Bombs: Complete Guide to Every Bomb Type, Recipes & Best Uses

Why Bombs Are Valheim's Most Underrated Weapon Category

Most players ignore bombs until they need them, and then they become a lifeline. They give you reliable area damage for clearing Infested Mines, adding pressure in boss fights or even catching fast Hares.

Bomb damage is completely flat. A brand new character deals exactly the same poison cloud damage as a maxed-out veteran, which makes bombs a great equalizer when you enter a new biome slightly undergeared.

The bomb lineup in 1.0

• Ooze Bomb: Swamp, poison cloud.
• Bile Bomb: Mistlands, fire and poison cloud.
• Smoke Bomb: Ashlands, utility and fire extinguisher.
• Basalt Bomb: new in 1.0, made from Ashlands materials.
• Blob Bombs: six variants built on Corked Vials from the Bog Witch.

Ooze Bomb: The Swamp's Secret Weapon

Your first bomb, and the one you will use longest. On impact it creates a 4-meter poison cloud that lingers for 10 seconds. Anything inside (except you) takes 40 poison damage over 7 seconds, refreshed while it stays, for a maximum of about 97.

Cheap to make

Each craft gives 5 bombs from common materials:

• Ooze: from Blobs and Oozers in every Swamp.
• Leather Scraps: Boars, Bats, Muddy Scrap Piles and Meadows chests.
• Resin: overflows from any Black Forest trip.

Why it shines in the Mistlands

Poison passes through wooden doorways and barriers without destroying them. Throw an Ooze Bomb through a doorway in an Infested Mine and the bugs behind it take full damage while the barrier stays intact, keeping them trapped. This is the single most important tip in this guide.

Bile Bomb: The Mistlands Upgrade

The Bile Bomb makes the same 4-meter, 10-second cloud but deals fire and poison at once: 15 fire over 5 seconds and 30 poison over 6 seconds. The fire stacks every second an enemy stays in the cloud, while the poison only refreshes. A target that stays for the full duration takes about 230 damage, more than double the Ooze Bomb.

Harder ingredients

• Sap: needs a Sap Extractor on Ancient Roots in the Mistlands.
• Bilebag: one per Gjall kill, from the floating horrors that rain fire on you. Bilebags also craft the Jotun Bane, so once you own one, turn the rest into bombs.

The big downside

The fire ignites and destroys wooden structures. Outdoors that rarely matters, and Bile Bombs are strictly better for open-world fights and bosses. In Infested Mines they burn the barriers holding Seekers back, so stick with Ooze Bombs there.

Smoke Bomb: Ashlands Utility Tool

Introduced with the Ashlands, the Smoke Bomb is not a damage dealer. It creates a 3-meter smoke cloud that applies the Smoked status (a minor 2 damage per second) and, more importantly, extinguishes fire in a 3-meter radius.

In the Ashlands, Charred enemies, lava and environmental hazards constantly set you and your buildings alight. A stack of Smoke Bombs puts fires out instantly, and the Smoked debuff gives you a brief window to reposition or heal.

Each craft makes 10 bombs from 1 Smoke Puff (gathered in the Ashlands) and 1 Asksvin Bladder, making it the most resource-efficient bomb. They weigh almost nothing, so always carry a handful.

Basalt Bomb (new in 1.0)

The Basalt Bomb is crafted at the Workbench in batches of 5 from 1 Asksvin Hide, 1 Asksvin Bladder and 3 Proustite Powder. It shares the standard bomb handling (8 stamina per throw, 40 knockback, 0.3 weight). Farm extra Asksvin Bladders if you want to keep both Smoke and Basalt Bombs stocked.

Blob Bombs: Summoning Creatures on Demand

Blob Bombs do not create a damage zone. They summon a creature on impact, and that creature is aggressive toward the player, so treat them as a chaos tool. Each is crafted one at a time at a Workbench from a Corked Vial plus trophies and materials.

The six variants

• Poison: 1 Blob Trophy, summons a Blob.
• Elite Poison: 3 Blob Trophies, summons an Oozer.
• Frost: a Drake Trophy, summons a Frost Blob.
• Tar: 3 Tar and a Growth Trophy, summons a Growth.
• Lava: 10 Sulfur and 10 Proustite Powder, summons a Lava Blob.
• Pulp (new in 1.0): a Pulp Trophy and 3 Dead Pulp.

Thrown into a group of enemies, the summon can draw aggro and buy you breathing room. They are a fun novelty rather than a core strategy, and another reason to visit the Bog Witch.

How Bomb Damage Actually Works

Every bomb shares the same impact stats (see the table below), but nobody throws bombs for the 5 Blunt impact. The real output comes from the cloud.

Ooze Bomb: refreshing poison

The cloud applies 40 poison over 7 seconds. An enemy that leaves still takes the full 40. One that stays has the debuff refreshed each tick, so over the 10-second cloud plus the trailing 7 seconds a stationary enemy takes roughly 97 poison.

Bile Bomb: stacking fire

Every second in the cloud adds a new 15 fire application, for 150 fire over 10 seconds. The poison works like the Ooze Bomb's at 30 over 6 seconds, for roughly 80 total. Combined, about 230 damage on a stationary target.

Resistances still apply

No skill, power or gear changes bomb damage, but enemy resistances do. A poison-resistant enemy shrugs off part of an Ooze Bomb, and Blobs are immune to poison entirely. A fire-immune enemy takes only the poison part of a Bile Bomb. Check your target before spending bombs.

Where to Farm Bomb Ingredients

Ooze Bomb

• Ooze: Oozers drop 2 and Blobs drop 1 in the Swamp, so it piles up during the Iron age.
• Leather Scraps: Boars always drop 1, Bats drop 1 half the time, and Muddy Scrap Piles and Meadows chests give more.
• Resin: Greydwarves, Greydwarf Shamans and Greylings each drop 1, and chopping Birch, Pine and smaller Beech trees can drop it.

Bile Bomb

Sap Extractors on Ancient Roots are slow passive income, and Bilebags come only from Gjalls, which are dangerous and respawn slower than Swamp creatures. That scarcity is why veterans stock Ooze Bombs as their main throwable and save Bile Bombs for bosses and tough fights.

Smoke and Basalt Bombs

Smoke Puffs are gathered in the Ashlands. Every Asksvin drops an Asksvin Bladder, while Asksvin Hatchlings drop one only 20% of the time. Smoke Bombs come 10 per craft, so one run goes a long way.

Blob Bombs

Corked Vials cost 150 coins for 5 from the Bog Witch, who only sells them after you defeat The Elder. Blob Trophies are a 10% drop from Blobs.

When to Use Each Bomb: Situational Guide

• Infested Mines: Ooze Bombs only. The poison clears rooms of Seekers and Brood through wooden barriers without releasing them.
• Boss fights: Bile Bombs. At The Queen, bomb her adds while your Eitr recovers; this is arguably the best use of Bile Bombs in the game.
• Open-world fights: Bile Bombs deal about 2.5 times the Ooze Bomb's total damage whenever no wooden structures are near. One can soften a whole pack in a chokepoint.
• Ashlands fires: Smoke Bombs put out fires on your structures and your path, and apply Smoked in a pinch.

Bonus tip: hunting Hares

Ooze Bombs are absurdly effective against Hares and other small, fast creatures. Instead of chasing them or trying to land an arrow on a target that never stops, toss a bomb in their direction. The cloud does not care about movement speed.