Valheim

Valheim

37 ratings
Tame and keep 2 star (level 3) Wolves
By gormotha
I'll get straight to the conclusion. You need to keep a 2 star wolf long enough for him to make pups. 2 star pups that become adults dont despawn. It works! confirmed. But do plan on spending 1-2 hours just sitting there. (you can alt tab and do other stuff)

   
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Introduction
For those of you that don't know what i'm talking about, here are a few basics you need to know:

One star and 2 star wolves spawn only at night (and in mountain binome of course).
They only eat during the night.
They despawn as soon as you go a little distance away.

So the trouble is basically you can't keep them the normal way. Which is a bummer because they have tons more life than a normal wolf, do much more damage and drop significantly more loot.

You can have up to 4 wolves following you, and you can let them roam free for base defense (although I would suggest building a palisade or else they WILL repopulate your island and breed out of control)

Here is the step by step:
Note: 2 star wolves are level 3. Level 1 wolves have No stars. So as to not confuse I will never talk about 1 star wolves (level 2). only level 1 wolves (no star) and 2 star wolves (level 3)
Preparation
The preparation here might seem overkill, but finding a 2 star wolf be difficult, and losing all your efforts for a silly mistake very frustrating. best to take extra precautions.

- First build a really tough pen. I do mine in 2-3 layers, preferably stone just to be sure, (2 star wolves do damage!) optionally 2 levels high (with a roof to avoid drake attacks)
- Make a platform at the back that you can jump on, Make it deep so you can sneak back out of wolf vision. The reason for this is if the wolf sees you, he will attack the wall and escape. But if you go too far he despawns... so prepare to stay in the pen.
behind the platform leave a staircase just in case, that you can jump through an opening of the roof (this in case you cant sneak)
- leave an opening in the wall to get in (you and the wolf) , some players suggest jumping on platform then quickly blocking the exit... I prefer to build double gate doors, let the wolf follow me while I block walking backwards; close the door, then jump on platform and then add that extra stone wall.
- prepare RAW meat; LOTS of meat. 40 should be enough so I got 60.
- Catch a level 1 wolf FIRST (no stars). the reason is of course you want it to make pups with the 2 star. if you go get it after... then the 3 star wolf will despawn. bummer . Personally I didn't wait till the lvl 1 was tamed before I brought the level 3 (2 star) in.
- Throw all that raw meat on the ground (in the pen, duh). You can throw the entire stack, no need to throw them one by one.
- If you have a full troll set armor, it would be good to keep it in the inventory or put it in a coffer on the platform for later.
Catching the wolf
- ok, now wait for night time. They NEVER spawn at day. Just run around the mountain and hope you get lucky. They sometimes tend to spawn in the same places but you have to go far to force the respawn. I got mine in 10 mins, lucky?
- There is a chance other lvl 1 wolves are in the pack, take them out if you can to make catching the 2 star easier. also, try not to let the 2 star wolf kill you. good food and pots recommended.
- Hopefully the way to your pen is clear, golems and drakes killing your wolf tobe are the biggest danger on the way to your pen.
- open the doors and block, dont forget another wolf lvl 1 is inside (unless you tamed it) let the lvl 3 wolf come in, close them doors and jump to safety.
- sneak, and go to the back of the platform, hopefully out of sight. If the wolf keeps attacking your walls, try sneaking further away. If he keeps attacking jump out and walk away... enough so you see the attacks stop, but no further than that. Then sneak back up the stairs and onto the platform. Full Troll armor would be very helpful now.
The waiting game
THE WAITING GAME
- Wait. Nothing else you can do. The 3 star wolf will eat ONLY during the night, so shortly after day breaks he will be hungry and stop being tamed. Its normal. You have to wait till nightfall for him to eat again. It takes about 3-4 full day/night cycles for him to be tamed
- I think you can sleep at the campfire. I didnt do it during taming though... I dared to try it only once he had 2 pups that were 2 stars and he didnt despawn. So it should be safe, but my bed was directly opposite to the pen, touching it.
- Just keep on watching, repair if you need to but remember in repair mode you no longer sneak, and if wolves spot you that will become frightened, stop the taming counter and attack you... or if they cant reach you attack the walls.
- normally you see hearts go up indicating he is being tamed. If you get close enough you will see a percentage progress bar. If the heart stops is usually because they are hungry (daytime, no food on the ground) or frightened (they see you), or they are already tamed. In any case close inspection will tell you the reason, although avoid disturbing or getting close when you can.

Wolf is tamed!!! not over yet!!!

Breeding
- fine, your wolf is tamed... but you not done yet. Now you got to wait for those wolves to make babies. keep waiting. A 2 star wolf will make a 2 star pup. Problem is you got a 50% chance that the other wolf will breed a lvl 1 pup.
- I cannot confirm this, but I still avoided sleeping. Since the 2 star wolf feeds only at night, he will be hungry during the day and therefor will not mate during the day.
- Once you have a 2 star pup, you can relax... you can now start your breeding program. You could also stay 1-2 extra nights for faster breeding by keeping the current 2 star, but you are also free to walk away. your pup will stay, but your original wolf will *poof* dissapear
- If you do choose to stay and have many 2 star wolves, you will know which one is the original because he will always be hungry during the day, the others will not. Leave, come back... they will still be there.
- If there is no more food on the ground, wolves dont die but they stop breeding. They may possibly escape (to be confirmed) I cant tell, mine have meat everywhere and populate like rabbits
- If they are released in nature, they will attack other animals, feed off the dropped meat and breed. Monster loot everywhere on your map may sound fun at first...

You sow what you reap
So now the only thing you have to deal with is the constant howling, and the danger of getting population control out of hand.

Note that if you don't feed the wolves, they tend to escape. Do they disappear or just run out of your pen and breed... let me know in comments your experience and ill update this info


One last tip: you can transport wolves by boat if you build a platform above the boat and then destroy the platform. (wolves dont like stairs)

If you succeeded in taming those 2 star wolves please share your experiences in comments for others, including time it took you to find a 3 star or other difficulties you faced. Thanks! And good luck breeding them wolves and hunting in a pack


Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war

7 Comments
Guzzander 5 Jan, 2022 @ 1:40pm 
i did it but then i died to a werewolf:steamsad::steamsad:
Keirb 26 Oct, 2021 @ 9:15pm 
Note : I did about the same, with a way bigger pen for Lox : but harpooned them in, they're big and slow, so it's way more easier to harpoon them than wolves. I dragged two of them in my big trench, and when they were tamed, dugged a way out and had a pair of Lox for my headquarter, and breeding started.
Keirb 26 Oct, 2021 @ 9:15pm 
Actually, I dug a hole in the ground and dropped meat in it, lots of it. I also build a shelter just by it by raising the ground for walls and adding a roof. I chose that option so if other enemies attacked during taming, I'd be safe.

To get the wolf two-star in, I kicked him in the hole (unarmed). When he was in, I got in my shelter and put a wall behind me, so the wolf don't agro by seeing me. Took close to 45 minutes to have him tamed, it's crazy long

Once he was tamed, I got another wolf in the pen : wolves don't attack each other. I repeated the taming process, never leaving the shelter. I didn't bothered for a two-star, found a one-star.

Once tamed, I let them there, have them breed. Chance of getting a two-star pup is about 50/50. Had to do it twice. Once they grew up, I built stairs to get my wolves out, brought them home... Now, I literally have an army of two-star wolves, but god do they eat. Good thing I had a boar farm already.
CogYang 12 Apr, 2021 @ 7:21pm 
a few things to note, lvl 1 wolves dont despawn, only star wolves do. the 26 degree roof tile is a good ramp to use. you can seperate wolves into groups to keep breeding, as the cap is only a small area. going through a portal while a wolf is following you will release it's follow command without setting a stay command, they will chase enemies till they get a kill, and will stay where they end up... which can make for chaos and self expanding wolf populations. putting food down within the effect of a crafting bench will keep the food from despawning. hostiles will try to attack pups, who only run away, which can scatter your would be adult wolf population. baby wolves do not have a stay command, nor gain one when maturing to an adult unless you give the adult the command manually. wolves are in an agitated state after a fight for a few seconds, and will not eat until calming down. wolves following you often wont be able to get at an archer if you arent close enough.
InternetOriginality0 1 Mar, 2021 @ 8:49pm 
That's so annoying that you need to go through all this work just to get a wolf that won't despawn, at least it's really strong.
Superguy 1 Mar, 2021 @ 7:15am 
they keep killing me so..
Voodoo EngeO 22 Feb, 2021 @ 9:54am 
Very nice job, i'll try that :VBCOOL: