Odin's Second Hand

You are aiming at a deer three fields away. A Greydwarf is chewing your ankle. Odin has seen this before, and he has made arrangements.

• Auto-swap. Bow out, enemy close: the best melee weapon in your bag for that enemy is in your hands before you've finished swearing.
• Swap back. Once nothing has been close for a moment, the bow comes back. Still holding the attack button? It carries on drawing.
• One short remark from Odin, usually about why he picked that weapon. Never the same one twice running.

How the swap works

While a bow or crossbow is in your hands (or a magic staff, with IncludeStaffs), Odin watches the nearest enemy. He picks your best melee weapon for it and swaps the moment it's within SwapDistance (6 metres unless you change it), measured to the creature's edge. Set SwapDistance to 0 and he waits until it's within that weapon's own reach plus ReachMargin, so a spear comes out sooner than a knife. Once no enemy has been that close for SwapBackDelay seconds, you get the ranged weapon back. It needs a little more distance to count as gone, so standing at the edge doesn't make it flicker.

Swap now (optional key)

Bind SwapKey to swap to your best melee weapon for the nearest enemy whenever you like, and back again on the next press. A swap you make yourself isn't undone by itself. Unbound by default.

Client-side only

Only you need it. It changes what's in your hands with the game's own equip calls: no new items, no network messages, no world data. Works in single-player, on dedicated servers and with friends who don't have it.

Configuration

Settings live in BepInEx/config/hevyh2o.valheim.odinssecondhand.cfg. If you have a Configuration Manager mod installed, you can also change them in game (usually F1).

Setting	Default	Controls
Enabled	true	Master switch.
InstantSwap	true	Swap at once. Off uses each weapon's normal equip time.
AutoSwap	true	Swap to your best melee weapon when an enemy comes close.
SwapDistance	6	Metres from the enemy at which Odin swaps, and swaps back, 0 to 15. Set 8 to draw steel a step sooner. 0 is auto: the weapon's own reach plus ReachMargin.
ReachMargin	1	Auto mode only: metres added to the weapon's reach, 0 to 5.
SwapBack	true	Hand the ranged weapon back once no enemy is close.
SwapBackDelay	1.5	Seconds with no enemy close before it comes back, 0 to 10. 0 is straight away.
IncludeStaffs	false	Magic staffs swap too. Bows and crossbows always do.
PreferredWeapon	empty	Always take this weapon if you carry it, by prefab name (MaceIron) or shown name. Empty lets Odin choose.
Exclude	empty	Weapons Odin never picks, separated by commas.
SwapKey	unbound	Swap to your best melee weapon now, and back.
ShowRemarks	true	Odin says a word when he swaps for you.
RemarkCooldown	20	Seconds between remarks, 0 to 300.
TextScale	1	Size of Odin's remarks, 0.5 to 2. At 1 it matches the game's own HUD, which already follows your screen and the game's GUI scale.
DebugLog	false	Write each swap, and every weapon Odin weighed, to the BepInEx log.

Things to know

• It picks for the enemy in front of you. Odin reads the creature's own weaknesses and resistances, the same ones the game uses when you hit it, and works out which melee weapon in your bag does the most damage per hit. Skeletons get the mace, things that shrug off blunt get the sword. Near-ties go to the weapon type you're more skilled with.
• Slots don't matter. Anything in your inventory counts, hotbar or not. Swords, knives, clubs, polearms, spears and axes count; pickaxes, tools, torches and broken weapons don't.
• Your say still counts. Put a weapon in PreferredWeapon and Odin always takes it. Put one in Exclude and he never does.
• It waits for the right moment. No swap mid-swing, mid-dodge, while swimming, dead, in a menu or while you type. Drawing the bow doesn't count as busy: being chewed on is exactly when Odin should interrupt you. The arrow you were drawing goes back in the quiver, unfired.
• Holding the attack button? In Valheim the bow draws on the attack button. If you're still holding it when the melee weapon comes out, it swings, as it always does when you hold attack. When the enemy is gone, Odin lets the last swing finish, hands the bow back, and it carries on drawing without you letting go.
• Animals only count when they mean it. The deer you're stalking won't cost you your bow. An angry boar will. Tamed animals, the dead and training dummies never count.
• Instant, or the game's pace. With InstantSwap on, a swap happens at once, the way the game equips anything without an equip time. Other players see the same weapon change they'd see if you pressed a hotbar key. Turn it off and each swap takes the weapon's normal equip time.
• Bows hold the left hand. A shield you had out before the bow stays on your back after a swap. A one-handed weapon comes out on its own.
• Works in single-player and multiplayer, and nobody else needs the mod. It uses the game's own equip calls, so your friends just see you change weapons.
• Found a bug or have an idea? Tell Odin in Odin's Tavern. The ravens read every note; your BepInEx\LogOutput.log helps them read faster.

Also from Odin's tavern

Odin's Free Refills: no stamina costs while the coast is clear, normal costs once a threat is near. The coast stops being clear the moment Odin hands you the axe.

Odin's Wanted Posters: look at a creature and press E for its health, weaknesses and drops. Odin reads the same weaknesses when he picks your weapon; the poster lets you read them too.

Odin's Almanac: press K for a forecast of the next weather changes in your biome. Fog brings things closer than you'd like. Odin keeps an eye on the gap.

Odin's Saga: sleep or log out and Odin reads you the saga of your day; press J for a lifetime of deeds. The ravens count every kill, whichever hand made it.

Odin's Hearth: press N at home for your comfort level and the cheapest piece to build next. Hang the bow by the fire. The axe will want a turn too.

Odin's Pantry: press P for your foods, what you could cook right now, and Odin's pick for your biome. Eat for stamina; the swap is free, the swings aren't.

Odin's Raven Returns: after you die, a raven guards your grave; press H to see where it is and what killed you. For the times the axe arrived a moment too late.

Odin's Drunk Cam: drink a mead and the world sways; the more meads, the more it sways. Three meads in, the Greydwarf is always closer than it looks. Odin has allowed for that.

Odin's Weapon Memories: every weapon remembers what it has done and earns a name from it. Swap often and both of them will have stories to tell.

Odin's Stone Whispers: Odin whispers when a Rock or Mysterious Rock is near; press 9 and he turns your gaze to it. Mind your feet while you look: something may be guarding it.

Odin's Dusk Horn: a low horn before nightfall, and press Home for the time to dark and the way to your bed. Out after dark, the things that reach you come close. Good thing the axe is ready.

Odin's Knot: log out and Odin asks what you were doing; log back in and he reads it back. Press ' to retie it. Log in to a fight and your hands already know what to do.