Originally posted by Religion LOL:

These things in the plains are just horribly unbalanced. I get they shoot at you in bursts and that solo they are pretty easy to time. Thing is when five of them are all hopping at you from different directions and all shooting at you in different intervals it's horrible. Each hit of tar should not reset my 10 second debuff. That is too much.

You never should have 5 at once, 4 spawn at a tar pit at one time. I wouldn't recommend trying to fight all 4 at once.

Try using ranged attacks to lure them in, or walking a bit close to pull out each one at a time.

Used ranged attacked if you don't feel comfortable with melee and keep your distance, they'll never even fire an attack at you.
If you are in melee, just watch out for the attack animation and then roll sideways to avoid it.
Also remember the roll animation isn't slowed down by tar, so even if you do get hit you can still roll out the way of their attacks.

I used to find them a massive pain until recently, but the things I say above have turned me into a growth slaying machine.

Also put a ton of workbenches up around the pit to stop them from respawning if it's close to your base.

ill stick to ranged, seems alot simpler. no need or reason to complicate a kill

Having played solo, I found them a complete pain, and they're instant death if they catch you off-guard, but you can a) aggro one, arrow it, aggro the next, etc. b) Kite, dodge-roll, shoot, c) Bonemass power + poison resist mead and charge with a mace.

You might die once or twice before getting the hang of it, but they're nowhere near impossible.

im still in iron age trying not to get swamped... but the videos of those tar blobs looks horrible to fight, just ranged is all i would try. they seem overpowered up close.

Originally posted by ShiZniTe:

im still in iron age trying not to get swamped... but the videos of those tar blobs looks horrible to fight, just ranged is all i would try. they seem overpowered up close.

They really aren't. With an appropriate shield, you can literally walk up to them while blocking their attacks, then just give them a smack or two. They're really only a threat in packs of 4 or more as they may break through your guard at that point.

Originally posted by Religion LOL:

These things in the plains are just horribly unbalanced. I get they shoot at you in bursts and that solo they are pretty easy to time. Thing is when five of them are all hopping at you from different directions and all shooting at you in different intervals it's horrible. Each hit of tar should not reset my 10 second debuff. That is too much.

The Tar Growths have a speed equal to the green blobs from the swamp. In other words, they are extremely slow. If said growths can shoot at you, then you are not far away enough. Make them ascend a hill to get to you, then plink away at them with your bow and fire arrows. I never have an issue anymore.

Tar growths and Lox are enemies. If you lead a lox in he will clear the pit for you. That gives you about 3 ingame days to get the tar out.

use a large rock to help break them up a bit. these rocks are in the plains as places of retreat.

i dont mean the huge rock towers, just the big spherical boulders.

Frost arrows.

Originally posted by bacon:

use a large rock to help break them up a bit. these rocks are in the plains as places of retreat.

i dont mean the huge rock towers, just the big spherical boulders.

^ This.

Although if I’ve located a tar pit I want to clear and there are stone pillars nearby I tend to build platforms up the side a ways.

Then draw them in and snipe them with the bow.

if you’re being surrounded by tar blobs it’s your own fault, they literally only spawn in one location, so you know exactly where to shoot with a bow before you get in their aggro range

One thing I found helpful was the shield. You do not get the debuff if their attacks hit your shield. It involves a lot of running away, blocking when you know they're about to spew at you and not letting yourself be surrounded. If you are hit with the debuff then don't panic and shield the rest of their attacks before you try and run, waiting for the debuff to wear off. If you're surrounded then it's hard to break out of that cycle so do everything you can to not let yourself be swarmed by them.

The best option is to snipe them with a bow while they're not aware of your presence. If they do start to come at you then try and run far enough away where you only have one to contend with one and shields up as you walk towards them. Clubs are very effective vs them and make short work of these annoyances. I found frostner to be particularly effective with it's slow debuff as well. Hope this helps! I died quite a few times to them before I found these tactics to be effective.

Use a bow. Sidesteps while aiming is still fast enough to avoid the attacks, and 3-4 arrows kills one.

Use Bonemass power. Strafe forward left then forward right. 3-4 quick whacks with your melee weapon kills a growth. 3 can permastun/slow you 2 can't. If you are up against a single one roll left or right and then fire your bow, repeat. 3 fire arrows can kill a growth.