There’s a chance that you’re going to die while playing Valheim. Don’t worry; that’s natural and expected. However, after you die, there are a few status effects that are applied to you throughout your desperate return to normalcy. No Skill Drain is one you get right away. However, there’s also the Corpse Run buff that provides powerful but short-term affects. So, what is this buff, and what does it actually do?
What Does Corpse Run Mean in Valheim?
Corpse Run is a defensive buff that you receive after picking your grave and retrieving your equipment. It gives you fifty seconds to reorganize your inventory, reequip your items, and then either fight or run for your life. During that time, you get a massive boost to your defenses, life regeneration, and stamina cost reduction. This can be very useful for bailing out of fights immediately.
To be specific, Corpse Run decreases your Run and Jump stamina usage by 75%. In addition, it gives you Very Resistant buffs against Blunt, Slash, and Pierce. It does not greatly reduce the damage of non-physical attacks, such as fireballs or poison; those can still kill you quickly. Be careful about entering areas where you died because of elemental damage.
Otherwise, Corpse Run is a massive buff — large enough to help you take on encampments way beyond your level thanks to its damage resistances. The modifiers are enough to allow someone who is completely unarmored to tank a Deathsquito hit at 25 health, and be just fine!
However, this only lasts for 50 seconds, and you might be surprised at how hard you get clotheslined afterwards. Pay attention to the buff if you want to try and abuse that high damage reduction!
Speaking of slight cheese, if you use the Eikthyr ability while Corpse Run is active, you can actually regenerate stamina while sprinting. This is hilarious, but not too useful, since Eikthyr already reduces stamina use by quite a bit. Still, both buffs can help you run away from danger toward safety.
Need more help for your Viking purgatory experience? Check out some of our other Valheim guides:
- How to Make Fish Wraps in Valheim
- How to Upgrade the Workbench in Valheim
- Valheim and the Survival Game Renaissance
