Updated November 9, 2026. Applies to Valheim 1.0, patch 1.0.21. Item stats, recipes and chest odds come from the community Valheim Wiki. The release patch comes from Iron Gate's own patch 0.221.10 notes on Steam, and the live version is patch 1.0.21 from October 28, 2026.
The Early Axes are the oddest weapon in Valheim. They need two axe heads that only drop from two specific ruined houses in the Meadows, and nothing on the map points you at them. This morning a post on r/valheim showed a player carrying three Curious Axe Heads and still no Mysterious one, under the title "How mysterious is the mysterious axe head".
This guide fixes that. You'll learn which house holds which head, how often each chest actually pays out, how many houses you should expect to open, and whether the finished axes are worth the hunt.
Quick answer: The Mysterious Axe Head only drops from the chest in Abandoned House variant 2 (the small thatched hut). That chest spawns 50% of the time and holds the head 55.4% of the time, so each variant 2 house is about a 27.7% shot. The Curious Axe Head only drops from Abandoned House variant 6 (the roofless plank ruin), whose chest always spawns, so each one is a 55.4% shot. Combine one of each with 4 Wood at a level 1 Workbench to craft the Early Axes, a dual-wielded axe with 30 Slash and 35 Chop at quality 1 and chop tier 2. That tier lets you cut Birch, Oak and Ancient Trees before you have any bronze.
What are the Early Axes in Valheim?
The Early Axes are a pair of dual-wielded axes added in patch 0.221.10 on February 2, 2026, Valheim's fifth anniversary update. Iron Gate's detailed notes list them in two lines:
"New Weapon: Early Axes" and "2 New Materials: Mysterious Axe Head, Curious Axe Head"
The name is a pun on Early Access, which Valheim left when 1.0 launched on September 9, 2026. The in-game description says as much: "Mighty weapons from long ago, from a time when the world was still young and incomplete..."
They are the first of only two dual-wielded axe families in the game. The other is the Ashlands-tier Berserkir Axes and their Bleeding, Thundering and Primal variants, so the Early Axes are the only way to play dual axes in the Meadows or Black Forest.
Where do you find the Mysterious Axe Head?
The Mysterious Axe Head comes from one place only: the chest inside Abandoned House variant 2 in the Meadows. It's the small, half-collapsed hut with a thatched A-frame roof. In the screenshot at the top of this page you can see the chest sitting under the roof.
Two rolls stand between you and the head:
- Does the chest exist? In variant 2, the chest spawns 50% of the time. Half the variant 2 huts you find will be empty.
- Is the head inside? If the chest is there, it has a 55.4% chance to hold the Mysterious Axe Head.
That works out to a 27.7% chance per variant 2 house, or about 3.6 houses on average for one head. The Mysterious head is the bottleneck, and that's why the r/valheim screenshot shows a stack of Curious heads.
Where do you find the Curious Axe Head?
The Curious Axe Head comes only from the chest in Abandoned House variant 6. It's the roofless ruin of tall, vertical wooden planks, more like a broken tower than a hut.
Variant 6 is the generous one. Its chest spawns 100% of the time, and it holds the Curious Axe Head 55.4% of the time. That's about 1.8 houses on average for one head.
Watch out for the chest names on the wiki
The Valheim Wiki loot table names the variant 2 chest "Meadows Curious Chest" and the variant 6 chest "Meadows Mysterious Chest". Those names are the reverse of what's inside. The "Curious" chest in variant 2 drops the Mysterious head, and the "Mysterious" chest in variant 6 drops the Curious head. Go by the house, not the chest name.
How many Abandoned Houses do you need to check?
These are the odds of finding at least one head after opening a given number of houses of the right variant. They're our own math, built from the wiki's spawn and loot chances.
| Houses of that variant checked | Mysterious head (variant 2) | Curious head (variant 6) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27.7% | 55.4% |
| 2 | 47.7% | 80.1% |
| 3 | 62.2% | 91.1% |
| 4 | 72.7% | 96.0% |
| 5 | 80.2% | 98.2% |
| 6 | 85.7% | 99.2% |
| 8 | 92.5% | 99.8% |
Those numbers only count houses of the right variant, not every house you pass on the way. The wiki lists 13 variants of Abandoned House, and most of them can't drop a head at all. Variants 3, 4, 5 and 8 never have a chest, and the rest roll the normal Meadows chest loot.
What the table means in practice:
- Three variant 6 ruins give you a 91% chance at the Curious head.
- Five variant 2 huts give you about an 80% chance at the Mysterious head, and eight gets you to 92.5%.
- The Mysterious head usually takes twice as many houses as the Curious one, so don't burn an evening on variant 6 ruins once you have a Curious head.
What else is in those two chests?
Both chests roll 2 to 3 items with no duplicates. Besides the axe head, each one can contain a Torch, 10 to 20 Flinthead Arrows, 2 to 4 Flint, 1 to 3 Feathers, 5 to 15 Coins or an Amber, each at 32.4%. If you open a chest and see arrows and coins but no head, that roll is over.
How do you find Abandoned Houses faster?
Abandoned Houses are isolated ruins in the Meadows only. Mountain cabins are a different location called Abandoned Cabin and never hold an axe head. They have no map marker, so this is a scouting job.
- Scout on foot, cross water by boat. Walking is faster than a Raft, so sweep the Meadows on foot and only use a Raft or Karve to hop to the next island of Meadows.
- Learn the two silhouettes. Variant 2 is a low hut with a pitched thatched roof. Variant 6 is a roofless box of upright planks. Skip everything else.
- Pin every variant 2 hut you see, even if you aren't going in yet. Variant 2 is the one you'll need several of.
- Bring a friend or a second character. Both heads weigh 2.0, stack to 10 and are portal-safe, so a spare head can be handed over or carried through a portal.
- Keep the extras. A Curious head is useless on its own, but if a friend on the same server finds a Mysterious one, you've saved them the hunt.
Most variants also have a 25% chance of a Bee Nest, so a run through the Meadows doubles as a hunt for your first Queen Bee.
How do you craft the Early Axes?
The recipe is one Curious Axe Head, one Mysterious Axe Head and 4 Wood at a level 1 Workbench. You don't need any metal or a Forge. Upgrades only cost Wood and Leather Scraps, and each quality level needs the matching Workbench level.
| Quality | Slash | Chop | Durability | Cost | Workbench level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 | 35 | 175 | 1 Curious Axe Head, 1 Mysterious Axe Head, 4 Wood | 1 |
| 2 | 35 | 38 | 225 | 2 Wood, 2 Leather Scraps | 2 |
| 3 | 40 | 41 | 275 | 4 Wood, 4 Leather Scraps | 3 |
| 4 | 45 | 44 | 325 | 8 Wood, 8 Leather Scraps | 4 |
| Total | 2 heads, 18 Wood, 14 Leather Scraps |
Leather Scraps drop from Boars and Bats, come out of Muddy Scrap Piles and show up in Meadows chests. You can push the axes past quality 4 at the Forge of Potential with an Iron Battle Idol. Those idols come from chests in Troll Caves, Abandoned Outposts and Abandoned Huts in the Black Forest, and in Sunken Crypts, Swamp Graves and Swamp Runestone Towers. Each attempt has a 65% chance to add a level and a 35% chance to destroy the item.
Early Axes stats: how do they compare?
| Stat | Early Axes | Flint Axe | Bronze Axe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slash (Q1 / Q4) | 30 / 45 | 20 / 35 | 40 / 55 |
| Chop (Q1 / Q4) | 35 / 44 | 30 / 39 | 40 / 49 |
| Chop tier (trees) | 2: Birch, Oak, Ancient Tree | 1 | 2: Birch, Oak, Ancient Tree |
| Stamina (primary / secondary) | 6 / 12 | 6 / 12 | 8 / 16 |
| Durability (Q1 / Q4) | 175 / 325 | 100 / 190 | 125 / 275 |
| Block armor | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| Crafted at | Workbench 1 | Workbench 1, 6 Flint | Forge 1, 8 Bronze |
The wiki lists the Early Axes at weight 2.0, knockback 20, 3x backstab, parry bonus 2 and -5% movement speed while equipped.
How the dual-axe moveset works
- Primary: a 4-step combo. One axe hits, then the other, then two double hits with both axes at once, for 6 hits in total. The final double hit deals 2x damage with each axe.
- Secondary: a leap forward into a two-axe slash that deals 1.5x damage for 12 stamina.
Add up the multipliers and one full primary combo deals 8x the axe's base damage, or 240 Slash at quality 1 before skill. That's our own math, not a wiki number, and the 4-step combo takes longer to finish than a one-handed axe's 3-hit chain. Treat it as burst per combo, not DPS.
Are the Early Axes worth it?
Yes, if you find the heads early. No, if you already have bronze.
The real reason to want them is chop tier 2 with no metal. A Stone or Flint Axe can't cut Birch, Oak or Ancient Trees, so most players wait for a Bronze Axe before they see any Fine Wood. The Early Axes cut all three, and you can craft them on a level 1 Workbench. If both heads turn up before your first copper run, you can farm Fine Wood from Oaks and Birches right away. Our Valheim wood guide covers what that Fine Wood unlocks.
As a weapon, they sit between the Flint Axe and the Bronze Axe. They have more Slash than Flint and the same 6-stamina swing, which is a strong early option against Greydwarfs and Boars in the first two biomes. Level for level, the Bronze Axe beats them on raw damage and chop, and they fall far behind Iron-tier weapons. Our Valheim weapon tier list ranks the options that take over from here.
Use this as a simple rule:
| Your situation | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Fresh world, no bronze yet, found both heads | Craft them now and farm Fine Wood early |
| Want to play dual axes before the Ashlands | Only option in the game; craft and level to Q4 |
| Already using a Bronze or Iron Axe | Craft them for fun or the dual-axe moveset, not for power |
| Have only one head | Keep it and scout for the other variant |
FAQ
Where is the Mysterious Axe Head in Valheim? Only in the chest inside Abandoned House variant 2, the small thatched hut in the Meadows. The chest appears in half of those huts and holds the head 55.4% of the time, about a 27.7% chance per hut.
Where is the Curious Axe Head in Valheim? Only in the chest inside Abandoned House variant 6, the roofless ruin of upright planks in the Meadows. That chest always spawns and holds the head 55.4% of the time.
Why do I keep finding Curious Axe Heads but never a Mysterious one? Because the odds aren't equal. A variant 6 ruin is a 55.4% shot at a Curious head, but a variant 2 hut is only a 27.7% shot at a Mysterious head, because its chest is missing half the time. On average you'll check about twice as many houses for the Mysterious head.
What do you make with the Mysterious Axe Head? Only the Early Axes. One Mysterious Axe Head, one Curious Axe Head and 4 Wood make the pair at a level 1 Workbench. Neither head has any other recipe.
Can the Early Axes cut Birch and Oak? Yes. The Early Axes have chop tier 2, the same as the Bronze Axe, so they cut Birch, Oak and Ancient Trees for Fine Wood and Ancient Bark. They can't cut Yggdrasil Shoots, which need tier 4.
When were the Early Axes added to Valheim? In patch 0.221.10 on February 2, 2026, Valheim's fifth anniversary update during Early Access. They're still unchanged in 1.0 as of patch 1.0.21.
More Valheim guides
Still in the Meadows? These guides take you from your first axe to your first boss.
