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Tame all 5 Valheim animals from Boar to Moose. Learn the exact food, enclosure tips, and tricks to cut taming time in half.
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Taming animals in Valheim turns a survival grind into something more manageable. A boar pen handles your early meat supply. A pair of wolves covers base defense. A tamed Lox becomes the best Plains transport you can get. With the Deep North update, there are now 5 tameable animals spread across every major biome, each with its own food preference and capture method. Here's the short answer: trap the animal, drop its food, stay nearby but out of sight, and wait roughly 30 minutes.
Every tame in the game shares the same core loop. An invisible progress bar fills to 100% over approximately 30 minutes of uninterrupted feeding. Three conditions have to hold the entire time: the animal must have food available, it must not be alarmed (no red exclamation mark above its head), and at least one player needs to be close enough to keep the area loaded.
Yellow hearts floating above the animal mean the tame is advancing. A red exclamation mark means you're too close, something scared it, or a fire source is nearby. Either fix the problem or the timer pauses.
A single food item lasts roughly 10 minutes, so three pieces of food cover the full 30-minute window if nothing goes wrong.
Five wild animals can be tamed. Hens also exist but hatch already tame from eggs purchased from Haldor, so they don't require capturing.
| Animal | Biome | Preferred Food | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boar | Meadows | Berries, carrots, mushrooms, onions, turnips | Meat, leather scraps, breeding |
| Wolf | Mountain | Raw meat, neck tails, raw fish, sausages | Combat companion, base defense |
| Lox | Plains | Cloudberries, barley, flax | Mount (Lox Saddle), meat |
| Askvin | Ashlands | Smoke puffs, vineberry clusters, fiddleheads | Mount (Askvin Saddle), eggs |
| Moose | Deep North | Lingonberries | Mount, snow travel |
Boars are the first tame most players attempt, and the process is forgiving enough to learn on. They're aggressive when you walk up, but weak enough that getting hit a few times isn't a disaster.
Let a boar chase you into a wooden pen, slip out, and close the gate. Drop berries, carrots, mushrooms, or turnips inside and back well away. The mistake most players make here is hovering too close to watch, which keeps the exclamation mark active and stalls progress.
Once tamed, two boars will breed as long as they're fed and the enclosure is large enough. If it's too cramped, they won't produce piglets. Capturing a one-star or two-star boar is worth the extra effort since offspring inherit the star rating, which means better meat and pelt yields when you slaughter them.
You can craft a Butcher Knife to kill tamed animals without triggering friendly fire on your other tames.
Wolves are the best combat companion available in the early-to-mid game. A tamed wolf follows you, guards your base, and can land critical hits well above what you can deal yourself. Getting one requires proper Mountain biome preparation.
Build a stone-walled enclosure with a metal gate before you go hunting. Wolves damage wooden fences, so don't cut corners on the pen material. Find a wolf along the Mountain foothills, aggro it, and lead it inside. Drop raw meat and leave.
After taming, press E to toggle the wolf between following you and staying put. Tamed wolves won't follow you through portals, but they will swim alongside a boat if you head out to sea.
Lox are found in the Plains and are neutral until you get close, at which point they charge. Their size creates a specific problem: a standard walled enclosure is hard to escape once a Lox is inside, and an angry Lox can smash through stone walls.
The fix is a pit. Dig a large hole deep enough to hold a Lox, with one sloped side you can jump-climb out of. Aggro a Lox, lead it into the pit, and use the slope to get out. Drop cloudberries, barley, or flax inside and wait at a safe distance.
Once tamed, craft a Lox Saddle to ride it. A mounted Lox is genuinely the best way to cross open Plains terrain, and two tamed Lox will breed when fed and kept together.
Askvins live in the Ashlands and are the most dangerous tame in the game. They're fast, hit hard, and the Ashlands biome itself is hostile. The method is identical to the Lox pit approach, just harder to execute.
Dig your pit in an area where Askvins spawn regularly. Drop smoke puffs, vineberry clusters, or fiddleheads inside, then aggro one and lead it in. Climb out via the slope and stay clear.
A tamed Askvin with an Askvin Saddle becomes a rideable mount and will also lay eggs when paired with another tamed Askvin, giving you both a mount and a livestock source.
The Moose is the newest addition, introduced with the Deep North update. It fills the same role a Lox does in the Plains, but for the frozen Deep North biome.
Build a stone enclosure, get close enough to aggro a Moose, and lead it inside. Exit and drop Lingonberries to begin the taming process. Moose are fast and difficult to outrun, so stack any movement speed buffs you have available before you start the chase.
After taming, a saddle lets you ride the Moose across snow terrain with ease.
An on-screen notification appears the moment the tame finishes. After that, you can rename the animal with Shift + E. Interacting with it shows a "(name) loves you" message with pink hearts. Boars also display a green health bar once fully tamed.
The tamed animal switches to your faction immediately, stops attacking you and your other tames, and will turn on wild enemies instead. Two fed and calm animals of the same species can breed, and any star rating carries over to offspring.
For a full breakdown of what to tackle before you reach the Mountain or Plains biomes, the Valheim biome progression guide covers the exact gear and preparation each zone requires. And if you want the complete picture on every boss you'll face along the way, the Valheim boss locations and rewards guide is worth bookmarking.
New to the game entirely? The Valheim beginner guide covers food, stamina, and early crafting before you need to worry about any of this.
Can tamed animals breed? Boars, wolves, lox, and askvins all breed when two tamed animals of the same species are kept together and fed. Offspring inherit any star ratings from their parents.
Do tamed wolves follow you through portals? No. Wolves cannot use portals. They will swim alongside a boat if you travel by sea, but portal travel leaves them behind.
What is the fastest way to tame animals? Brew of Animal Whispers cuts the taming window from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. Unlock it by visiting the Bog Witch in the Swamp biome first.
Can you ride tamed animals? Lox, Askvins, and Moose are all rideable with their respective saddles. Wolves and boars cannot be ridden.
What happens if you scare the animal during taming? The progress timer pauses until the animal calms down. Nothing is lost, but you're extending the total time. Back away, remove any fire sources if it's a boar, and wait for the exclamation mark to disappear.
For more tips, builds, and strategies across every biome, browse the full Valheim guides collection.
