CrossbowBalancer

A lightweight, server-synchronized rebalance mod for Valheim crossbows. Adjust damage multipliers, skill experience scaling, stamina costs, and reload times with real-time sliders.

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Why Adjust Crossbow Damage and Experience?

1. Why Adjust Damage?

In vanilla Valheim, crossbows have a long reload animation (typically 3.5 seconds or longer) that restricts player movement, prevents dodging, and locks stamina regeneration during reloading. Despite this high vulnerability, standard crossbow damage output often fails to justify the downtime when compared to rapid-fire bows or agile melee weapons.

By applying a default 1.35x damage multiplier (configurable via slider), crossbows deliver the high burst damage expected of heavy ranged artillery. Shots become decisive and rewarding, adequately compensating the player for the high commitment and positioning required.

2. Why Adjust Experience (EXP)?

Crossbow skill progression in vanilla Valheim is exceptionally slow compared to all other weapon classes:

• Like other weapons in Valheim, skill experience is awarded when you successfully hit an enemy.
• However, because crossbows have a long reload time, players land far fewer attacks per minute than players using rapid bows, swords, or clubs.
• A player swinging a melee weapon 30 times in a fight earns triple the experience of a crossbow player who can only fire and hit 10 times in the same duration.

CrossbowBalancer solves this pacing disparity while keeping the exact same hit-only mechanic as other weapons:

• Introduces a dedicated skill experience multiplier (default 1.5x) applied whenever you hit a target.
• Each successful hit grants meaningful progress, allowing crossbow users to level up their skill at a pace that matches other combat styles without needing to alter core combat rules.

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Features

• Universal Compatibility: Applies automatically to all vanilla crossbows (Arbalest, Ripper) and any mod-added crossbows (such as those from Valheim Armory, BowPlugin, or other equipment mods).
• Real-Time Tooltip Updates: Scaled damage values are calculated directly on item stats, so weapon tooltips in your inventory accurately display the adjusted damage numbers.
• Optional Bolt Damage Scaling: Option to scale bolt/ammo damage alongside the weapon multiplier for balanced total burst damage.
• Hit-Based EXP Scaling: Multiplies skill experience gained on successful hits, preserving standard Valheim weapon mechanics while balancing progression speed.
• Stamina and Reload Tuning: Additional sliders allow fine-tuning of stamina drain per shot and reload animation speed.
• ServerSync Integration: Full dedicated server authority. Configuration settings are automatically synchronized from the server to connected clients. Admin locking prevents unauthorized client changes.
• In-Game Configuration: Compatible with BepInEx Configuration Manager (press F1 in-game to adjust sliders in real time).

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Configuration Settings

The configuration file is located at BepInEx/config/com.aitod.valheim.crossbowbalancer.cfg.

1 - General

• Lock Configuration (Default: On): If On, only server administrators can modify synced configuration settings.

2 - Damage Balancing

• Damage Multiplier (Default: 1.35, Range: 0.10 - 5.00): Multiplier applied across all crossbows. Scales all damage components (pierce, elemental, physical).
• Scale Bolt Damage (Default: On): If On, also scales the bolt/ammo damage portion by the damage multiplier.

3 - Experience Balancing

• EXP Multiplier (Default: 1.50, Range: 0.10 - 10.00): Multiplier applied to Crossbows skill experience gained upon hitting an enemy.

4 - Combat and Handling

• Stamina Drain Multiplier (Default: 1.00, Range: 0.00 - 3.00): Multiplier for stamina consumed when firing a crossbow.
• Reload Time Multiplier (Default: 1.00, Range: 0.20 - 3.00): Multiplier for crossbow reload duration (1.0 = normal, 0.8 = 20% faster reload).

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Installation

Manual Installation

1. Install BepInEx for Valheim.
2. Extract the CrossbowBalancer folder or place CrossbowBalancer.dll into your Valheim/BepInEx/plugins/ directory.
3. Launch the game. The config file will be generated automatically.

Dedicated Server

1. Install CrossbowBalancer.dll into BepInEx/plugins/ on the dedicated server.
2. The server config will act as the master configuration and push settings to all connecting players.

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Source & Support

Developed for smooth multiplayer balance and vanilla-plus gameplay.