One-Handed Axes: Every Tier, Stats and Crafting Recipes

Why One-Handed Axes Deserve More Respect

The one-handed axe is the first weapon you hold in Valheim, and most players drop it from combat after a few hours. That is a mistake. Swords edge them out in raw DPS and damage carryover, but axes double as your woodcutting tool. One inventory slot covers both fighting and gathering.

Free skill levels

Your Axes skill rises every time you chop a tree. By the time you face something serious, it is probably at 30 or 40 from building your base. That means higher damage, faster swings and lower stamina costs, while a fresh sword user starts from zero.

What this guide covers

The lineup now runs from the Stone Axe you make in your first five minutes to the Valheim 1.0 Nord Axe forged with Bloodgold. Below you will find every tier, every recipe and the techniques that separate axe mains from players who only cut trees.

How One-Handed Axe Combat Works

Every one-handed axe shares the same attack patterns, so learning them once pays off for the whole game.

Primary combo

The primary attack is a three-hit combo lasting 2.58 seconds (0.96s, 0.80s and 0.82s between swings). The third hit deals double damage with 20% extra knockback, so commit to the full chain whenever it is safe.

Secondary overhead chop

The secondary attack is a slow 1.5x overhead chop that costs double stamina. Its vertical arc reaches lower than normal swings, and it has no multitarget penalty. Use it to:

• hit Leeches from the shoreline without entering the water
• strike enemies on uneven ground that horizontal swings pass over
• smash eggs on the floor of Infested Mines
• clear tree stumps, its original purpose

The table below covers the shared range, arc and parry values. The movement penalty is mild enough that you will barely notice it.

Every One-Handed Axe: Stats and Crafting Recipes

The axes below are listed in progression order. Each upgrade can unlock new tree types, so a better axe means better building materials as well as more damage. Jotun Bane has its own detailed article but is summarised here.

Stone Axe

The Stone Axe is the first tool you craft, straight from the crafting menu with no Workbench needed (you need one to upgrade it). Its damage is tiny, but it chops Beech, Fir and Pine and can handle Greylings and the odd Neck. Replace it as soon as you find Flint. At 1.5 weight it is one of the lightest axes.

Flint Axe

The Flint Axe carries you through the Meadows and into early Black Forest trips. It out-damages the Stone Axe at every quality, and Flint lies along almost any shoreline. Upgrades add Leather Scraps, so kill some Boar on the way. It chops the same trees as the Stone Axe, which rarely matters this early.

Bronze Axe

The Bronze Axe is a real milestone. Base damage doubles over Flint, and it is the first axe that chops Birch and Oak, the source of Finewood. You need a Forge, which means beating Eikthyr for the Antler Pickaxe to mine Copper and Tin. Expect to spend 32 Bronze and 8 Leather Scraps for a fully upgraded axe.

In combat

The third combo hit lands for 80 Slash before skill bonuses, enough to stagger or kill most basic Greydwarfs and Skeletons. Pair it with a Bronze Buckler for a reliable early setup.

Iron Axe

The Iron Axe is the mid-game workhorse, and many players keep it through the Mountains and into the early Plains. It chops the same trees as the Bronze Axe, so the draw here is pure combat power.

Watch your Iron

Iron is slow to farm from Sunken Crypts. The craft takes 20 Iron, and a maxed axe totals 80 Iron and 8 Leather Scraps. Most players should craft it at quality 1 and spend the rest on armor. It needs a Forge at level 2, so add one Forge upgrade such as the Forge Cooler or Anvils first.

Black Metal Axe

The Black Metal Axe is where axes become serious weapons. Its third combo hit lands for 200 Slash at base quality, close to comparable swords. It is also the first axe that chops Yggdrasil Shoots and Scorched Trees for Mistlands and Ashlands wood.

New materials

The recipe swaps Wood for Finewood and Leather Scraps for Linen Thread, which needs Flax from the Plains. Black Metal comes from smelting Black Metal Scrap dropped by Fulings. The Forge level climbs from 4 to 7 for the final upgrade. A maxed axe costs:

• 6 Finewood
• 80 Black Metal
• 35 Linen Thread

Jotun Bane

Jotun Bane is the Mistlands axe, forged at the Black Forge. It trades some Slash for 40 Poison damage, which shines against enemies that are not poison resistant. A full upgrade costs 5 Yggdrasil Wood, 75 Iron, 9 Bilebag and 16 Refined Eitr. See the dedicated Jotun Bane guide for details.

Nord Axe and Its Variants (New in 1.0)

The Deep North adds the strongest one-handed axes in the game. The Nord Axe is forged at the Black Forge (level 4) with a Mould: Nord Axe, 20 Bloodgold and 10 Timberwood. Maxing it costs 80 Bloodgold and 40 Timberwood in total.

Elemental upgrades

You can rework a Nord Axe into one of two variants:

• Thunderblood Axe: Nord Axe, 20 Bloodgold and 1 Thunderblood Essence, adding Lightning damage. Maxed total: 80 Bloodgold and 7 Thunderblood Essence.
• Frostfire Axe: Nord Axe, 20 Bloodgold and 1 Frostfire Essence. It trades Slash for heavy Frost plus a little Fire. Maxed total: 80 Bloodgold and 7 Frostfire Essence.

Axes vs Swords: The Honest Comparison

In pure combat, swords beat one-handed axes. They swing slightly faster, their secondary attack deals 3x damage instead of 1.5x, and they carry damage over: when a sword kill passes through to a second target, leftover damage continues. An axe hits the second enemy independently.

Why choose axes anyway

1. Inventory space. A sword user also carries an axe for chopping; an axe user carries one tool.
2. Free skill levels from woodcutting, at every stage of the game.
3. Late-game axes close the gap. From the Plains onward, player skill matters more than weapon choice.

Combat Tips and Advanced Techniques

Use a Buckler

Always pair a one-handed axe with a shield. Bucklers have the best parry multiplier, and axes already carry a 2x parry bonus. Parry, swing the full three-hit combo, reposition and repeat: that rhythm carries most single-target fights.

Manage stamina

Primary swings cost from 6 stamina (Stone Axe) to 16 (Jotun Bane and the Nord Axe family), and the secondary attack costs double. Running dry mid-combo leaves you exposed. Bring two health foods and one stamina food, switching to two stamina foods only against predictable, parry-friendly enemies.

Leeches from the shore

Stand at the water's edge, look down slightly and use the overhead chop. The vertical swing reaches into the water and one-shots most Leeches, saving arrows and keeping you out of the muck.

Group fights

Without damage carryover, axes struggle against crowds compared to swords and atgeirs. Isolate enemies and use doorways and chokepoints. In dungeons, the 90-degree arc and 2.2 meter range can reach enemies through narrow doorways.

Which Trees Can Each Axe Chop?

Your axe decides which trees you can chop, and that gates your building and crafting options:

• Stone and Flint Axe: Beech, Fir and Pine, for Wood and Core Wood.
• Bronze and Iron Axe: adds Birch and Oak, for Finewood.
• Black Metal Axe and later: adds Yggdrasil Shoots and Scorched Trees, needed for Mistlands and Ashlands recipes.

The Bronze Axe is a progression gate

You cannot build with Finewood until you have a Bronze Axe, and Finewood goes into the Finewood Bow, the Karve (your first sailing ship) and many furniture pieces. Make it a priority the moment your Forge is up.