Whenever you craft a shield in Valheim, there’s a brief opportunity to add a little extra flair to the item. Typically when you build a shield, you have a stock item choice for a finished product. But before you create it at the workbench, there’s a small icon you may have missed that allows you to color it, customizing the piece of armor to stand out from allies who might also be sporting the same equipment.
You can find the option below the item you’re about to make in the forge menu. It’ll say ‘style,’ and when you click it, several different color options appear. You can freely pick from these options just before you craft the item.
If you craft the shield before confirming a new color, you will be unable to recolor it, and the shield will have the standard appearance it always has. You’ll have to redo the entire item over again, and because you cannot dismantle items in the game, you have to use a new series of resources to make it. If you don’t like the color of your shield, you’ll have to start over.
Not every shield has the option for your to recolor it. For example, the bronze buckler will always have the same appearance, and so will the serpent scale shield. The color customization does not extend to any of the weapons or armor options in Valheim. All of the shields have similar colors, but they vary in patterns. You might make two shields with the same color options, but the patterns and stats make them distinct.
