Valheim offers a variety of biomes for players to explore, including waters, swamps, mountains, and more. But in order to travel large distances quickly, players will need a vehicle to get them around. And what could be more Valheim and Viking-inspired than sailing?
Building a Raft
In order to get started sailing, players will need to build a raft. While there are bigger and better ships available to be built once players have better supplies and an upgraded workbench in Valheim, the raft is great for early-exploration. With a workbench nearby, players will need 20 Wood, 6 Hide, and 6 Resin. Select the hammer and then "Raft" under the Miscellaneous tab. A left-mouse click will drop the player's new sailing vessel into the water.
Wood can be gathered from trees with a Valheim pickaxe and hides can be gathered from killing deer. Resin is only dropped by Graydwarves, and it is unfortunately needed for many important recipes in the game. Resin is not only needed for the raft, but also torches, fire arrows, and even the longships. But it is well worth the extra effort to grab up an extra six in order to make the raft and get sailing.
Sailing a Raft
Once the raft is complete and the player has left-mouse clicked to drop the raft into the water, players are ready to start sailing. First, if the raft is beached, players will have to swim behind it to push it away from land a little before climbing on board. Next, players need to determine the direction that the wind is blowing and use the wind to fill the sails.
Sailing with the wind is fairly basic, but sailing against the wind requires players to tack back and forth in a zigzag pattern, keeping the sail around 45 degrees to the oncoming wind. Interact with the rudder to move the raft in the correct direction and with the correct speed. WASD will drive the raft forward, turn it, or back it up. Thankfully, no matter how windy or stormy the waters get, there doesn't seem to be a way to capsize a raft at present, though players can get them beached or caught on rocks or other geometry. This may change in later updates to Valheim, as it is still in Early Access.
A Word of Caution
While players are pretty safe out sailing the seas, there is danger by the shore. As players steer onto beaches or near land, enemies can attack their raft from the shore. Keeping a safe distance between a raft and anything on the shoreline is a good idea when sailing Valheim's waters.
Valheim is available now in Early Access on PC.
Source: Valheim Fandom, Techraptor