Updated September 10, 2026
Some Valheim materials remain valuable long after their original biome is finished, while others stop being worth your inventory space once their important recipes are done.
That distinction matters even more in Valheim 1.0, which adds the Deep North, 30+ new crafting materials, new crafting stations, weapons, armor, food and more than 80 new buildable pieces.
This guide is not an every-material database. Instead, it answers the practical question:
Should you farm this, keep it, treat it as conditional, or stop prioritizing it?
A material can also move between categories. Something worth farming during one crafting project may become a simple KEEP item—or a STOP resource—once that demand is finished.
📋 Table of Contents
- Quick Answer — What Materials Should You Farm or Keep?
- Materials You Should Think Twice Before Throwing Away
- Materials Worth Actively Farming
- Materials to Keep Without Over-Farming
- Materials You Can Stop Prioritizing
- Deep North Materials — What to Farm and What to Save
- Valheim 1.0 Material Chains That Actually Matter
- What to Leave Each Biome With
- Valheim 1.0 Material Traps
- FAQ
- Final Takeaway
Quick Answer — What Materials Should You Farm or Keep?
The simplest rule is:
- FARM: Actively gather the material when your current crafting or building plans need it.
- KEEP: Don't throw it away because it has meaningful future value.
- CONDITIONAL: Keep or farm it only for a specific build, food setup, crafting path or project.
- STOP: Your important demand for it is effectively finished.
FARM
These are materials worth actively gathering when you have meaningful current demand:
- Iron
- Yggdrasil Wood
- Sap
- Linen Thread
- Petrified Tissue
- Bloodgold
- Timberwood
FARM WHEN NEEDED
These are valuable, but your need depends more heavily on your current project:
- Finewood
- Soft Tissue
- Stone
KEEP
These are worth retaining even when you are no longer actively farming them:
- Silver
- Black Metal
- Ancient Bark
- Surtling Cores
- Black Cores until your important Mistlands stations are finished
- Coal
- Leather Scraps
- Deer Hide
CONDITIONAL
These depend heavily on your build, crafting path or current goals:
- Resin
- Neck Tail
- Nornathread
- Frozen Branch
- Frostfire Essence
- Thunderblood Essence
- Moose materials
- Seal Blubber
- Liquid Frost
STOP
The genuinely strong STOP cases are limited:
- Memorial Coal
- Dead Pulp after the relevant crafting demand is satisfied
The important distinction is that FARM does not mean farm forever.
It means the resource deserves active attention while you have a reason to use it.
Likewise, KEEP does not mean build a warehouse full of it. It means don't discard it simply because its original biome is behind you.
Materials You Should Think Twice Before Throwing Away
Some of Valheim's most important resources are easy to misjudge because their first major uses appear much earlier than their later ones.
Iron
Iron is probably the clearest example.
It is not just a Swamp-tier weapon and armor material. Iron continues into later crafting, equipment, stations, tools and building systems.
That makes Iron a genuine long-term FARM and KEEP material.
If you leave the Swamp with a useful amount of Iron stored, don't assume you've finished with it.
Decision: FARM / KEEP
Finewood
Finewood looks like a Meadows-to-Black-Forest resource, but its usefulness lasts much longer.
It feeds equipment, bows, boats, crafting stations and building systems. Its early-game appearance therefore makes it easy to underestimate.
Finewood doesn't need to be treated like an endgame bottleneck, but collecting it when you encounter good quantities can save future trips.
Decision: KEEP / FARM WHEN NEEDED
Silver
Silver is another resource that shouldn't automatically be abandoned after the Mountains.
It remains valuable for important equipment and later crafting needs, so discarding a useful supply can create an unnecessary return trip later.
You don't need to keep mining every Silver vein forever, but throwing away your remaining Silver is rarely helpful.
Decision: KEEP A MODEST STOCKPILE
Black Metal
Black Metal is not simply a material you can forget after the Plains.
Later crafting can still call for it, but it does not deserve the same permanent farming priority as resources such as Iron or Yggdrasil Wood.
The practical approach is simple:
Keep useful leftovers, but don't turn Black Metal into a permanent farming project unless your current crafting plans require it.
Decision: KEEP
Ancient Bark
Ancient Bark has more staying power than its Swamp origin suggests.
It remains relevant to later equipment and ship-related crafting, including the Longship.
If you have spare Ancient Bark after leaving the Swamp, keeping it is generally more useful than clearing the storage chest simply because you have moved on.
Decision: KEEP A MODEST STOCKPILE
Yggdrasil Wood
Yggdrasil Wood becomes important once you enter the Mistlands and stays relevant through later crafting.
It feeds equipment, magical systems, crafting stations, ships and building projects.
If you use Eitr or build heavily, you can burn through it surprisingly quickly.
Decision: FARM / KEEP
Materials Worth Actively Farming
These are resources where deliberately gathering more can make sense because your current crafting or building demand justifies it.
Iron
If you're short on Iron, farming it is rarely wasted effort.
Its continued use across equipment, stations and building makes it one of the safest resources to prioritize throughout a long playthrough.
Farm when: you're upgrading equipment, building iron-dependent stations or working on later crafting projects.
Don't: assume the Swamp is the last point where Iron matters.
Finewood
Finewood doesn't need to be treated like an endgame bottleneck, but it is worth collecting whenever you encounter good quantities.
Its combination of equipment, boats, stations and building uses gives it strong carryover value.
Farm when: you're building, crafting equipment or preparing multiple stations.
Otherwise: simply keep a reserve.
Yggdrasil Wood
Yggdrasil Wood becomes particularly important for Mistlands and later systems.
It is one of the better examples of a material where actively gathering more can save future trips.
Decision: FARM
Sap
Sap is easy to underestimate because it isn't a conventional weapon or armor metal.
It feeds the Eitr ecosystem and also contributes to food, mead and other crafting systems.
If you're using magic or regularly producing Eitr-related items, Sap becomes a recurring resource rather than a one-time ingredient.
Decision: FARM for Eitr-related crafting
Soft Tissue
Soft Tissue is primarily important because of the Eitr chain.
If you're using the magic system, it becomes a meaningful recurring resource. If you're not using Eitr-heavy equipment or crafting, its priority is much lower.
That makes it a good example of why a resource guide shouldn't label every material with one universal priority.
Decision: FARM for Eitr users / CONDITIONAL otherwise
Linen Thread
Linen Thread should not be treated as something that stops mattering after Plains equipment.
It continues into later equipment and crafting systems.
If you have already processed Flax into Linen Thread, retaining a useful supply is generally preferable to discarding it and having to restart production later.
Decision: FARM / KEEP
Stone
Stone is highly dependent on how you play.
For a player focused on a minimal base, Stone is mostly a routine building resource. For a player constructing large bases, defensive structures or multiple production areas, it becomes a permanent farming material.
It also contributes to important crafting infrastructure.
Decision: FARM for builders / KEEP otherwise
Petrified Tissue
Petrified Tissue has a specific but important role in 1.0.
It feeds into the Deep North crafting economy and becomes particularly valuable when you're pursuing Bloodgold-related equipment.
That makes it worth actively collecting while your Deep North crafting goals are unfinished.
Decision: FARM while building your Deep North loadout
Bloodgold
Bloodgold is one of the central Deep North crafting materials.
It supports the Nord equipment ecosystem and later Frostfire and Thunderblood branches, along with other high-level crafting requirements.
However, don't interpret that as:
“I need to farm Bloodgold forever.”
Your demand depends on how many weapons, armor pieces and branches you actually intend to craft and upgrade.
Decision: FARM for current Deep North crafting goals / KEEP
Timberwood
Timberwood is one of the broadest-use new Deep North materials.
Current 1.0 data shows it feeding the Nord weapon casts, Bloodgold ammunition, the Moose Saddle, the Standing Loom and a large selection of new building and furniture pieces.
That makes Timberwood much less specialized than several creature-specific Deep North drops.
Decision: FARM / KEEP
Materials to Keep Without Over-Farming
The difference between KEEP and FARM matters.
You can have a material that is worth retaining without needing to spend hours actively gathering more.
Silver
Keep remaining Silver because later equipment and crafting uses still make it valuable.
But unless you're actively crafting Silver-dependent items, there is no reason to treat every new vein as mandatory.
Keep priority: Moderate reserve.
Black Metal
Keep your existing Black Metal.
Later crafting can still call for it, but your priority should depend on your actual crafting plans.
Keep priority: Moderate reserve.
Ancient Bark
Ancient Bark remains useful beyond the Swamp through equipment and ship-related crafting.
Keep priority: Moderate reserve.
Surtling Cores
Surtling Cores remain useful for production infrastructure and portals rather than becoming obsolete after the early game.
They are therefore much better treated as a resource to retain than something to discard when storage becomes tight.
Keep priority: Moderate reserve.
Black Cores
Black Cores are different.
They are extremely important when establishing Mistlands crafting infrastructure, but once you've built the stations you actually need, their priority falls considerably.
This is a classic KEEP UNTIL THE JOB IS DONE resource.
Decision: KEEP UNTIL REQUIRED STATIONS ARE FINISHED
Coal
Coal continues to serve production and utility purposes.
You don't necessarily need to dedicate your entire playthrough to charcoal production, but keeping a useful supply is worthwhile.
Decision: KEEP
Leather Scraps
Leather Scraps are a particularly good example of why common does not mean disposable.
They have a broad recipe footprint, including later equipment and utility systems.
You don't need to aggressively farm them in late game, but throwing every Scrap away because you're no longer crafting early armor is a mistake.
Decision: KEEP
Deer Hide
Deer Hide also has a much larger recipe footprint than its early-game appearance suggests.
It remains tied to equipment and other crafting and building uses.
You don't need to make Deer farming a late-game priority, but there's little reason to throw away useful quantities simply because you have entered a higher biome.
Decision: KEEP / LOW FARM PRIORITY
Materials You Can Stop Prioritizing
This is the section where restraint matters.
There are many materials that become lower priority, but very few that can honestly be described as “stop collecting.”
Memorial Coal
Memorial Coal is a great example of a material that sounds more important than it actually is for crafting.
It does not function like a normal crafting resource with a recipe chain. Current 1.0 item data treats it as flavor rather than a conventional crafting ingredient.
So if you're looking at it as something you need to stockpile for crafting, you can stop treating it that way.
Decision: STOP
Dead Pulp
Dead Pulp has extremely narrow crafting demand.
Once you've made the Pulp Bombs you actually want, there is little reason to turn it into a major farming target.
Decision: STOP prioritizing after your Pulp Bomb needs are satisfied
Neck Tail: Low Priority, Not Useless
Neck Tail is much closer to a low-priority resource than a genuine STOP resource.
Its crafting footprint is narrow, with uses tied to specific food and mead choices.
If you don't need those recipes, you don't need to actively farm Neck Tails.
But calling it completely useless would be too strong.
Decision: CONDITIONAL / LOW PRIORITY
Resin: Don't Treat It as Trash
Resin is another material that is easy to over-discard.
It continues to have useful crafting and utility applications, so it should be treated as low-priority rather than useless.
You don't need to deliberately farm Resin just because it exists, but you shouldn't classify it as a dead resource either.
Decision: CONDITIONAL
Deep North Materials — What to Farm and What to Save
The Deep North introduces a much larger resource-management problem because several materials feed different crafting branches and new infrastructure. The 1.0 update adds 30+ crafting materials alongside new weapons, armor, crafting-related build pieces and other systems.
The important thing is not to collect every new drop indiscriminately.
Instead, understand which resources are core, which are station-gating, and which belong to a particular build or equipment branch.
For the broader Deep North progression, new gear and what to do first, see our Valheim 1.0 Guide: Deep North Progression, New Gear & What to Do First.
Petrified Tissue and the Bloodgold crafting economy
Petrified Tissue has an important role in the new Deep North crafting economy.
Rather than treating it as an isolated drop, think of it as part of the resource budget required for your Bloodgold-related crafting plans.
The practical decision is therefore tied to your intended endgame equipment rather than an arbitrary stockpile target.
Decision:
- FARM while building Deep North gear
- KEEP remaining material while your endgame crafting plans are unfinished
- Reduce active farming once your chosen loadout is complete
Bloodgold
Bloodgold is one of the central resources in the Deep North equipment economy.
It supports the Nord equipment family and the later Frostfire and Thunderblood branches.
The important distinction is that Bloodgold is high priority for active crafting, but not an unlimited farming requirement.
If you're building one primary weapon, a shield and your chosen armor set, your demand is very different from a player trying to craft and upgrade several weapon families.
Bloodgold also appears in new ammunition and other Deep North crafting components, so its value extends beyond a single weapon path.
Decision: FARM for your intended Deep North equipment
Timberwood
Timberwood is one of the safest new materials to keep.
It is used across the Nord weapon family, ammunition, the Moose Saddle, the Standing Loom and a substantial amount of new building and furniture content.
That makes Timberwood much less specialized than some creature-specific Deep North drops.
Decision: FARM / KEEP
Frostcore
Frostcore is primarily an infrastructure resource.
Its importance is highest when you're establishing the Deep North crafting stations that require it. Once those stations are built, its priority drops.
That makes Frostcore a textbook example of:
Farm now → build the infrastructure → stop prioritizing it.
Decision: KEEP UNTIL THE REQUIRED STATIONS ARE FINISHED
Seal Pelt
Seal Pelt has practical value in the new Deep North crafting economy and should not automatically be discarded after its first use.
Its priority is strongest while you're working through the equipment and crafting paths that require it.
Decision: KEEP / FARM WHILE CRAFTING
Nornathread
Nornathread becomes particularly important for players using the new magic/caster-oriented equipment.
If you're not pursuing that path, its priority is much lower.
This is precisely why a universal “farm every rare Deep North material” strategy is inefficient.
Decision: CONDITIONAL
Moose Materials
Moose Hide, Moose Meat and Moose Sinew are useful, but they should not all be treated as universal farming priorities.
Moose Hide has meaningful Deep North equipment and other uses.
Moose Meat matters according to your food choices.
Moose Sinew is useful for specific gear but does not justify calling it a must-farm resource for every player.
Decision: CONDITIONAL / KEEP WHILE CRAFTING
Frozen Branch
Frozen Branch is tied to specific Deep North crafting paths rather than functioning as a universal currency for the entire biome.
If your chosen equipment requires it, collect it.
If not, there is no reason to treat every Frozen Branch as a major stockpile target.
Decision: CONDITIONAL
Frostfire and Thunderblood Essences
These materials should be treated as branch resources.
The important question is not:
“Are these rare?”
It is:
“Am I actually crafting this branch?”
If you are building Frostfire equipment, Frostfire Essence becomes important. If you're pursuing Thunderblood equipment or related lightning crafting, Thunderblood Essence becomes valuable.
Decision: CONDITIONAL
Ice and Liquid Frost
Ice and Liquid Frost belong to the Deep North crafting ecosystem, but their value depends on what you're producing.
The practical approach is to maintain enough for your current crafting plans rather than blindly accumulating it.
Decision: KEEP / MAKE AS NEEDED
Valheim 1.0 Material Chains That Actually Matter
You don't need to memorize every recipe in Valheim.
The useful chains are the ones that change your storage and farming decisions.
Iron → Later Equipment and Infrastructure
Iron starts as a Swamp progression material but continues into later weapons, tools, stations, building and other systems.
That's why Iron belongs in the long-term storage category rather than the “old biome material” category.
Decision: Keep it even after leaving the Swamp.
Sap + Soft Tissue → Refined Eitr
This chain matters primarily if you're using Eitr-based equipment and crafting.
Sap provides one recurring side of the chain, while Soft Tissue supplies the other major ingredient.
If you're playing a magic-heavy build, both deserve considerably more attention.
If you're not using that system heavily, your required stockpile is much smaller.
Decision: FARM for Eitr users
Petrified Tissue → Bloodgold-related crafting
Petrified Tissue should be viewed as part of the material budget behind your Deep North crafting plans rather than as a generic resource that every player needs to accumulate indefinitely.
Your required amount depends on the equipment paths you choose.
Decision: FARM according to your Deep North crafting plan
Frostcore → Deep North Crafting Infrastructure
Frostcore is valuable because it helps establish the new production infrastructure.
Once that job is complete, its priority drops sharply.
This is an important distinction from materials such as Iron or Timberwood that continue feeding many later recipes.
Decision: Farm early, then stop prioritizing
Ice → Deep North Crafting
Ice feeds the newer Deep North crafting ecosystem and selected food and utility uses.
Treat it as a working material rather than an automatic permanent stockpile.
Decision: KEEP A USEFUL RESERVE
What to Leave Each Biome With
This isn't a progression checklist. It's a reminder of which materials are worth making sure you haven't abandoned before moving on.
Meadows
Prioritize keeping:
- Finewood
- Deer Hide
- Resin
- Leather Scraps
- Stone if you're building
Finewood is particularly worth keeping because its usefulness extends much further than the Meadows.
Black Forest
Prioritize keeping:
- Bronze or bronze components if you still have active crafting needs
- Surtling Cores
- Finewood
- Corewood
- Coal
Surtling Cores deserve special attention because they remain useful for production infrastructure and portals.
Swamp
Prioritize keeping:
- Iron
- Ancient Bark
- Surtling Cores
- Chains
Iron is the major one. Don't treat your Swamp Iron as disposable surplus.
Mountains
Prioritize keeping:
- Silver
- Wolf materials if you still need Mountain equipment
- Obsidian where relevant
Silver is the important long-term reserve because its usefulness doesn't end with Mountain crafting.
Plains
Prioritize keeping:
- Black Metal
- Flax/Linen Thread
- Finewood
- Iron
Black Metal and Linen Thread both continue beyond their first major crafting stage.
Mistlands
Prioritize keeping:
- Yggdrasil Wood
- Soft Tissue
- Sap
- Black Cores
Black Cores are different from the others: once your required crafting stations are complete, you can sharply reduce their storage priority.
Ashlands
Prioritize keeping:
- Flametal
- Iron
- Linen Thread
- Materials tied to your current Ashlands crafting projects
Don't automatically discard older materials simply because Ashlands equipment uses a newer tier.
Deep North
Prioritize keeping:
- Petrified Tissue
- Bloodgold
- Timberwood
- Frostcore while establishing stations
- Seal Pelt
- Nornathread if using magic
- Branch-specific Essences for your chosen equipment
The exact amount worth keeping depends heavily on which Deep North equipment paths you intend to craft.
For the broader Deep North progression and what to do first, see our Valheim 1.0 Guide: Deep North Progression, New Gear & What to Do First.
Valheim 1.0 Material Traps
Iron doesn't become obsolete after the Swamp
This is probably the biggest resource-management mistake.
You may have finished crafting your Iron weapons, but Iron continues into later equipment, stations and building.
Don't dump it just because you left the Swamp.
Finewood remains valuable much later
Finewood's early-game appearance makes it easy to underestimate.
Its later equipment, boats, crafting and building uses give it unusually strong carryover value.
Black Metal isn't automatically finished after Plains
Black Metal can still have later crafting value.
Keep useful quantities rather than treating it as automatically obsolete.
Rare does not automatically mean “farm constantly”
This is especially important in the Deep North.
A rare material can still have narrow demand.
Rarity tells you how difficult it is to replace. It does not tell you how much you need.
Frozen Branch, Nornathread and certain creature-specific materials are good examples.
Frostcore becomes less important after its station requirements are satisfied
Frostcore has a very different value curve from Iron.
Its importance spikes when you're establishing the relevant crafting infrastructure and then falls.
That's a farm-then-stop-prioritizing resource.
Memorial Coal sounds important but isn't a normal crafting resource
The name makes it sound like something you should save for an important recipe.
It isn't.
Current 1.0 data confirms that nothing consumes Memorial Coal as a crafting ingredient.
This is exactly why the article's STOP category should remain small and evidence-based.
Resin isn't a useless common material
Resin still has useful crafting and utility applications.
You don't need to make it a dedicated farming target, but calling it worthless creates the wrong storage decision.
Keep some if your normal crafting and building activity consumes it.
Moose Sinew isn't a universal Deep North stockpile material
Moose Sinew is useful for specific Deep North gear.
That makes it worth keeping while you're crafting those items, but it doesn't justify telling every player to continuously farm it.
Build-specific demand matters.
FAQ
What materials should I keep in Valheim 1.0?
The safest long-term materials to keep include Iron, Finewood, Silver, Black Metal, Ancient Bark, Yggdrasil Wood, Linen Thread and Surtling Cores.
Deep North players should also pay attention to Bloodgold, Timberwood and Petrified Tissue.
“Keep” doesn't mean you need an enormous stockpile. It means you shouldn't discard the material simply because its original biome is behind you.
For players still learning the game's resource and storage systems, see our Valheim 1.0 Beginner Tips: 20 Things the Game Doesn't Explain Well guide.
What materials are worth farming in Valheim 1.0?
The strongest general farming priorities are Iron, Yggdrasil Wood, Sap, Linen Thread and Timberwood, with Finewood, Soft Tissue, Stone, Petrified Tissue and Bloodgold becoming more important depending on your build and current projects.
Is Iron still useful in late game?
Yes. Iron remains relevant well beyond the Swamp, including later equipment, crafting stations and building systems.
What is Bloodgold used for?
Bloodgold is a major Deep North crafting material used by the Nord equipment ecosystem and its later elemental branches. Your total demand depends on how many weapons, armor pieces and upgrades you intend to make.
So farm Bloodgold for your actual endgame crafting goals rather than treating it as an unlimited farming requirement.
Should I keep Soft Tissue?
Keep it if you use Eitr or intend to craft Eitr-related equipment.
Soft Tissue feeds the Refined Eitr side of the crafting system, making it much more important for magic-oriented characters.
If you aren't pursuing that system heavily, it doesn't need the same priority as Iron or Timberwood.
Can I stop collecting Resin?
Not completely.
Resin is a low-priority/conditional material rather than a genuine STOP resource. It continues to have utility and crafting uses, so there is no reason to deliberately farm it late game, but calling it useless is inaccurate.
What should I do with Petrified Tissue?
If you're pursuing Deep North crafting, treat Petrified Tissue as part of your Bloodgold-related crafting budget.
Keep gathering it while you're working toward your intended Nord or branch equipment, then reduce collection once those crafting goals are complete.
What Deep North materials should I save?
The most important general-purpose Deep North materials are Petrified Tissue, Bloodgold and Timberwood.
Keep Frostcore while establishing the required crafting infrastructure. Keep Nornathread, Frozen Branch and Frostfire/Thunderblood Essences according to the equipment or magic path you're actually pursuing.
Final Takeaway
The best way to manage Valheim 1.0 materials isn't to ask:
“Is this an old material or a new material?”
Ask:
“Does this material still have a meaningful job to do?”
That distinction prevents two common mistakes.
You don't want to throw away Iron, Finewood, Silver, Black Metal or Yggdrasil Wood simply because their original biome is behind you.
But you also don't want to spend hours farming every rare Deep North drop just because it looks valuable.
Use four simple decisions:
- FARM when current demand justifies active gathering.
- KEEP when the material has meaningful future value.
- CONDITIONAL when your build or project determines its importance.
- STOP when its actual crafting demand is exhausted.
For most players, the biggest storage lesson in Valheim 1.0 is simple:
Rare doesn't always mean important, and common doesn't always mean disposable.
If you're deciding what to spend those saved materials on, see our Valheim 1.0 Best Weapons Guide: What to Craft, Upgrade & Use in Each Biome.
For broader early-game resource and survival decisions, see our Valheim 1.0 Beginner Tips: 20 Things the Game Doesn't Explain Well guide.
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