Where is Haldor, the trader in Valheim
There is only one trader in each world seed, and he spawns exclusively in the Black Forest biomes. He can be anywhere on the map and in any random Black Forest biome. Fortunately, once you’ve discovered him, Haldor will stay in the same location and never move.
This means that resourceful Vikings can set up a portal base nearby and have instant access to Haldor’s wares when the need arises. The tricky part of this scenario is that there are no hard and fast strategies for finding him quickly; you and/or your crew will have to set out to find him.
How to find Haldor, the trader in Valheim
Luckily, Haldor’s map icon has a large detection radius. If you find yourself within 200-300 meters of Haldor’s shop, his icon will appear on your map. If you’ve been out hunting for him, it’s worth checking your map now and again, as he can pop up on the map long before you see him.
Many have claimed that the trader will spawn close to the Sacrificial Stones starting island, but this is not always the case. That said, it is not a bad idea to thoroughly check all Black Forest biomes in the starting island location as you work on farming tin and copper for your weapon and armor upgrades.
Once you’ve upgraded your boating situation, start searching all neighboring islands in a radius around your starting island in a breadth-first search method. Continue exploring all Black Forests in the areas in which you are farming to improve your chances of uncovering Haldor’s location while you work on your game progression.
Your added exploration may quite nicely increase the amount of gold and other valuables that you will find, especially if you have the Wishbone. More money to spend once you find our little blue friend.
What does the trader look like?
Haldor is a small, blue dwarf in a dark cloak with a gold pipe. However, you’re more likely to spot his campfire, tent, or his companion lox, Halstein.
Surrounding his camp is a nearly invisible force field that monsters cannot pass through, making this location the only true safe zone in the game. The force field bubble will be noticeable through the trees, but you will likely end up uncovering his location on the map before you actually see him.
What cheat or command reveals the trader’s location?
If vanilla gameplay is not your reason for seeking out the trader, there is a console command to spawn Haldor into the game. This method will require that you have admin permission on your server.
- Bring up the console menu by pressing F5
- Enter
devcommandsin the console (this was previouslyimacheater) to enable admin cheat commands - Enter
spawn Haldorand Haldor will spawn in front of you.
Using this method will spawn him without his tent, Lox, and force field, so this may not be the best option if you are looking to record/capture him in his complete element. For this, you may want to consider shopping for more ideal seeds in the Valheim Seeds subreddit. Users have posted a multitude of seeds with locations for the trader, maypoles, bosses, etc., to make your life a bit easier.
Hard to find, but rewarding
Haldor’s shop is easily the most challenging point of interest to find in Valheim. You’ll have to see it, though, to unlock a decent amount of in-game goodies. Haldor is the only way to offload all of those gems, jewelry, and coins that you’ve been hoarding.
He sells the invaluable Meginjord belt, Ymir flesh, for special weapons, not to mention the only fishing rods in all of Valheim. So, he’s worth sniffing out sooner rather than later in your gameplay.
