added the Vibe emote.
- newLoveYou emote: Added the LoveYou emote.
🔨Building & Furniture(3)
- newFlower Garland: Added the Flower Garland as a new buildable piece.
- newFey Lights: Added Fey Lights as a new buildable piece.
- changeArmor stands: Massively reduced the CPU usage of armor stands to improve performance in bases.
⚖️Gameplay & Balance(3)
- nerfCarapace Buckler: Reduced adrenaline gain on perfect block from 10 to 5 to align with other shields.
- changeBerserker armour: Implemented various tweaks to Berserker armour.
- newEmote radial menu: Added a new radial menu to make selecting and using emotes easier.
⚙️Technical & Performance(8)
- changeGame Engine: Updated the game engine to Unity 6000.0.61f1.
- changePerformance: Adjusted engine settings to improve performance in areas with high instance counts.
- changeGraphics Engine: Optimized GPU overhead by skipping texture copies for shield dome and heat distortion effects when not in use.
- removeReflections: Removed grass vegetation from environment reflections to improve rendering performance.
- changeAudio Engine: Reduced the latency of one-shot sound effects by ensuring they start on the same frame they are created.
- changeMinimap: Reduced the memory footprint of the minimap.
- changeMemory Management: Optimized memory usage by only loading graphics presets for the current platform.
- removeMatchmaking: Removed a duplicated matchmaking manager that was causing unnecessary performance drain in the start menu.
📺Graphics & Visuals(8)
- changeGraphics Settings: Replaced the Render Scale percentage slider with a 3D Resolution Limit dropdown with fixed resolutions.
- newUpscaling: Added a new Upscaling Method setting.
- newUpscaling: Added a Pixelated option for upscaling.
- newSSAO: Added a new Low SSAO quality option for better performance.
- changeSSAO: Renamed the existing SSAO quality setting to High.
- changeFrame Rate Limiter: Enabled the frame rate limiter to function alongside v-sync.
- changeFrame Rate Limiter: The frame rate limiter is now active during splash and loading screens.
- changeUI: Reversed the sorting of the resolution dropdown to show highest resolutions first.
🎮Platform Specific(13)
- buffXbox UI: Xbox UI is now rendered at native resolution (up to 4K) on Series S|X and One X.
- buffXbox One: Added SSAO and increased point light count for Xbox One and Xbox One S.
- buffXbox One X: Increased point light count for Xbox One X.
- buffXbox Series S: Increased point light count and enabled point light shadows for Xbox Series S.
- buffXbox Series X: Increased point light count, enabled point light shadows, and adjusted resolutions for Xbox Series X.
- changeXbox Settings: Xbox settings are now stored per-user and synchronized to the cloud.
- changeXbox Power Management: Reduced power draw for Xbox consoles when the game is running in the background.
- buffSteam Deck: Steam Deck Performance mode now reaches 60 FPS.
- buffSteam Deck: Optimized preset settings for improved battery life on Steam Deck.
- changeSteam Deck: Steam Deck now uses native resolution on first start instead of 1366x768.
- changePC Platforms: Reworked and unified graphics presets across Windows, Linux, and MacOS.
- changeMac App Store: Improved error messaging on Mac App Store when playing offline without Game Center.
- fixSteam: Steam player list now correctly displays profile pictures for non-friends.
🐛Bug Fixes(7)
- fixUI: Fixed the world generation progress bar not always appearing.
- fixServers: Fixed an issue where the server list failed to save when quitting from the start menu.
- fixT.W.I.G.: Fixed a multiplayer crash occurring when a T.W.I.G. threw a rock at a player on a shield dome edge.
- fixBee hive: Fixed a crash caused by hovering over a bee hive without being the network owner.
- fixAudio: Fixed audio stuttering when many sounds played at once.
- fixYggdrasil: Fixed Yggdrasil not appearing in environment reflections.
- fixGraphics: Fixed automatic render scale being set incorrectly in windowed mode on PC.
Summary
5th Anniversary Celebration
Iron Gate marks five years of Valheim with a celebratory update introducing the "Early Axes" weapon, the Celebratory Cap, and new emotes. Players can now use a radial menu for emotes and choose from three new hairstyles: Champion, Chronicler, and Sunbringer.
Engine & Technical Overhaul
The game has been upgraded to Unity 6000.0.61f1, bringing significant performance gains. Most notably, CPU usage for armor stands has been massively reduced, and GPU overhead is lowered by skipping unnecessary texture copies for shield effects.
Platform-Specific Enhancements
Xbox players now enjoy native resolution UI (up to 4K) and improved lighting across all console models. Steam Deck users receive a dedicated performance mode targeting 60 FPS and optimized battery life settings. PC users benefit from a reworked graphics preset system and a new "Low" SSAO option for better performance on older hardware.