Jotun Bane: Crafting, Stats & Comparison vs Black Metal Axe

The Jotun Bane sparks genuine debate in the Valheim community. On paper it sounds fantastic: a Mistlands one-handed axe with poison damage, an eerie yellow glow and lore about slaying giants.

In practice it is polarizing. Some players swear by it as their Mistlands tree chopper; others dismiss it as an expensive sidegrade to the Black Metal Axe. The truth sits in the middle.

It is crafted at the Black Forge from Refined Eitr and Bilebags from Gjall, and it is the sixth one-handed axe in the progression. It chops every tree type, including Yggdrasil Shoots and the Ashlands trees that yield Ashwood, and it is the only one-handed axe with built-in poison on every swing. Does that poison matter in combat?

How to Get the Materials

Yggdrasil Wood and Iron are easy once you are exploring the Mistlands. The other two ingredients need infrastructure new explorers often lack.

Bilebags from Gjall

Every Gjall drops 1 Bilebag, so the base craft takes 3 kills. Gjall are rare spawns, usually in the middle of Mistlands biomes, and you will hear them first: a sound between an airplane engine and an air horn.

• 1,500 HP at base level, resistant to Fire.
• Spits fireballs dealing 50 Blunt and 80 Fire damage.
• Drops eggs that hatch into Ticks.
• Its shake attack cannot be blocked or dodged, so bows are the safest approach.

Refined Eitr

The Eitr Refinery makes 1 Refined Eitr from 1 Sap and 1 Soft Tissue.

Set up Sap Extractors on Yggdrasil roots, and get Soft Tissue by mining giant remains (Dvergr Mages and Rogues also drop 1-2 a quarter of the time). Carapace armor, staffs and other Mistlands gear all compete for the same Eitr, and that is the core tension with this weapon.

Understanding the Poison Damage

The poison is both better and worse than it looks, depending on your skill. The 40 Poison on the tooltip is a base value that scales with your Axes skill. At low skill you might see only 3 to 5 poison per second, which feels terrible. From skill 75 up it becomes noticeably more impactful.

Poison does not stack

Reapplying poison resets the timer instead of adding a second effect. One-handed axes swing fast, so you reset the timer before it finishes ticking and waste much of the theoretical damage. A slow battleaxe would suit poison better.

Where it helps

• Enemies you hit once and then kite.
• Fights where you alternate between blocking and attacking.
• Boss fights and long engagements where the ticks have time to work.

Against regular Seekers, most fights end before the poison makes a real difference.

Jotun Bane vs Black Metal Axe: The Real Comparison

The Black Metal Axe is a Plains weapon that needs no Refined Eitr or Bilebags. Its damage is pure Slash, so every point benefits from Slash weaknesses.

Why the Jotun Bane's total misleads

On paper, 80 Slash plus 40 Poison beats the Black Metal Axe's 100 Slash. But each part is checked against resistances separately, and enemies immune to Poison (common in later biomes) only take the Slash. The Black Metal Axe also costs 2 less stamina per swing, so you swing more before running dry.

Chopping: the Jotun Bane wins

Its Chop is 10 points higher at every quality, which occasionally saves a swing per tree. Poison does nothing to trees; only Chop matters. Both axes fell every tree type, including Yggdrasil Shoots and Ashlands trees.

Upgrade Costs and Whether to Max It

Upgrade costs escalate. Taking the Jotun Bane to quality 4 costs 5 Yggdrasil Wood, 75 Iron, 9 Bilebags and 16 Refined Eitr in total. The Iron is manageable thanks to Scrap Iron in Infested Mines. The bottleneck is Bilebags: 9 means 9 Gjall kills, which can take a long time.

The sweet spot: quality 2

Quality 2 costs only 10 Iron, 1 Bilebag and 1 Refined Eitr, for 85 Slash, 73 Chop and 300 durability. Beyond that, returns diminish, since those Bilebags and Eitr could become Bile Bombs or other Mistlands gear.

Combat Tips and Best Uses

Primary combo

A 3-hit combo whose final hit deals double damage with 20% extra knockback, together with a fresh poison application. Parry with a Carapace Buckler, then land the full combo. The 3x backstab applies to both Slash and Poison, so hits from behind are devastating.

Secondary attack

The overhead chop deals 1.5x damage to every type: 120 Slash and 60 Poison at quality 1. It costs 32 stamina and takes 2.0 seconds, but hits vertically with no multi-target penalty. Use it on low stumps that normal swings miss and to finish staggered enemies.

Reach and glow

• Reach: 2.2 range and a 90-degree arc, identical to the Black Metal Axe, though players report it can feel shorter against fast targets like Deathsquitos. Close the gap before swinging.
• Glow: a little light in the Infested Mines when your Wisp is finicky, but it raises your visibility while sneaking by about 20%. Unequip it to sneak.

What Comes After the Jotun Bane

The Jotun Bane is no longer the last one-handed axe. Valheim 1.0 adds the Nord Axe, cast at a level 4 Black Forge from Bloodgold, Timberwood and the Mould: Nord Axe. It upgrades into the Thunderblood Axe or Frostfire Axe. All three hit far harder and chop faster than the Jotun Bane.

The Verdict

The Jotun Bane is not a bad weapon. It is a niche weapon with a steep opportunity cost. With spare Refined Eitr and Bilebags after your Carapace armor and main weapons, it is a superior tree chopper that holds its own in a pinch. It looks incredible, and the poison adds value in long fights.

When to skip it

If every scrap of Refined Eitr still matters, stick with your Black Metal Axe. It does 90% of the job for zero Eitr. The Jotun Bane is a luxury, and that is fine: sometimes you just want a glowing, poison-dripping axe that makes chopping feel like a Norse power fantasy.