Assassin's Creed Valhalla: New Game+, Mithril and gear level 27

Ubisoft has released The Most Requested Update for Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a free patch live now on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. The centerpiece is New Game+, which unlocks after you finish the Holy Day quest. Each time you start another New Game+ run, the game raises the difficulty to keep the challenge and the rewards coming.

Lead Game Designer David Larouche told Xbox Wire that New Game+ was the feature fans asked for most. His team wanted players to keep their endgame character and carry it through the adventure again. The patch also adds features that work outside New Game+, so you don't have to restart to use them.

The update introduces Mithril, a new resource used to upgrade divine gear. You earn it in New Game+ when you receive a piece of gear or interact with a book of knowledge you already own. It also shows up in Nilfheim and in the Mastery and River Raid shops.

Loot changes too. In New Game+, opening a Wealth Chest that would have given Carbon, Nickel or Tungsten now hands you Platinum instead. The maximum level for each piece of gear rises to 27, up from 13.

A new Extended Progression Mode ties gear upgrades, runes and masteries into your overall power level when it is active. Larouche said the goal was to let players keep climbing in power with finer steps instead of a simple replay.

Ravensthorpe gains a Stash, where you can store any piece of gear and any rune from your inventory. According to Larouche, all these additions are available without New Game+ as well.

The Rune Forge update lets you upgrade runes for silver directly from the menu. Runes can now reach a new Superior tier. The patch also adds over 300 engravable runes to the game.

Larouche said the team turned basically every perk that was on an item into a rune you can engrave in the forge. That covers perks from the extended experience, from expansions and even from the Store. He said he is looking forward to seeing how players combine them.

The patch is free and already live on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. To reach New Game+ you need the Holy Day quest completed, so plan around that if you are still mid-story.

Larouche described the production as smooth, with a team experienced in adding New Game+ to existing games. What remains to confirm is how the difficulty scaling feels across repeated runs and how the new rune combinations play out in practice.