Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Settlement - functions and upgrades Assassin's Creed Valhalla guide, walkthrough
This page of the guide to AC Valhalla contains all the important information about Ravensthorpe. From it you will learn what the settlement is used for, how to unlock and expand it. You will also find information about suppers or about Gunnar's disappearance. The development of the settlement is connected with such achievements as Builder or Home Sweet Home.
Last update: 04 January 2024
This page of the Assassin's Creed: Valhalla guide you will find all the most important information about the Ravensthorpe settlement, where the Vikings settle when they arrive in England. You will find out where the settlement is located, how to quickly return to the settlement, how to develop the settlement, how to arrange a feast, and what unique activities await in the settlement.
- Fornburg - is it a settlement?
- How to unlock access to the settlement?
- Returning to the settlement
- The settlement - development and main features
- Problem with developing the settlement to level 6
- Feast – how and why organize it?
- Gunnar - where did he go?
Fornburg - is it a settlement?
Fornburg is not the settlement described on this page. It is a village in Norway, which is home to Eivor and his fellow Vikings. You visit Fornburg for the first time shortly after start of the game. It offers many basic activities (e.g. blacksmith hut, merchant, mini-games). However, Fornburg cannot be developed in any way.
It is worth noting that even after the Vikings set off to conquer England Fornburg will not suddenly become unavailable. The game allows you to return to Norway and this means, among other things, the opportunity to visit your home village again.
How to unlock access to the settlement?
You will be able to establish a settlement soon after you arrive at England. The heroes will reach the abandoned Ragnarssons' Encampment, which was looted by Saxon bandits. After dealing with thugs and meeting with the surviving civilians, the Vikings decide to name the settlement Ravensthorpe and make it their starting point.
Returning to the settlement
You can return to the settlement at any time during the game. This is also possible thanks to the fast travel - you can choose the main building of the settlement or the marina. Returning is especially advisable after you get the necessary materials for further development.
The settlement - development and main features
You will learn more about the development of settlement during the Settling Down story quest. You will begin it as soon as the settlement is established. Below you will find the most important information on this subject:
- Initially, there are no unique buildings in the settlement. You have to erect more buildings yourself and this will allow you to increase the Renown of the settlement. Unlocking each successive rank unlocks new types of buildings to be erected. Ultimately, the village can reach level 6.
- A raven can help in finding erected buildings and objects suitable to be built. Upon using Raven's Eye View, you can pause the cursor on object icons and learn more about them.
- You need crafting materials to erect more buildings in the settlement . This requires Supplies and Raw Materials.
- Raw Materials are obtained primarily by organizing abbey raids (raids are described in more detail on a separate page). Supplies and raw materials can be found in large chests found during the raids. Always try to open all of the chests with supplies on the monastery premises.
- You can also acquire crafting materials with another loot by exploring the game world, but this is more troublesome. In general, always try to attack all abbeys from regions with recommended power lower than Eivor's current power. This will make it easy for you to rob any such monastery.
- The raw materials can also be received as a reward for creating a covenant, i.e. for finishing the storyline in one of the regions of the game world.
- Choose the buildings that are most useful for the settlement first. For example, your first purchase should be the Bureau of the Hidden Ones (assassins), which will unlock the mechanics of hunting for members of the Order of the Ancients. Recommended buildings to buy for raw materials are listed on the Best Buildings of the settlement page in the FAQ section.
- Higher level buildings for the settlement, unfortunately, require the use of larger amounts of crafting materials. However, sometimes it is better to allocate resources to 1 more useful higher-level building than to 2 less useful lower-level buildings.
- There are also spots for building decorative objects in the settlement. These can include for example a large statue or a well. These constructions have no practical application. New decorative objects can be unlocked for free by finding collectibles and completing some quests. You can also buy them with silver after you build a trading post in the settlement or with real money in the game store.
At the highest levels of the settlement, you get a chance to improve some of the existing buildings. You will need to spend even more crafting materials on this. The improvement of a cattle farm presented in the picture may increase the bonus to the statistics from a feast.
We recommend that you first choose completely new buildings that unlock unique features. Once they are done, you can start thinking about potential improvements to existing ones.
- In the central part of the settlement, from the very beginning, there is a large Longhouse building. This building can primarily be used as a place for feasts which can temporarily increase the hero's stats - more about them in the next subsection.
- In the main building, there is Eivor's room - there you can check the current status of the village (e.g. information about new buildings), sleep in bed and read messages.
- In one of the rooms of the main building, there is a table with the Alliance Map maintained by Randvi. You can use it to plan alliances and unlock new story lines. This is described in more detail on a separate page of the guide.
- These messages appear in your mailbox – the game will show the letter icon every time new mail arrives. The majority of the letters include thanks for your help and invitations to visit again. Some letters may also come with gifts – unique gear. After reading a letter, you will get a gift – you can add it to your inventory.
Problem with developing the settlement to level 6
You can have two problems with developing the settlement to the highest, sixth, level:
1) There are no more buildings to build - Use the raven to locate the Fowl Farm. You have probably missed this building, as it is located further away from the other huts. Looking at the settlement from the harbor side, the farm is located far to the right, next to the main building. This farm also needs to be further improved. You will have to upgrade it a few times.
2) I am out of supplies - This is a problem you can experience even after you raid all the monasteries and open all the large chests (those marked with barrel icons). When exploring the map, look for smaller chests similar to the one in the picture. They are marked with smaller yellow dots, which become visible only after zooming the map in. These types of chests can also contain supplies. Try to look for smaller chests in the raided monasteries, as well as in towns and large camps.
Feast – how and why organize it?
The feast is one of the most important unique mechanics of the Ravensthorpe settlement. By organizing the feasts, you temporarily increase Eivor's selected statistics. The stats bonus/booster lasts for 3 hours.
They are worth hosting if you're going to have some tough fights in the near future, such as optional bosses - Daughters of Lerion, fanatics, or legendary animals. Thanks to Eivor's increased stats, you will have much higher chances of success.
You must first build at least one building in the settlement that grants a feast bonus - it can be a distillery or a bakery. You can find about their bonuses in the construction window. In the example from the picture the distillery allows you to extend Eivor's health bar by 25 points.
You start a feast by interacting with the bell near the main building of the settlement. If it is not interactive, make sure you have at least 1 building with a feast bonus or just make enough progress in the game.
You have to pay for a feast with silver, but it is still a good investment, especially if you have unlocked more than one bonus to the statistics. A single feast should cost you less than 100 silver – you can get this amount by robbing a single larger hostile location.
As we have already mentioned, the stat bonuses from a feast last for 3 hours (the game stops the counter after opening a menu or the pause secreen). The screen shows a small bar of your current bonus. Additionally, you can open the inventory move the cursor over the feast icon to check how long the bonus will last.
When the bonus disappears, you can of course organize another feast to get it again.
Gunnar - where did he go?
After completing one of the later sagas (series of quests), you may notice that the blacksmith Gunnar has disappeared from the settlement and was replaced by a black woman named Rima.
Fortunately, you don't have to be afraid of bad news - Gunnar didn't die or leave the Raven Clan permanently. By talking to Rima, you will learn that she is Gunnar's friend and that she is only replacing him temporarily. Gunnar is in the Glowecestrescire region where he got engaged to Brigid. You will be able to follow this storyline in detail when deciding to play the saga in Glowecestrescire.