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Key bindings

Races of Valheim uses a shared layout: G, H and J are transformation keys, and anything else is race-specific. The Alfar use the same letters for their seven powers; a character has one race, so the same key never means two things at once. Keys do nothing until the matching tier is unlocked.

Ability keys by race​

KeySkadiFenrirAswidTrolDvergarTrentaSvermAlfar
GDrake FormWolf / UlvBat FormThrow RockRunic PingPurple RainRavager StrainSkrid
HModer FormUlv / FenringWeight of Shadows (mist)True FormRunic OverchargeHomecoming Portal—Grafvaettir
JSkeleton Dragon FormCultistEclipse——Muspell—Kall
U——Dominate————Kyrr
I——Toggle Vampiric Aura and auto-Devour together————Sameining
K—Grow Cursed ClawsGrow Claws of the Beast————Ljosstorm
O—Howl (any form)—————Geisli (hold)
Middle MouseCold Spell———————

K is one shared keybind (RaceClawsConfig) rather than a separate one per race — it grows whichever race's own claws you carry, for a limited time. See Aswid and Fenrir. The Sverm's own claws are permanent and need no key at all.

Trol's Log Weapon grab (Queen tier) is bound to E by default (TrolConfig.GrabLogKey), overriding the same native interact key everything else in this table leaves alone — look at a felled log while in True Form for the on-screen prompt.

Past Fader, Trol's H is a straight toggle: the True Form no longer runs out, so the key is how you leave it, and there is no cooldown. Before Fader it lasts its 60 seconds and then the 10-minute cooldown applies. See Trol.

Furling and Draugh have no ability keys — their kits are entirely passive. The Skeleton has one: G switches Summon on Kill on and off (Skeleton - Keybinds). The War Vulture and the Bone Smith / Bone Cook race stations are items or buildings operated with the game's own equip, attack and interact keys — none of them register a keybind of their own. Trol's Hammer and the Shrink Hammer add one fixed combination: Alt + scroll in build mode changes the size of the piece (vanilla's own scroll still rotates it).

In-form controls​

Once you are transformed, the mouse buttons become that form's attacks.

Skadi — dragon forms​

InputAction
Right MouseToggle flight
W (in flight)Power forward and climb
Shift + W (in flight)Sprint — 15 stamina per second
S (in flight)Beat backwards along your aim
Left MouseBite/claw on foot · shard barrage in flight
Middle MouseIce breath
Right MouseSpinning tail sweep — Skeleton Dragon, on foot only

Fenrir — beast and cultist forms​

InputBeast formsCultist form
Left MouseClawSingle claw
Right MouseHeavy clawFire breath (hold, costs eitr)
Middle MouseJump attackDouble claw
OHowlHowl

Fenrir attacks only fire while grounded. Every attack holds you still until it ends, and crouching walks the form at sneaking speed.

Trol — True Form​

InputAction
Left MousePunch · first log swing with a log in hand
Middle MouseGround slam · second log swing with a log in hand
Right MouseBlock, arms raised in a guard
Right Mouse + JumpRoll
GThrow Rock, with the troll's own throw
EGrab a felled log (The Queen)

Not in Legacy True Form, where your weapons attack as usual.

Sverm — Ravager Strain​

InputAction
Left MouseBite
Right MouseRam, lunging a few metres forward
Middle MouseGround slam, one claw then the other
GRoar — 3 m around you, own 10-second cooldown

G does not end the form. It runs its full two minutes.

Alfar — Sameining​

InputAction
JumpClimb
CrouchSink
NeitherHover in place

No weapon attacks in the form: the psionic pulse fires on its own once a second. Ljosstorm and Geisli still work from their keys. See Alfar.

Aswid — Bat Form​

The same flight as the Skadi's drake, since v1.6.1. The Vampiric Aura needs no key: it is always on (toggle with I) and stays silent in Bat form until The Queen.

InputAction
AimSteer, pitch included
WFly forward — costs stamina
W + ShiftSprint — costs more stamina
SFly backwards — costs stamina
NothingHover for 3 seconds, then glide down

Out of stamina the bat can only glide. See Aswid.

W, S and Shift are the defaults. Since v1.6.2 drake and bat flight follow the Forward, Backward and Run keys you bound in the game's settings.

War Vulture​

Not a race ability — a craftable item, usable by whichever races WarVultureConfig allows (Furling and Dvergar by default). It has no keybind of its own; it reads the game's own attack/use button on the item and on the run key instead.

InputAction
Left click the item (on foot)Summon the bird and mount it
Left click (mounted)Begin a controlled descent
Left click again (descending)Let go and drop where you are
Hold RunSprint — 13 m/s for 10 seconds, drawn from a limited reserve

Cruise flight (7 m/s) is unlimited and free. The sprint reserve refills over 10 seconds once you let go of Run, in the air — landing is never required. What the bird has left shows as its own bar under your stamina bar.

On a gamepad​

Every physical pad button is already bound by vanilla in all four layouts, so the race keys in the table above have no pad equivalent. Two things fill the gap, both since v1.4.14/v1.4.15:

  • The radial menu carries a group named after your race, with one entry per form and ability. It presses the key you have bound, so unlocks, cooldowns and messages behave exactly as they do from the keyboard.
  • Form attacks answer the pad button vanilla pairs with the same mouse button: Attack for left click, Block for right click, Secondary Attack for middle click.

Full details, including Skadi's flight on a pad and why the Cold Spell casts bare-handed only, are on Gamepad and the radial menu.

Abilities and open menus​

Race abilities are gated on the same check Valheim uses for its own controls. They will not fire while:

  • the map is open
  • the inventory is open
  • a chest or other container is open
  • the chat is focused
  • any menu is up
  • the hammer's piece-selection panel is open (added in v1.4.11 — vanilla's own check leaves it out, because build input is handled on a separate path)

This is why clicking an item inside a container no longer swings your transformed attack.

Skadi's Cold Spell has one gate of its own: it does not cast while you are holding the hammer, hoe or cultivator, on either device. Middle mouse is Remove in build mode, and on a pad the same button places or removes a piece, so every piece built used to cast the spell and drain the stamina for it.

Rebinding​

Every key in this table is a real BepInEx ConfigEntry<KeyboardShortcut>, bound once per mechanic (RaceClawsConfig for the shared K, otherwise each race's own *Config class) — see the v1.4.0 release notes for when this landed. Install Configuration Manager and every key on this page shows up as its own live-editable entry, organized by race and by topic. Without it, the same entries can be hand-edited in the .cfg file BepInEx generates the first time you launch with the mod installed. Defaults are exactly what this page describes, so nobody's controls change until the file — or Configuration Manager — is actually touched.

Debug keys​

F8 triggers developer diagnostic dumps for several races. It is harmless but produces log spam, and it is not part of normal play.