I ran back to my base with a bleeding shield and a single torch, and a wild wolf I’d caged a day before blocked a skeleton’s charge. That moment — when a makeshift companion turned a near-death scramble into a rout — is why taming matters. Taming a wild animal in Valheim is like teaching a stubborn apprentice to carry your load and fight at your side.
I’ll walk you through every creature worth your time, the traps that actually work, and the small habits that stop a tame from collapsing into chaos. You’ll learn what each pet does, where to find it, and step-by-step builds that players on Steam and dedicated servers swear by.
I see new players confuse aggression with opportunity — List of All Tameable Animals in Valheim
Not every creature is tameable, but the few that are repay the effort with food, mounts, or frontline muscle. If you want to test things immediately, you can spawn them with Valheim console commands (press F5 on PC) or use community tools on Steam and Nexus for controlled testing.
- Boars
- Wolves
- Lox
- Askvins
I’ve watched a starter pen turn into a leather-and-meat bank — How to Tame Boars in Valheim
How do you tame boars in Valheim?
Boars are the easiest and fastest return on effort. They give hides and meat, breed quickly, and rarely break a pen if you plan for them.
- Find a boar in the Meadows and get it to follow you by appearing in its line of sight.
- Lead it into a fenced pen and close the gate. A simple wooden pen with a single door is enough.
- Drop berries inside and move at least 10–15 meters away. If the boar gets a red exclamation mark, you’re too close; torches and campfires can also spook them.
- Refill berries when eaten. When a green health bar appears above the boar, it’s tamed — you can nickname and pet it.
Quick tip: keep two boars to start a breeder: one male and one female will multiply your hides and meat without extra work.
Mountain winds bite and players learn the hard way — How to Tame Wolves in Valheim
Can tamed wolves fight for you?
Yes. Tamed wolves are powerful melee allies that absorb hits and deal heavy damage. They become force multipliers in raids if you protect them from environmental damage.
- Prepare cold resistance: bring a Wolf Fur Cape or make a sealed shelter with a bed and food to survive while you build the enclosure.
- Construct a small, solid pen from stone or reinforced wood. Height matters: wolves can’t jump high fences if you use stone pillars.
- Aggro a wolf and lure it into the pen. Drop raw or cooked meat inside, then close the gate and retreat. Keep your distance to avoid spooking it.
- Visit periodically to replace meat and repair the pen. Once tamed, you can tell wolves to follow and let them find enemies on their own.
Server tip: admins on community servers often use Valheim console commands or mods to populate areas for taming practice, which is handy for trying designs without risk.
The Plains swallow poor planning whole — How to Tame Lox in Valheim
Lox are large, slow, and reward patience: they become mounts and heavy laborers for hauling resources.
- Dig a large pit that Lox can’t climb out of — two to three tiles deep and wide enough to contain its path.
- Use Cloud Berries, Flax, or Barley to bait a Lox and lead it toward the pit. Drop food consistently while it chases you to keep it following.
- Once it falls in, close any escape route and place more food inside. Stay away to keep it from being frightened.
- When tamed, you can ride the Lox. Dig a ramp or break a section of wall to bring it out; a second player makes this far easier.
A Lox in a pit looks like a moving mountain under a blanket — slow to start, unstoppable once it moves with you.
Mistlands teach patience with every step — How to Tame Askvins in Valheim
I’ve watched players throw everything at Askvins and lose gear; the right method turns them into reliable egg factories instead.
Askvins are aggressive and live in hazardous terrain. Their reward is eggs you can hatch into more Askvins — powerful for defending bases or farming materials.
- Find a densely populated Askvin area in the Mistlands, then dig a deep pit and build a partial platform above it so you can drop food safely.
- Use Smoke Puffs, Vineberry Clusters, or Fiddleheads as bait. Lure Askvins into the pit and exit using a ramp or removable bridge.
- Keep distance and feed them regularly through the platform. They get tamed over time and begin producing eggs.
- Collect eggs and hatch them elsewhere to expand your force. Keep young Askvins in sturdy pens — they’re temperamental while growing.
There are traps that work by design and tricks that rely on habit: build pens that fit the animal, always bait from outside the fence, and test on a local or Steam-hosted server before committing to a multiplayer world — which tactic will you try first?