You might have heard Hugin talking about the Surtling Core after obtaining your first ores in Valheim.

The only clue you have about this item at this point is that it is from under the earth.

This might be misleading because you might be thinking of using the Hoe for this, which is incorrect.

These Surtling Cores are hard to find and are not even available on the starting island.

This guide will show you how to get Surtling Cores in Valheim.

Entering Delves and Dungeons

Delves and Dungeons

Surtling Cores are only found inside delves and dungeons and once you enter one, they are still scarce.

You can find them when you start roaming around different islands as I was not able to find any of these on my starting island.

These are easy to find since most of the surrounding area near the entrance of delves and dungeons are standing out with a ton of boulders or a huge rock entrance.

Burial Chambers

Once you enter these dungeons, you will meet a mob of enemy skeletons and sometimes ghosts in a very compact area. There are different paths you can take but most of them end up as a dead-end which makes this whole place like a tiny labyrinth.

Rancid Remains is a type of skeleton you might have troubles with as they can inflict poison on you while hitting you for a ton of HP. Just clear everything out and bring a torch if you have trouble with the lightning but it is somehow manageable without one as well.

In these dungeons, you can find treasures such as valuable gems, coins, and the much needed Surtling Core. These areas may contain 4 or more Surtling Cores especially harder ones with Rancid Remains as enemies. You might need to level up your weapon skills for this one or at least have better quality weapons and armor.

Defeating Surtlings

If you find one of these ember glowing creatures, they also drop Surtling Cores. They also drop coal and if you are near a body of water, they can easily be lured to any body of water as they take damage from it.

If you are farming Surtling Cores, it is better to go for at least one to two dungeons as it is fairly easy to complete anyway with better rewards.

Swamps and Ashlands have a few Surtlings and the swamp biome should have at least 2-4 Surtlings depending on the size of the swamp.

After farming dungeons for Surtling Cores, you can go for these Surtlings in swamps when you are farming crypts already.

This is because you will need as many Surtlings Cores as you can depending on how long you want to play the game. As you keep exploring different islands, you will keep building bases while using portals to link everything together.

What Can You Do With Surtling Cores?

Surtling Cores are used to craft the charcoal kiln and the smelter. These will be your next step for progression that allows you to make stronger weapons and armors.

You only need 10 Surtling Cores and it depends if you want to establish more charcoal kilns and smelters on different bases. You will use all the other Surtling Cores for teleporters to move between your bases faster.

Charcoal Kiln

The charcoal kiln requires wood and in return, it gives you coal. You will need a ton of coal to activate the next structure unlocked.

Smelter

The smelter requires coal to run so that it can smelt all your ores. You will be able to discover new recipes after obtaining different kinds of smelted ores. These are used for the next tier armors and weapons which will be useful for the next altar bosses coming.

Forge

For the next one, you will need to craft a forge to obtain a whole new list of craftable items and this forge will now work as your next workbench. It will repair your next tier items, upgrade their quality, and more importantly, craft them for use.

Forge Crafts

Conclusion

This might be the next roadblock to progression once you have beaten Eikthyr. If you were exploring the ocean with a raft, you might have even found these dungeons even before fighting Eikthyr but it is definitely wiser to follow the game’s design and take it one step at a time.