Tar and Growths in Valheim: One Material, One Very Specific Enemy
Tar is the material behind the entire Darkwood furniture set, the Black metal chest and the Hot tub, and it comes from exactly one place: Plains tar pits, guarded by Growths. A Growth has only 100 health — but it is immune to Stagger, which quietly invalidates the way most Valheim players fight everything else.
On sourcing. Iron Gate do not publish system documentation. The figures below come from the community wikis and can change with any patch.
The Growth
| Health | 100 |
| Attack | 45 Blunt + 50 Poison |
| Weak to | Blunt, Fire |
| Resistant to | Frost, Pierce, Slash |
| Immune to | Poison and Stagger |
| Faction | Undead |
| Location | Plains tar pits — up to 9 spawn points |
One hundred health is nothing; ninety-five damage a hit is not. A Growth's attack combines 45 Blunt and 50 Poison — and the poison half keeps working after the hit lands, which is what actually kills players who thought a 100 HP enemy was trivial.
Growths are Undead, which pairs them with Skeletons and Draugr for anything that keys off faction.
Up to nine spawn points per tar pit means you are never fighting one. A pit is a fight against a group, in an area with no cover, in the Plains — which is to say Deathsquitoes and Fulings are also nearby.
Why Stagger Immunity Matters
Most Valheim combat is a stagger loop. You block or parry, the enemy staggers, you land a heavy follow-up while it cannot respond. As our blocking and parrying guide sets out, that loop is the core of melee.
A Growth cannot be staggered at all. The parry still blocks the damage, but there is no stagger window to punish, which means the follow-up you have trained for a hundred hours simply does not exist here.
So this is a damage-type fight, not a timing fight. Bring what it is weak to:
| Bring | Avoid |
|---|---|
| Blunt — maces, clubs | Pierce — arrows, spears |
| Fire — fire arrows, torches | Slash — swords, axes |
| Frost — resisted | |
| Poison — it is immune |
Fire is the efficient answer. A 100 HP target weak to Fire dies to burn damage without you being in range of a 95-damage melee swing — and since Growths are stationary-ish blobs clustered around a pit, fire arrows from distance is the low-risk approach.
Never poison a Growth. It is immune, and a poison-coated weapon is doing only its base damage.
What Tar Builds
Tar weighs 2.0, stacks to 50, and can be teleported — which is a real convenience, because the Plains are a long way from most bases and ore from the same trip cannot come home with you.
It unlocks the whole Darkwood line: arches, beams (2m, 4m, 26°, 45°), poles, gates, dividers, the Darkwood chair — an entire architectural style that is unavailable until you have fought a tar pit.
And three specific items are worth the trip on their own:
| Item | Why |
|---|---|
| Black metal chest | The large storage upgrade |
| Hot tub | Wood ×20, Tar ×6, Iron ×10, Stone ×8 — Comfort 2 |
| Long heavy table | The large dining piece |
The Hot tub is the one to note for comfort — it contributes Comfort 2, and since only the highest item per category counts, it is a genuine step toward the cap rather than a duplicate. It also applies the Wet effect while you are inside it, which is a small joke with a real regeneration penalty attached.
Plan one large tar trip rather than several. Fifty tar in a stack, teleportable, and the whole Darkwood set unlocked — there is no reason to make the Plains journey twice.
Practical tips
- Growths have 100 health but hit for 45 Blunt + 50 Poison.
- They are immune to Stagger — the parry-and-punish loop does not work.
- Weak to Blunt and Fire; resistant to Frost, Pierce and Slash.
- Never poison one — it is immune.
- Fire arrows from range is the low-risk clear.
- Up to 9 spawn points per tar pit — you will not fight one alone.
- Tar weighs 2.0, stacks to 50 and CAN be teleported.
- It unlocks the entire Darkwood set, the Black metal chest and the Hot tub.
Running your own Valheim server
A Plains tar pit is a group fight in an open biome with Deathsquitoes overhead — the kind of trip that works far better with four people than one. A gamever Valheim server keeps one persistent world for up to 10 players, with one-click backups so a bad pit does not cost the base.
Conclusion
Tar comes from Growths in Plains tar pits, and it is the gate on the entire Darkwood building set, the Black metal chest, the Long heavy table and the Hot tub (Wood ×20, Tar ×6, Iron ×10, Stone ×8, Comfort 2). A Growth has only 100 health but attacks for 45 Blunt and 50 Poison, and the detail that decides the fight is that it is immune to Poison and to Stagger — so the parry-and-punish loop that carries you through most of Valheim simply does not apply. It is weak to Blunt and Fire and resistant to Frost, Pierce and Slash, which makes fire arrows from range the clean answer to a cluster of up to nine spawn points. And because tar weighs 2.0, stacks to 50 and can be teleported, one well-planned trip is enough to unlock everything it builds.
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