Ravensthorpe Settlement Management
Ravensthorpe serves as the beating heart of your Viking saga in Assassin's Creed Valhalla. More than just a safe haven, it's a dynamic, evolving settlement whose growth directly impacts Eivor's capabilities, resources, and access to crucial game mechanics. Investing time and effort into building and upgrading its various structures is paramount for success, unlocking new abilities, improving gear, expanding your raiding party, and delving deeper into the game's rich lore.
The primary resource for constructing and upgrading buildings in Ravensthorpe is Supplies and Raw Materials. These are predominantly acquired through successful raids on monasteries and strongholds found across England. Prioritize raiding early and often to ensure a steady flow of these vital resources.
Core Buildings and Their Benefits
Below is a comprehensive list of all significant buildings you can construct in Ravensthorpe, detailing their functions, upgrade benefits, and any associated quests or unique features.
- Longhouse (Initial Building)
- Function: The central hub of your settlement. It's where you host feasts, which provide temporary stat buffs to Eivor and your Jomsvikingr. It also houses your alliance map, crucial for progressing the main story.
- Upgrade Benefits: Upgrading the Longhouse increases the settlement's overall level, unlocking new building blueprints and expanding the feast buff duration and potency. Higher levels also attract more settlers and merchants.
- Feast Buffs: Activating a feast (by interacting with the bell outside the Longhouse) grants temporary boosts to Health, Melee Damage, Ranged Damage, Armor, and Evasion. These buffs are invaluable before challenging encounters or raids.
- Barracks
- Function: Allows you to recruit and customize your Jomsvikingr, a customizable Viking warrior who can join your raiding crew and be hired by other players (earning you silver).
- Upgrade Benefits: Increases the number of Jomsvikingr you can recruit and customize, offering more options for your raiding party.
- Strategy Tip: Create a strong Jomsvikingr with good gear and skills. Other players hiring your Jomsvikingr is a passive income stream.
- Blacksmith (Gunnar's Forge)
- Function: The essential place to upgrade your weapons and armor. Gunnar can enhance your gear's quality (from Fine to Mythical) and apply runes.
- Upgrade Benefits: Unlocks higher tiers of gear quality upgrades, allowing you to further enhance your favorite weapons and armor.
- Actionable Tip: Always keep your best gear upgraded to your current Blacksmith's capabilities. This significantly boosts your combat effectiveness.
- Seer's Hut (Valka's Hut)
- Function: Unlocks the Asgard and Jotunheim questlines, allowing Eivor to journey to mythical realms through Valka's potent brews.
- Upgrade Benefits: Essential for progressing the mythical questlines. Each upgrade is tied to a specific potion that transports you to a new part of Asgard or Jotunheim.
- Common Pitfall: Don't neglect this building! The mythical arcs offer unique gear, abilities, and deep lore that are integral to the game's overarching narrative.
- Hidden Ones Bureau
- Function: Establishes Eivor's connection to the Hidden Ones (the precursors to the Assassins). This building is crucial for the Order of the Ancients questline, providing clues and targets for eliminating members of the Order. It also unlocks unique Hidden Ones gear and abilities.
- Upgrade Benefits: Not directly upgradable in the traditional sense, but its completion is tied to the main story and the discovery of other Hidden Ones Bureaus across England, each revealing more about the Order and providing new gear.
- Strategy Tip: Systematically hunt down Order members. Each elimination rewards you with a medallion, which can be turned in at the Bureau for powerful gear and XP.
- Hunter's Hut
- Function: Allows you to turn in animal parts (pelts, bones, fangs) for silver and unique gear. It also provides access to the Hunter Deliveries, offering lucrative rewards for specific animal kills.
- Upgrade Benefits: Unlocks more valuable delivery requests and a wider range of unique gear and cosmetic items.
- Actionable Tip: Always loot animals! Even common pelts add up, and rare animal parts can net you powerful weapons and armor.
- Fishing Hut
- Function: Enables you to turn in various fish for silver and unique gear. Similar to the Hunter's Hut, it offers Fishing Deliveries for specific catches.
- Upgrade Benefits: Expands the types of fish you can turn in and the rewards available, including rare runes and cosmetic items.
- Strategy Tip: Fishing can be a relaxing way to earn silver and resources. Certain fish are only found in specific regions or weather conditions.
- Cartographer
- Function: Sells maps that reveal the locations of valuable resources (wealth, mysteries, artifacts) in specific regions.
- Upgrade Benefits: Unlocks maps for more regions, helping you uncover every secret England has to offer.
- Common Pitfall: Don't buy every map immediately. Explore naturally first, then use maps to find remaining collectibles.
- Museum (Octavian's Museum)
- Function: Allows you to turn in Roman Artifacts found throughout England for decorative items to adorn your settlement.
- Upgrade Benefits: Not directly upgradable, but the more artifacts you collect, the more decorations Octavian can craft for Ravensthorpe.
- Completeness Note: While primarily cosmetic, collecting all Roman Artifacts is part of the game's completionist goals.
- Tattoo Shop (Svend's/Tove's Tattoo Shop)
- Function: Customize Eivor's appearance with various tattoos, hairstyles, and beard styles.
- Upgrade Benefits: Unlocks more complex and elaborate tattoo designs and hair options.
- Strategy Tip: Collect tattoo schemes found in the world to expand your customization options.
- Shipyard
- Function: Customize your longship's appearance with different hull designs, sails, shields, and figureheads.
- Upgrade Benefits: Unlocks a wider array of cosmetic options for your longship, allowing for greater personalization.
- Actionable Tip: While cosmetic, a well-decorated longship can boost morale and make your raids feel more epic!
- Brewery
- Function: Provides a passive income of silver and contributes to the feast buffs.
- Upgrade Benefits: Increases the silver income and enhances the potency and duration of feast buffs.
- Bakery
- Function: Similar to the Brewery, it provides passive income and contributes to feast buffs.
- Upgrade Benefits: Increases silver income and further enhances feast buffs.
- Grain Farm
- Function: Provides a steady supply of food resources, contributing to feast buffs and potentially other minor benefits.
- Upgrade Benefits: Increases the food yield and enhances feast buffs.
- Cattle Farm
- Function: Provides animal products, contributing to feast buffs and potentially other minor benefits.
- Upgrade Benefits: Increases the animal product yield and enhances feast buffs.
- Museum (Octavian's Museum)
- Function: Allows you to turn in Roman Artifacts found throughout England for decorative items to adorn your settlement.
- Upgrade Benefits: Not directly upgradable, but the more artifacts you collect, the more decorations Octavian can craft for Ravensthorpe.
- Completeness Note: While primarily cosmetic, collecting all Roman Artifacts is part of the game's completionist goals.
- Trading Post
- Function: A general merchant where you can buy and sell various goods, including resources, runes, and sometimes unique gear.
- Upgrade Benefits: Expands the inventory of items available for purchase and potentially offers better selling prices.
- Stable and Aviary
- Function: Allows you to purchase and customize mounts (horses) and raven skins.
- Upgrade Benefits: Unlocks more mount breeds with different stats and more raven cosmetic options.
Settlement Level and Progression
Your Ravensthorpe settlement has a level, indicated by a number next to its name on the map. This level increases as you construct and upgrade buildings. Reaching higher settlement levels is crucial because it:
- Unlocks New Building Blueprints: Many advanced buildings only become available once your settlement reaches a certain level.
- Attracts New NPCs and Merchants: A thriving settlement draws in more people, offering new quests, services, and opportunities.
- Enhances Feast Buffs: Higher settlement levels directly improve the potency and duration of the temporary buffs gained from feasts.
- Progresses the Story: Certain main story quests are gated behind specific settlement levels, requiring you to invest in Ravensthorpe's growth to continue Eivor's journey.
Strategic Building Order
While the exact order can vary based on your playstyle, a general recommendation for building priority is:
- Blacksmith: Essential for keeping your gear upgraded and Eivor combat-ready.
- Barracks: Allows you to customize your raiding crew early on.
- Hidden Ones Bureau: Starts the Order of the Ancients questline and provides valuable gear.
- Seer's Hut: Unlocks the mythical arcs, which are a significant portion of the game's content.
- Hunter's Hut & Fishing Hut: Good for passive income and unique gear.
- Trading Post: For general buying and selling needs.
- Cartographer: Once you're ready to start actively hunting for collectibles.
- Brewery, Bakery, Farms: These provide passive benefits and enhance feasts, which become more important as you face tougher challenges.
Remember, consistent raiding for Raw Materials and Supplies is the backbone of Ravensthorpe's development. Prioritize these activities to ensure your settlement flourishes and Eivor becomes an unstoppable force in England.