CustomWeaponDrops
Enemies drop the weapons and shields they were carrying when they die. Drop chance and item quality scale with star level. Fully configurable.
About this mod Author’s original text
Custom Weapon Drops
by YouDied
Enemies in Valheim carry weapons — but when they die, those weapons vanish. This mod changes that. Melee and ranged enemies now have a chance to drop the weapon (and shield) they were carrying when they died.
How It Works
When a supported enemy dies, the mod checks what weapon and shield they had equipped and drops a player-usable equivalent on the ground. Drop chance and item quality scale with enemy star level.
No-star enemies drop weapons at a configurable chance (default 5%).
1-star enemies always drop their weapon at quality level 2.
2-star enemies always drop their weapon at quality level 3.
All of these values are configurable in BepInEx/config/YouDied.CustomWeaponDrops.cfg.
Supported Enemies & Default Drops
| Enemy | Weapon Drop | Shield Drop |
|---|---|---|
| Skeleton | Bronze Sword or Huntsman Bow | Wood Shield or Bronze Buckler (if equipped) |
| Skeleton (Poison) | Iron Mace | — |
| Goblin | Club, Wolf Fang Spear, Blackmetal Sword, or Torch | Wood Shield (if equipped) |
| Draugr | Iron Axe or Huntsman Bow | Wood Shield or Banded Shield (if equipped) |
| Draugr Elite | Iron Sword | — |
| Draugr Ranged | Huntsman Bow | — |
| Charred Archer | Ashlands Bow | — |
Skeleton, Goblin, and Draugr have randomized loadouts — the mod detects what they were actually carrying at the moment of death, so a bow skeleton drops a bow and a sword skeleton drops a sword.
A Note on Enemy Weapons
Some enemies carry weapons that are exclusive to them and cannot exist as pickable world items — they are not registered in the game's item registry and will disappear or become unpickable if spawned directly. This affects:
- GoblinBrute — fights using special attack abilities, not an equippable weapon
- GoblinShaman — casts spells via ability prefabs, not an equippable weapon
- Charred Melee — greatsword attacks are baked into its animation abilities
- Troll — uses its fists or an unarmed log, neither of which is a droppable item
For enemies whose weapons can be dropped but exist as enemy-only prefabs (Skeleton, Draugr, Goblin, Charred Archer), the mod substitutes the closest player-craftable equivalent. The weapons are thematically appropriate for the enemy's tier but are not identical to what they carry — for example, a Draugr drops an Iron Axe rather than the Draugr's unique axe model.
GoblinBrute, GoblinShaman, Charred Melee, and Troll are excluded by default. However, you can add any valid player weapon prefab name to their config entries to make them drop something on death — for example, adding MaceNeedle to GoblinBrute's config entry. The game's item prefab names can be found on the Valheim wiki.
Note: Dvergr enemy drops are not included in this version.
Configuration
The config file is generated at BepInEx/config/YouDied.CustomWeaponDrops.cfg on first run.
Global settings:
| Key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| NoStarDropChance | 0.05 | Chance (0.0–1.0) a no-star enemy drops their weapon |
| OneStarDropChance | 1.0 | Chance (0.0–1.0) a 1-star enemy drops their weapon |
| NoStarWeaponQuality | 1 | Item quality for no-star drops |
| OneStarWeaponQuality | 2 | Item quality for 1-star drops |
| TwoStarWeaponQuality | 3 | Item quality for 2-star drops |
Per-enemy settings (one section per enemy):
Each enemy has NoStar, 1Star, and 2Star entries. Set the value to a valid item prefab name to override the drop, or leave empty to disable drops for that tier. For enemies with randomized loadouts (Skeleton, Goblin, Draugr), leave these empty — the equipped weapon is detected automatically.
Patch Notes
v2.2.5
- Added OneStarDropChance config — 1-star drop chance is now configurable (default 100%)
v2.2.4
- Removed debug logging left in from shield testing
v2.2.3
- Fixed skeleton_mace mapping — Skeleton (Poison) now correctly drops Iron Mace instead of Bronze Mace
v2.2.2
- Fixed config-driven enemies (Skeleton Poison, Draugr Elite, Draugr Ranged, Charred Archer) dropping unpickable items — all now
Install & use Install: BepInEx plugin
- The archive from playbuff is the mod itself — usually a BepInEx plugin (a .dll or a plugin folder once unzipped).
- Recommended: use a community mod manager (such as r2modman) — pick this game, import the mod, and the manager sets up BepInEx and its dependencies for you.
- Manual route: install the BepInEx loader in the game folder, then drop the unzipped .dll or plugin folder into BepInEx/plugins/.
- Launch the game — the BepInEx console logs every plugin it loads; seeing this mod in the log means it is installed.
Mods with listed dependencies need those installed too, or they will not load. Options are usually changed in-game or in the plugin's config file. In multiplayer, the host and every client need the same mods installed.
Install these first, or the mod will not work: