Valheim: Taming & Breeding Guide

From the humblest Boar to the massive Lox, taming animals in Valheim provides a reliable source of food, materials, and even heavy transport. With the Ashlands update, taming has become vital for surviving the volcanic wasteland, where rideable Asksvin creatures can navigate lava flows that would kill even the most well-equipped Viking.

1. The Basics of Taming

Core Taming Mechanics

Taming in Valheim follows these fundamental principles:

• Enclosure Required: You must trap the animal in a pen or enclosure. Use wood stone palisades or natural terrain features.
• Food Must Be Dropped: You cannot feed animals directly. Drop food items on the ground within their reach.
• Stay Nearby: The animal must see you or sense your presence to eat. Sneaking helps prevent them from running away.
• Yellow Heart Icon: When the animal eats taming food, a yellow heart icon appears above its head. This indicates successful taming progress.
• Taming Duration: Taming takes several minutes. Don't leave the area or the animal will stop eating.
• Percent Complete: You can check taming progress by hovering over the animal. It shows a percentage of completion.
• Don't Hit Them: Attacking a taming animal resets progress or causes it to flee.

Optimal Taming Conditions

• Safe Location: Build taming pens away from enemy spawn points and other aggressive creatures.
• Proper Enclosure: Ensure the animal cannot escape but has enough room to move and access food.
• Consistent Feeding: Drop food regularly to maintain taming momentum.
• Player Presence: Stay within a reasonable distance. If you go too far, the animal stops eating.

2. Animal Species Guide

Boars (Meadows Biome)

The easiest and most common animal to tame:

• Location: Meadows biome, found throughout starting areas.
• Food: Carrots, Berries, Mushrooms.
• Enclosure Size: Small to medium pens work well.
• Taming Difficulty: Easy. Boars are relatively docile.
• Utility: Reliable source of meat and leather scraps. Good for early-game food production.
• Combat: Weak in combat but can defend base against basic threats.
• Star Preference: 2-star boars provide more meat per kill.

Wolves (Mountains Biome)

Fierce predators that become loyal companions:

• Location: Mountains biome, usually in packs.
• Food: Raw Meat, Cooked Meat.
• Enclosure Size: Large enclosures needed. Wolves are fast and can jump obstacles.
• Taming Difficulty: Medium. Wolves are aggressive and deal significant damage.
• Utility: Excellent base defenders. Wolves attack enemies and provide warning howls.
• Combat: Strong melee combatants. Useful for hunting and defense.
• Star Preference: 2-star wolves have much higher health and damage output.
• Warning: Untamed wolves will attack on sight. Use caution when approaching.

Lox (Plains Biome)

Gentle giants that serve as powerful mounts and defenders:

• Location: Plains biome, usually solitary or in small groups.
• Food: Cloudberries, Barley, Barley Flour.
• Enclosure Size: Very large pens required. Lox are huge and powerful.
• Taming Difficulty: Hard. Lox deal massive damage and have large attack range.
• Utility: Can be ridden with a saddle. Excellent heavy transport and tank.
• Combat: Devastating melee attackers. Can kill multiple players if provoked.
• Star Preference: 2-star Lox are nearly unstoppable. Incredible base defense.
• Mount Capability: Rideable with Lox Saddle. Slow but powerful and durable.
• Warning: Lox are territorial and will attack nearby players when taming.

Asksvin (Ashlands Biome)

Reptilian creatures immune to lava and essential for Ashlands exploration:

• Location: Ashlands biome, volcanic wastelands.
• Food: Smoke-puffs, Vineberries.
• Enclosure Size: Medium pens needed. Asksvin are agile but manageable.
• Taming Difficulty: Medium. Asksvin are aggressive but not as deadly as Lox.
• Utility: Lava Immune! Can walk through lava flows. Essential for Ashlands navigation.
• Combat: Capable fighters with fire damage. Assist in Ashlands combat.
• Star Preference: 2-star Asksvin are faster and have better combat stats.
• Mount Capability: Rideable with Asksvin Saddle. Fast and can jump across lava.
• Unique Trait: The only mount immune to environmental lava damage.

3. Taming Cheat Sheet

4. Advanced Breeding Mechanics

How Breeding Works

Once you have tame animals, they can breed to create offspring:

• Happiness Required: Animals must be happy (fed) to breed. They stop breeding when hungry.
• Space Requirement: Animals need space to breed. Overcrowding prevents reproduction.
• Two Animals: At least two tame animals of the same species are needed.
• Automatic Process: Happy animals will breed automatically when conditions are met.
• Offspring Traits: Babies inherit stats from their parents. Higher-star parents produce better offspring.
• Growth Time: Baby animals take time to mature. They cannot breed until fully grown.
• Parent-Offspring Relationship: Parents won't breed with their own offspring.

Optimizing Breeding Production

Maximize your animal farm output with these techniques:

The Breeder Tower Method

A popular strategy for maximizing production:

• Construction: Build an elevated platform for your tame animals.
• Spacing: Platform should be just large enough for breeding but not for multiple offspring.
• Fall-Through Design: Create gaps or use platform edges where offspring can fall through.
• Collection Area: Below the platform, create a collection area or kill zone for fallen offspring.
• Continuous Breeding: As offspring fall out of the breeding radius, parents continue breeding indefinitely.
• Efficiency: This method produces maximum offspring with minimal intervention.
• Server Performance: Helps prevent animal overpopulation that can cause lag.

Multiple Breeding Pens

More traditional approach with better control:

• Separate Pens: Keep different breeding pairs in separate enclosures.
• Controlled Population: Manage each pen's population individually.
• Star Selectivity: Keep high-star parents together for best offspring.
• Feeding Efficiency: Target food distribution to productive breeding pairs.

Hybrid Approach

Combine both methods for maximum efficiency:

• Primary Production: Use breeder towers for bulk meat/leather production.
• Quality Breeding: Maintain separate pens for high-star breeding pairs.
• Combat Animals: Keep wolves and Lox in dedicated combat pens near base.
• Mount Management: Maintain separate pens for Asksvin and Lox mounts.

5. Building Enclosures and Pens

Pen Design Principles

• Escape Prevention: Animals can sometimes glitch through walls. Build thick walls or double-layer fencing.
• Feeding Access: Ensure you can reach the enclosure to drop food without opening gates.
• Observation Windows: Create viewing areas to check animal status without entering.
• Roof Covering: Some animals may require or prefer covered areas. Consider roofing.
• Server Performance: Don't overcrowd pens. Large numbers of animals can cause server lag.

Specialized Enclosures

• Boar Pens: Small, simple enclosures work well. Use wood palisades.
• Wolf Pens: Tall walls or double fencing. Wolves can jump and are fast.
• Lox Pens: Massive stone structures. Lox are huge and powerful.
• Asksvin Pens: Medium stone or wood pens. Consider lava proximity for environment.
• Mobile Pens: Portable pens can be moved to different biomes as needed.

6. Feeding Strategies

Food Management

• Farm to Feed: Grow crops specifically for animal feed. Carrots, barley, onions.
• Gather Berries: Collect raspberries and blueberries for variety.
• Smoke-puffs & Vineberries: Specialized foods for Asksvin.
• Hunting Surplus: Use excess meat from hunting to feed carnivores.
• Storage Chests: Keep food supplies near enclosures for easy access.

Feeding Schedules

• Continuous Feeding: Maintain constant food availability for optimal taming and breeding.
• Priority Breeding: Feed high-star breeding pairs first to ensure offspring quality.
• Batch Feeding: Feed all animals simultaneously when possible for efficiency.
• Emergency Rations: Keep backup food supplies in case of crop failure.

7. Combat Animals as Defenders

Base Defense Strategies

• Wolves: Excellent for base defense. They attack enemies and provide warning.
• Lox: Devastating against raiding parties. One Lox can defeat multiple enemies.
• Asksvin: Good for Ashlands base defense with fire damage immunity.
• Boars: Weak but numerous. Good for early-game distraction and early warning.

Combat Animal Management

• Follow Commands: Tame animals can follow you for mobile defense.
• Stay Commands: Command animals to guard specific areas of your base.
• Retreat: Call animals back during overwhelming attacks to preserve them.
• Resurrection: Kill and tame replacement animals if defenders fall.

8. Mounts and Transportation

Lox Mount

• Saddle Required: Craft Lox Saddle using Plains materials.
• Slow but Powerful: Not fast but can carry heavy loads.
• Combat Mount: Can fight while mounted. Devastating charge attacks.
• Swimming: Can swim but slowly. Good for crossing small bodies of water.

Asksvin Mount

• Saddle Required: Craft Asksvin Saddle using Ashlands materials.
• Lava Immunity: Can walk through lava flows. Essential for Ashlands.
• Fast and Agile: Much faster than Lox with jumping capability.
• Combat Support: Can assist in Ashlands combat while mounted.
• Environmental Navigation: Jump across lava flows and reach otherwise inaccessible areas.

9. Advanced Tips and Tricks

Star Breeding Strategy

• Identify High-Stars: Look for 2-star animals in the wild. They're worth the extra effort.
• Preserve Genetics: Keep high-star parents together for best offspring.
• Cull Weak: Remove low-star offspring to maintain breeding quality.
• Backup Population: Keep some 1-star animals as emergency breeding stock.

Efficiency Optimization

• Automate Collection: Use kill zones to automatically collect offspring resources.
• Resource Cycles: Time harvesting with animal breeding cycles for maximum efficiency.
• Multi-Purpose Animals: Some animals serve multiple roles (defense + transport).
• Seasonal Considerations: Adjust breeding strategies based on your progress and needs.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overcrowding: Too many animals in one pen stops breeding and causes lag.
• Starving Animals: Forgetting to feed stops taming and breeding progress.
• Poor Enclosure Design: Animals escaping or attacking you during taming.
• Wrong Food: Feeding animals food they don't eat wastes resources.
• Inbreeding: Breeding parents with their offspring can reduce genetic quality over time.
• Neglecting Combat Animals: Not using defense animals properly wastes their potential.

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