Goo's Combat Overhaul

Goo's Combat Overhaul (GCO) makes Valheim combat more aggressive and gives weapons clearer roles. Running and jump attacks help you close distance; heavy weapons trade stamina for stagger and protection; tower shields hold their guard until a blocked hit empties your stamina. As in Elden Ring, an attack plays out once started, though a roll still cancels its recovery. PvP has its own stagger and balance settings.

Use the recommended ruleset (the default settings), customize individual systems or weapons, or set them to vanilla.

Getting started

1. Install GCO and its dependencies, then launch your modded game once. Fresh configs are ready to play. Full installation instructions are below.
2. Use normal Valheim controls. Sprint into a primary attack for a Running attack, jump and press primary while airborne for a Jump attack, or press primary during a roll for a Roll attack. Availability depends on the weapon.
3. Press F3 for the GCO config menu, in game or on the start screen, or, if you installed it, Configuration Manager (F1). The GCO menu also reads in 简体中文 (General / Menu & Language / Language). The config file and console also work without a menu.
4. Updates preserve your saved tuning, and most settings new in this version start at their vanilla values. Set to recommended (All), in the GCO menu's footer, replaces your tuning with the recommended settings. Weapon YAML is On for fresh installs and the recommended ruleset. Its bundled weapon profiles (weapon reach, including Roll, and the atgeirs' damage types) never replace a profile you already have, and an update adds none to your folder; Weapon YAML / Files / Install default YAML profiles installs them on request and keeps each file it replaces as a backup.

Default Combat Identity

This describes fresh installs and the recommended ruleset. Saved settings, host rules and enabled weapon profiles may differ. Primary is the normal attack; Secondary is the alternate attack; P1/P2/P3/P4 are successive combo hits where available. A planted attack is an ordinary one, not a Running, Jump or Roll attack. Free movement means movement from your input; lunge is forward movement built into an attack animation.

What changes across combat

• Attacks turn more readily, two-handed sword and axe primaries less so, but most melee swings stop turning after their hit. Many attacks restrict free movement while lunging forward. Most can transition into a block after the hit.
• Actions commit: attacks play out, while a roll can still cut recovery. Supported melee weapons also have a Roll attack: press primary during a roll or its recovery, and it starts after invincibility and a short animation-time delay. Input windows and buffering can be configured separately (see Movement, timing and impact).
• Three- and four-hit melee combos grow stronger with each hit, with a smoother progression into the finisher. This includes native paired weapons, SDW weapons and alternate movesets; two-handed axes keep equal damage across their three swings.
• A smaller base stamina pool comes with faster regeneration, limited stamina debt and no regeneration in the air. Running and jumping attacks provide new approaches, while conditional bonuses reward positioning and timing.
• Large incoming PvE hits are softened. PvP damage is more consistent, and every attack has a PvP stagger level that decides which guards hold against it; PvP knockback, defense and weapon effects have their own tuning.
• Weapon effects such as roots and chain lightning build up on the target with each hit, as in Elden Ring, instead of rolling a chance; a full meter applies the effect (see Weapon effects).
• Player attacks deal half the usual knockback; each weapon's own knockback tuning applies on top.
• Heavy armor offers more resistance to being interrupted or pushed around, without its usual movement penalty. Weapons and shields still have their own equipment penalties.

Melee weapons

• Two-Handed Swords: gain base damage and stagger with native stamina rates. Planted primaries lunge strongly and cleave without losing damage across targets. Secondary trades damage for stagger, Counter and faster recovery. Running uses the second swing with a long lunge; Jump uses the finisher with extra stagger. Ordinary impact pauses are shorter.

• Two-Handed Axes: trade more stamina for base damage and stagger. Planted primaries gain lunge, broader contact and penalty-free cleave; their opening swing animates faster. Secondary retains limited free movement, its own cleave rules and native stagger. Its Secondary turns more readily than its planted primaries. Running uses the second swing without lunge and protects only at its hit. The finisher and Jump have deliberately long impact pauses, against players too. Primary chopping is weaker, and the equipped axe slows movement more.

  Both heavy families reduce damage and stagger taken during their primaries, and the two-handed sword also during Running. The sword's Secondary protects through its hit; the axe's Secondary and Running protect only at the instant their hit is resolved. Jump attacks have no default hyperarmor. In PvP, the axe's Secondary and Running allow a timed-block bonus; the other two-handed sword and axe attacks do not. The separate permission to stagger a parried attacker defaults Off for every attack.

• Sledges: keep their area damage and radius, swing faster and cost more stamina, with slightly less knockback. The normal moveset uses 1x ordinary stagger power on every attack; its heavy PvP stagger is configured separately. The slam keeps its native lunge. Protection lasts through the hit, reducing damage and stagger and preventing knockback; recovery is exposed. They have a heavier equipment penalty, and the normal moveset adds no Running, Jump or dedicated Roll attack. The optional [Beta] Use alternate moveset, Off by default, adds axe-inspired swings and Running, keeps the area finisher and borrows the two-handed axe Secondary. Sledges receive no extra Flank damage.

• Atgeirs: retain free movement and gain base damage, broader contact, lunge, primary stagger and primary Counter damage. Primary 1 reaches furthest, in a narrower fan; Secondary reaches further than Primary 2 and 3. The spinning Secondary cleaves without multi-target damage loss and staggers at the native rate. Hyperarmor reduces damage; primaries and Running also reduce stagger buildup, strongly in PvP, while Secondary takes normal stagger and all attacks take normal knockback. Running adds movement and lunge; Jump uses the finisher without protection. Himmin Afl gains chain-lightning chances. The bundled atgeir YAML splits primary, Running and Jump damage between pierce and slash, and makes Secondary slash.

• One-Handed Swords: planted primaries gain lunge and penalty-free cleave. Secondary deals less damage but more stagger, swings faster, recovers more slowly and can Counter. It prevents knockback while taking normal damage and stagger. Running and Jump borrow the finisher; Running adds movement and Jump adds stagger. Equipped swords impose a modest movement penalty. Bundled YAML matches each vanilla sword's reach to its measured length.

• One-Handed Axes: retain free movement, gain strong primary lunge and penalty-free cleave, swing faster and build more stagger. Primaries recover more slowly. Secondary gains more reliable contact and knockback protection, but no damage/stagger protection. Running triggers at a lower speed and uses the finisher with more movement and lunge; Jump uses a faster Secondary. Running and Jump both recover more slowly. Ordinary chopping damage is reduced. Bundled YAML matches each vanilla axe's reach to its measured length.

• Clubs and Maces: planted primaries gain lunge and stagger while pushing enemies less, keeping them in reach. Primaries retain multi-target damage loss and gain hyperarmor at the hit. Secondary removes that penalty, deals less damage, swings faster and recovers more slowly, with knockback-only protection. Running and Jump use the finisher; Jump adds stagger. Equipped clubs impose a modest movement penalty. Bundled YAML matches each vanilla club's and mace's reach to its measured length, shorter than a sword's.

• Knives: retain free movement and gain lunge, broader close contact with a thicker Secondary, and faster turning. Stronger Sneak, Flank and Execution bonuses reward openings. They gain no hyperarmor or extra ordinary stagger. Running is enabled and uses the finisher as a run-in attack; Jump remains Off.

• Native Dual Knives: share the knife movement and conditional bonuses, with damage increasing across their three-hit combo. Running is enabled, using the finisher. Primary PvP stagger has the same short duration as a knife's; secondaries stagger longer than primaries. Paired items such as Skoll and Hati are separate from SDW Daggers.

• Native Dual Axes: use a smoother four-hit damage progression with the native finisher bonus accounted for. Planted primaries gain lunge and broad, penalty-free cleave. Secondary swings faster and builds more stagger, with less lunge and narrower, taller contact. Impact pauses are shorter. Hyperarmor and GCO's Running and Jump attacks are Off. These are separate from SDW Axes.

• Spears: the alternate spear moveset, On by default, gives a spear held with an empty left hand the atgeir's pose, combo, Running and Jump attacks. The spear is turned end for end so its point leads like an atgeir blade, and returns to its own grip for the throw. It keeps its own stamina cost, weapon damage, effects and throw; its tuning is on its own Spears (Alt Moveset) pages. It has no hyperarmor. A shield or torch in the left hand keeps the normal moveset: a focused, single-target thrust with normal lunge, no free attack movement and no added Running or Jump attack. In both movesets, primaries gain a stronger Counter bonus. Throws travel faster, animate at 1.2x, receive no Flank bonus and use 12x PvP stagger with a 0.8-second stagger duration. Their rotation setting uses the spear's unmodified primary-thrust turning rate as its base, and neither throw adds a melee environment hit ray. Optional Spear loyalty mode, Off by default, keeps a thrown spear from being consumed or dropped. Bundled YAML matches each vanilla spear's melee reach to its measured length; it does not change throws.

• Fists: keep native combo damage, animate faster, gain broader contact and adjusted lunge, and use 1x primary movement. Punches and the kick turn at a moderate rate. There is no added Running or Jump attack (a primary pressed while sprinting is an ordinary punch) and no hyperarmor. Secondary has extra PvP damage, strong stagger and more knockback. Sneak bonuses are above ordinary weapons but below knives. The config file and console call them Unarmed.

• Pickaxes: keep native mining damage, and most of their own combat tuning stays vanilla. Shared combat and defense rules still apply. Swings turn at a moderate rate, and turning locks after the hit through recovery; no Running or Jump attack is added.

• Other weapons and tools: use their applicable shared rules and exposed tuning. Running support depends on the item's existing attack. Custom weapon YAML can select the intended family or exclude an item from GCO weapon changes. Shovels are excluded from GCO weapon tuning, special attacks and weapon YAML; shared player and world rules remain separate.

Smoothbrain DualWield weapons

Both hands still strike. Each hand's damage is modestly reduced; the left uses dual-wield skill and the right its ordinary weapon skill. By default, each attack costs 1.85 times the two weapons' average base stamina, times SDW's move factor; secondaries keep their cost ratio to primaries. All four families gain Running using P1, with no default hyperarmor and greatly reduced PvP knockback. Their Jump attacks are Off by default.

Running increases movement and lunge. When enabled, Jump uses its own copy of the one-handed sword tuning, with lower damage, more stagger and no added lunge, and keeps SDW's contact shapes and its own stamina settings. Ordinary/Running impact pauses stay native; recovery waits for the last hand strike.

• SDW Swords: planted primaries swing faster, recover more slowly and lunge furthest on P2. Secondary restricts movement, deals less damage and can Counter. Running also has faster swings and slower recovery.
• SDW Axes: planted primaries gain strong lunge and faster swings, especially the finisher, with slower recovery. Secondary keeps its damage, recovers faster, allows limited turning before the hit and does no chopping damage. Its contact shape follows P1. Running swings faster.
• SDW Clubs: planted primaries gain lunge with ordinary swing/recovery timing. Secondary deals less damage, swings more slowly and recovers faster, with axe-style contact but club cleave rules. Running has slower recovery.
• SDW Daggers: primaries retain free movement and native lunge while gaining faster turning and stronger Sneak damage. Secondary restricts movement, deals less damage and can Counter. Its contact shape matches P1 by default, with independent controls; its PvP stagger is tuned to break unguarded poise while protective hyperarmor holds. Running lunges less than the other SDW families.

Ranged weapons and utility

• Bows: retain draw speed and projectile speed while allowing much freer turning during the draw. A full draw keeps a small spread that Bow skill narrows, and shots spread wider on the move or in the air (see Ranged accuracy). PvP damage and stagger use 1x multipliers, with a 0.5-second stagger duration and no PvP knockback; the PvP damage curve still applies. Existing roots have a moderate ordinary chance and become guaranteed against already-staggered or unaware targets. Roots last five seconds against creatures and three against players.
• Crossbows: retain reload speed, projectile speed and recoil. A loaded shot keeps a small spread that Crossbow skill narrows, and shots spread wider on the move or in the air (see Ranged accuracy). PvP damage uses 0.8x and stagger 5x, with a 0.8-second stagger duration and no PvP knockback. Each shot costs stamina like a melee swing (see Stats & Resources); reloading keeps its native drain. Existing immobilization has no ordinary chance and becomes guaranteed against already-staggered or unaware targets.
• Harpoons: travel faster while retaining native rope strength. Grappling Hook keeps native hook behavior and has its own settings, separate from bow/crossbow balance.
• Throwables: retain native damage, stamina cost, projectile speed and throwing speed. Neither direct bomb hits nor lingering areas receive Flank damage.

Magic

Most spell damage, eitr and health costs and casting behavior remain native, but every staff except the Staff of Frost also costs stamina to cast, like a melee swing (see Stats & Resources). Shared damage rules still apply, but magic has no default Flank bonus; most staffs have no PvP stagger, with Dundr configured separately. Staffs that deal damage themselves deal less PvP damage. The older staffs allow parrying and running while blocking; the four newer ones (Echo Spike, Lightning Strike, Northern Vengeance and Spirit Caller) keep vanilla blocking and spells.

• Staff of Embers and Staff of Fracturing: keep their native spell damage, eitr costs, projectiles and area behavior; they deal slightly less PvP damage.
• Staff of Frost: fires a tighter spread and deals less PvP damage. Its stream costs no stamina.
• Dundr: fires a tighter spread without recoil, builds more direct stagger and deals much less PvP damage. PvP stagger uses 1x with a 0.5-second duration. Reload speed and pellet count stay native. Pellets gain a small chain-lightning chance. Its spread follows the crossbow rules of Ranged accuracy, using Crossbow skill.
• Staff of Protection: keeps native bubble strength and eitr and health costs. Blocking with the staff is separate from the bubble's protection.
• Dead Raiser: permits one skeleton at starting quality and one more per upgrade. Other summon attributes and eitr and health costs stay native. Skeletons can attack other players in PvP; the PvP damage curve evens out their hits as it does players' (see Summon Settings).
• Staff of the Wild: permits ten active vines per caster, without increasing the cap on upgrades, and deals slightly less PvP damage. Vines can attack other players in PvP, under the PvP damage curve, and can root them under the same chance rules as creatures, with the shorter PvP duration (see Weapon effects). Other vine attributes stay native.
• Trollstav: retains native casting and summoned-troll behavior; it does not share the skeleton or vine cap. Its troll's hits on other players pass the PvP damage curve, like a player's.
• Echo Spike and Lightning Strike: retain native spell-specific damage, eitr costs, projectiles and areas; they deal slightly less PvP damage.
• Northern Vengeance: retains native shield strength, eitr and health costs, mitigation and retaliation.
• Spirit Caller: retains native summon limits, attributes, and eitr and health costs. Optional cap tuning covers that caster's phantom variants. Its animals can attack other players in PvP, under the PvP damage curve.

Shields and armor

• Bucklers and Medium Shields: keep their native block armor, parry bonus and timing, including the differences between the two classes. They allow running blocks at reduced movement, impose a modest equipment penalty and no longer push attackers away through block force. In PvP, bucklers hold light and medium hits and their parry takes no stagger; medium shields also hold heavy hits (see Blocking and Defense).
• Tower Shields: hold until a blocked hit empties stamina. Successful blocks prevent stagger and knockback, cover a wider angle and halve remaining physical damage in PvE and PvP. Elemental and untyped damage keep their normal blocked-hit treatment. In PvP their strong guard can hold heavy attacks while stamina remains; repeated hits and the flat block cost can still exhaust it. Towers cannot parry or run while blocking and have a heavier equipment penalty.
• Light Armor: removes its armor movement penalty and adds the smallest per-piece stagger/knockback resistance.
• Medium Armor: removes its armor movement penalty and adds more resistance per piece.
• Heavy Armor: removes its armor movement penalty and adds the most resistance per piece. Armor ratings remain native across all three classes.

Core Combat Features

Running and Jump Attacks

Running: reach the weapon's speed requirement while sprinting, then start a primary attack. Holding sprint while standing still is not enough, and a combo hit already queued stays a combo hit. Running allows brief airtime but is disabled on ice by default.

Jump: jump, then press primary before landing. A jump qualifies at once; walking off a ledge needs one second of falling first. With One action at a time On, an attack pressed in a jump's first 0.2 s is dropped; keep holding it and the swing starts at 0.2 s. Jump attacks take priority when eligible and spend attack stamina in addition to the jump cost. Secondary input stays Secondary. Feather Cape disables jump attacks by default.

Use the Attacks / Running Attacks and Attacks / Jump Attacks global switches, then the weapon's Running Attack or Jump Attack page. The global switch, per-weapon Apply and attack-enable setting must all permit the attack. Changing a primary's tuning does not automatically change a Running/Jump attack that borrows its animation.

Each weapon's Jump Attack / Air attack limit limits attacks during a single jump or fall:

Mode	Result
No limit (NoRestriction)	No airborne attack-count limit.
One jump attack (AllowOnlyOneJumpAttack)	One successful GCO jump attack; ordinary primaries and secondaries remain available.
One attack (AllowOnlyOneAttack)	One successful attack of any type, then no further attack starts until landing.

Fresh installs and the recommended ruleset use One jump attack for 1H Swords and Clubs/Maces, and No limit for every other family, including SDW. Switching weapons in the air applies the new weapon's rule without clearing attacks already counted. Landing resets the count. An attack that fails to start does not count; one that starts and is then cancelled does. A Jump attack does not advance the primary chain. All Jump attacks use a 0.8x hit-ray start height by default. Restriction mode is host-controlled, supports weapon YAML, and uses No limit in the vanilla ruleset.

Roll attacks: supported melee families, including fists, have a separate Roll Attack page. A primary press during a roll or its recovery chooses that attack; Secondary stays Secondary. Defaults mirror the selected swing's protection, hit rays and PvP stagger, with 1x lunge and 0.9x P1 damage; two-handed swords use P3 at 1.4x P1 damage and 1.1x animation speed. SDW weapons use P3; native dual axes use their fourth swing. Knife, native dual-knife and SDW dagger Roll attacks have enough PvP stagger for one unguarded hit in the tested equipment ranges; blocking and hyperarmor still matter. Roll settings remain independent. Normal sledges and pickaxes use ordinary attacks instead; alternate sledges have their own Roll attack. A completed roll adds no extra wait. Timing and facing are described below.

Hyperarmor and stagger

Hyperarmor separately controls damage, stagger buildup and knockback taken. Protection against one does not imply protection against the others. It does not erase an existing stagger meter.

Mode	When it protects
Off	Never.
Before hit ray end	From entering the attack animation through the final hit event.
Balanced [Beta]	From the configured point in the attack animation through its final hit event.
Whole attack	Throughout the attack, including recovery.
While wielded	While holding that weapon type.
At the hit only	Only at the instant the attack's hit is resolved.

PvP hyperarmor replaces PvE hyperarmor against players, then combines with armor and other applicable mitigation. Armor pieces and hyperarmor multiply rather than add: two 50% reductions leave 25%, not 0%. Stagger taken during hyperarmor only slows how fast your stagger bar fills: zero adds nothing, partial values add less. A full bar always staggers you, in every mode, and your attack ends at once. At zero, hits that always stagger (troll slams, traps) do not stagger you either. A stagger sent from another player's game follows the applicable stance and parry permissions (below). Jump hyperarmor is Off by default.

In PvP, an attack's hyperarmor against stagger is its stance. If Can be staggered when parried is enabled for that attack, a stance that reduces PvP stagger at the hit still prevents the parry from staggering its attacker. The new permission defaults Off for every attack, so a successful timed block can grant its block bonus without staggering the opponent. Can be parried independently decides whether that bonus is allowed.

Outgoing stagger strength, how much buildup a target can withstand, and stagger duration have separate controls. By default, player and enemy stagger bars wait two seconds after a contributing hit before draining, an actual stagger clears the bar, and hits add no new buildup during the stagger. Players preserve facing in PvE and PvP, and enemies preserve facing too. The separate Keep facing when staggered by flank option covers qualifying GCO flank hits when ordinary facing preservation is disabled. Balanced [Beta] is optional and unused by the recommended ruleset; unreliable animation timing falls back to Before hit ray end.

Positioning and timing bonuses

Bonus	Opening it rewards
Sneak	An unaware target. It scales with Sneak skill and can award Sneak XP.
Flank	A hit from behind; the allowed rear sector is narrower in PvP. Adds damage and stagger where enabled.
Execution	An already-staggered PvE enemy.
Counter	A target currently in an attack animation. Only players deal it by default.

Sneak and Flank can multiply together. Execution and Counter compete with the other eligible combinations; the stronger result wins. A qualifying Flank still plays its enabled ding when Execution wins, without a second Execution/Counter ding on the same hit. Ordinary weapons use a 1.3x PvP Flank multiplier; weapon-specific exceptions remain. Flank does not trigger on staggered in PvP is On by default: an already-staggered player gets no GCO Flank damage, extra stagger or flank ding. The hit that first causes the stagger can still qualify.

PvE and PvP Counter settings are independent, each with its own global multiplier. Every attack's recommended PvP Counter multiplier is 1.15 before the damage curve; its enable switch still decides whether it can Counter.

In multiplayer, the game that runs the target decides these bonuses, so they work on monsters another player's game runs, and Counter works in PvP. A second sneak attack on the same target within Valheim's 5-minute cooldown gets no Sneak bonus or Sneak XP. Dings play only for hits that land, with one critical-style effect per hit.

Bonuses & Status / Sneak & Noise / Projectile landings alert enemies (recommended Suspicious, vanilla NoEffect) makes a landing shot draw attention. With Suspicious, an idle monster near where your arrow, bolt, spear, bomb or spell lands shows "?" and walks over to look; it is alerted only if it then sees you. With Alerted, enemies there show "!" and turn on you, and animals are startled. Straight projectile radius (10 m) covers arrows, bolts, thrown spears and other projectiles without an area impact; Explosive projectile radius (25 m) covers bombs, fireballs, lightning and other area impacts. A hit on a creature counts as a landing. Tamed creatures never react, fishing casts never alert, and Valheim's own impact noise is unchanged. These settings work only while Apply GCO sneak and noise (all weapons) is On.

Movement, timing and impact

Attack movement changes free movement during a swing; Lunge changes its animation-driven forward travel. Swing speed, recovery speed and turning are separate. Recovery starts after the final hit event, including misses and attacks with multiple strikes. Interrupting an attack releases its timing changes.

Movement settings can apply during wind-up, the hit, recovery or the full animation. The hit mode, First to last hit, covers the interval from the first through final hit event; it is longer than the brief At the hit only hyperarmor window. Attack movement grounding, under Attacks / Movement & Lunge, can ignore these changes in the air (GroundOnly in the config). Added lunge has no effect while airborne, gliding or on ice.

Attacks / Movement & Lunge / Lunges stop at targets (recommended On, vanilla Off; host-controlled) keeps bodies solid during a swing. Before a melee swing's first hit, a lunge or run that would carry you into an enemy stops at its body instead of sliding around or past it, and the enemy the swing aims at (your locked target, else the reachable one closest to where you face) stays in front of you, so the swing lands. Sideways and backward movement are unchanged, and with nothing in the way a lunge goes its full distance. Players count only when both have PvP on; tames and summons only when they are your enemy (another player's summons in PvP, when their staff's Attack players in PvP lets them attack you), never your own or friendly ones. It follows each weapon's Apply GCO attack movement and lunge.

Block cancel: use your normal block input during the permitted part of a swing. The recommended settings permit this after the hit, so you can end recovery by blocking but still commit to the wind-up. Hit stop controls the pause on impact. These and attack turning have separate ordinary, Running, Jump and PvP settings. Supported melee attacks also earn more adrenaline by default.

Movement / Dodge & Action Rules / One action at a time (recommended On, vanilla Off; host-controlled) gives your character Elden Ring's action rules. Attacks commit; no roll, jump or meal starts during their locked portion. Presses made too early are dropped, later accepted presses wait, and a roll can still cut recovery. On two-handed axe, atgeir and sledge chains, holding attack makes the next step win over a waiting roll. An interrupted attack lands no further hit, and you cannot raise a guard in the air after a jump. This rule also works with Enable mod Off and for vanilla Vikings. Bow-draw retention through a roll has its own option.

Movement / Dodge & Action Rules / Attack cancels roll recovery (recommended On, vanilla Off; host-controlled) lets an eligible attack cut recovery after invincibility and its own delay. Each attack's Allow attack during roll controls access; Off keeps normal input buffering and waits for the roll to finish. Dedicated Roll timing takes priority: normally 0.2 seconds, 0.25 for two-handed swords and 0.35 for fists and SDW weapons. Ordinary attacks normally use 0.3 seconds; Secondary uses 0.2 for one-handed swords, two-handed axes, SDW swords and all three dagger families, or 0.35 for two-handed swords and one-handed clubs/maces. These delays use roll animation time and follow its speed; the attack itself uses its own animation and recovery speeds. Early accepted presses wait, and a stagger still wins. Only one-handed sword and club/mace Roll attacks snap toward the aim by default. Normal sledge attacks, spear throws, crossbows and staff casts have permission Off by default and can be enabled individually. This works with One action at a time On or Off, but not with Enable mod Off or for vanilla Vikings.

Jump i-frames, on the same page, are optional and Off. A qualifying directional jump grants a short invincibility window only when stamina covers the actual modified jump cost plus the extra i-frame cost. Free jumping out of combat also waives that extra cost while it makes the jump free. It does not make every airborne movement invincible. Successful jump dodges play Valheim's dodge particles.

Player / Input buffering holds seven controls: separate primary, secondary and dodge buffer times, whether accepted buffers pause behind actions, whether attack buffers pause during rolls, and jump/item-use buffer times. Attack and dodge defaults are 0.5 seconds; 0 stores no press for later while held attacks still work. Jump and item-use default to -1, preserving their existing action-rule behavior; positive values expire in game time. Buffering does not bypass an action lock or shorten the roll-attack delay. Controller combo recognition and equipment/reload queues are separate.

Crossbows and Dundr can retain reloading through a roll, using separate options. Dundr's is On by default; crossbow reload retention is Off. Bows default to Allow attack during roll Off, stopping charging and shooting throughout a roll. If enabled, Bows / Ranged / Roll action window after i-frames permits a new draw or shot during recovery, normally 0.3 seconds after invincibility. The separate Continue charging while rolling option, Off by default, can preserve an existing held draw with One action at a time enabled. These do not turn shots or casts into melee Roll attacks.

Three fixes are always on, with no setting:

• A jump pressed together with an attack never cuts it.
• A hit your roll's invincibility avoids never staggers you.
• A stagger always wins. Once it lands, your attack ends at once and lands nothing more, a dual-wield pair's second hand and projectiles included. No attack or jump pressed, held or buffered in that instant cuts it; a held attack starts once the stagger ends. It also ends a bow draw. This works with Enable mod Off and for vanilla Vikings too, and monsters follow it on the game that runs them.

Weapon effects

These settings tune effects a weapon already supplies; they do not give every weapon Root or lightning. Ordinary fire, frost, poison and spirit damage effects are separate.

Root immobilization lasts five seconds in PvE and three seconds in PvP by default. Ordinary Root chance is 15% for bows and 0% for crossbows; both guarantee existing Root effects against already-staggered or unaware targets. Two-handed swords, two-handed axes and sledges raise a weapon's native 20% and 25% effect chances to 30% and 40%, and atgeirs to 25% and 33.75%. Daggers and dual axes apply effects less often per hit. On wet lightning overrides are inactive by default. A conditional target state must exist before the hit; staggering it with that same hit does not qualify.

Status build-up meters. With Bonuses & Status / Status Effects / Status effect rule on Build-up meter (recommended; vanilla uses Random chance), each hit adds its final chance to the target's effect meter, out of 100. A 30% root adds 30; a full meter applies the effect and clears, then builds nothing while that effect lasts. All roots share one meter, all chain lightning another, and other effects have separate meters. Meters wait two seconds after their last contribution, then drain 1 point per second in PvE or 2 in PvP. A guaranteed hit also clears that effect's existing buildup. In both modes a zero chance never applies. Blocked or parried hits add no status buildup. Your meters appear above the stamina bar, with icons: roots green, lightning blue, others grey. Your active root counts down in either application mode; enemy status meters appear only in Build-up meter mode. Global strength controls have separate PvP values.

Bonuses & Status / Status Effects / No re-immobilize while immobilized (recommended On, vanilla Off; host-controlled): while a player or creature is rooted, nothing roots it again, restarts its root or lengthens it until that root ends, whatever applies it. The rest of the hit lands as usual.

Under a weapon's Status Effects, rows are grouped by Unconditional, On wet, On staggered and On unaware, then by effect (Immobilized, Lightning and Other effects); Per attack comes last. The highest matching conditional chance replaces the ordinary chance.

Control	How to use it
… chance	Enter a direct chance. Unconditional -1 keeps the native chance.
… chance scale	Scale that chance; for example, 20% at 0.5x becomes 10%. Conditional -1 with 1x is inactive; another scale multiplies the ordinary chance.
… duration / … damage	Shared by that effect's conditions. Duration 0 prevents new timed applications. Lightning has no duration control.
Exact effect name chances	Override a specific effect, such as Root=40, ahead of its group setting.
Native chance map	Change the weapon's own chances before any row reads them, as native=new pairs in percent, such as 20=30; 25=40. A chance entered in a row ignores it.
Effect build-up / chance multiplier (Per attack)	Scale each effect contribution or chance, capped at 100%. Recommended ordinary, Running and Jump multipliers reflect their damage; Roll defaults copy the selected swing. All remain independently editable: changing damage later does not change effects. Kicks apply no weapon effect.
PvP …	Each row's PvP twin, used when your weapon hits another player or a PvP test dummy. -2, or Same as PvE for an exact-name list, uses the PvE row.

In PvP, effect chances inherit their matching PvE values by default, including bow roots; configured conditions and zero chances still apply. Root durations use the shorter PvP value. The twins apply while Damage / PvP / PvP damage modifiers and the weapon's Apply GCO PvP are On. Player summons, including the Staff of the Wild's vines, can root other players under their applicable effect rules.

Paired weapons: each SDW hand uses its own weapon's effect for the animation being played, with its own chance and modifiers. The default dual scale is 0.85x: a 25-point lightning contribution becomes 21.25 and the other hand's 20-point root becomes 17. Swapping hands preserves each contribution. Multi-hit SDW secondaries share their configured effect total across their hand strikes; running, jumping and rolling retain their own effect settings.

Ranged accuracy

Valheim fires a fully drawn bow or a loaded crossbow perfectly straight. GCO gives every shot a minimum spread: 0.7° for bows and 0.5° for crossbows and Dundr at skill 0, narrowing by 0.01° per Bow or Crossbow level down to a lowest minimum spread of 0.3° (bows, from level 40) or 0.2° (crossbows, from level 30). A partly drawn bow keeps its wider native spread.

Shot	Extra spread at skill 0	Each skill level	Level 100
Airborne (jumping or falling)	+500%	−2 points	+300%
Moving on the ground	Up to +200% at jogging speed	−2 points	None

The moving penalty grows with your own speed from nothing standing still to its full value at jogging speed; running counts as jogging. In the air, the airborne penalty replaces the moving one. A fully drawn bow at skill 0 spreads 0.7° standing, 2.1° jogging and 4.2° jumping. Penalties are taken when the shot starts. Bows and crossbows have no airborne attack limit; their airborne shots take this penalty instead.

Each value is a host-controlled setting on the Ranged page of Weapons / Bows or Weapons / Crossbows, and weapon YAML can set it per weapon. Apply GCO spread, on each one's General page, removes all of GCO's spread changes for that type. The vanilla ruleset sets the floors and penalties to 0. Valheim's bow ring and the optional dynamic crosshair show the resulting spread (see Crosshair).

Target lock-on

Press CapsLock to lock onto a target and again to release it. Hold mode locks while you hold right-click and releases when you let go; it is Off by default, and right-click still blocks. With hold mode On, holding its key during a toggle lock keeps that target: the hold settings apply until you let go, then the lock returns to toggle mode. Toggle mode is On for fresh installs and the recommended ruleset, Off with the vanilla ruleset.

• Selection: Target priority decides which target a press picks: Nearest to crosshair (default), or Nearest to you; the other measure breaks ties. Hostile creatures and untamed neutral wildlife qualify. Tamed creatures need a butcher knife in hand; players qualify only when both have PvP enabled. Friendly NPCs and summons are excluded.
• Range and focus: lock-on reaches 35 m with melee and 50 m with ranged attacks, in both modes. A target behind cover, off screen or out of range is dropped after Lost target delay (1 s). With Sync config On, the host sets both ranges (at most 200 m) and Lost target delay, in both modes; with it Off, each player's own values count. When the target dies, toggle mode releases the lock and hold mode picks the next target; each mode's On target death can do either. Next target priority (Nearest to crosshair by default, or Nearest to you) decides which target comes next.
• Aim: attacks and bow draws turn toward the target within the usual turning limits, including standing and airborne attacks. With Compensate projectile drop (both modes) (On by default; host-controlled), every locked-on shot (bows, crossbows, spear throws, bombs and other throws, staffs) aims at the target's centre, where the symbol sits, and leaves just high enough for its own drop to carry it there, by that shot's speed (a partial draw is slower), gravity and drag. A target out of reach gets a shot at 45 degrees, which falls short. With it Off, shots aim by how they fly: arcing shots (bows, spear throws, bombs and other thrown items) three quarters up the target, flat shots (crossbows and staff projectiles) at its centre; GCO sorts a modded weapon into one of these by its weapon YAML category if one is set, otherwise by its skill, then its stance. Either way, projectiles keep their own spread, a moving target is not led, and nothing homes. While you run, a melee attack steers your movement toward the target until its hit ends; ranged attacks keep Valheim's movement.
• Turn toward target (Off by default) makes your body follow Elden Ring's lock-on facing at Valheim's turn speed: walking or jogging, you strafe facing the target; standing still, you turn to it once it is 45° off (crouched, only until it is back within 45°); guarding faces it. Sprinting, rolls, swimming, staggers, emotes and seats keep Valheim's facing, and lock-on never starts a turn in the air.
• Camera follow (On by default in both modes) keeps the target in view, turning the camera only when the target is at the top or bottom of the screen or more than 30° to either side (toggle mode's Horizontal camera leeway of 60°). In hold mode that leeway is 0, so the camera keeps the target centred left to right. The camera glides rather than steps. Look input can briefly carry the view past an edge before the camera turns back; Hard horizontal edge and Hard vertical edge (Off by default) make those edges hard stops, and a newly selected target is still turned to smoothly. Swap target with camera (Off by default) switches to another target when you deliberately look toward it.
• Ranged weapons: the host decides whether bows, crossbows, projectile magic and other throws may lock on (Allow with ranged weapons (both modes), On in the recommended ruleset, Off in the vanilla ruleset). When Off, equipping a ranged-only weapon releases the lock at once. Spear throws always keep target lock-on.

Target Lock-On / Visuals is shared by both modes. A symbol marks the target at its centre, and the crosshair hides while locked. The symbol has the custom crosshair's shape, colour and outline options, plus an Elden Ring-style glow (On) and an RGB split (Off); the default is a white dot of size 6 in a soft blue-silver glow. The page has the same sliders and live preview as the crosshair. Use crosshair as lock-on visual (Off by default) draws your crosshair on the target instead.

• Bow draw ring on target (On by default) draws Valheim's own bow-draw ring on the target instead of at screen centre. It stays Valheim's ring whatever the crosshair's spread settings say, and a crossbow or Dundr shows none there.
• Show target health bar (On by default) keeps the locked target's health bar visible at any lock-on distance. Bosses keep Valheim's rule, because their bar also starts the boss fight.

No lock-on setting is part of weapon YAML, and Be a vanilla Viking turns lock-on off. Allow with ranged weapons (both modes), Compensate projectile drop (both modes), the two ranges and Lost target delay (both modes) are host-controlled; every other lock-on setting is personal and never synced. Both rulesets keep your keys, the rest of the hold settings and the Visuals; a page's Set to recommended (Page) also resets that page's keys. Controller players can bind both modes under Controller Overrides.

PvP Damage

The recommended settings make PvP damage rolls consistent and reduce the advantage of very large single hits against armor. Smaller hits are raised and larger hits compressed within limits. Every hit a player or a player's summon lands on another player passes through this PvP damage curve once, after every other damage bonus, other mods' included: kicks, atgeir spins, weapons GCO ignores and damage over time from such a hit too. In multiplayer, Valheim still scales a summon's hit like a monster's on the hit player's game, after the curve: 4% more for each other player within 100 m (up to 16%), and the world's enemy damage setting. Incoming PvE damage has a separate curve that softens large hits without increasing small ones.

Every attack has separate PvP stagger tuning, calibrated against armor and health of the same tier. The levels below describe intended roles; unless an attack is named, a weapon family means its primaries and Running attack. Actual damage, armor, stamina, buffs and custom settings still determine the result. They are not a guarantee that every weapon-quality combination takes the same number of hits.

Level	Attacks	Intended role
Zero	Most staffs, bombs and the grappling hook	No added PvP stagger.
Ranged / throw	Bows, crossbows, Dundr and spear throws	Their own stagger multipliers and short durations; they can build stagger.
Light	Knife, dual-knife and SDW dagger P1/P2	Repeated hits build toward a stagger; their finishers and Running attacks exert stronger single-hit pressure.
Medium	1H swords, axes and clubs, spear thrusts, fists, atgeirs, SDW swords/axes/clubs, dual-axe primaries, SDW dagger Secondary and the 2H axe Secondary and Running	Stronger single-hit pressure.
Heavy	2H swords, 2H axe primaries and sledges, including the alternate sledge Secondary	Pressure against heavy stances and guards.
Level 3	Kicks, Jump attacks and other melee Secondaries	High guard-breaking pressure.

A multiplier sets buildup, not duration; mitigation and immunity still apply. Bows and Dundr use 0.5-second PvP staggers, crossbows and spear throws 0.8 seconds. One-handed sword, axe and club Secondaries use 0.8 seconds; matching SDW durations keep their independent values. Two-handed sword Secondary and Jump, two-handed axe Jump and the optional SDW Jumps use 0.8 seconds; one-handed sword and mace Running attacks use 0.6 seconds. Other attacks retain their own per-attack durations. Roll defaults match their selected swing's PvP buildup and duration despite different damage, except the three dagger families add one-hit unguarded stagger pressure. Their stagger rows remain independently editable.

The wider balance checks retain some weapon-quality and repeated-hit exceptions. In particular, the new flat block cost can exhaust a tower shield that would hold on stagger resistance alone. Lower current stamina always makes an earlier guard break possible.

PvP can be parried, beside each attack's PvP stagger, is Off for kicks and for two-handed sword and axe attacks except the axe's Secondary and Running attack. A timed block against an attack that disallows parrying becomes a normal block, without its parry bonus or effects. PvP can be staggered when parried is separate and defaults Off for all attacks, including ranged attacks. The vanilla ruleset keeps native parry behavior.

PvP damage, stagger duration, knockback, impact pauses, hyperarmor, guard breaking and weapon effects can be tuned separately. With a weapon's Apply GCO PvP Off, its PvE hyperarmor applies in PvP too. A vanilla Viking takes vanilla stagger from GCO players.

Blocking and Defense

Use normal Valheim block and parry controls. GCO preserves the ordinary parry timing window. Can be parried decides whether an attack allows a timed-block bonus. Can be staggered when parried is a separate per-attack PvP setting, Off everywhere by default: a successful parry then grants the permitted bonus without staggering the attacker. Existing ranged/area permission and stance checks still apply if you enable attacker stagger. PvE parry behavior remains separate.

In PvP, guard resistance follows the attack's stagger pressure (see PvP Damage). These are the intended guard roles while enough stamina remains:

• Bucklers hold light and medium hits. Their parry takes no PvP stagger (PvP stagger taken on parry), so it also holds parryable level-3 hits.
• Medium shields also hold heavy hits; their parry takes about as much PvP stagger as a normal block.
• Tower shields have the strongest normal guard, including against kicks and Jump attacks. Repeated hits, high-damage outliers and stamina exhaustion can break them. Their higher PvP block armor lowers the ordinary part of the cost and lets less damage through. They cannot parry.
• 2H sword, 2H axe and sledge guards hold heavy hits; other weapon and staff guards hold light and medium hits.
• Kicks, Jump attacks and level-3 Secondaries pressure most normal blocks. Tower guards and some heavy-weapon parries can hold them, subject to the weapon-quality and stamina exceptions above.

On a blocked PvP hit, the attack's PvP stagger applies first, then the guard's PvP block break threshold divides it. The threshold affects only blocked hits: hits from behind, unblockable hits and damage over time fill the meter at the full rate. A PvP guard break uses the attacker's PvP stagger duration. Can be parried, Can be staggered when parried, and hyperarmor stance are separate checks.

Tower-shield guard costs account for incoming stagger pressure, block strength and guard-break resistance. Extra physical protection applies only while a block succeeds. Souls-like guards spend down to zero and break when stamina empties, even with Negative stamina enabled. They do not deepen an existing stamina debt.

Block stamina cost: each blocked hit adds a flat cost after the ordinary calculation: 14 for one-handed weapons and fists, 12 for dual/two-handed weapons, bows, crossbows and staffs, 10 for bucklers and medium shields, or 8 for tower shields. The actual blocking item determines the type; holding block alone adds no drain.

Parry stamina cost is (ordinary modified block cost + flat cost) × global parry rate × type parry rate. PvE defaults are global 0.5x, buckler 0x and other types 1x; PvP defaults are global 1x, buckler 0.8x and other types 1x. Thus a PvE buckler parry costs nothing, and a PvP buckler parry pays 80% of the whole total. The global and per-type controls are independent. Stamina exhaustion can break a guard even when its stagger resistance would hold the hit.

Running blocks use normal run stamina. Blocking movement, running-block movement and equipment penalties are separate settings. Blocking with a staff is also separate from absorbing a hit with a magical bubble; staff and active-shield controls tune those independently. The staff shield's knockback protection is decided on the protected player's own game, so it works in PvP and against monsters other games run, and a vanilla Viking attacker does not cancel it. It also reduces the push a shielded attacker gets when someone blocks them. Every staff shield setting reads the shield staff's own YAML.

Stats & Resources

Base stamina rate on each weapon type's Stamina & Durability page multiplies all its attacks; individual attack rates remain independent. Tooltips show the base rate. Alternate spear uses a 1.1x base with 1x attack rates. Uniform higher costs for two-handed axes, sledges and SDW weapons are carried by their base rates.

The recommended settings use 50 base stamina, faster regeneration and a one-second regeneration delay. An action can spend into stamina debt down to −50 only if it starts above zero and its full cost fits within that floor. You must recover that debt before acting again.

Sprinting does not drain stamina during attacks or while airborne. Jump costs remain native; crouching costs no stamina. Most health, eitr, healing and carry-weight values remain native.

Crossbow shots and staff casts cost stamina like a melee swing: a base of 10, which the weapon's skill lowers and gear and status effects change as for a melee weapon, then the crossbows' Stamina rate for a shot and All Magic's Stamina rate for a cast (both 1 in both rulesets). Without enough stamina the shot or cast does not start, under the same debt rule. A shot or cast that pays per projectile pays the base once, with its first projectile. Staffs keep their eitr and health costs, the Staff of Frost's stream costs no stamina, reloading keeps its native drain, and a weapon with a stamina cost of its own keeps that cost. Their tooltips show the base cost as melee weapons show theirs. The Base stamina cost rows are on the Stamina & Durability page of Weapons / Crossbows and Weapons / All Magic (magic weapons without a staff page) and on each staff's page; the vanilla ruleset sets them to 0.

Player / Stamina & Adrenaline / No stamina regeneration while airborne (recommended On, vanilla Off) stops regeneration in the air after a jump or launch, or after a second of falling. Stairs, small drops, swimming, seats and mounts do not count, and regeneration resumes on landing once Valheim's delay has passed. It works only while Apply GCO stamina and durability (all weapons) is On.

[Beta] Pay stamina per swing is a separate, default-Off setting for each supported melee attack on the weapon's Stamina & Durability, Running Attack, Jump Attack or Roll Attack page. You still need the full attack cost, with every stamina modifier, to start the attack, but it is paid when the hit begins; an attack with several hits pays that total in equal parts at each. Misses cost stamina; extra targets, SDW's two hands and the environment hit ray add no charge. A swing interrupted before its hit costs nothing. Use it with Player / Stamina & Adrenaline / Run stamina drain in attacks and air Off (recommended), or another way to stop sprint drain mid-attack. Existing negative-stamina rules still apply. Enable Show beta in the GCO menu, or Show beta content in F1, to see these controls.

Two optional switches, [Beta] Free running out of combat and [Beta] Free jumping out of combat, remove run or jump stamina cost outside combat. Both are Off. Outside combat means that no living, loaded creature is alerted, friendly and neutral ones included, at any distance. Free runs and jumps work at zero or negative stamina and do not restart the regeneration delay; a free jump at zero stamina jumps full height and still trains Jump. The grappling hook keeps its cost, and other action costs remain separate.

• Movement: ordinary movement speed, jump force and dodge motion remain native; sprint turning is faster. Weapons, shields and tools may be equipped while running, but armor, capes and accessories may not by default. Those permissions are independent. Player / Equip/Unequip adds separate equip and unequip movement and completion speeds for main hand, off hand and armor: twelve controls. Two-handed weapons count as main hand. Weapon/shield movement defaults to -1, removing the equipment-action slowdown while preserving ordinary movement modifiers; armor movement and all completion speeds default to 1x, retaining native behavior. A positive movement value multiplies the slowed speed, and 0 stops input movement. A completion speed of 2x finishes twice as fast. Shovels and ignored weapons keep native equipment timing.

Personal Movement / Dodge & Action Rules / Disable jump + block roll, Off, makes the jump key jump while blocking; the dodge key still rolls. No emote canceling, On, prevents emotes from ending an action and also works with Enable mod Off. One action at a time is described under Movement, timing and impact.

• Falls: damage starts after a longer fall as your Jump skill grows: 4 m plus 0.04 m per level, 8 m at level 100. Movement / Fall Damage contains the height, scaling, damage and cap controls; native fall protection still applies.
• Food and consumables: distinct foods are still required. Food strength, healing and ordinary consumption stay native. Permanent Food, permanent mead/Rested and free consumables are optional and Off.
• Durability: stays native. Unbreakable gear and durability adjustments are optional.
• HUD: Interface / HUD Bars contains the resource controls and stagger/effect meter toggles. [Beta] Resource HUD changes is Off, and its four grey-band controls are also Beta and work only while it is On. Show beta covers all five controls; the section and stagger/effect toggles are not Beta.

General / Multiplayer / Cheat Fest can override consumption, food uniqueness, buff duration and weapon, shield and armor durability for everyone. It defaults Off. With Sync config On, the host/admin's switch counts for everyone; with the host's Sync config Off, each player's own switch gives that player GCO's debug powers. See Debug Tools below.

Smoothbrain DualWield (optional)

GCO supports SDW 1.0.10 and newer (tested with 1.0.10). Equip two separate one-handed weapons of the same supported family through SDW, then use the corresponding [SDW] settings. Native paired axes and knives keep their ordinary categories. Without SDW, its settings, console commands and page actions are hidden.

The Weapons / Dual Wield Switches page (F1: [SDW] Dual Wield Switches) has three independent switches, all On in the recommended ruleset:

• GCO dual wield settings: applies GCO's SDW-family tuning. Off leaves that tuning saved but unused; shared player/world rules still apply.
• GCO dual wield skill scaling: enables GCO's per-hand skill scaling and dual-wield skill stamina discount.
• GCO dual wield stamina: uses (weapon 1 base stamina + weapon 2 base stamina) / 2 × SDW move factor × selected GCO stamina multiplier. Equipment/status bonuses and the selected skill discount each apply once. Off retains SDW's original cost calculation.

Each hand contributes its ordinary one-handed equipment movement penalty, including its own YAML profile. SDW combat settings otherwise remain independent. Running and Jump apply their own stamina rate once, in place of the primary's; editing ordinary sword Jump settings does not change SDW Jump settings.

The alternate calculation uses the weapons' raw primary stamina costs and preserves SDW's higher secondary factors. Native cape/armor attack-stamina reductions apply with it enabled. Item tooltips show only base stamina; enable Debug / Logging / Log - Stamina costs to inspect calculated totals and swing payments. The alternate calculation is one general SDW setting, independent of Config Overwrite and subject to the weapon Stamina & Durability permission.

Keep the bundled compatibility patcher in its installation location and fully restart after updating it. SDW settings support the same rulesets, commands, multiplayer rules and weapon profiles as other families.

Compatibility with other mods

Fallen warriors follow pvp rules under Misc / Fallen Warriors is optional and Off by default. When enabled, Fallen Warriors use GCO's player combat tuning and PvP rules, and can dodge incoming attacks when idle. GCO does not make them automatically block. They retain their own stats and offensive AI, including changes supplied by other mods. They remain hostile regardless of friendly-fire settings.

When another mod changes something GCO also changes, the two effects stack instead of one replacing the other:

• Equipment movement speed: other mods' speed changes combine with GCO's equipment movement penalties.
• Staggered enemies: Talent Tree's staggered-enemy damage multiplier applies on top of GCO's staggered-enemy bonus.
• Attack speed: the attack-speed effects of mods using the shared AnimationSpeedManager helper, such as Talent Tree, Epic Loot and SDW, combine with GCO's attack speed, Epic Loot's Slow included.
• Stagger decay: other mods' changes to stagger decay stack with GCO's decay speed and cooldown.
• Sneak bonus: another mod's raise of a weapon's sneak bonus, such as Epic Loot's Modify Backstab, multiplies GCO's sneak rate. The tooltip shows one Sneak damage line, and Sneak XP scales with the raise.
• Parry effects: Talent Tree's and Epic Loot's parry effects follow the parries the game performs; a guard whose Can parry is Off, or an attack that cannot be parried in PvP, gives none.
• Double jump: Epic Loot's Double Jump stacks with One action at a time; a jump the rules refuse in the air spends none of its air jumps.
• Lag-fair dodging: Client-side dodge and parry stacks with FiresGhettoNetworking's PvP Lag-Fair Dodge; both only remove hits. On a hit that Lag compensation judges at its send time, When stacking fails decides whether FGN may still forgive it.
• PvP damage bonuses: other mods' damage bonuses on a hit, such as Epic Loot's critical hits and Talent Tree's Glass Cannon, count before GCO's PvP damage curve; reflected damage and Epic Loot's meteor are not curved a second time.

General / Compatibility / When stacking fails decides the conflicts GCO cannot combine: a copy of AnimationSpeedManager it does not recognise, Turn toward target and Lunges stop at targets during Talent Tree's Bulwark Shield Charge, and FiresGhettoNetworking's PvP Lag-Fair Dodge on hits Lag compensation judges late. A class of that name without the helper's API is ignored. Other mod wins (Retreat), the default in both rulesets, leaves these to that mod: GCO applies none of its attack-speed changes while such a copy is loaded, the charge keeps its own facing and movement, and FGN keeps its own rule. GCO wins (TakeOver) applies GCO's attack speed during its attacks, losing that mod's attack-speed changes, keeps facing the target and stopping lunges at targets during the charge, and stops FGN forgiving the hits Lag compensation judges late. The host controls this setting.

Summon Settings

Each summon staff's settings are on its page, under Summons. For Dead Raiser, Spirit Caller and Staff of the Wild, Base summon cap sets the starting allowance and Summon cap per item level adds summons per upgrade. For example, a base of two and an increment of one allow four summons at quality three. Caps belong to each caster, not the whole server, and scaling continues beyond quality four.

A supported base of -1 retains the native cap; a final cap of 0 means unlimited. Spirit Caller's custom cap covers its phantom variants. Previously untagged phantoms need recasting.

Attack players in PvP (Dead Raiser, Spirit Caller, Staff of the Wild) is On in the recommended ruleset and Off in the vanilla one. Both caster and target must have PvP enabled; the caster is excluded, and summons must still detect and select a target normally. With it Off, the Staff of the Wild's own projectile does not damage players either.

A summon's hits on other players follow PvP damage rules: the PvP damage curve, the global PvP damage settings and its staff's three summon rows. PvP damage (1 in both rulesets) scales the damage summons deal to other players before the curve; PvP damage taken (recommended 2, vanilla 1) scales what other players and their summons deal to them when both their caster and the attacker (or the attacking summon's caster) have PvP on, and since no damage curve applies to hits on summons, it doubles the whole hit; PvP stagger (1 in both rulesets) scales the stagger of their hits that land on players, short of an instant stagger; how fast they break a guard follows only their damage (the PvP damage row and the curve). Damage over time a summon's hit puts on a player ticks with that hit's curve. The Trollstav's troll has the same three rows; it and the blobs from blob bombs attack everyone, and count as their maker's on every other player whatever anyone's PvP setting (the troll's PvP damage taken too). With Magic's Apply GCO PvP Off, every summon's hits on players count as a monster's. Summons still stagger, block and get parried like creatures, and their hits on monsters are unchanged. Summons apply their own effects, as in Valheim, their PvP effect chances inherit PvE by default, and roots use the shorter PvP duration. The host sets all of these with Sync config On.

Hit Detection and Feedback

GCO reshapes how many attacks reach creatures. Alternate environment hit ray, On in the recommended ruleset, checks terrain, trees and buildings separately with Valheim's own shapes, so terrain no longer blocks hits on creatures and nothing in the environment is hit twice. It follows each weapon's Apply GCO hit rays. Normal sledge area attacks retain their own handling.

Attacks / Hit Rays & Targets / Close-range hit ray (recommended On, vanilla Off; host-controlled) fills the gap at your own body. Valheim's melee rays miss a body they start inside, so an enemy pressed right into you, after a lunge or in a crowd, took no hit. Each melee swing now also casts a short ray from the middle of your body out to where the weapon's rays begin, as wide as the attack's own, which hits such an enemy in front of you within the attack's angle, never one behind. Each target counts once per swing, with everything a hit does; with Hit through enemies Off the ray stops at the nearest. It adds no reach, hits only characters and follows each weapon's Apply GCO hit rays.

Of the Hit rays settings, range changes reach; thickness changes contact size; start height and offset move the ray's starting point up or sideways; angle changes the sweep. Multi hit permits damage to multiple targets, while Hit through enemies, Hit through walls and the Multi target damage penalty separately control penetration and cleave damage. The normal spear moveset's P1 remains a single-target exception. A weapon whose Apply GCO multiple targets or Apply GCO hit rays is Off keeps Valheim's own values for those fields.

Individual weapon reach comes from 58 bundled YAML profiles that match each vanilla one-handed sword, one-handed axe, club and mace, spear (in both movesets) and atgeir to how far the weapon reaches at the peak of its attacks, measured from the game's models and animations. Long blades reach further and short ones less, and an atgeir keeps its longer Primary 1 and Secondary. YAML is On for fresh installs and the recommended ruleset. Fresh installs get every profile. An existing folder keeps its files; to add the bundled profiles it is missing, or replace yours with them, use Weapon YAML / Files / Install default YAML profiles. Shape, thickness and other tuning inherit their family/attack settings; edit the weapon's YAML for individual reach.

Enemy Tuning

Enemy damage, stagger, resilience, movement, attack speed, turning, size, projectiles and reach can be adjusted separately. The recommended settings leave most values native, including damage to buildings. Enemies push players less and stop turning toward you after their attack's last hit. Player weapon damage settings never apply to monsters, even ones that carry a sword or greatsword.

Change Enemies / Attack Power / Damage to buildings for a more destructive world. Player structure damage is separate and also stays native by default.

Crosshair

Interface / Crosshair / Use vanilla crosshair is On by default. Turn it Off to replace Valheim's crosshair with a custom marker: a dot, cross, circle or square with optional centre dot, T shape and outline, in any colour; the default is a small white cross. It never changes accuracy, hover text or bow drawing. Hiding the crosshair during target lock-on hides this marker too. Its number settings use Valheim's slider with a value box, each slider spanning the setting's full range, and the page shows a live preview of the marker at its real size. Existing configs keep their crosshair; Set to recommended (Page) on this page gives the default.

• Use arrow charge bar (On by default) shows the bow draw as a bar below either crosshair, in place of Valheim's bow-draw ring; Off brings the ring back. Only one draw indicator shows at a time: while the ring is on a locked target (Bow draw ring on target), the bar hides.
• Bow ring shows true spread (not recommended), Off by default, sizes Valheim's ring to the shot's real spread (see Ranged accuracy), and a loaded crossbow or Dundr shows the ring too, in yellow.
• Dynamic crosshair (Off by default) makes the custom marker show the true spread while you hold a bow, crossbow or Dundr, like CS2's Classic Dynamic crosshair: at rest it sits on the weapon's base spread and it widens as you move, jump or partly draw. The Dot shape does not change.
• Max spread shown (1 by default) caps how far the dynamic crosshair and the true-spread ring open, in units of Valheim's ring at the start of a draw; 0 removes the cap. It changes only the display.

These settings are personal, also work for a vanilla Viking, and both rulesets keep them.

Debug Tools

For troubleshooting, enable Debug / Logging / Debug logging, then the relevant Log - … channels. They cover combat, movement, equipment, resources, effects, magic, enemies, AI noise, SDW, target lock-on, crosshair, controller, config and sync, and default Off. Logging does not enable cheats or require debug mode. Verbose logging enables all channels; use it briefly when reproducing a problem.

Logs are in BepInEx/LogOutput.log. For multiplayer issues, collect the relevant client and host/server logs. Logging preferences and keybinds stay local and survive the rulesets; a page's Set to recommended (Page) resets that page's keys.

Interface / HUD Bars contains Show stagger bars and Show status meters, both Off by default and controlled by the host with Sync config On. Stagger bars appear above character health bars; status meters show their buildup and root countdown in Build-up meter mode. Only characters your game simulates have these local meter displays: alone, every creature; in multiplayer, usually nearby creatures, not another player. They hide while GCO is Off for you.

GCO debug mode (Debug / Debug Mode) prevents lethal damage by keeping the player at 1 HP and provides testing tools. It does not grant free stamina/eitr or immunity to stagger/knockback, and does not change manually enabled native god mode. In multiplayer, these actions require host/server-admin permission unless Cheat Fest is in force: the host/admin's switch with Sync config On, each player's own with the host's Sync config Off.

Default key	Action
Z / N / P	Fly / no-placement-cost / ghost
H / O	Heal / refresh Rested
None	Kill creatures / remove loot (choose a key; existing configs keep K and L)

Keys are configurable and ignored while typing. Kill creatures and Remove loot are also buttons. The PvP Test Dummy lets you test damage, armor, stagger, Counter and impact pauses without another player. Spawn and remove it, and set its health, armor and stagger threshold, under Debug / Test Dummy or with console commands. To try the status meters alone, gco_debug_meter <root|lightning|other> <units> [StatusName] adds build-up to your own meter by the usual rules; a full meter applies the effect to you. It needs debug mode or Cheat Fest, like the other debug tools, and Build-up meter mode.

Rulesets and Config Tools

Recommended and vanilla rulesets

Fresh installs and the recommended ruleset use the same gameplay defaults. Use General / Rulesets / Set to recommended (All), the GCO menu's footer button or gco_setruleset recommended. This replaces your custom tuning. Back up your settings first and let the operation finish before editing again. Every setting's default is its recommended value, so F1's reset and gco_reset_<Branch> restore it, and the menu's Recommended: line shows it.

General / Rulesets / Set to vanilla (All), the menu's footer button or gco_setruleset vanilla gives settings their vanilla values (Valheim's own, or no change), disables added attacks, toggle target lock-on and the alternate spear moveset, and turns weapon YAML Off without deleting its files. Under it tower shields cannot parry, as in Valheim. Running/Jump/Roll tuning remains stored while those attacks are disabled.

Per-weapon or per-feature resets (Set … to vanilla on a weapon's Feature Switches page) affect only their stated scope. A feature reset sets that weapon's values for the feature to vanilla and turns its Apply Off; other weapons, shared settings, keyboard keys and gamepad binds stay unchanged. Turning Apply back On permits stored tuning—it does not reload the recommended values.

Both rulesets set Sync config On for the next hosted session and leave Cheat Fest as the host set it. They preserve the Enable mod switch and local viewing, particle, logging and Be a vanilla Viking preferences. They also keep keyboard keys, Controller Overrides (gamepad binds and the layout choice included), the crosshair, target lock-on visuals and hold settings (except hold mode's Lost target delay, which both rulesets set to 1 s), the menu preferences (Language included), Resource HUD changes and Disable jump + block roll. The recommended ruleset enables YAML; the vanilla ruleset disables it without deleting profiles. Enabled profiles may override category tuning. For a temporary comparison without resetting tuning, turn General / Mod / Enable mod Off and back On; with sync enabled the host controls it.

Console commands

Add -console to Valheim's launch options and open its console with F5. GCO commands do not require devcommands; multiplayer permissions still apply. Use autocomplete and the list commands to find exact branch and feature names. set, reset and run need the exact token (a renamed setting's former token still works); on a miss they change nothing and suggest the closest tokens. get also accepts a unique part of a token, and list filters by any part.

gco_list_<Branch> [FeatureFilter]
gco_get_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_set_<Branch> <Feature> <Value>
gco_reset_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_setruleset <recommended|vanilla>
gco_run_<Branch> <ActionFeature>
gco_sync_status
gco_save
gco_menu

Replace the bracketed placeholders; do not type the brackets. For example:

gco_list_2HSwords DamageToBuildings
gco_get_2HSwords Damage_P1_DamageToBuildings
gco_set_2HSwords Damage_P1_DamageToBuildings 0.75
gco_run_Debug TestDummy_SpawnTestDummy

That edit changes only 2H Sword P1 building damage. Branches follow the GCO menu: one per tab, such as General, Player, Movement, Attacks, TargetLockOn and Debug, and one per weapon, such as 1HSwords, ClubsMaces, Bows and SDWSwords (Fists keep Unarmed). Feature tokens take the form <Group>_<Setting> on tabs and <Page>_<Slot>_<Setting> on weapons (<Page>_<Setting> for a setting without a slot). gco_list_All <filter> searches all settings; actions use gco_run_*. Read-outs, echoes and chat show the value in force (on a synced guest, the server's), never a held weapon's YAML value; gco_get adds a line when the held weapon's YAML uses another value. gco_set refuses a value it cannot read, and NaN or Infinity for numbers. Edits are saved 0.5 s after the last change, when the menu closes, on gco_save and at quit.

gco_run_<Branch> <Page>_SetRecommended and <Page>_SetVanilla work like the page buttons Set to recommended (Page) and Set to vanilla (Page), for example gco_run_1HSwords Motion_SetVanilla. Tab groups use <Group>_SetRecommended, staffs <Staff>_SetRecommended, and single-page items SetRecommended, with the matching SetVanilla forms; each is offered where it applies. The former _ResetPage tokens still work, unlisted.

For Cheat Fest, use gco_get_General Multiplayer_CheatFest to inspect the switch and gco_set_General Multiplayer_CheatFest true or false to change it as host/admin; with the host's Sync config Off, each player's own switch counts. gco_sync_status reports whether it is effectively active.

Important distinction: gco_reset_<Branch> sets an entry to its default, the recommended value. For a scoped vanilla reset, run the named reset action or the page's _SetVanilla with gco_run_*; use gco_setruleset vanilla for the whole mod.

Optional Broadcast config changes announces gameplay edits in chat. It defaults Off; turning it Off sends one final notice. Rulesets and page buttons announce one summary.

Without a running Smoothbrain DualWield, its settings have no console commands, All_ tokens or page actions.

More examples, including the controls new in 2.3.0:

gco_set_General Mod_EnableMod false
gco_set_General Multiplayer_SyncConfig false
gco_set_General Multiplayer_LocalizeDodgeAndParryPvE true
gco_set_General Personal_BeAVanillaViking true
gco_set_Misc F1ViewFilters_ShowBetaContent true
gco_set_DualWield UseGCOSAlternateStaminaCalculation true
gco_set_1HSwords Jump_RestrictionMode AllowOnlyOneJumpAttack
gco_set_2HSwords Stagger_P1_PvPCanBeParried true
gco_set_TargetLockOn Hold_Enabled true
gco_set_TargetLockOn Toggle_TargetPriority DistanceFirst
gco_set_TargetLockOn Toggle_NextTargetPriority DistanceFirst
gco_set_TargetLockOn Toggle_TurnTowardTarget true
gco_set_TargetLockOn Toggle_HorizontalCameraLeeway 40
gco_set_TargetLockOn Hold_RigidVerticalLeeway true
gco_set_TargetLockOn Visuals_SymbolGlow false
gco_set_Interface Crosshair_UseVanillaCrosshair false
gco_set_Interface Crosshair_DynamicCrosshair true
gco_set_Interface Crosshair_MaxSpreadShown 0
gco_set_Bows Ranged_AirborneSpreadPenalty 300
gco_set_Bonuses Sneak_ProjectileLandingsAlertEnemies Alerted
gco_set_Player StaminaAdrenaline_NoAirborneStaminaRegen false
gco_set_General Compatibility_WhenStackingFails TakeOver
gco_set_Movement Dodge_OneActionAtATime false
gco_set_Movement Dodge_DisableJumpBlockRoll true
gco_set_Movement Dodge_BlockEmoteCanceling false
gco_set_Spears General_AlternateSpearMoveset false
gco_set_Magic DeadRaiser_SkeletonPvPDamage 0.5
gco_set_Magic DeadRaiser_AttackPlayersInPvP false
gco_set_Attacks Motion_LungesStopAtTargets false
gco_set_Crossbows Resources_BaseStaminaCost 0
gco_set_General ConfigMenu_Language ChineseSimplified
gco_set_Movement Dodge_AttackCancelsRollRecovery false
gco_set_TargetLockOn Toggle_CompensateProjectileDropBothModes false
gco_set_Attacks HitDetection_CloseRangeHitRay false
gco_set_General Multiplayer_LocalizationPingCap 600
gco_set_General Multiplayer_LagCompensation FullCompensation
gco_set_Bonuses StatusEffects_EffectApplication RandomChance
gco_set_Bonuses StatusEffects_NoReImmobilize false
gco_set_Bows Effects_Unconditional_PvPImmobilizedChance 15
gco_set_2HAxes Effects_PerAttack_Sec_EffectChanceScale 1
gco_set_Interface HUDBars_ShowStatusMeters true
gco_run_Controller Setup_SetToDefaultLayout
gco_yaml_installdefaults confirm

Cheat Fest keeps its saved [Misc] key; its commands use the General branch like the rest of General / Multiplayer. Use gco_list_<WeaponBranch> stamina to find each attack's Pay stamina per swing setting.

Multiplayer Notes

With Sync config On, use the same official 2.3.0 build on every client and the host/dedicated server.

General / Multiplayer / Sync config defaults On. The host/server chooses the session mode; a change to the saved preference takes effect the next time that world/server starts. On synchronizes gameplay and YAML, requires matching GCO versions/layouts and waits for complete settings before spawning. Off uses each player's local cfg/YAML and disables GCO's transfers, version/layout checks and initial-sync wait. A guest's local Off setting cannot bypass an On server. ConditionalConfigSync remains required, and Valheim's own compatibility checks and other mods are unaffected.

Component	Players	Host / dedicated server
GCO, BepInEx and ConditionalConfigSync	Required	Required
Configuration Manager	Optional F1 settings menu; GCO has its own F3 menu	Not needed on a headless server

With Sync config On, gameplay settings and active YAML come from the host. Admins also use the server's values while connected; their edits change the shared settings for everyone. Ordinary guests are read-only, even if Lock configuration is Off. The lock defaults On. Local config files retain offline preferences, which return after disconnect; guest YAML files are not overwritten.

With Sync config On, clients wait for the complete server configuration before spawning; the 120 s wait starts after Valheim's password prompt. An incomplete or rejected sync returns them to the menu with an error instead of leaving local gameplay settings active. gco_sync_status reports readiness across all seven groups and any failure. The layout check also covers the weapon YAML format and GCO's combat messages, so mixed builds are refused at join. With Sync config Off, mixed builds can join, and a game whose build lacks GCO's hit message plays the hits it receives by Valheim's rules.

For a dedicated server, stop it before changing files, then restart. Keep its YAML on the host; clients receive active profiles when connecting. A dedicated server checks its YAML folder when a player joins and when the world is saved, and sends changed profiles to the guests. F1 View Filters, particle suppression, keybinds, logging preferences and the menu (its Language included), crosshair, controller, Disable jump + block roll and target lock-on preferences remain local, Turn toward target, Target priority and Next target priority included. Of the lock-on settings, only Allow with ranged weapons (both modes), Compensate projectile drop (both modes), the two lock-on ranges and Lost target delay (both modes) are host-controlled. One action at a time, Attack cancels roll recovery, the two client-side rows below, the ping cap and Lag compensation are host-controlled too. Cheat Fest grants guests debug actions while in force, but never permission to edit shared config or server YAML.

A host with Enable mod Off (with Sync config Off) or playing as a vanilla Viking still gives guests their bonuses on the creatures it runs, except Counter with Enable mod Off; on a vanilla Viking host's monsters and PvP dummies, guests' weapon-effect rules and PvP stagger durations apply too.

General / Multiplayer / Client-side dodge and parry (PvE) and Client-side dodge and parry (PvP) are host-controlled and Off in both rulesets. With one On, your own game checks each hit another game makes on you against your body where your screen shows it. A hit that missed you there does nothing: no damage, stagger, knockback, status effect, block or parry. Valheim's own hit shapes are used, with no added margin, and a hit that lands uses your screen's point and direction. Tamed creatures and staff summons follow the PvE row, and no creature changes owner. With Sync config Off the host's values still decide; nothing is checked while your Enable mod is Off. PvP favours the defender: with lag, an attacker can see a hit that does nothing. Your game checks a hit only while your connection is fair: your ping, and that hit's delay since the attacker's game sent it, both within Localization ping cap (ms) (400 in both rulesets; host-controlled). Otherwise, and for a hit from an older build, the attacker's game decides, as in Valheim, so cutting your connection to escape hits gains nothing.

General / Multiplayer / Lag compensation ([Beta]; host-controlled; recommended OnlyAbovePingCap, vanilla NoCompensation) decides how a hit that reaches you late is judged. NoCompensation judges it as it arrives, as Valheim does. FullCompensation judges it against what you were doing when the attacker's game sent it, so a roll, guard or parry started after that does not count. OnlyAbovePingCap does so only while your own ping or your share of that hit's delay is above the ping cap: a fair connection plays exactly as before, even against a laggy attacker. Your roll's invincibility, your guard and parry window, your facing, your hyperarmor and whether you were attacking (for Counter) are judged at the send time; your stamina, health, armor, equipment, status effects and PvP flag count as the hit arrives. A hit is judged at most 10 seconds back. With a client-side row On and the hit within the cap, FullCompensation also checks reach against where you were. Every game needs this build: a hit from an older build counts as it arrives.

If a setting is locked or changes when you join, use gco_sync_status and edit the authoritative host settings.

Configuration

GCO config menu

Press F3 (General / Menu & Language / Menu key) or run gco_menu on the start screen, in game, or on the main page of Valheim's Esc menu. Ctrl+F3 remains Valheim's HUD toggle. The menu uses the artwork and fonts of Valheim's settings window. Chinese translation is supported in the menu after 2.3.0.

Weapon YAML

Weapon YAML / Profiles / Use YAML profiles is On on fresh installs and after Set to recommended (All) and is visible with beta content hidden. Files live in BepInEx/config/GooCombatOverhaul/YAML/Weapons/. Bundled defaults install once on startup, even while YAML is Off, and only for weapons that have no file. Existing profiles for those weapons win, including disabled profiles and custom filenames; later edits and deletions are preserved. An updated install gets no new bundled profiles at startup, and the atgeir profiles install only with a fresh configuration; Install default YAML profiles (below) adds them. Defaults contain only hit-ray lengths (including Roll), the atgeirs' damage types and required profile metadata. Updating preserves a saved On/Off choice; older configs missing this setting receive vanilla Off.

Weapon YAML / Files / Install default YAML profiles puts the bundled profiles back on request. The file that holds each weapon, found by its prefab line whatever its name, is overwritten, and its old text is kept beside it as <file>.bak, which GCO never loads; a weapon without a file gets <Prefab>.yml; identical files and every other file are left alone. The menu asks first and shows the counts. In the console, gco_yaml_installdefaults shows what would change and gco_yaml_installdefaults confirm installs; an admin installs on a dedicated server with gco_yaml_installdefaults server confirm.

1. Under Weapon YAML / Generator, set Weapon prefab to held, or enter the exact internal prefab name—not its translated display name.
2. Leave Weapon category on AutoDetect, or choose the intended family if a custom weapon is not recognized. This selects its GCO category, not its native skill or moveset. For SDW, use the one-handed base category.
3. Activate Generate YAML. It reports the file path and never overwrites an existing profile or enables YAML automatically; when another file already holds the weapon's profile, it writes nothing and names that file.
4. Edit only the values you need, preserving indentation. null inherits; 0, false and an empty string are explicit values. Text after #, including resolved:, is a comment.
5. Enable Use YAML profiles, then run gco_yaml_reload and gco_yaml_validate held. Files edited outside the game reload when the game regains focus. Use gco_yaml_show held to inspect the profile or gco_yaml_diagnose held to investigate it.

gco_yaml_generate help
gco_yaml_generate held OneHandedSwords
gco_yaml_generate MyModHammer ClubsAndMaces
gco_yaml_generate held AutoDetect full
gco_yaml_generate modded

help lists accepted categories; full creates an expanded diagnostic template. Use gco entries for ordinary tuning. native.shared / native.primary / native.secondary set absolute native fields; chains can replace attack sequences. Leave advanced entries inherited and chains disabled unless needed. A matching supported attack/animation must exist; templateChainStep starts at 0.

A physicalDamageType block splits an attack's physical damage (blunt + slash + pierce) by non-negative relative weights. elementalDamageType does the same for the weapon's fire, frost, lightning, poison and spirit damage. Supported attacks are Primary 1–4, Secondary, Running, Jump and Roll. Equal weights split the raw total equally; omitted types count as zero once weights are present. An omitted attack keeps its own damage types, except Roll, which inherits the swing selected in Attack used when it has no override. The tooltip follows Primary 1. Use YAML profiles and the weapon's Apply GCO damage permission must be On.

These splits preserve raw damage, not damage after resistances: players are immune to spirit, and lightning can contribute to stagger. Ammo, independent area damage, special weapon effects and later additions from other mods keep their own behavior. Negative/non-finite elemental packets are left untouched, and invalid or overflowing weight totals are rejected.

Generate YAML for modded weapons, also under Weapon YAML / Generator, or gco_yaml_generate modded writes a compact AutoDetect profile for every modded weapon that has none. A weapon AutoDetect cannot categorise gets Let GCO ignore this weapon: true until you set its categoryOverride. Existing profiles are never overwritten, and YAML is not switched on for you.

Weapon YAML / Editor edits profiles inside the GCO menu: pick a file under Editor in the left list, or run gco_yaml_edit held. Rows show the profile's header, its GCO settings, its physical and elemental damage types and the weapon's native fields; Inherit writes null. Text view shows the whole file, including attack chains, which have no rows. Open in text editor, or gco_yaml_edit held external, opens the profile in your system's text editor (Save or Revert unsaved edits first); a file saved there reloads when you return to the game, and the page follows it. Files too long for the text view open that way. Nothing is written until Save, which refuses text GCO would reject and replaces the file in one step; Revert discards unsaved edits. Saving reloads the profiles while YAML is On. Connected to a server that syncs GCO, the editor saves your own files, which apply when you play without that server's sync.

To exclude one weapon from GCO weapon changes, keep YAML and that profile enabled and set its first line to:

Let GCO ignore this weapon: true

This excludes its weapon modifiers, native overlays and category overrides, including projectile/SDW effects. Player and world rules still apply. Setting the profile to enabled: false also disables the exclusion; set the ignore line back to false to resume its tuning. Weapon YAML cannot re-enable a host-disabled Apply gate.

Undo one override with null, disable a whole profile with enabled: false, or turn Use YAML profiles Off. The full vanilla ruleset disables YAML without deleting files. A file GCO cannot read is skipped and named in the log while the others load, and a file that held a profile keeps its last valid version; an empty or comments-only file is invalid. With two files for one weapon, the one named after the prefab wins and the other is reported. On servers, edit the host's profiles; a dedicated server reloads changed files when a player joins and when the world is saved. YAML covers weapon settings; general player and world settings remain global.

Feedback

Bug reports and suggestions:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ModdedValheim/comments/1toleqf/about_combat/