Patch-tracked guide
Valheim Damage Types (1.0) — Weakness, Resistance & Multipliers
Valheim damage types: blunt, slash, pierce, fire, frost, poison, spirit, lightning. Multipliers run Very Weak 2.0x, Weak 1.5x, Neutral 1.0x, Resistant 0.5x, Very Resistant 0.25x.
By Valheim Field Guide Editorial Team
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Quick answer: Valheim has eight damage types — blunt, slash, pierce, fire, frost, poison, spirit, lightning — and every enemy has a multiplier against each. The scale is Very Weak 2.0x → Weak 1.5x → Neutral 1.0x → Resistant 0.5x → Very Resistant 0.25x, with immunity at zero. Matching the right damage type is worth up to 8x the damage of the wrong one, so it matters far more than raw weapon tier.
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 |
Verified (1.0): the six-tier multiplier table and the boss cheat sheet (including HP values) below are confirmed against valheim.wiki boss pages (1.0), cross-checked with gamecore.wiki and allthings.how. The weapon-to-type mapping is confirmed against valheim.wiki (1.0). See our verification workflow.
Weapon → damage type
| Weapon | Damage type |
|---|---|
| Club | Blunt |
| Torch | Blunt + Fire |
| Axe (all tiers) | Slash |
| Atgeir | Pierce |
| Sword (all tiers) | Slash |
| Mace | Blunt |
| Sledgehammer | Blunt |
| Battleaxe / two-handed axe | Slash |
| Greatsword | Slash |
| Spear | Pierce |
| Bow / crossbow | Pierce |
| Knives | Slash + Pierce |
| Bare fists | Blunt |
| Staff of Embers | Blunt + Fire |
| Staff of Frost | Frost |
| Dundr | Lightning |
| Staff of the Wild | Blunt + Poison |
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 | Great vs most undead — Draugr, Wraiths (Wraiths are actually weak to Spirit), and later-game ghosts. Skeletons take normal Spirit damage (not immune) — silver works fine 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 against Skeletons (they resist pierce; Spirit works normally on them) |
| Swamp | Blunt (iron mace), spirit (silver weapons great vs Draugr/Wraiths — Skeletons take normal Spirit damage) | 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
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Buy me a coffeeFrequently 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 (Draugr, Wraiths — Wraiths are actually weak to it; Skeletons take normal Spirit damage), and lightning hits wet targets hard. Watch out for immunities: 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 Best Bow (1.0) — Every Bow & Crossbow, Ranked by Damage
Every Valheim bow and crossbow with base pierce damage, crafting station and progression tier — plus arrow damage, so you can pick the best ranged weapon for your biome.
Verified Valheim 1.0 - Valheim Block Armor vs Block Force — What Each Shield Stat Does (1.0)
Block Armor cuts the damage you take while blocking; Block Force is the knockback you shove back at the attacker. How both stats work, the stagger bar, and every shield compared.
Verified Valheim 1.0 - Valheim Moulds & Casts (1.0) — Every Mould and What It Casts
How Valheim moulds and casts work, with every mould item grouped by the gear it produces — metal, armor and weapon casting in 1.0.
Verified Valheim 1.0
Related in the database
Compare the 181 weapons and 169 armors weapons and armors, with stats and crafting recipes.
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