Animals in Valheim provide several useful resources, including leather, raw meat, and pelts. And while you can always hunt them in the wild, it’s possible to tame animals in order to secure a steady stream of food and supplies. Best of all, some animals such as wolves can help you fight off other enemies found throughout the realm. The only catch is that you’ll need to provide for them before they can provide for you. Here’s how the process works.
How to tame animals in Valheim
To tame animals in Valheim, you need to feed them the proper foods. Boars can be tamed by feeding them mushrooms, carrots, and berries, while wolves can be tamed by feeding them raw meat. Each piece of food will acclimate the animal to your presence, and after eating enough, the animal will become tame.
Not every animal can be tamed, of course. In the current early access release, it seems that only boars and wolves can be tamed. Fortunately, both of these animals provide distinct bonuses: Boars provide raw meat and leather, while wolves provide raw meat and pelts. Even better, tamed animals can be bred, providing even more food and materials over time.
Still, taming animals does take some effort. Boars and wolves will attack you on sight, meaning you can’t simply approach them with food in-hand. The best way to tame animals involves creating a pen with fences and a gate, then luring the animal inside. Once within the pen, shut the gate to trap the creature, making sure not to trap yourself in the process. After that, you’ll need to drop the food and walk away, as wild boars and wolves won’t eat while you’re standing around.
Once the hungry animal eats food, hearts will appear above its head alongside a percentage of how tame it’s become. Keep feeding it the right foods until this number maxes out at 100 percent. After that, the animal will become tame, and will no longer attack you.
How to breed and farm animals
The main reason to tame animals is to provide a steady source of meat, leather, and pelts. However, this requires a fair amount of work. First, you need have more than one of the same type of animal. You’ll also want to have a pen strong enough to keep them contained — wolves are known for breaking through fencing and other weaker structures. Finally, you’ll need enough food to keep them happy and healthy. Toward that front, it’s wise to start a vegetable farm to feed boars, then use raw boar meat in order to tame and breed wolves.
As long as those conditions have been met, breeding is simple. Well-fed boars and wolves will eventually become happy, which opens up the option to breed. Assuming there’s another happy animal nearby, the two will mate, eventually spawning another tame animal. Slaughter the creatures as needed for meat and leather, and keep the others satisfied enough to continue breeding. As long as you can keep them fed, you’ll soon have a pen full of docile beasts.
There’s one more benefit to taming animals in Valheim, particularly wolves: Happy wolves act as pets, and will follow your character out on adventures. Best of all, wolves will attack any enemy that acts aggressively toward your character. They’re fierce fighters, too, capable of moving with speed and dealing high damage. However, they’re also more difficult to tame, not only because they like to escape, but because they’re much more dangerous to approach in the wild. As such, if you don’t need extra help on the battlefield, taming boars is the easier option.
If you’re still trying to find your bearings, be sure to check out our Valheim beginner’s guide. There you’ll find more how-to tips and basic details on gathering food and building a shelter. And if taming animals is proving too much trouble, check out our tips on how to catch fish.
