Tar in Valheim is found in tar pits, which are located in the Plains. You will see them in the distance as a large black pit with bubbles emerging from them, as you can see below.
Tar is tricky to mine, as any item that is dropped into the tar pit far enough will become ‘stuck’, meaning that you won’t be able to pick it up until you drain the tar pit. Also, coming into contact with the tar pit will result in the player becoming ‘Tarred’ which will forcibly slow your movement speed by 50%.
This can be especially tricky if you come into contact with Growths, which fire projectiles that apply the Tarred debuff, as well as a lot of damage. Make sure you clear all enemies before attempting to grab any tar.
How to mine tar
Tar in Valheim doesn’t require mining in the traditional sense; you can pick up tar off the ground like any dropped item. But if it is within the tar pool, it will say ‘it is stuck in the tar’, and you will need to drain the tar pit in order to pick them up.
The best method for draining the tar pit is to dig a new pit for the tar to drain into. Mining around the tar pit to try and level it out will take a long time, and you risk being approached by enemies, especially at night.
Ideally, the new pit should be lower than the tar pit, so that you can make sure that the tar drains completely, and there won’t be any bits of tar still stuck.
Once you’ve dug the new pit, dig a channel in between the two, and the tar will level out into both pits. If you dug your new pit widely enough and deep enough, the tar pit should drain out completely, and you’ll see heaps of tar springing out ready to pick up.
Each tar pit can hold more than 100 tar, so your efforts will be rewarded.
What is tar used for?
Tar is a very useful material, and will unlock a new variety of decorative wood known as Darkwood. You will also need tar to build shingle roof pieces. Here is a list of items that will all require tar to build:
- Black metal chest
- Carved Darkwood divider
- Darkwood arch
- Darkwood beam 2m
- Darkwood beam 4m
- Darkwood beam 26°
- Darkwood beam 45°
- Darkwood chair
- Darkwood gate
- Darkwood pole 2m
- Darkwood pole 4m
- Hot tub
- Long heavy table
- Raven adornment
- Round table
- Shingle roof 26°
- Shingle roof ridge 26°
- Shingle roof o-corner 26°
- Shingle roof i-corner 26°
- Shingle roof 45°
- Shingle roof ridge 45°
- Shingle roof o-corner 45°
- Shingle roof i-corner 45°
- Wolf adornment
Using these pieces on your building can be a great way to break up some of the wood or stone design on your buildings. There are also some decorative pieces to not only improve the decor, but also improve your Comfort level.
