Valheim’s Monsters Will Now Prioritize Players Again

The 1st of the month brought Patch 0.156.2 to Valheim, which has some of the briefest patch notes I’ve ever seen:

• AI tweaks (Monsters should always target creatures [including players] first if they have a clear path to them & monsters should only attack low priority structures [walls etc.] if they are trying to get to a player)

Previously, monsters seemed obsessed with destroying player-built structures, even if the player was outside their walls and willing to fight. The issues stemmed from the previous patch (0.155.7), in which developer Iron Gate Studios made monsters “slightly more aggressive and attack your buildings etc. When they are not able to attack you.”

Players quickly discovered that the patch did a lot more than simply make the ai “slightly more aggressive”. It didn’t take long for the subreddit to become flooded with posts describing hordes of relentless greydwarves, or mobs ignoring a player attacking them in favor of destroying their base. Fortunately, it only took a week for the devs to rectify the situation, so we can all laugh about it once we’ve rebuilt our poor, troll-ravaged bases.