Valheim is full of secrets and hard-to-obtain materials that some players may never see or even attempt to gain, and one of the biggest examples of that is the Chitin resource that players can risk life and limb on the high seas to obtain.
If you haven’t gone sailing yet, there’s a good chance that you haven’t even heard of this resource. If you have, it still isn’t a sure thing, as the material isn’t as naturally occurring or unmoving as others are, and it’s not something suggested to challenge with only a raft.
When sailing in the Ocean biome, you may run into small, round islands. These grayish landmasses may have trees and stones on them, as well as small circular objects called Abyssal Barnacles. Jumping onto this island is perfectly fine – if you behave yourself.
Once you start mining the resources on the “island,” you have a very limited amount of time before the island disappears. You aren’t actually on a landmass – you’re on the back of a massive ocean-dwelling Leviathan, and driving a pick into it to pry off the barnacles isn’t making it very happy.
But you can dismiss the panic of thinking a kraken tentacle is about to smash you and leave your corpse and ruined boat in the middle of the open seas – the Leviathan is thankfully quite docile! That said, it still isn’t going to just let you use it as a strip mine.
Get as many barnacles as you can manage, but keep your boat close by, and under no circumstances should you allow yourself to become over-encumbered. You don’t have long before the water starts churning and the Leviathan sinks back below the waves.
If your boat is too close, it will be taking rather heavy damage, so park it within jumping distance without leaving it directly next to the Leviathan. If your boat is destroyed on the high seas, it’s almost definitely a death sentence.
Once you have as much chitin as you’re able to obtain, you’ll unlock two new recipes (assuming you have the other materials you need unlocked as well). The first is the Harpoon, which will be useful for grounding Sea Serpents or wrangling other beasts that you may want to tame or use.
Second is the Abyssal Edge, the second most powerful knife in the game. This knife will require chitin to upgrade, so stock up on as much as you can to keep them strong – it takes 20 to craft and another 60 to upgrade to max.
The Harpoon, however, is purely utility and will not need any upgrades. Craft it for 30 chitin and you’ll be fine to use it for as long as you have it in your inventory!
