Your followers are the backbone of survival in Conan Exiles. A well-leveled fighter thrall can clear dungeons, guard your base against raiders, and let you punch above your weight when you take on world bosses. But the leveling system runs on quiet mechanics that the game never fully explains. This guide breaks down how follower XP works, how food secretly steers attribute growth, which perks matter, and how to pick between fighters, archers, and pets so your war party actually pulls its weight.
How Follower Leveling Works
Every follower you place or capture starts at level 0 and caps at level 20, giving you 20 level-ups to shape. Followers earn experience the same way you do: from kills near them. The key catch is that a thrall or pet only gains XP while it is actively following you — a follower set to guard or left standing at your base earns nothing. The follower does not need to land the killing blow; it just has to be in your party when something dies nearby.
That makes leveling an active task. Take your follower on a tour of mobs you can clear quickly — a faction camp, an animal pen area, or a low-tier dungeon — and let the kills stack up. The higher-tier the follower, the more raw stats it gains per level, so where you sourced the thrall matters as much as how you level it.
Attributes and Growth Chance
Followers use a familiar set of attributes. Each level, the game rolls against a per-attribute growth chance to decide whether that stat goes up. Those growth chances are tied to the follower’s faction and tier, with randomness layered on top. They can range from around 30% up to 100%, but no single thrall reaches a perfect 100% across every attribute — there is always a trade-off built into the source NPC.
- Strength — boosts melee and strength-weapon damage. The stat you want maxed on a fighter.
- Agility — boosts agility-weapon damage, including bows, daggers, and katanas. Since the Age of Sorcery rework this is what makes an archer hit harder; there is no longer a separate “Accuracy” stat.
- Vitality — determines health and survivability, keeping your follower alive in long fights.
Because growth chances differ between factions, two thralls of the same tier can level very differently. Cimmerian and similar warrior factions lean toward Strength and Vitality, while other factions favour Agility or a more balanced spread. This is why “where did you tame it” is the first question any veteran asks about a follower.
Thrall Food: The Hidden Growth Lever
Food does far more than heal followers. Placing a food item in a thrall’s inventory before it levels biases which attribute the level-up roll is likely to favor. You can only benefit from one food buff per level, so stacking different foods does nothing — pick the one that targets the attribute you care about and keep it stocked.
| Food | Attribute Biased | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Gruel | Strength | Cheap, long shelf life — the go-to leveling food |
| Cooked Pork Rinds | Strength | Also grants a large active damage multiplier while satiated |
| Grilled Steak | Vitality | Single-ingredient craft, great for tanky builds |
| Cooked Fish | Agility | Best Agility bias, but spoils quickly |
| Shredded Roast | Agility / armor | Strong survivability bias |
| Exotic Feast | Strength & Vitality | Top-tier HP regeneration for healing followers |
For most players, Gruel is the workhorse: it is dirt cheap, barely spoils, and pushes Strength growth on the fighters you raise. Once a follower is leveled, food also heals over time — tossing an Exotic Feast or other high-regen food into the inventory restores health between fights. Note that Cooked Pork Rinds’ active damage multiplier is a separate, valuable buff worth keeping on a combat thrall even after it hits 20.
Perks at Levels 10, 15, and 20
Followers roll a randomly assigned perk at levels 10, 15, and 20, for up to three perks on a fully leveled companion. Perks pull from a shared pool and can add or subtract attribute points, so they swing a thrall’s final power meaningfully. Good rolls reinforce a build — extra Strength or Vitality on a fighter, Agility on an archer — while a bad roll can dump points into a stat you do not use.
Because perks are random and locked in at those levels, many players level a few copies of the same high-tier thrall and keep the one with the best perk spread. There is no in-game reroll, so this brute-force approach is the practical way to chase an optimal follower.
War Party and Your Follower Limit
War Party is the capstone perk in the Authority attribute on your character — not a follower perk. Investing in Authority lets you field more followers at once, and War Party raises that cap further so you can run a true squad. The catch: followers brought out via the expanded War Party slots do not benefit from your player-side +follower-damage bonuses from gear and potions. In practice, your “main” damage thrall still soaks up your buffs, while the extra bodies act as additional health bars and crowd control. Plan your gear around that distinction before you commit deep into Authority.
Fighters vs Archers vs Pets
- Fighters — the default pick. High Strength and Vitality, they tank aggro and out-damage almost everything in melee. Top-tier named fighters like Dalinsia Snowhunter remain a classic benchmark.
- Archers — scale with Agility and deal ranged damage. Strong support behind a fighter or on a wall, but weaker as solo frontliners and dependent on arrow supply.
- Pets and animals — level the same way and make solid guards or extra bodies. Greater variants (and creatures hatched and grown to maturity) hit harder. Mounts level too, but unlike thralls they do not inherit your player follower bonuses.
For a deeper dive into which specific named thralls to hunt and where, see our companion guide to the best named thralls, and pair your war party with the right meals using our cooking and food buffs guide.
Running Followers on a Community Server
Server settings dramatically change the follower experience. Admins can scale thrall XP rates, adjust the follower limit, and tune player damage to keep PvP balanced around squads. If you are running your own community, our dedicated Conan Exiles hosting gives you full control over those values, and the Conan Exiles setup documentation walks through editing them safely.
FAQ
Do thralls gain XP while set to guard?
No. Followers only earn experience while actively following you when something dies nearby. A thrall on guard or stationed at your base will never level up, so take it adventuring to grind levels.
What is the best food for leveling a fighter thrall?
Gruel is the standard choice — it is cheap, lasts a long time, and biases Strength growth. Cooked Pork Rinds also push Strength and add an active damage multiplier, making them a strong option once the thrall is built.
Can I reroll a follower’s perks?
Not through normal gameplay. Perks are randomly assigned at levels 10, 15, and 20 and cannot be rerolled. Most players level several copies of a desired thrall and keep the one with the best perk spread.
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