Valheim Drakes are fierce, dragon-like creatures that can fly and are often considered counterparts to wyrms. They are the hatchlings of Moder, the final boss of the Mountain biome.

You can find them in the skies, soaring over snowy peaks, watching carefully over their nests on the ground below. If you are very unlucky, you may find a Dragon Egg nestled within! 🙂

 

Valheim Drake Highlights:

  • Drake Trophy (very rare drop)
    • Drake helmet
  • Freeze Gland (drop rate of 100%)
    • Frost Arrow (26 Pierce, 52 Frost damage)
    • Frostner (club weapon that does 40 Frost, 35 Blunt, 20 Spirit damage)
  • Weakness: fire damage
  • Immunities: frost and spirit damage

 

Valheim Drake

Valheim Drake Mechanics

Drakes have attacks infused with the element of ice. They use a 3-shot attack with their ice breath. These attacks inflict a Frost Effect, causing a slow down for 2 to 5 seconds. This significantly slows you down to the pace of a leisurely walk, without the leisure, because a nasty dragon is pounding you! Freeze Effect prevents you from running and sprinting.

The Drake will make a follow-up to the attack by flying in a small circle, then repeating the attack sequence once again.

The fight-pattern for Drakes is quite straightforward and predictable. The Drake will fly towards the player, use its frost breath, which hits 3 times, circle around and then repeat the pattern.

Valheim Drake Frost Breath Attack

Drake Evasion Tactics

You can evade the frost breath, if you’re quick on your feet. But if you fail to avoid the attack, you will be inflicted with a slow-down debuff which is very annoying.

But even if you do get hit with Frost Effect, you can still doge and use terrain to block thier attacks

 

How to Roll Dodge:

  1. Press and hold Block (RMB)
  2. Press and hold any directional key. This determines the direction you will roll.
  3. Press SPACE BAR to start the roll. (Note that if no directional key is pressed, you will default to rolling backwards)
  4. Note that you will still be damaged while pressing Block with a bow equipped, but the point is to totally evade the Drake’s frost attack.
Valheim Drake Battle: Evade

Run behind rocks and trees to block the Drake’s Frost Breath.

Drakes Hate the Ground

In Valheim, Drakes always remain in a state of flight. They very rarely come within melee range. You will have to use a bow and arrows to defeat them.

 

Harpooning a Drake:

I experimented with an Abyssal Harpoon on a Drake, but it didn’t seem to help at all. The drake still flew in the same attack pattern.

When you attack something harpooned, the chain breaks as well. So it’s not very useful and doesn’t hold the Drake in place.

He still flies away and circles back to you in the same manner as before, with or without a chain.

 

 

Valheim Drake Battle with a Bow & Arrows

Drake Hunting Preparation

Wolf Armor and frost-resistance will make Drake hunting a lot easier.

Bring your best bow and arrows. Fire Arrows and Poison Arrows work well, but I think Fire Arrows seems to do more damage. Drakes are vulnverable to fire damage.

Going into the Mountain biome will give you the active effect Freezing. You can negate this with special items that have Frost Resistance.

Frost Resist Mountain Gear:

  • Frost resistance mead
  • Lox cape
  • Wolf fur cape
  • Wolf armor chest
  • Campfires eliminate Frost effects.

Note that Wolf armor legs do not offer frost resistance.

Valheim Fire Arrow Craft Recipe
Valheim Drake Hunting with the Draugr Fang

Drake Trophy Aquisition

The Drake Trophy is a very rare drop for the majority of players. Viking grumbles abound in pub and parlor!

Don’t loose faith! A Viking never says quit!

The drop rate has been reported as 5%, but many players experience a much lower rate than that.

 

Drake Trophy = Viking Glory?

In Valheim, we gain trophies from achieving different feats, allowing us to hang these depictions of valor and heroism on the walls of our residence. Therefore, these trophies are nothing short of our portrayal of combat skill in Valheim!

Just like the lore that the Viking era dictates, the obtained trophies are often in the shape of the creature’s head.

But the main goal of most Drake hunters is the ability to craft Frost Arrows, Drake Helmets, and Frostner.

 

Valheim Drake Trophy on Display with an Item Stand

Now who doesn’t want a Drake Head to brag and brawl under?

Drake Trophy Display

Have so many Drake Trophies, you don’t know what to do with them?

Show off your hunting prowess and superior divine favor, by displaying a Drake Head for all to see!

 

  • Drake Trophy can be put on an Item Stand for all to admire.
  • Item Stand becomes available once Fine wood and Bronze nails are collected.
  • Item Stand is built with the Hammer under the furniture category.
    • Item stand (vertical) – display your Drake Trophy on a wall
      • Fine wood x4
      • Bronze nails x1
      • Workbench
    • Item stand (horizontal) – display your Drake Trophy on a flat surface
      • Fine wood x4
      • Bronze nails x1
      • Workbench
Valheim Item Stand for Trophies

Drake Helmet Crafting

The Drake Helmet cafting recipe is unlocked once you discover Silver, Wolf Pelt, and Drake Trophy.

It is crafted at the Forge.

 

  • 20 Silver
    • Silver can be smelted from Silver Ore in a Smelter using Coal as fuel.
    • A Wishbone is very valuable for finding Silver Deposits.
    • Find silver in the mountain biome.
    • Greater chance of finding Silver on larger mountains.
  • 2 Wolf pelt
    • Wolf Pelt is a drop from Wolves in the Mountain biome.
  • 2 Drake trophy
    • very rare drop from Drakes in the Mountain biome.
Valheim Drake Helmet Craft Recipe

The Drake Helmet is amongst the most difficult recipes to craft, at least for now. For starters, players have to mine silver ores and acquire at least 20 Silver for crafting the helmet. After that, you’d need 2 wolf pelts, as well as 2 Drake trophies, which is definitely not an easy task, even for more skilled players. Drake Trophies have a very low drop rate and may take days to find.

Valheim Drake Helmet with Drakes Flying

The Drake Helmet has curved horns in the back!

Drake Helmet Stats

The Drake Helmet rewards you well for your efforts in grinding for Drake Trophies.

Drake Helmet boasts an immense amount of durability and armor, which varies relative to its level.

Upgrades to Drake Helmet cost silver and not Drake Trophies. Whew!

 

Helmet Level Durability Armor Required Ingredients Forge level
1 1000 20 20 Silver, 2 Wolf pelt,
2 Drake trophy
2
2 1200 22 5 Silver 3
3 1400 24 10 Silver 4
4 1600 26 15 Silver 5

Drakes in a Builder?

Valheim has taken the gaming world by storm, amassing over a million players in just 10 days after its release. And interestingly, the game is still in its Early Access phase. So, what exactly caught everyone’s attention? The answer is quite simple yet complicated. Valheim is a Viking-theme game that offers a sandbox-survival experience, especially for the PvE aspect. Simply put, the game is a mix of Minecraft and the Witcher, but with a Viking theme going on. The game was received with ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ reviews on Steam.

However, we already know that, don’t we? The world of Valheim is filled with a variety of monsters and mythical creatures. With the likes of serpents, elders, bonemasses, and much more, Valheim simply continues to astonish the player base even after a month of its release.

Similarly, one other distinct creature, that most find quite thrilling to encounter, is the Drake.