Version-verified guide
Valheim Damage Types Guide — Every Physical and Elemental Damage Source Explained
Every Valheim damage type — blunt, slash, pierce, fire, frost, poison, spirit, lightning — what each does, which enemies are weak or immune to it, and how it stacks with armor, resistances and status effects.
By Valheim Field Guide Editorial Team
The damage-type system in one page
Valheim has eight damage types you will actually use in combat, plus three terrain-only types. Each enemy and boss has a full damage-type profile — they take bonus damage from some types, reduced damage from others, and are immune to a few. Getting the right damage type is what turns a 15-minute grind into a 5-minute win.
Resistance tiers
Every damage type against every target lands at one of six tiers:
| Tier | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Very Weak | 2.0x |
| Weak | 1.5x |
| Neutral | 1.0x |
| Resistant | 0.5x |
| Very Resistant | 0.25x |
| Immune | 0.0x |
Being verified: the exact weapon-to-type mapping for every weapon and non-boss enemy profiles are still being cross-checked against the 1.0 release. The six-tier multiplier table and the boss cheat sheet (including HP values) below are confirmed against valheim.wiki boss pages (1.0). See our verification workflow.
The 8 combat damage types
Physical (can be blocked, reduced by armor, contribute to stun)
| Type | What it does | Weapon family | Where it shines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blunt | Immediate damage, strong stun contribution | Clubs, maces, sledges | Skeletons, Blobs, Oozers, Bonemass, Eikthyr |
| Slash | Immediate damage, moderate stun | Axes, swords, atgeirs | Trolls, Fulings, most enemies that are not explicitly resistant |
| Pierce | Immediate damage, lower stun | Spears, bows, crossbows | General ranged damage; avoid against Skeletons and Yagluth (both resist it) |
Elemental (cannot be blocked, reduced by resistances)
| Type | What it does | Weapon family | Where it shines |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | Converts to burning DoT over 5 seconds | Fire arrows, fire maces, Staff of Embers | The Elder, Moder, Greydwarves, roots |
| Frost | Immediate damage + movement slow | Frost arrows, Frostner | Crowd control; everything except Moder (immune) |
| Poison | DoT that stacks duration (does not refresh, extends) | Poison arrows, Draugr Fang innate poison | Useful against regular enemies; The Elder and Bonemass are immune, but The Queen and Fader take it at full value |
| Spirit | Immediate + lingering DoT | Silver weapons, spirit arrows | Undead that are not Skeletons — Draugr, Wraiths, and later-game ghosts. Skeletons are immune to Spirit — do not waste silver weapons on them. |
| Lightning | Immediate + strong stun bonus | Lightning-gem weapons, Berserkir Axes | Hits wet targets for bonus damage; Yagluth Power grants lightning resistance to you |
Terrain-only (you do not inflict these on combat enemies)
- Chop — woodcutting damage on trees.
- Pickaxe — mining damage on ore and stone.
- Pure — environment-only (lava, falls).
Critical interactions you must know
“Wet” boosts lightning and halves fire
Anything currently wet (from rain, swimming or water contact):
- Takes 1.5x lightning damage.
- Takes 0.5x fire damage (fire DoT duration also accelerates away).
This changes which weapon you use in rain. Expect Fulings in the Plains rain to take more damage from lightning and less from fire.
Stun = doubled damage on next hit
Physical damage (blunt/slash/pierce) and lightning build stun on enemies. When stun fills up, the target staggers and its next damage taken is 2.0x before resistance calculation. That is why the hammer-and-parry rotation works — stagger the enemy, then land a big weapon hit.
DoT stacking rules matter
- Fire DoT: new fire damage adds to the remaining burn amount, resets duration to 5s, and divides the total into five 1-second ticks. Hitting a burning target repeatedly with fire ramps the DoT up, not down.
- Poison DoT: stronger poison extends duration instead of stacking tick damage.
- Spirit DoT: stacks its lingering burn with fire — undead often take both at once.
Armor reduces physical, not elemental
Your armor number works against physical damage only. Elemental damage goes through to your health bar, and only resistances (from capes, armor set effects, meads, food) protect you. That is the reason armor alone is not enough in the Ashlands — you need fire resistance on top of heavy armor.
Boss damage-type cheat sheet
| Boss | HP | Weak / Best damage | Resist | Immune |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eikthyr | 500 | — (no real weakness, all damage types land at 1.0x) | — | Stagger |
| The Elder | 2,500 | Fire (2.0x) | — | Poison, Spirit, Stagger |
| Bonemass | 5,000 | Blunt, Frost (1.5x) | Slash (0.5x), Fire & Pierce (0.25x) | Poison, Stagger |
| Moder | 7,500 | Fire (1.5x) | — | Frost, Spirit, Stagger |
| Yagluth | 10,000 | — (no real weakness) | Pierce (0.25x), Fire (0.5x) | Poison, Stagger |
| The Queen | 12,500 | — (no weakness) | Pierce (0.5x) | Spirit |
| Fader | 25,000 | — (no weakness) | Pierce (0.5x) | Fire, Spirit, Stagger |
| Kall Fimbulbringer | ~47,000 | — (no weakness) | Pierce, Fire, Frost, Lightning (all 0.5x) | Spirit |
The Queen, Fader, and Kall Fimbulbringer all have no damage weakness — they are neutral to everything except the resistances and immunities above, so the fight is about surviving the arena, not about picking a magic damage type. See the boss preparation checklist for what to bring.
Damage-type matching checklist per biome
| Biome | Damage type to pack | Damage type to leave at camp |
|---|---|---|
| Meadows | Blunt (club), pierce (spear), fire (crude bow arrows) | None notable |
| Black Forest | Blunt (bronze mace), fire (fire arrows) | Pierce & Spirit against Skeletons (pierce resistant, spirit immune) |
| Swamp | Blunt (iron mace), spirit (silver weapons vs Draugr/Wraiths only — Skeletons are immune) | Fire and pierce against Bonemass |
| Mountain | Fire (fire arrows), blunt | Frost (Moder is immune) |
| Plains | Frost (Frostner) and blunt (sledge) | Pierce against Yagluth (Very Resistant), Fire |
| Mistlands | Mix — late-game weapons have multi-type damage | — |
| Ashlands | Ashlands-tier gem-socket weapons (type depends on gem) | — |
Related
- Matching damage to the boss you are preparing for: boss preparation checklist
- Choosing which weapon to carry per stage: weapon tier list
- The resistances elemental damage is blocked by: capes and resistances
- Meads that grant temporary elemental resistance: mead complete guide
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best damage type in Valheim?
- There is no single answer — effectiveness depends on what you are fighting. Blunt is consistently strong through the Swamp, fire is the answer to The Elder and Moder, spirit hurts most undead (except Skeletons, who are immune), and lightning hits wet targets hard. Watch out for immunities: Skeletons resist spirit, The Queen and Fader resist pierce, so bows are less effective than the other options there. The right type for the target is always better than raw damage numbers.
- Does armor reduce elemental damage?
- Physical armor (from armor sets) is effective against physical damage (blunt/slash/pierce). Elemental damage (fire/frost/poison/spirit/lightning) is handled by resistance from capes, armor set effects, meads and food — not your raw armor number. That is why armor alone does not make the Ashlands survivable.
- What does "wet" do to damage?
- Wet status halves incoming fire damage (0.5x) and makes lightning deal bonus damage (1.5x) to a wet target. Stave off wet with a Rain Cape in the early-game biomes, and expect lightning to hit harder against anything currently wet.
Related guides
- Valheim Tools Guide — Pickaxes, Axes, Hammers, Portals, Carts and Ships
Every gathering tool and progression-unlocking item in Valheim — pickaxes that unlock ore tiers, axes that unlock tree tiers, the Hammer that unlocks every building tier, plus Portals, Carts and the three ship types, in the order you need them.
Verified Valheim 1.0 - Valheim Armor Sets — Every Set by Biome and What It Does
Every Valheim armor set in progression order — from Rag through the Ashlands sets to the 1.0 additions (the Deep North Protector, Vanguard and Caller sets, plus the new Plains-tier Lox Fur set) — with the light versus heavy decision explained.
Verified Valheim 1.0 - Valheim Bows & Arrows Guide — Best Bow Line and Every Arrow Type
How Valheim ranged works — the bow progression from Crude Bow to Draugr Fang and the Arbalest, and what every arrow type (fire, frost, poison, silver, needle) is for.
Verified Valheim 1.0