Given the nature of Valheim and its procedurally generated World Seeds, attempting to speedrun the popular survival game is as much a test of luck as it is skill and proper planning. While speedrunning the game using the recently minted NG+ (New Game Plus) ruleset allows players to get their planning done before the run even begins, the randomness of the locations of each boss and their respective runes gives speedruns a devastating make or break variable, one that speedrunner NickRawcliffe managed to work in his favor when he bested his previous time by about 50 minutes, setting a new world record.

As reported by IGN, Valheim speedrunner NickRawcliffe set out to beat his PB (previous best) earlier this month utilizing the official NG+ ruleset that can be seen on speedrun.com. Essentially, a NG+ run has players attempt a run from the beginning of the game “with any skill levels (100 max),” and allows players to bring with them items that “can normally be found in game,” which of course leaves out items that can only be obtained via cheats. This effectively means that speedrunners ‘only’ have to find and kill each of the five bosses in order to win, though it is by no means as easy as it sounds.

NickRawcliffe starts his run basically naked, but his character has in his inventory all the required boss spawn items, along with some of the best weapons, armor, and food & drink. The speedrunner gets lucky and manages to take out the first boss, Eikthyr, within a minute’s time, after which he sets out to find The Elder. Along the way NickRawcliffe blesses his good RNG by praising the “god seed,” referencing the numerous mountains that provides him with good vantage point, the ease with which he finds some of the runes that reveal boss locations, and the overall minimal issues he has traversing the game world.

NickRawcliffe runs into his first bit of trouble when he sets his eyes on Moder, the game’s fourth boss. Though he discovers its location after toppling The Elder, the speedrunner makes a detour when he stumbles upon the location of Bonemass. Once he gets back on track after laying the glob to rest, NickRawcliffe finds himself at the base of a large mountain, which he must traverse and comb for three dragon eggs that will allow him to spawn the fourth boss. Unfortunately the mountain is beset by a fierce blizzard that lowers visibility long enough that the speedrunner wastes precious minutes fumbling through the snow until the storm subsides. Once he finds all three eggs and puts Moder to rest, the speedrunner makes his way to the nearest Planes biome and, once again, gets pretty lucky by spotting the Yaglulth stone circle off in the distance. From there the speedrunner buffs his character, throws on his gear, and dives headfirst into danger to topple the final boss and claim the world record.

Given the popularity of Valheim and how new the NG+ speedrun ruleset is, there will likely be numerous contenders looking to best NickRawcliffe’s world record. That said, the speedrunner was also extremely lucky during his run, and that simple fact may keep his 1h 23m 46s time in first place for the foreseeable future.

Valheim is currently available on PC through Steam.

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