How to get Dark Wood in Valheim

It’s kind of weird that there are multiple naturally occurring shades of wood out in the world. I guess trees are living things, after all, they take on different shades and colors depending on where they live because that’s how they adapted to their environment. And hey, darker wood does look absolutely fantastic in a rural cabin. In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at how to get Dark Wood in Valheim, and some of its uses.

With the implementation of the Hearth and Home update in Valheim, dark wood has been added to the game’s list of potential crafting materials. Dark wood is functionally identical to regular wood, but its darker coloration does give it a pleasantly striking appearance. Unfortunately, though, dark wood isn’t naturally occurring in the world of Valheim. The only way to get it is to craft it out of some regular wood and an important material: tar. Hope you’ve got your galoshes, ‘cause it’s time to find some liquid dinosaurs.

Can you Find Dark Wood in Valheim?

Here is how to get Dark Wood in Valheim:

1. Find a tar pit in the Plains biome.
2. Harvest the tar from the globs around the pit or by draining the pit itself.
3. Combine the tar with wood or fine wood to craft dark wood items.

Scattered around the Plains biome are numerous sticky tar pits. It looks pretty much exactly like it sounds: a big pit in the ground full of inky darkness, usually surrounded by a few large bones jutting out of the soil. Don’t approach these pits willy-nilly, though, because they’re guarded by Growths, a new species of tar-dwelling enemy. Try to keep your distance and fight with fire arrows, because if you get too close, they’ll fling tar at your feet and hit you with a speed debuff.

There are three ways to get tar from a pit, and the first you’ve already done. Every Growth you kill will yield a few lootable clumps of tar for your trouble. The second method is to search the vicinity of the pit for large globs sticking out of the ground. These globs can be interacted with for some more harvestable tar. Finally, if you dig a small trench next to the pit, the tar will drain out, revealing additional globs on the bottom. 

Once you’ve got the tar, plus some wood and fine wood, just open up the building section of your hammer menu to find all of the dark wood building parts, and build to your heart’s content. Just remember that you’ll need to go restock your tar if you want more dark wood stuff.

A few things you can craft of the Dark Wood variety in Valheim include:

• Shingle roof pieces – 2 Wood, 1 Tar, Workbench
• Darkwood poles and beams – Wood, Tar, Workbench
• Carved Darkwood Divider – 2 Fine wood, 1 Tar, Workbench
• Darkwood Arch – 2 Wood, 1 Tar, Workbench
• Raven adornment – 10 Fine wood, 1 Tar, Workbench
• Wolf adornment – 10 Fine wood, 1 Tar, Workbench