Conan Exiles Thralls: Taming Guide (2026)
Thralls are the backbone of any Conan Exiles base. Captured NPCs become your crafters, fighters, dancers, and entertainers. This guide covers the full taming loop, the four-tier system, the best thralls per role, and the server settings that change taming speed.
New to Conan Exiles? Start with our dedicated server setup guide if you're hosting your own world.
The taming loop in five steps
- Craft a truncheon (Stone, Iron, or Steel depending on tier). The Star Metal Truncheon does the most concussive damage and the least health damage; the goal is to knock out, not kill.
- Find an NPC camp. Stygian, Nordheimer, Cimmerian, Darfari, Black Hand, or Set are common at low-mid level. Higher tiers spawn at named locations.
- Knock the NPC unconscious. Headshots build the concussive bar faster. Once they collapse, they have a stun timer before waking up.
- Drag with Fiber Bindings. Equip them, attach to the prone NPC, drag back to your base. Speed multiplier is configurable per server.
- Place on a Wheel of Pain. Put gruel (or any food) in the wheel. The taming bar fills over time. When done, the thrall walks out of the wheel as your follower.
The four tiers
| Tier | Stat range | Where to find |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Lowest stats. Useful for crafting basics. | Most low-level camps. Easy to find, easy to break. |
| Tier 2 | Decent stats. Workhorse of mid-game crafting. | Common at mid-level camps. |
| Tier 3 | Strong stats. Worth the wheel time. | Mid-to-high level camps and outposts. |
| Tier 4 (Named) | Best stats. Often unique recipe unlocks at workstations. | Named NPCs at specific spawn points (Sepermeru, Black Galleon, Mounds of the Dead). |
Workstations and the bonuses thralls give
Place a thrall at a workstation and they unlock the workstation's recipes plus speed and material discounts:
- Blacksmith: armor and weapon recipes; T4 named blacksmiths cut iron and steel costs significantly.
- Armorer: armor variants only; T4 named armorers unlock epic flawless variants.
- Carpenter: bows, shields, furniture; T4 unlocks Champion-tier bows.
- Tanner: leather processing; T4 reduces hide cost by ~50% in good cases.
- Cook: T4 cooks add new recipes for buff foods.
- Alchemist: potions and elixirs; T4 alchemists unlock the rare brews.
Combat thralls: fighters, archers, bearers
Combat thralls follow you, guard your base, or escort caravans:
- Fighters: melee, equip with one-handed or two-handed weapons. Cimmerian Berserkers (T4 named) are top-tier health pools.
- Archers: ranged, equip with bows and arrows. Yamatai archers are common high-tier archers.
- Bearers: carrying capacity boost, can hold loot for you on long runs.
- Performers: dancers, musicians; reduce corruption when stationed at base.
Server settings that change taming
From ServerSettings.ini the relevant knobs:
ThrallConversionMultiplier: lower = faster taming. Default 1.0; community PvE servers often use 0.25-0.5.StaminaCostMultiplier: affects how long you can drag a thrall.UseMinionPopulationLimit: switches on the follower population cap, which is off on a fresh server.MinionPopulationBaseValue(50) andMinionPopulationPerPlayer(5) set its size, as their names say.
Thralls in PvP vs PvE servers
On PvP servers, enemy clans can attack and kill your stationed thralls during raid windows. Use the clan warfare config to set thrall damage rules; some servers disable thrall PvP damage to keep base defenders alive between raids.
Rescuing a stuck or lost thrall
When a follower is stuck in terrain or lost somewhere on the map, open its entry in Follower Management and pick Rescue Follower to bring it back. Read the confirmation before you accept: the game warns that "Rescued followers lose all their items and equipment", so take the gear off first if you can still reach the follower. Clan members can rescue clan followers too; the game then tells anyone handling that follower it "was moved or rescued by another clan member".
If the game answers "Follower cannot be rescued here!", the limit is where the rescue is happening. Four settings in ServerSettings.ini decide when a rescue is allowed:
| Setting | Fresh server | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
EnableFollowerRescueOnLandClaimOnly | True | Limits rescues to land claims. |
EnableFollowerRescueInBuildExclusionZone | False | Whether a rescue is allowed inside build exclusion zones, the areas where building is blocked. |
DamageCooldownBeforeRescue | 600 | A cooldown after damage before a rescue is allowed. |
FollowerRescueCooldown | set per server | The wait between rescues. The game stores the rescue cooldown on the clan. |
So on a default server: be on a land claim, outside any no-build area, give the follower time after a fight, and check whether someone in your clan used a rescue recently.
Common Questions
Why does my thrall wake up before I get them home?
Either the truncheon's concussive damage was too low, or you took too long to drag. Switch to a higher-tier truncheon.
Do thralls heal automatically?
Yes when stationed at base near food they consume. Following thralls heal slowly but you can speed it by dropping them food in their inventory.
Can I change a thrall's name?
Yes, interact with them and pick "Rename." Useful for finding specific thralls in a large garrison.
How many thralls can I have?
On a fresh server the follower population cap is off: UseMinionPopulationLimit is False. An admin who switches it on sets the size with MinionPopulationBaseValue and MinionPopulationPerPlayer in ServerSettings.ini; mods such as Pippi add their own limits.
Hosting a Conan server for a taming-heavy community? Rent a managed Conan Exiles server with Supercraft. Tweak ThrallConversionMultiplier and the follower rescue cooldown from the panel.