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. PvP has its own balance settings.

Use the default Goo ruleset, customize individual systems or weapons, or reset 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, or jump and press primary while airborne for a Jump attack. Availability depends on the weapon.
3. Press F3 for the GCO config menu, in game or on the start screen, or use Configuration Manager (F1). The config file and console also work without a menu.
4. Updates preserve your saved tuning. Apply Goo replaces it with the current preset. Weapon YAML is On for fresh installs and Apply Goo; the bundled range-only sword/spear profiles are installed without replacing existing weapon profiles.

Default Combat Identity

This describes fresh installs and the Goo preset. Saved settings, host rules and enabled weapon profiles may differ. Primary is the normal attack; Secondary is the alternate attack; P1/P2/P3 are successive combo hits. 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 swords and axes 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.
• Most sword, axe, club, knife and atgeir combos grow stronger with each hit, without placing so much damage in the finisher. Fists and native paired axes/knives retain their existing damage progression.
• A smaller base stamina pool comes with faster recovery and limited stamina debt. 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, with separate stagger, knockback and defensive tuning.
• 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 at a higher stamina cost. 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: also trade more stamina for base damage and stagger. Planted primaries gain lunge, broader contact and penalty-free cleave; Secondary retains limited free movement and its own cleave rules. Running uses the second swing without lunge. The finisher and Jump have deliberately long impact pauses. Primary chopping is weaker, and the equipped axe slows movement more.

  Both heavy families reduce damage and stagger taken during primaries and Running. Ordinary attacks also resist knockback completely; Running does not. Their secondaries protect only at the instant their hit is being resolved, leaving wind-up and recovery exposed. That brief protection prevents PvE stagger and knockback; PvP instead gives strong stagger resistance. Jump attacks have no default hyperarmor.

• Sledges: keep their area damage and radius, swing faster, cost more stamina and inflict much more stagger with slightly less knockback. Primaries gain lunge. Protection lasts through the hit, reducing damage and preventing stagger/knockback; recovery is exposed. They have a heavier equipment penalty and no added normal Running or Jump attack. The optional [Beta] 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 broader contact, lunge, stagger and primary Counter damage. The spinning Secondary cleaves without multi-target damage loss. Hyperarmor reduces damage; primaries and Running also reduce stagger buildup, 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.

• 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. Optional YAML contains reach fitted to each supported vanilla sword's visible blade 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. Both have slower recovery. Ordinary chopping damage is reduced.

• Clubs and Maces: planted primaries gain lunge and stagger while pushing enemies less, keeping them in reach. Primaries retain multi-target damage loss. 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.

• Knives: retain free movement and gain lunge, broader close contact and faster turning. Stronger Sneak, Flank and Execution bonuses reward openings. They gain no hyperarmor or extra ordinary stagger, and no enabled Running or Jump attack.

• Native Dual Knives: share the knife movement and conditional bonuses while keeping native combo damage. Primary PvP stagger lasts as long as a knife's but builds more strongly; secondaries stagger longer than primaries. Paired items such as Skoll and Hati are separate from SDW Daggers.

• Native Dual Axes: keep native combo damage and finisher bonuses. 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 Running/Jump substitutions are Off. These are separate from SDW Axes.

• Spears: retain a focused, single-target thrust with normal lunge and no free attack movement. Primaries gain a stronger Counter bonus. Throws travel faster, deal more stagger and receive no Flank bonus. Hyperarmor and special Running are Off; no Jump attack is added. Optional Spear Loyalty keeps a thrown spear from being consumed/dropped and is Off by default. Bundled YAML fits supported vanilla spear reach to the visible models; it does not change throws. The optional [Beta] alternate spear moveset, Off by default, gives a spear held with an empty left hand the atgeir stance, combo, Running and Jump attacks, held along the shaft like an atgeir. The spear keeps its own stamina cost, damage, effects and throw, and the moveset has its own Spears (Alt Moveset) pages.

• Unarmed / Fists: keep native combo damage, animate faster, gain broader contact and adjusted lunge, and restrict ordinary free movement. Running borrows P2 and requires more speed than most weapons. There is no added Jump attack or hyperarmor. Secondary has extra PvP damage, strong stagger and more knockback. Sneak bonuses are above ordinary weapons but below knives.

• Pickaxes: keep native mining damage and mostly neutral local combat tuning. Shared combat/defense rules still apply. 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.

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. All attack slots use a 1.85x Goo stamina multiplier over the equipped weapons' mean base cost and SDW's move factor; secondary-to-primary cost ratios are preserved. 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 independently copied one-handed sword tuning, with lower damage, greater stagger and no added lunge, while keeping SDW 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. 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 is reduced, with no PvP stagger or knockback. Existing immobilizing effects have a low ordinary chance and become guaranteed against already-staggered or unaware targets.
• 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 is reduced, with no PvP stagger or knockback. 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, costs and casting behavior remain native. Shared damage rules still apply, but magic has no default Flank bonus or lasting PvP stagger. Older staves allow parrying and running while blocking; the four newer staves retain neutral staff-specific defense and spell tuning.

• Staff of Embers and Staff of Fracturing: keep their native spell damage, costs, projectiles and area behavior.
• Staff of Frost: fires a tighter spread and deals less PvP damage.
• Dundr: fires a tighter spread without recoil, builds more direct stagger and deals less PvP damage. 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 casting 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 casting costs stay native.
• Staff of the Wild: permits ten active vines per caster, without increasing the cap on upgrades. Other vine attributes stay native.
• Trollstav: retains native casting and summoned-troll behavior; it does not share the skeleton or vine cap.
• Echo Spike and Lightning Strike: retain native spell-specific damage, costs, projectiles and areas.
• Northern Vengeance: retains native shield strength, costs, mitigation and retaliation.
• Spirit Caller: retains native summon limits, attributes and costs. Optional cap tuning covers that caster's phantom variants.

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. Shared PvP guard-break resistance applies.
• Tower Shields: hold until a blocked hit empties stamina. Successful blocks prevent stagger and knockback, cover a wider angle and reduce remaining physical damage. Elemental and untyped damage keep their normal blocked-hit treatment. 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 stationary is insufficient. An existing queued combo stays a combo. Running allows brief airtime but is disabled on ice by default.

Jump: jump, then press primary before landing. Deliberate jumps qualify immediately; stepping off terrain requires one second airborne. 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 restriction mode controls attacks during one airborne interval:

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

Fresh/Goo uses AllowOnlyOneJumpAttack for 1H Swords and Clubs/Maces, and NoRestriction for every other family, including SDW. Switching weapons immediately uses the newly equipped weapon's rule without clearing attacks already counted. Only landing resets the count; failed starts do not count, canceled successful starts do. A jump attack does not advance the primary chain: the next primary starts at P1 and secondary input stays Secondary. Native attack timing and queuing remain in charge. The modes support server sync and exact-weapon YAML; Vanilla Reset uses NoRestriction.

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.
Balanced	From entering the attack animation through the hit event.
FullAttackAnimation	Throughout the attack, including recovery.
WhileHoldingWeaponType	While holding that weapon type.
DuringHitRay	Only at the instant the attack's hit is resolved.

PvP hyperarmor replaces PvE hyperarmor, then combines with armor and other applicable mitigation. Armor pieces and hyperarmor multiply their remaining-damage factors: two protections do not simply add their percentages. Zero stagger taken means immunity to new buildup; partial values reduce it. Jump hyperarmor is Off by default.

Outgoing stagger strength, how much buildup a target can withstand, and stagger duration have separate controls. An actual stagger clears the meter and preserves facing.

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.

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, recovery or the full animation. DuringHitbox covers the interval from the first through final hit event; it is longer than the brief DuringHitRay hyperarmor window. GroundOnly, under Attacks / Motion / Attack movement grounding, limits attack-movement changes to grounded movement. Added lunge amplification is neutralized while airborne, gliding or on ice.

Block Canceling: use your normal block input during the permitted part of a swing. Goo permits 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.

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 by default in every weapon category, including bows. Bow chance is 5% normally; Crossbow chance is zero normally. Both guarantee existing Root effects against already-staggered or unaware targets. On Wet lightning overrides are inactive by default, so Wet targets use the ordinary lightning chance. The target must meet the condition before the hit; staggering it with that same hit does not qualify.

Under a weapon's Effects, rows are grouped by Unconditional, On Wet, On Staggered and On Unaware, then by effect. The highest matching conditional chance replaces the ordinary chance.

Control	How to use it
Chance Percent	Enter a direct chance. Unconditional -1 keeps the native chance.
Chance Multiplier	Scale that chance; for example, 20% at 0.5x becomes 10%. Conditional -1 with 1x is inactive; another multiplier scales the ordinary chance.
Duration / Damage	Shared by that effect's conditions. Duration 0 prevents new timed applications. Lightning has no duration control.
Exact Effect Names	Override a specific effect, such as Root=40, ahead of its group setting.

Exact-name -1 inherits native/base chance under Unconditional and disables that conditional override elsewhere. Tooltips show the active chance and duration. Disable Weapon Particles, in Interface / Visual Effects, is a separate option and Off by default.

Ranged accuracy

Valheim fires a fully drawn bow or a loaded crossbow perfectly straight. GCO gives every shot a spread floor: 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 hard floor 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 it replaces the moving penalty. 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 Weapons / Bows or Crossbows / Ranged, 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. Reset to Vanilla 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 never takes the block away. Holding while a toggle lock is active 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 Apply Goo, Off after Reset to Vanilla.

• Selection: the eligible character closest to the crosshair; world distance 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: 35 m for melee and ranged attacks in both modes, capped at 40 m; the host sets both ranges. Behind cover, off screen or out of range, the target is dropped after Focus loss time (1 s). When it dies, toggle mode stops; hold mode finds the next target.
• Aim: attacks and bow draws turn toward the target within the usual turning limits, including standing and airborne attacks. Melee aims at the collider centre, projectiles three-quarters up it; nothing homes. While you run, a melee attack steers your movement toward the target until its hit ends; ranged attacks keep Valheim's movement.
• Camera follow: keeps the target in view, turning the camera only when the target is more than 30° to either side (7.5° for hold) or at the top or bottom of the screen. On in both modes; the camera tracks the target where it is drawn, so it glides rather than steps. Past an edge, look input can briefly carry the view beyond it before the camera turns back. Rigid horizontal leeway and Rigid vertical leeway, Off, make those edges hard stops instead; a newly selected target is still turned to smoothly. Swap target with camera, Off, 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, On in Goo, Off after Reset to Vanilla). 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 three fifths of a humanoid's height, or the centre of other creatures, 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. Use crosshair as lock-on visual, Off, draws your crosshair on the target instead.

• Bow draw ring on target, On, draws Valheim's bow-draw ring on the target instead of at screen centre.
• Show target health bar, On, 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.

Every lock-on setting except Allow with ranged weapons and the two ranges is personal: not synced, not part of weapon YAML, and turned off by Be a vanilla Viking. Presets keep your keys, the hold settings and the Visuals. Controller players can bind both modes under Controller Overrides.

PvP Damage

Goo makes PvP damage rolls consistent and reduces the advantage of very large single hits against armor. Smaller hits are raised and larger hits compressed within limits. Incoming PvE damage has a separate curve that softens large hits without increasing small ones.

Secondary and Jump attacks exert greatly increased PvP stagger pressure. Two-handed swords and axes gain it on every attack. This increases buildup, not stagger duration; mitigation and immunity still apply. Bow, Crossbow and Magic default to no lasting PvP stagger.

PvP damage, stagger duration, knockback, impact pauses, hyperarmor and guard breaking can be tuned separately. Disabling PvP hyperarmor overrides lets the corresponding PvE protection apply.

Blocking and Defense

Use normal Valheim block and parry controls. GCO preserves the ordinary parry timing window. Projectile parries stagger the attacker only in PvP by default; area-attack parries do not.

Tower-shield guard costs account for incoming stagger pressure, block strength and guard-break resistance. Its increased PvP resistance counters the increased attack stagger pressure without inflating block armor. Extra physical protection applies only while a block succeeds.

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.

Stats & Resources

Goo uses 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.

Running adds no run-stamina drain during attacks or airtime. Jump costs remain native; crouching costs no stamina. Most health, eitr, healing and carry-weight values remain native.

[Beta] Consume stamina on swing is a separate, default-Off setting for each supported melee attack on the weapon's Resources, Running Attack or Jump Attack page. The full attack cost, including its attack factor and all applicable stamina modifiers, must pass the normal admission check before animation starts. Payment occurs when the hit ray begins; multi-swing attacks pay that total evenly across their animation hit events. Misses cost stamina; extra targets, SDW's two hands and the environment ray do not add charges. Interrupted, unexecuted swings are unpaid. Use it with Player / Stamina & Adrenaline / Drain run stamina during attacks and airborne = Off, or equivalent prevention of running 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 [Beta] switches remove run or jump stamina cost outside combat. Both are Off. They require no living, loaded creature to be alerted, including friendly and neutral creatures, with no distance limit. Eligible actions work at zero/negative stamina without restarting regeneration delay; other action costs remain separate.

• Movement: ordinary movement speed, jump force and dodge motion remain native; sprint turning is faster. Weapons, shields and tools can be equipped/unequipped while running, but armor, capes and accessories cannot by default. The two permissions are independent. Personal Movement / Dodge / Disable jump + block roll, Off by default, makes jumping while blocking jump instead of roll; the dodge key still rolls. Movement / Dodge / Block emote canceling, On by default, stops an emote from cutting a dodge roll or a starting attack short; emotes still work whenever you are free.
• 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 / Falling 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: optional health/stamina changes are under Interface / HUD Bars, Off by default. Grey-band settings require that master to be enabled.

General / Multiplayer / Cheat Fest can override consumption, food uniqueness, buff duration and weapon durability for everyone. It defaults Off and requires host/admin control; see Debug Tools below.

Smoothbrain DualWield (optional)

Supported integration targets SDW 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 controls are hidden.

The [SDW] Dual Wield section has three independent switches, all On in Goo:

• Use GCO Dual Wield Config Overwrite: applies SDW-family tuning. Off preserves those stored values; shared player/world rules still apply.
• Use GCO Dual Wield Skill Scaling: enables GCO's per-hand skill scaling and dual-wield skill stamina discount.
• Use GCO's alternate stamina calculation: 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/Jump use their own stamina rates once; 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 Resources permission.

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

Compatibility with other mods

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 and SDW, combine with GCO's attack speed.

General / Compatibility / When stacking fails decides the conflicts GCO cannot combine, currently a copy of AnimationSpeedManager it does not recognise. Retreat, the default in both rulesets, leaves attack speed to that mod: GCO applies none of its attack-speed changes while it is loaded. TakeOver applies GCO's attack speed during its attacks, and that mod's attack-speed changes are lost. The host controls this setting.

Talent Tree's Blood Rush keeps its own weapon rule: the full bonus for two-handed weapons, half for one-handed weapons with something in the left hand, and none with an empty left hand.

Summon Settings

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.

[Beta] Attack Players In PvP is Off. When enabled, both caster and target must have PvP enabled; the caster is excluded, and summons must still detect and select a target normally.

Hit Detection and Feedback

GCO reshapes creature contact for many attacks. Alternate Environment Hit Ray, On in Goo, keeps terrain, tree and building reach at native shapes through a separate pass. With this split enabled, terrain does not obstruct the creature pass. It does not hit the environment twice. Normal sledge area attacks retain their own handling.

Range changes reach; width/height change contact size; angle changes the sweep; forward offset shifts its starting point. Multi Hit permits damage to multiple targets, while Hit Through Mobs, Hit Through Walls and the multi-target damage penalty separately control penetration and cleave damage. Spear P1 remains a single-target exception.

Individual sword/spear reach is provided by 22 bundled, range-only YAML profiles. YAML is On for fresh installs and Apply Goo. The SwordGold, SwordGold_BloodLightning and SwordGold_FrostFire profiles use 1.05x range for all primary, secondary, Running and Jump attacks, including SDW sword contexts. Existing profiles are preserved. 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. Goo leaves most values native, including damage to buildings. Enemies push players less and stop redirecting attacks after their hit event.

Change Enemies / Combat / 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. 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 white dot of size 3. It never changes accuracy, hover text or bow drawing. Hiding the crosshair during target lock-on hides this marker too.

• Show arrow charge bar, On, 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, On, 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, 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. Dot does not change.

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

Controller Overrides [Beta]

Enable Show beta, then Controller / Setup / Enabled, Off by default. Choose a Layout preset (Native follows Valheim's own choice; Classic, Default and Default2 use Valheim's layouts) and bind any of 128 actions, including both target lock-on modes, to one button or a two-button combo such as A + B. Preset keeps the layout's binding and None removes it. Face buttons use Xbox positions. The Combo window, 0.12 s, is the longest gap between a combo's two presses; only buttons used in a combo wait that long before acting alone. Analog movement and camera stay native. Turning the master Off restores Valheim's layout without erasing your bindings, and presets keep the whole section.

Debug Tools

For troubleshooting, enable Debug / Logging / Debug logging, then the relevant Log - … channels. They cover combat, movement, equipment, resources, effects, magic, enemies, 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. Diagnostic preferences and keybinds stay local and survive presets.

GCO 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 the host/admin enables Cheat Fest.

Default key	Action
Z / N / P	Fly / no-placement-cost / ghost
H / O	Heal / refresh Rested
K / L	Kill creatures / remove loot

Keys are configurable and ignored while typing. The PvP Test Dummy lets you test damage, armor, stagger, Counter and impact pauses without another player. Spawn, remove and reset it through Debug actions or console commands.

Cheat Fest — General / Multiplayer, Off by default: the host/admin can grant these debug powers to everyone using each player's existing GCO keys and buttons. 1-HP lethal-damage protection activates automatically; fly, ghost and free building use their usual toggles. It also makes weapons unbreakable, prevents food/potion/ammo consumption, permits duplicate foods in the usual three slots, and keeps active food, mead/potion and Rested buffs from expiring. You still need the items to use them; broken weapons are not repaired and unrelated debuffs are not frozen.

Cheat Fest overrides the individual options without rewriting their saved values, including disabled weapon-resource options and weapon opt-outs. Turning it Off restores ordinary settings and removes guests' debug powers. A host/admin's independently enabled debug mode continues normally. Guests cannot change Cheat Fest or other shared settings; weapon YAML cannot override this switch. GCO's Apply Mod Options master must remain On.

Presets and Config Tools

Goo Ruleset and Vanilla Reset

Fresh installs and Apply Goo use the same gameplay defaults. Use General / Rulesets / Apply Goo ruleset, the GCO menu's footer button or gco_applypreset goo. This replaces custom tuning in its scope. Back up your settings first and let the operation finish before editing again.

General / Rulesets / Reset to vanilla, the menu's footer button or gco_applypreset vanilla restores native/no-op settings, disables added attacks and toggle target lock-on, and disables runtime YAML without deleting its files. Running/Jump tuning remains stored while those attacks are disabled.

Per-weapon or per-feature resets affect only their stated scope. An ordinary feature reset restores local values and turns its Apply Off; other weapons and shared settings stay unchanged. Turning Apply back On permits stored tuning—it does not reload Goo defaults.

Both presets set Sync config On for the next hosted session and leave Cheat Fest as the host set it. They preserve the Apply Mod Options master and local viewing, particle, debug and Vanilla Viking preferences. They also keep keybinds, Controller Overrides, the crosshair, target lock-on visuals and hold settings, the menu preferences and Disable jump + block roll. Apply Goo enables YAML; full Vanilla Reset disables it without deleting profiles. Enabled profiles may override category tuning. For a temporary comparison without resetting tuning, turn General / Mod / Apply mod options Off and back On; with sync enabled the host controls it.

Console commands

Add -console to Valheim's launch options and open its console. GCO commands do not require devcommands; multiplayer permissions still apply. Use autocomplete and list commands to find exact branch/feature names.

gco_list_<Branch> [FeatureFilter]
gco_get_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_set_<Branch> <Feature> <Value>
gco_reset_<Branch> <Feature>
gco_applypreset <goo|vanilla>
gco_applypreset_<Branch> <Feature>
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. Features read <Group>_<Setting> on tabs and <Page>_<Slot>_<Setting> on weapons. gco_list_All <filter> searches all settings; actions use gco_run_*. Successful edits save automatically.

gco_run_<Branch> <Page>_ResetPage resets one page like the menu's Reset page button, for example gco_run_1HSwords Motion_ResetPage. Tab groups use <Group>_ResetPage, staffs <Staff>_ResetPage, and single-page items ResetPage.

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. gco_sync_status reports whether it is effectively active.

Important distinction: gco_reset_<Branch> and gco_applypreset_<Branch> restore an entry's bound default. For a scoped Vanilla reset, run the named reset action with gco_run_*; use gco_applypreset vanilla for the whole mod.

Optional Broadcast Config Changes announces gameplay edits in chat. It defaults Off; turning it Off sends one final notice. Presets announce one summary.

Commands for the new controls include:

gco_set_General Multiplayer_SyncConfig false
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_TargetLockOn Hold_Enabled 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_Bows Ranged_AirborneSpreadPenalty 300
gco_set_General Compatibility_WhenStackingFails TakeOver
gco_set_Movement Dodge_DisableJumpBlockRoll true
gco_set_Movement Dodge_BlockEmoteCanceling false
gco_set_Spears General_AlternateSpearMoveset true

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 per-attack swing-payment controls.

Multiplayer Notes

With Sync config On, use the same official 2.2.1 build on every client and the host/dedicated server.

General / Multiplayer / Sync config defaults On. The host/server chooses the session mode; changing the saved preference applies 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. Admins also use server values while On. CCS 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. 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 five groups and any failure.

For a dedicated server, stop it before changing files, then restart. Keep its YAML on the host; clients receive active profiles when connecting. F1 View Filters, particle suppression, keybinds, diagnostic preferences and the menu, crosshair, controller, Disable jump + block roll and target lock-on preferences remain local; only Allow with ranged weapons and the two lock-on ranges are shared. Cheat Fest grants guests debug actions while enabled, but never permission to edit shared config or server YAML.

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

Installation

GCO 2.2.1 targets Valheim 1.0.16. Required dependencies are BepInExPack Valheim 5.4.2351 and ConditionalConfigSync 1.0.9 or newer. SDW is optional.

Mod manager: install GCO with its dependencies in your Valheim profile and launch that profile's modded game. GCO's own menu opens with F3; for the F1 menu, also install shudnal's Configuration Manager.

Manual: install the dependencies, then copy the compiled release's BepInEx folder into your game/profile root, preserving:

File	Location
GooCombatOverhaul.dll	BepInEx/plugins/GooCombatOverhaul/
GooCombatOverhaul.SdwCompatibilityPatcher.dll	BepInEx/patchers/GooCombatOverhaul/

Fully restart after patcher updates. It does nothing without SDW. Keep only one runtime GCO DLL. The source archive requires compilation; use the compiled release for normal play.

First launch creates BepInEx/config/goo.valheim.gooscombatoverhaul.cfg. If it or GCO's menu is missing, check the modded profile and BepInEx/LogOutput.log for dependency/load errors.

Updating: back up config/YAML, close the game/server, replace release files and restart. Keep your config to preserve tuning. Removing: close the game/server and remove both GCO DLLs; config/YAML can remain as backups. Also remove or update SDW if it still needs GCO's compatibility patcher on your game version.

Configuration

GCO config menu

Press F3 (General / Config Menu / 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.

• Tabs along the top hold every setting: General, Weapons, Shields & Armor, Player, Movement, Attacks, Damage, Bonuses, Stagger & Hyperarmor, Blocking & Parry, Enemies, Target Lock-On, Interface, Controller (beta), YAML, Debug and Misc. Arrow buttons or Q / E switch tabs.
• The left list shows the tab's groups. Under Weapons, a weapon opens on its General page with its Apply switches and resets; + / − shows its tuning pages.
• The page lists settings under headings with the attack slot (P1–P4 or Sec; + marks a modded slot), name, badges and control. Hover a row for its description, default, range, console command and saved key.
• * marks settings the host controls while Sync config is On. Guests see HOST on settings they cannot change; rulesets, resets and cheat tools keep their host/admin checks.
• Search covers names, pages, saved keys and console tokens. All / PvE / PvP filters a page or search, and Show beta reveals beta settings.
• Reset page restores one page after confirmation: as Reset to Vanilla would on pages the Vanilla ruleset covers, and to defaults on personal pages. The footer holds Apply Goo ruleset and Reset to vanilla.

Changes apply at once and save like Configuration Manager edits. Values shown are stored settings, not a held weapon's YAML overlay. While open, the menu blocks game input like Valheim's own menu, and Escape closes it. Pause while config menu is open, On by default, pauses single-player; multiplayer never pauses.

Finding a setting

Use the GCO menu, open F1 and select GCO, use console commands, or edit BepInEx/config/goo.valheim.gooscombatoverhaul.cfg while the game/server is closed. Numbers use typed fields. Hover labels for descriptions; saved keys may differ from the shorter menu labels.

In F1, Misc / F1 View Filters provides Show weapon, Show system and Show context filters. Show beta content defaults Off and hides beta controls from both the list and search; the GCO menu's Show beta shares it. Hidden settings still apply. Search bypasses the three ordinary filters, but still respects beta visibility; clear it to return to your chosen view. If controls seem missing, clear search, set the ordinary filters to All and enable Show beta content if needed.

F1 categories follow the menu: Tab — Group, and Weapon — Page for weapons. Each weapon has General, Damage, Stagger, Knockback, Bonuses, Hyperarmor, Motion, Timing, Hit Detection, Blocking, Resources, Effects, Running Attack and Jump Attack pages, plus Ranged, Throwing, Grappling or Area Attack where they apply. Motion groups movement/lunge/turning; Timing groups animation/recovery/block cancel/hit-stop. PvP rows sit beside their PvE counterparts. Sledges (Alt Moveset) follows Sledges. SDW types sit beneath their one-handed parents and appear only with SDW. Shields and armor have their own tab.

Shared setting	Where to look
Base stats, stamina, food and durability	Player
Walking, dodging, jumping, falls and equip-while-running permissions	Movement
Attack movement/lunge, turning, speed, hit-stop and hit rays	Attacks
Running and Jump attack switches and their global tuning	Attacks
Incoming player damage and player building damage	Damage
Stagger, hyperarmor and Knockback (all weapons)	Stagger & Hyperarmor
Crosshair, HUD bars and visual effects	Interface
Sync config and Cheat Fest	General / Multiplayer

General / Personal / Be a vanilla Viking is a personal, default-Off application toggle available to every player. It bypasses ordinary GCO character and weapon changes, including native weapon YAML overlays, while retaining incoming damage curves, outgoing/incoming PvP damage calibration and Block emote canceling. Ordinary non-PvP damage multipliers do not apply to that character. It also turns off target lock-on and restores the jump + block roll; the custom crosshair and Controller Overrides still work. Authorized debug tools and enabled Cheat Fest still work; shared enemy/world rules and other mods remain active. Both presets preserve this personal choice. It does not grant permission to change server settings.

Apply, Reset and attack roles

Each weapon's General page gathers its Apply switches and per-feature Resets; the global tabs hold the all-weapons masters and shared tuning. Every tuning page also has Reset page.

Control	Result
General / Mod / Apply mod options	Enables GCO gameplay; Off preserves stored tuning.
System / weapon Apply	Permits that system's stored tuning, subject to the master.
Weapon Apply Off	Bypasses that feature's global/local weapon tuning, including Running, Jump and PvP.
Scoped Reset	Resets that feature/weapon and turns its Apply Off, preserving other weapons/shared settings.
Reset page	Restores one page: Vanilla values where the Vanilla ruleset applies, defaults on personal pages.

Only supported combinations appear. Apply is permission, not a preset. Explicit native YAML edits are a separate layer.

Primaries, Secondary, Running and Jump have independent settings where supported. Edit Running/Jump directly even when they borrow a primary animation. A fourth-primary setting only matters for an item with that combo step.

Example: change sword lunge. Open Weapons / 1H Swords / Motion (F1: 1H Swords — Motion) and edit the desired primary's lunge. Keep Attacks / Motion / Lunge distance neutral if other weapons should remain as they are. Use that sword's Running Attack or Jump Attack page for those attacks.

Global and local multipliers usually combine. Exact-weapon YAML replaces the matching config value. Native combo finishers still contribute their own bonus, so a GCO finisher setting below 1x can still produce a stronger hit than P1. Item/status bonuses retain their own rules; SDW's alternate stamina calculation is described above.

Updates preserve compatible saved values. Older-version migration gives new/invalid tuning Vanilla defaults; missing Apply gates stay On to preserve existing behavior, and missing target lock-on settings start at their Goo defaults. Retired settings, such as the former section-wide Reset buttons, are removed at the next save. Legacy flags remain in Misc / Inherited Options. Explicit new values win, and starting the same version does not rewrite your config. Apply Goo adopts current defaults if you want them.

Weapon YAML

YAML / Settings / Use YAML profiles is On on fresh installs and after Apply Goo 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. Existing profiles for those weapons win, including disabled profiles and custom filenames; later edits and deletions are preserved. A separate once-only batch adds the three SwordGold profiles to existing installations. Defaults contain only hit-ray range overrides plus required profile metadata. Updating preserves a saved On/Off choice; older configs missing this setting receive Vanilla Off.

1. Under 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.
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 also reload after edits. 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.

Generate YAML for modded weapons, also under 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.

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 and the weapon's native fields; Inherit writes null. Text view shows the whole file, including attack chains, which have no rows; files too long for it need a text editor. Nothing is written until Save, which refuses text GCO would reject; 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. Full Vanilla Reset disables YAML without deleting files. Malformed edits keep the last valid profile. On servers, edit/reload the host's profiles. YAML covers weapon settings; general player and world settings remain global.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Check
Values differ from this manual	Saved config, host rules and enabled YAML take precedence. Apply Goo replaces custom tuning with the preset.
An edit has no effect	Check masters/Apply gates, Be a vanilla Viking, Inherited Options, the attack role and weapon YAML. A neutral multiplier changes only its own setting.
Controls are missing or read-only	Clear the search and F1 View Filters and check Show beta content; SDW rows require SDW. * and HOST mark host-controlled settings; check gco_sync_status for host authority.
Guests have debug powers or consumables are not spent	Check General / Multiplayer / Cheat Fest and its effective state in gco_sync_status; it overrides individual cheat settings.
Joining returns to the menu with a sync error	Match official GCO builds and dependencies on every peer, then check client/server logs and any server YAML error.
Running/Jump does not trigger	Check enable switches, primary input, actual speed/airtime, ice, Feather Cape and stamina. Running requires a new attack start. SDW Jump attacks are Off by default.
Target lock-on does not lock	Check Target Lock-On / Toggle or Hold, Be a vanilla Viking, range, cover and eligibility (PvP on both sides, butcher knife for tamed creatures); the host may disallow ranged weapons.
YAML is ignored	Check YAML/profile enable, prefab/category, supported key and the ignore line. Run validate/diagnose; malformed edits retain the last valid profile.
Sword/spear reach differs from the category	An enabled bundled profile may replace that item's range. Edit it, inherit with null, or disable that profile.

For a controlled comparison, temporarily disable the affected feature with Apply. Use a full preset only when you intend to replace its tuning.

Feedback

Bug reports and suggestions:

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

Include game/GCO/dependency versions, weapon and attack, single-player or host/client role, reproduction steps, relevant config/YAML and BepInEx/LogOutput.log. A short clip helps with movement or animation problems. Check logs for personal/server details before sharing.