Tamed animals are some of the most useful things you can have in Valheim — a renewable source of food, materials and even loyal combat pets. This guide covers how to tame and breed every tameable creature: boars, wolves, lox, Asksvin and chickens.
How taming works
To tame an animal you drop its preferred food nearby and stay close (but not so close it attacks you) until a taming meter fills. Done without interruption, taming usually needs only about three food items over roughly 30 minutes. The Brew of Animal Whispers halves taming time to about 15 minutes. Building a pen first — with stake walls or raised earth — keeps the animal contained while it tames.
Boars (Meadows) — start here
Boars are the first and easiest animal to tame. Lure one into a pen, drop food, and wait. They eat berries, mushrooms, carrots and more — carrots and mushrooms are great breeders. Tamed boars give a renewable supply of raw meat and leather scraps, and they’ll breed automatically when fed and given space.
Wolves (Mountain) — combat pets
Wolves are carnivores, so feed them raw meat, not berries. Two big rules: tame them in a pen because they’re dangerous, and start taming before dawn — night-spawned wolves despawn in the morning, interrupting the process. Bred wolves are excellent guards and can follow you into battle. Breed two tamed wolves with raw meat and space for a wolf cub.
Lox (Plains) — the tanks
Lox are huge and hit hard, so taming them is a careful job. Sneak close, drop cloudberries or barley, and back off before they reach you — repeat until tamed. Many players build a stone pen or dig a pit and use a harpoon to drag the lox inside first. Feed barley, cloudberries or flax to breed lox calves.
Chickens — already tamed
Chickens/Hens hatch from eggs already tame — no taming meter required. Keep them warm near a fire to hatch eggs, and they provide a renewable food source.
Asksvin (Ashlands) — endgame haulers
Asksvin are wolf-like Ashlands creatures and the only tameable animal in that biome. Once tamed they have no carrying-capacity limit, which makes them invaluable for hauling Flametal out of the lava fields — see our Ashlands guide.
Breeding tips
- Give animals food and enough space — overcrowding stops breeding.
- Keep them safe behind walls; a raid can wipe out your livestock.
- The “happy” (jumping) state means they’re content and will breed.
Keep your farm alive 24/7
Your tamed animals only live and breed while the world is running. On peer-to-peer, that’s only when the host is online. A Valheim dedicated server keeps your world — and your livestock — online around the clock, so your boar and wolf farms keep growing even when you’re away.
Frequently asked questions
What can you tame in Valheim?
Boars, wolves, lox and Asksvin can be tamed; chickens hatch already tame.
How do you tame a wolf in Valheim?
Feed it raw meat in a pen, and start before dawn so it doesn’t despawn at morning.
How do you speed up taming?
Use the Brew of Animal Whispers, which roughly halves taming time.
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