Viking survival game Valheim is full of dangerous encounters, from errant skeletons and mosquitos to falling trees. However, the boss encounters like the Bonemass are definitely much more difficulty and deadly than other standard biome inhabitants. The Bonemass is the third world boss in Valheim, after Eikthyrnir and The Elder. So, how do you beat it?
Finding The Bonemass
First, you’ll need to know where the boss is! The Bonemass can be found in Swamp biomes, so be on the lookout for runestunes in Swamp areas and in the Sunken Crypts. Your world will contain multiple spawn locations for each boss, so if you are exploring multiple swamps or have multiple teams combing areas, you may find more than one spawn point for Bonemass. If you have the option to tackle the Bonemass in different locations, pick the one that involves the least sailing and the least going through rough Biomes like Plains.
This next part is important for any boss, except maybe Eikthyrnir, but make sure that you construct a portal and a rough dwelling somewhere safe near the boss. It’s entirely possible that you might die, and you will want a quick way to get back to your body to recover your loot and/or continue the fight. Trust me, you do not want to be building a boat every time you want to get back after a mishap only to get slaughtered by some random blobs or leeches on the way back to your body.
Summoning The Bonemass
You’re going to need bones. Withered bones. Specifically, you will need ten withered bones each time you want to summon up a Bonemass. These can be found in abundance in the Sunken Crypts dotted around the swamps, so you should be able to collect plenty. Then, you’ll need to go to the point on the map where you’ve identified the Bonemass location. Look for a giant glowing green skull, it’s hard to miss. Clear absolutely everything else around it to ensure that you have the least possible chances of getting attacked by some other enemies during the boss encounter. Bonemass spawns his own additional companion enemies, so you really don’t want even a single other potential foe coming into the fight.
Fighting The Bonemass
Everything was easy until this part. You’re going to want to take the best possible food you have into this battle, as the Bonemass can dish out incredible damage over time with poison and packs an incredibly powerful punch. The Bonemass also summons poisonous blobs and annoying skeletons regularly during the fight, and you will want to deal with them as soon as you can. Before you begin this fight, you will absolutely want to stock up on consumables, specifically anti-poison mead and healing potions. Without poison resistance, you are going to be playing a risky and doomed game here, as his giant tidal wave of green goo is inevitably going to hit you at some point. Bring the best gear you have, hopefully upgraded iron, and a good blunt weapon.
Utilizing one of the area-of-effect blunt weapons can be instrumental for controlling the tide of summoned enemies along the way. Don’t expect to be able to take out Bonemass with ranged weaponry like The Elder, as it will shrug off ranged damage like it’s nothing, so you are going to have to get in and get dirty, at great risk to your own person. For this reason, I suggest that you amp your food potential with some Lox meat from the Plains biome. The Plains are not safe, and filled with mosquitos, goblins, and the big lumbering Loxes. You can easily keep Loxes at bay as they are very slow, and you can cook their chunks for some high quality tier food. Also suggested are sausages or jam, get that hit point pool as high as possible. If you are lucky, a Sunken Crypt can be nearby the summoning location that you can pull the Bonemass to. If you and your team battle near the Crypt, you can duck into the safety of the dungeon if things get too hot to handle outside. Inside, you can heal up and prepare to continue the fight.
The Bonemass Rewards And Beyond
The Bonemass drops a trophy and another important item that can change your interactions in all zones, the Wishbone. The Bonemass trophy unlocks a new special magical effect that you can activate at the ringed stones where you turn all the boss trophies in, and gives you resistance that can help you in combat as an activated ability. The other curious drop from Bonemass is the Wishbone, which will let you discover silver ore as well as becoming a sort of treasure compass.
With the Wishbone active (it takes up your “belt” slot) you will hear chimes and see visual cues as you walk along through areas that function as a “hot/cold” meter that can lead you to buried treasure, sunken deposits of iron, and more! When you get to the apex of the magical pulsing and beeping, bust out your pickaxe and start digging! You can find all kinds of useful stuff underneath the earth. If you’re exploring with a team, only one of you needs to have the Wishbone active, and all other players can see it pulsing on that person. That way, your other team members can still have their mighty mighty belts equipped for maximum ore yields!
