Valheim: How to Tame Animals

Taming a boar is relatively straightforward, as long as you have food and materials to make a pen. Once you’ve constructed a pen for your hoggy hombres – roundpole fences (or a pit) will do the trick – you need to lure your chosen pet inside with food, or simply bait them into chasing you and then trap them. Taming them can take a while; drop food on the ground (berries, mushrooms, or carrots work), and then back away afterwards, or sneak out of their sight, so they calm down enough to schnaffle up the food. The boar will gradually become tamer each time they eat.

One the taming process is complete, you’re able to give your pig some pats on the head. Aww. Boars are afraid of fire, so make sure their pen is a good distance away from any source of flame. If you need to relocate them once tame, you can use torches to herd them down corridors.

Breeding boar is a simple matter of leaving food on the ground in front of two hungry, tame boars; once they eat, they become happy, and have a chance to breed. Pink hearts appear if the boars breed successfully; then a ‘piggie’ will appear after a short time. And remember: ‘boar loves you’.

Taming a Valheim wolf is a much tougher prospect. The precursors to man’s best friend aren’t feeling quite as inclined to be friendly – however, once you’ve earned their loyalty, they become useful companions, following faithfully alongside as you venture across Valheim, and defending you against enemies.

Wolves are found in the mountains, so make sure you have frost resistance before you attempt to explore. In order to tame a wolf, you’ll need to build a pen – roundpole fences aren’t going to cut it; you’ll need at least stakewalls to keep them contained, as they attack the fences when frightened. You’ll probably need to coax the wolf into the pen by letting it chase you; better equip your best Valheim armour, to be safe. Once you’ve captured a wolf, leave a bunch of raw meat in the pen (around five or six should do) and back off so they calm down. You may want to build a roof over the pen to protect it from flying foes.

Now you’ve got a tame wolf, you may be wondering how to take them home with you across the ocean, as they can’t travel through portals. Build a dock over your ship and push the wolf on to the boat, but beware, as they will jump off to attack any hostile mobs that you sail past on land.

To breed Valheim wolves, place raw meat in front of two tamed wolves, ensuring they have plenty of space – after a while, a little baby wolf will arrive.

So, you’ve got your eyes on the lumbering lox as a pet – these formidable beasts can be found in herds in the plains biome, and they will make a quick snack out of you if you’re unprepared. There’s no way you’re going to trap one of these furry reptiles in a pen, so the strategy here is to sneak toward it, drop cloudberries or barley nearby, and then run away before it eats you. Alternatively, you could construct a pen out of stone, and use the harpoon – one of the best Valheim weapons – to drag it inside. Once you’ve repeated the feeding process a few times and the lox is tame, you can then safely construct a pen and guide it inside.

You’ll be pleased to know that once tame, you can pet your furry friend, and any other nearby lox will leave you alone.

Unfortunately, there isn’t yet a way to make little lox babies. When this is implemented, we’ll let you know how it’s achieved.