Summary
Especially after the latest Ashlands Biome update,Valheimhas come a long way throughout its three-year early access period so far. However, as the stylish Norse survival game grows closer to its full release,Valheimstill has some room to grow by adding new features and improving some of the existing ones. One such area thatfuture updates forValheimshould arguably address is the lack of variety with types of buffs and debuffs in the game. Specifically,Valheimshould consider upgrading the throwable bombs and potions by giving them a wider range of utility effects.
As one of the longest-running pioneers among survival-crafting games,Minecraftis more often than not a benchmark for the genre to compare other, more recent, survival-crafting games to. With this in mind,Valheimshould consider taking notes fromMinecrafton how it can improve some of the game’s existing features. In particular,Valheimshould studyMinecraft’s splash potions and how they could inspire improvements forValheim’s own potions, as well as the game’s bombs.
Valheim’s Bombs Should Be More Than Just Damage Effects
Currently, there are only three types of bombs inValheim, ooze (poison), bile (poison and fire), and smoke bombs. Among all theelemental damage types inValheim, poison and fire are generally effective against most enemy types, and this translates to the ooze and bile bombs being relatively powerful ranged weapons for crowd control or against single targets. Not to mention, the ooze bombs in particular can be quite easy to craft in bulk from a relatively very early game stage inValheim, so all around they can be a reliable weapon against any enemy type.
Much like the ooze and bile bombs, the smoke bomb inValheiminflicts a DoT status effect, instead of providing a temporary obstruction that players can hide in as the name might suggest.
Yet while the ooze, bile, and smoke bombs can be surprisingly effective when it comes to crowd control, there’s still plenty of room to expandValheim’s bombs into much more than their current function as bursts of different elemental damage types. For example,Minecraft’s splash potions offer an extensive variety of buffs and debuffs far beyond just DoT or immediate bursts of damage thatValheimcould draw inspiration from. The bombs that are currently available inValheimare quite powerful, there’s no doubt about that, hence why expending on the utilities they provide could bea well-deserved change forValheim.
Valheim’s Potions Also Have Room to Grow
Valheimalready has a selection of potions that provide health, stamina efficiency, and resistance to elemental damage types, yet compared toMinecraft,Valheim’s potion buffs only scratch the surface of what kind of utilities they could potentially provide. Not to mention, sinceValheim’s potions are currently only for personal use, not allowing players to share buffs with teammates and debuffs with enemies is a missed opportunity. So considering thatValheim’s potions are effectively in the same boat as the game’s bombs when it comes to their limited use cases and effects, combining the two and adding new effects into the mix could be a game-changer.
Among all of thedifferent potion types inMinecraft, there’s a wide variety of offensive and defensive effects thatValheimcould benefit from experimenting with. Among the potion effects inMinecraft, some of the notable ones that would seemingly translate well toValheimare:
There are still plenty of additional buffs thatValheimcould experiment with, though the ones listed would arguably be a nice fit for the game. Ultimately, taking inspiration fromMinecraft’s potions to introduce more utility weapons andbuffs inValheimvia potions and bombs could prove to be a great addition to the game.
