Valheim - Guide on how to raise all animals

We have already seen extensively how much there is to shoot in Valheim, game available on Steam that is achieving great success, and we all know well that a good explorer always needs food supplies. In fact, animals provide various useful resources and some of them can even help you fight enemies. But the hunt will take you a long time, therefore setting up a farm will soon become the best solution for constantly procuring food and other supplies. By raising animals regularly, you'll ensure a steady stream of items like meat and skins that can also be used to craft new armor, heal yourself during battle, and get a variety of items that you can sell to merchants. In this guide, therefore, we will give you all the information to become a good herdsman.

The following text may contain spoilers about Valheim, the latest work developed by Iron Gate AB and published by Coffee Stain Studios. We therefore advise you to continue carefully in order to avoid any major and minor spoilers, which could undermine your play experience.

Where to raise the animals of Valheim

First you need the inevitable workbench and with 10 pieces of wood you can build a comfortable enclosure to keep domesticated animals inside.

The second step will be to collect some food that you will need to tame some animals. The type of food you will need will be different for each animal, and every food you give him will get the animal used to your presence who, after having sufficiently eaten, will become docile.

How to tame animals

Not all animals can be tamed and in the current early access version it would appear that only wild boars, wolves and loxes can be tamed. Each of them will provide useful resources, and the tame ones you later raise will give you even more food over time.

This operation requires a certain commitment and a lot of patience on your part. Wild animals will attack you on sight, which means you can't just approach them with food in hand. The safest method is to make a fence with a gate, then lure the animal inside with food. Once the beast is inside the enclosure leave the meal on the ground and go outside, then immediately close the gate and walk away, as they will not eat if you stand in front of them.

When the hungry animal eats the food, hearts will appear above its head along with a percentage indicating how docile it has become. Keep feeding him the right foods until the percentage is 100%, at which point he will have become compliant and will no longer attack you.

How to raise animals

Once domesticated, the animals will become attached to you and in some cases will be by your side in hunting and fighting. The important thing is to take care of them, constantly ensuring them the nourishment that makes them happy. Now let's see which are the three animals that the game currently allows to breed.

The wild boar

To attract and keep animals in Valheim you need to feed them the right foods. Wild boars feed on mushrooms, carrots and berries and when you have them in the enclosure it would be good to also grow the vegetables you need to feed them, instead of going to find them around.

Also, wild boars are afraid of fire, so be careful where you place the enclosure that will hold them it must be away from any flame. When you need to move them, you will use fire to make them walk, using torches to create corridors from which they cannot escape.

The wolf

Teaching a wolf of Valheim is a much more difficult task, as they are naturally distrustful animals especially towards humans. However, once they have earned their loyalty, they will become reliable companions who will faithfully follow you defending you from enemy attacks and will also be merciless fighters, capable of moving with speed and inflicting high damage.

To find the wolves you will have to venture in the icy mountains, so equip yourself with suitable potions and armor to withstand the cold before setting out to explore. To tame a wolf you will have to build a fence nearby, making sure that when it is frightened it will attack the fences. Since it will be very likely that, being a carnivorous animal, it will be easier to chase you than to hand him food, wear your strongest armor for safety. After you manage to get the wolf into the enclosure, leave him some raw meat on the ground and step back to give him time to calm down. Also build him a cover as soon as possible to protect him from flying enemies.

Now that you have a house wolf you will need to make arrangements to take him home across the ocean and, since he cannot travel through portals, you will have to build a pier and embark on it, paying attention to the fact that, having a tendency to escape, at each port it will try to escape and attack passers-by.

Keeping the wolf of the house also means feeding it on meat, therefore, by raising wild boars you will always have your pantry full, rather than going out to hunt.

The lox

These strange beasts live in herds on the Plains and if you are not careful when you meet them they will take you out in no time. There is no way to trap lox in a fence, so the system is to put barley on the ground into the fence that you have built nearby and escape before it attacks you. You could also use the hard way by harpooning it and dragging it into the enclosure, however the best method is to feed it and walk away repeatedly until the lox is tamed. After that, if you like, you can also stroke him, and with him no other wild lox will attack you.

Reproduction and puppies

When you return to your settlement, build a fully enclosed fence around your pet. At this point, start looking for a second animal to raise. The capture method will be the same as the first, then take him home as well. Interact with the workbench to remove a piece of fence from the enclosure and let the second animal in, then restore the entire fence to close everything.

Now that the two animals are in the same enclosure they are also ready for breeding. When at least one of the two, preferably both, will have the status of Hungry, feed him to elevate him to the Happy state, so that it has the opportunity to mate. This situation will be indicated by the pink hearts that will appear above them. Shortly after mating, a puppy will be born and when it becomes an adult animal, also a domestic animal, you can raise or kill it, depending on your needs.

Regardless of what happens to it, the more stars an animal has, the more powerful it is; Furthermore, the latter will release far more resources when killed than its counterpart in the wild. This means that you should mate the higher tier animals as their young will inherit the star rating from either parent.

Regarding the lox, as far as we know, at least for the moment, there is still no way to give birth to their puppies.

This is all the information we currently know about domesticating and raising some animals of Valheim. We also remind you that for more information you can look at our section dedicated to guides updated with all the titles of the moment.