Ubisoft released Title Update 1.8.0 for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on November 5, 2026, which adds a long-requested New Game Plus mode and brings performance upgrades to PlayStation 5 Pro. Four years after the Viking action game hit store shelves, this free patch adds higher gear progression tiers, rune crafting options, and stability tweaks on consoles and PC [1]. Players who finished the main England storyline can now replay the campaign with their endgame skills as they face scaling combat difficulty.
Accessing New Game Plus in England
To unlock the new mode, players must complete the Holy Day quest at the end of the Hamtunscire storyline. Ubisoft chose that battle because the team didn’t want players to finish every single post-game activity in such a massive open world. Saving the game once after updating activates the mode on the start screen. Each completed run gets harder and provides fresh challenges for those who want to revisit the Viking Age [1].
Lead Game Designer David Larouche said the team wanted the mode to offer real progression rather than a simple narrative repeat. “We wanted the New Game+ experience to not simply be a do-over; we wanted to allow players to keep climbing in power, feel a more granular progression, and to keep improving their characters,” Larouche explained. He said production went smoothly because Ubisoft assembled developers who already had extensive background adding New Game Plus systems to existing games without major technical delays [4]. The team avoided delays.
Larouche said community discussions on social media helped drive the decision to build the update years after final DLC plans wrapped up. “Valhalla may have released its final content update years ago, but that doesn’t mean players stopped caring about the game, and neither did we,” he said. The base game is also available on Xbox Game Pass, which lets active subscribers jump straight into the new mode without paying extra for another standalone copy [4].
Mithril Upgrades in the Settlement
To support tougher combat in New Game Plus, the upgrade cap on divine gear has increased from 13 to 27. Reaching these higher ranks needs mithril, a new crafting material that gathers through renewed world activities. If Eivor discovers a piece of gear or interacts with a book of knowledge that was already collected during an earlier playthrough, the game awards mithril instead of duplicate items. Merchants in Niflheim, Mastery challenges, and River Raid shops also sell the mineral. Reaching level 27 requires plenty of materials [1].
When looting Carbon, Nickel, or Tungsten from a Wealth Chest in New Game Plus, the container awards Platinum instead. Platinum was previously locked behind the Dawn of Ragnarok expansion. This shift lets Eivor upgrade high-tier weapons to their highest combat potential without needing to purchase or install the separate Dawn of Ragnarok downloadable expansion package [2].
In Ravensthorpe, the settlement now includes a Stash where players store extra weapons, armor, and runes to keep inventory bags clean. That storage box helps organize items collected over years of festival events and expansions. The update also adds two achievements. The Ivaldi’s Heir achievement unlocks when upgrading a piece of divine gear to level 27, and the Circle of Renewal achievement rewards finishing a complete New Game Plus playthrough [2].
Rune Forge Systems and Perks
An optional toggle called Enhanced Progression Mode recalculates how character power accumulates. Gear upgrades and socketed runes each add 1 point to overall Power. Skill masteries contribute 1 power point for every 5 skill points spent, which creates a much tighter link between equipment quality and total combat effectiveness [1].
The rune forge received a menu refresh that changes how blacksmiths upgrade socket items. Forge menus now allow spending silver to upgrade runes from lesser to normal grade, and from normal to greater grade. For endgame builds, the patch introduces a Superior rune tier that can’t be bought with silver. Crafting Superior runes takes mithril, tying high-end rune refinement into the new resource loop. Within the upgraded crafting menus, this system gives Eivor a direct path to turn basic materials into top-tier stat boosts without relying on random shop stock [2].
A new engraving menu tab includes more than 300 engravable runes from past seasons and expansions. The forge lets Eivor apply perks from expansions and the Helix Store onto standard gear. Larouche said: “I can’t wait to see how players use all of these different perks together and create all sorts of different synergies” [4]. Build variety expands.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on PS5 Pro
On PlayStation 5 Pro, Title Update 1.8.0 integrates upgraded PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) upscaling. The update sharpens 4K visual presentation while targeting a steady 60 frames per second in Quality mode as Eivor travels across the kingdoms of England and Norway. Priscilla Nguyen, Engineering Studio Manager at Ubisoft, said the new upscaler is cleaner and more stable than the older Temporal Upscaler [3].
Nguyen said the upgraded super-resolution algorithm is more efficient and easier to integrate into the engine than the first version of PSSR. Ubisoft previously used the upgraded upscaler in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced and Assassin’s Creed Shadows before bringing it to Valhalla. “We didn’t need to overhaul the game’s content or visual assets,” Nguyen said about updating the older game. “Instead, we leveraged the upgraded PSSR within our engine and rendering pipeline to enhance 4K image quality and deliver our Quality mode at 60FPS on PS5 Pro” [3].
The update also adds an Animus Hub synchronization fix and unlocks the Master Assassin Naoe outfit from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. That outfit gives Eivor a fresh cosmetic look when roaming snowy Norway or riding through England [3]. Performance stays steady.
Combat Tuning for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Weapons
Title Update 1.8.0 includes detailed balance revisions for character stats, weapon damage, and passive skills. Assassination Damage skills now award 5.3 points per node instead of 5.26, and Stealth Damage grants 1.7 per point instead of 1.67. Melee and Ranged Damage skills now give 2.3 per point instead of 2.33, and Health nodes provide 5.2 points. Resistances against Poison Damage, Poison Buildup, Fire Damage, and Fire Buildup rose from 5.56 to 5.6 points per node. In the Dawn of Ragnarok Wolf skill tree, Ubisoft changed two Range Critical Damage nodes—located south of Combat Dive and east of Cunning Shot—into Light Attack Damage nodes to provide more reliable damage [2].
Weapon damage multipliers shifted in twelve categories to help dual-wielding setups feel better during fights. Bearded Axe regular attacks when paired with a shield now deal x1.16 base damage up from x1, and Alternate Finishers climb from x1.6 to x1.73 to reward aggressive counterattacks. Daggers, Spears, Hammers, Greatswords, and Dane Axes also received damage increases on basic attacks and heavy finishers. Sickles and Shortswords received dynamic animation speed scaling that accelerates strikes up to x1.5 whenever a character’s underlying speed attribute climbs above high stat thresholds [2].
Patch download sizes differ depending on platform and file packing methods. The Xbox Series X/S version requires the largest download at 15 GB, followed by Xbox One at 13.8 GB, PlayStation 4 at 13.42 GB, and Ubisoft Connect at 12.27 GB. Steam users need 7.8 GB. Thanks to storage compression on PlayStation 5, that console download is smallest at 5.62 GB. For players jumping back into Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the update is available now to download on all supported systems [2].
- ONLINE NEWS Wood, A. (2026, November 5). Assassin’s Creed Valhalla gets New Game Plus, a Stash inventory, and “Extended Progression Mode” in “The Most Requested Update”. GamesRadar+. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS Daniels, J. (2026, November 5). Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Gets New Game+, PSSR 2 Support in Latest Update. GamingBolt. [Article Link]
- PRESS RELEASE Spurlin, B. (2026, November 5). Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: new update brings New Game Plus, upgraded PSSR support for PS5 Pro today. PlayStation.Blog. [Article Link]
- PRESS RELEASE Xbox Wire. (2026, November 5). Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: The Most Requested Update – New Game+, Rune Forge Update, New Resource, and More. [Article Link]
