A new patch for the hit Viking survival action game Valheim removes the ability to farm efficiently with campfires. Players have used campfires to contain and kill mobs in an efficient manner instead of hunting them down. Particularly, the method was used to farm Valheim's Greydwarves, which spawn in up to groups of one to three. Greydwarves drop stones and wood, materials necessary for both early and late-game crafting.
Players were able to create the mob farm was by surrounding the spawn point of the mobs, in this case, Greydwarves, with campfires and raised ground to contain the mobs dropping down. Once the mob drops into the pit of fire, it begins to take damage over time. Eventually, the mob will die, dropping its contents below for players to pick up. Essentially all the player has to do is wait around the farm for a while, go down to pick up the materials dropped, rinse and repeat. This strategy makes the grind of amassing these materials much faster, saving time to try and do other things.
However, with the latest patch notes released on Steam, the infinite spawn killing of Greydwarves is over. Campfires, bonfires and hearth fires now take damage when dealing damage, eliminating the ability to farm enemies infinitely. How fast the campfires burn out when dealing damage is not listed, but the patch removes the AFK aspect of farming mobs – at least with this method.
A different method of doing the farm is already making the rounds on the internet. In this method, the player must build ground around the mob spawn, leaving an area on one side that funnels the mobs into a pit where the player can kill them. While the new patch removed the campfire from the spawn-killing equation, it doesn’t negate braziers, which take no damage from dealing damage and can be refueled with coal. Iron Gate might have taken away one option to make farming items in Valheim more leisurely, but it’s making players think of other ways using similar methods.
As Valheim continues to grow with each update, it’s more than likely that new farming methods will arise. Whether or not Iron Gate does anything to mitigate those methods in the future remains to be seen. However, with Valheim's upcoming Hearth and Home update and three other named updates planned this year, anticipate these new methods to appear sooner rather than later.
Source: Steam