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Taming, Breeding & Livestock Guide

Valheim Taming Guide: Boars, Wolves, Lox, Asksvin, Chickens & Breeding

Taming gives you food, crafting resources, mounts, combat companions, eggs, and long-term livestock farms. Learn how to capture animals, keep them calm, feed them correctly, and breed them without wasting time.

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Why Taming Is Worth It

Taming is not just a side activity. A good livestock setup can feed you, support crafting, strengthen your base, and give you companions or mounts for dangerous biomes.

Reliable Food

Boars, lox, hens, and Asksvin can help turn food ingredients into a steady resource instead of constant hunting.

Crafting Materials

Leather scraps, hides, trophies, eggs, meat, and other drops are useful for food, armor, saddles, decorations, and utility builds.

Combat Support

Tamed wolves can follow and fight with you, while stronger starred wolves can become a serious combat force.

Mounts and Mobility

Lox and Asksvin give you late-game riding options, making livestock useful beyond simple food production.

How Taming Works in Valheim

Most taming follows the same pattern: trap the animal, feed the correct food, keep it calm, and stay close enough for taming to progress.

Trap the Animal

Build a pen, dig a pit, use a temporary platform, or drag the animal with the Abyssal Harpoon.

Feed the Right Food

Each animal has its own diet. Drop the correct food inside the enclosure where it can reach it.

Keep It Calm

A red exclamation mark means the animal is frightened or alerted. Taming pauses until it calms down.

Stay Nearby

A player needs to stay close enough to keep the area active. If you leave, taming progress pauses.

Taming timing

If the animal stays fed, calm, and active with a player nearby, taming takes about 30 real-time minutes. A single food item lasts about 10 minutes without sleeping, so drop at least three food items per animal and use extra in case the process pauses.

Capture Methods: Pens, Pits, Platforms & Harpoon

Basic Pen

Boars and simple starter taming

Leave an opening, lure the animal in, close the gap, then jump out. Repair damage while staying out of sight.

Pit Trap

Wolves, lox, Asksvin, and dangerous animals

Dig a steep pit so the animal falls in and cannot break out. Terrain walls are much safer than weak build pieces.

Platform Drop

Controlled captures

Build a temporary platform over a pit, lure the animal onto it, then break the platform so it drops in.

Abyssal Harpoon

Dragging animals into position

The harpoon can help pull animals into pits or pens, especially when normal luring is risky or annoying.

Taming Guide by Animal

Each animal has different food, different danger level, and a different reason to tame it. Start with boars, then move into wolves, lox, chickens, and Ashlands livestock later.

MeadowsBest first tame

Boars

Food

RaspberriesBlueberriesRed MushroomsCarrotsTurnipsOnions

Enclosure

Wood fencing is usually enough, but keep wild boars away from torches, campfires, hearths, and other fire sources while taming.

Capture

Use a simple wood fence, roundpole fence, or small starter pen. Lure the boar inside, close the entrance, and move out of sight.

Benefits

  • Boar meat
  • Leather scraps
  • Boar trophies
  • Early food and crafting stability
  • Useful materials that stay relevant later

Notes

  • Boars are the easiest way to learn taming.
  • Avoid taming boars anchored to runestones or abandoned farms if you want to move them far away.
  • Once tamed, boars are no longer afraid of fire.
  • Starred boars are valuable because offspring can inherit stars.
MountainsCombat companions

Wolves

Food

Raw meatBoar meatDeer meatNeck tailsRaw fishLox meatSausages

Enclosure

Wolves, especially starred wolves, can damage weak pens quickly. Stone or terrain-based pits are safer than basic fences.

Capture

Use a stone enclosure, reinforced pen, or pit. Lure carefully, stay out of sight, and be ready to repair or escape.

Benefits

  • Wolf meat
  • Wolf pelts
  • Wolf trophies
  • Can follow the player
  • Can guard an area
  • Strong combat support

Notes

  • Starred wolves spawn at night in the Mountains.
  • Begin taming starred wolves quickly and stay nearby.
  • Wolves cannot follow through portals.
  • Fed wolves can heal, and packs can become very strong.
PlainsMount, tank, and meat source

Lox

Food

CloudberriesBarleyFlax

Enclosure

Use terrain walls, stone, or large open space. If covered, make sure they have enough room and can reach their food.

Capture

A deep pit is usually the safest option. Lox can break many normal structures if they stay angry.

Benefits

  • Lox meat
  • Lox pelts
  • Lox trophies
  • Can be ridden with a lox saddle
  • Useful as a tanky mount

Notes

  • Lox are dangerous to trap without good armor and stamina.
  • They require more space than smaller animals.
  • A lox saddle uses leather scraps, linen thread, and black metal.
  • Riding levels the Riding skill over time.
AshlandsAshlands mount and egg layer

Asksvin

Food

Smoke PuffsVineberry ClustersFiddleheads

Enclosure

Strong terrain containment is safer than relying only on walls. Keep the original tamed Asksvin penned and raise eggs or offspring elsewhere if needed.

Capture

Use a deep pit or terrain-based trap in an area where Asksvin spawn often. They are aggressive and dangerous to handle directly.

Benefits

  • Ashlands mobility
  • Asksvin eggs
  • Late-game livestock value
  • Can be ridden once tamed
  • Useful for Ashlands progression and combat support

Notes

  • Asksvin are an Ashlands tame, so do not treat them like a beginner livestock animal.
  • Use terrain and safe hiding spots when trapping them.
  • Collect eggs and hatch or raise them in a safer controlled location.
  • Their food comes from Ashlands resources.
Eggs from traders or rewardsLate-game egg and food production

Chickens / Hens

Food

BarleyDandelionsBeech SeedsBirch SeedsCarrot SeedsTurnip SeedsOnion Seeds

Enclosure

Use a roofed coop with walls high enough to keep chickens inside. Keep the heat source out of reach so they do not walk into it.

Capture

Chickens are not captured from the wild. Buy or find eggs, then hatch them under shelter near a heat source.

Benefits

  • Eggs
  • Chicken meat
  • Mushroom Omelette
  • Honey Glazed Chicken
  • Strong late-game food support

Notes

  • Eggs must be dropped individually, not as a stack.
  • Eggs need shelter and warmth for 30 uninterrupted minutes.
  • If warmth or shelter breaks, the timer restarts.
  • Chicks grow into hens over time.

Breeding Rules and Population Limits

Taming one animal is useful, but breeding is where livestock becomes powerful. If breeding stops, the problem is usually food, fear, distance, missing partner, or too many animals nearby.

Breeding requirements

  • Two tamed animals of the same species need to be nearby.
  • Both animals need to be fed and calm.
  • A player must be nearby to keep the area active.
  • The animal needs a suitable partner that is not already pregnant.
  • The local population limit must not be exceeded.
  • Sleeping does not speed up taming and can waste food during taming.

Common population limits

Boars

5 within 10 meters

Expand the pen or move offspring if breeding stops.

Wolves

4 within 10 meters

Wolf packs need space if you want steady breeding.

Lox

4 within 20 meters

Lox need more space than smaller animals.

Hens / Eggs

10 within 10 meters

Eggs, chicks, and hens can all contribute to the limit.

Starred Boars and Two-Star Wolves

Starred boars and wolves are worth prioritizing because they provide stronger offspring or better drops.

Offspring can inherit the star level of the parent that gives birth.

Two-star wolves are one of the strongest reasons to invest in taming.

Starred wolves spawn at night in the Mountains, so trap and begin taming quickly.

Lox and chickens do not use star levels in the same way as boars and wolves.

Simple rule

If you find a starred boar or wolf, it is usually worth protecting. For wolves especially, starred offspring can turn a normal livestock pen into a serious combat pack.

Optional Boar Breeder Farm

A normal boar pen works fine, but an elevated boar breeder can make boar meat, leather scraps, and trophies much easier to collect over time.

Use two parent boars in a raised breeding pen.

Keep a lower collection pen underneath for offspring.

Use a food catcher or feeding spot so parent boars can eat without you entering the pen.

Use a ramp, portal, or temporary walkway to move the parent boars into place.

This is optional, but it can give steady boar meat, leather scraps, and trophies.

Best use

Keep the guide broad and treat this as an optional project. New players should learn normal taming and breeding first, then upgrade to a dedicated breeder once they understand population limits and feeding.

Animal Drops and Uses

Taming pays off because every animal fills a different long-term role in food, crafting, mobility, or combat.

Boars

Reliable early meat, leather scraps, trophies, and breeding material.

Wolves

Combat companions, wolf pelts, wolf meat, trophies, and base defense support.

Lox

Large meat source, pelts, trophies, and mount utility with the lox saddle.

Asksvin

Ashlands riding, egg production, mobility, and late-game livestock value.

Hens

Eggs and chicken meat for strong late-game food recipes.

Common Taming Mistakes

Standing where the animal can see you during taming.

Leaving the area and pausing the taming process.

Sleeping while taming and wasting food.

Using the wrong food for the animal.

Putting boar pens too close to fire during taming.

Using weak fences for wolves, lox, or Asksvin.

Forgetting to roof animal pens against flying raids.

Letting chicken eggs sit in a stack instead of dropping them individually.

Letting eggs or animals crowd the pen and stop breeding.

Trying to portal wolves or other tamed animals.

Killing babies before they mature and losing full drops.

Ignoring two-star boars and wolves when you find them.

Next Valheim Guides

Taming connects directly into farming, food, base building, and biome progression.

Valheim Farming Guide

Grow the crops and animal food needed for taming, breeding, cooking, and late-game farms.

Valheim Food Guide

Use animal drops, eggs, crops, and feasts to build stronger food setups for every biome.

Valheim Building Guide

Build safer pens, barns, coops, defenses, and protected farm layouts.

Valheim Biomes Guide

Learn where each animal appears and what to prepare before entering dangerous biomes.