Wolf

0:01 The Wolf is an aggressive gray canine of the Mountain biome in Valheim that hunts in packs, bites for 70 slash damage and can be tamed and bred into a loyal guard. It is the snowfields' most common daytime threat: a wolf runs as fast as a Viking, howls to call its pack, and after dark returns in greater numbers and with star levels. Trapped and fed raw meat, it becomes one of the game's six tameable animals, and its pelts, fangs and meat supply the Mountain tier of armor and food. The biome's other animals are compared on Mountain Creatures (Wolf, Valheim Wiki).

Quick facts

Wolf health, attacks and star levels

10:20 A wolf's bite has three variations, a left swing, a right swing and a lunge, each on its own five-second cooldown, so a wolf bites three times in quick succession and then backs off; the bite reaches two meters in a 60-degree arc (Wolf, Valheim Wiki). Each star adds 50 per cent damage and another 100 per cent of base health, so a two-star wolf has triple the health and double the bite; Quicksand Riggs measured his tamed wolves dealing roughly 53 to 69 per bite at zero stars and 107 to 139 at two. In multiplayer every creature gains 30 per cent effective health and 4 per cent damage per extra player within 100 meters, up to five (Creature level, Valheim Wiki).

4:39 Wolves have no weakness and are immune only to spirit, so the spirit damage of silver weapons is wasted on them and any ordinary weapon works. Their low health comes with a long stagger: a blocked or parried wolf is open for a moment, and one swing of a fully upgraded Iron Sword staggers it (Aggressive creature strategies, Valheim Wiki).

Where wolves spawn

4:47 Wolves spawn in the middle of Mountain zones, up to three per zone by day and never starred. After dark the limit doubles to six and each wolf rolls 10 per cent for a first star and 10 per cent more for a second, so about one night wolf in eleven has one star and one in a hundred has two. Night wolves despawn at dawn unless taming has begun; Quicksand Riggs insists on starting before the last ten minutes of night run out, and Samo once needed eight nights to find a two-star (Wolf and Creature level, Valheim Wiki). Wild wolves never attack other wolves, but they fight the Stone Golem, which belongs to another faction, and even the Serpent.

How to fight wolves

3:19 A wolf keeps pace with a running Viking until stamina runs out, so the wiki advises breaking its pathing by climbing or dropping rather than fleeing across open snow. Samo recommends at least bronze or Wolf Armor, notes that the bite is slash, so the Root harnesk's pierce resistance does not help, and uses a mace such as Frostner or the Porcupine to stagger, dodging each bite and striking back from high ground. Against a pack the wiki suggests killing any starred wolf first and swinging wide with an atgeir or battleaxe; an outmatched player can climb onto a freshly placed Workbench and let the wolves bite that instead (Aggressive creature strategies; Combat). Frost resistance is needed anyway to survive the biome (Weather, Cold and Wet).

How to tame a wolf

2:12 Taming starts with a trap, since a wolf that sees the player stays alerted and tries to break out. Samo digs a pit twice the player's height with a floor tile overhanging it, lures a wolf onto the tile, jumps clear and removes the tile from a Workbench on safe ground.

1:28 Quicksand Riggs uses a pen of stakewalls or stone, which a wolf cannot break as easily as wood, and crouches out of sight until it calms; the Abyssal Harpoon can also drag an animal in (Farming and Taming).

5:47 A trapped wolf eats boar, deer or lox meat, neck tails, raw fish, chicken meat or sausages, never wolf, seeker or bear meat. One item keeps it fed for ten minutes, and every three seconds it spends fed, unalarmed and inside the active area around a player (roughly 64 meters) counts as one tick of taming. It needs 600 ticks, which is thirty minutes, or three pieces of food, if nothing interrupts. The Brew of Animal Whispers, brewed from Pungent Pebbles sold by The Bog Witch, halves the time (Mead and Potions). The first tick clears a night wolf's despawn flag, so a starred wolf caught before dawn stays and eats by day; raid wolves are awkward, because event creatures flee once calm (Taming, Valheim Wiki).

Breeding wolves

7:15 Tame, fed and calm wolves breed on their own: every 30 seconds each rolls a one-in-three chance of a love point if a partner is within three meters and no more than four wolves are within ten. Three points make a pregnancy; the pup arrives after at least a minute and grows up in 50 minutes, taking no orders until then. Quicksand Riggs got the most pups from pairs kept ten meters or more from other wolves (Taming, Valheim Wiki).

7:19 Stars pass down from the parent that gives birth, so a two-star and a plain wolf give two-star pups about half the time and two two-stars always breed true; one captured two-star can seed a permanent pack. Tame wolves and pups can be killed only with the Butcher Knife or with friendly fire on.

Tamed wolves

9:28 A tamed wolf joins the player's faction; its owner can pet it, give it a name with Shift+E and switch it between following and holding position with E, and it heals only while fed. It will not pass through Portals, so players ferry wolves by boat, standing one on a plank over the deck and breaking the plank, though a collision at sea can kill it. Tame wolves attack every wild creature except other wolves and never turn on a player who hits them; in Quicksand Riggs' tests they became alert to intruders about 14 meters away (Wolf, Valheim Wiki). A large pack is also a boss weapon; see Moder.

Wolf drops and what they make

Source: Wolf, Wolf pelt and Wolf fang, Valheim Wiki.

Wolf Armor is built with silver at the Forge and Workbench: the Drake Helmet takes 2 pelts and 2 Drake Trophies, the chestpiece 5 pelts and a Chain, the trousers 5 pelts and 4 fangs, and the Wolf Fur Cape 6 pelts and the Wolf Trophy, 18 pelts before upgrades; the chestpiece and cape resist frost (Wolf Armor, Valheim Wiki; Armor and Capes). The lighter Fenris set described on Fenring takes 12 more pelts. The Fang Spear needs 4 fangs, and the Wolf Sight trinket of the Call to Arms Update (5 fangs, 5 silver and a Fenring Trophy) gives +20 Bows, +20 Spears and 10 per cent more pierce damage for 30 seconds once 55 adrenaline has built up (Wolf Sight, Valheim Wiki).

Cooked wolf meat gives 45 health and 15 stamina for 20 minutes. With honey at a level-three Cauldron one meat makes two Wolf Jerky (33 health, 33 stamina), and with two mushrooms and an onion a Wolf Skewer (65 health, 21 stamina), second only to Serpent Stew in its tier and an ingredient of the Hearty Mountain Logger's Stew feast (Wolf meat, Wolf jerky and Wolf skewer, Valheim Wiki; Food and Cooking).

"You are being hunted": the wolf raid

7:27 Killing Bonemass adds a wolf raid. Unlike any other raid it needs no base: "You are being hunted..." targets a Viking roaming the Mountain or Plains, keeps six unstarred wolves on the attack at once, and its 120-second timer keeps running even if the player leaves. SnazzyGames rates it the most dangerous raid in the game for that reason (Events, Valheim Wiki; Raids and Events).

History

Wolves have roamed the Mountain since early access began on Feb 2, 2021 (Development History). Patch 0.148.6 of March 2021 stopped night wolves despawning once taming had begun; the Hearth & Home Update of September 2021 added pet names and the Butcher Knife; 0.206.5 of December 2021 stopped tamed wolves howling; and 0.213.4 of February 2023 let them eat chicken meat (Version history, Valheim Wiki). The Valheim 1.0 Release of Sep 9, 2026 listed no change to wolves; its new tameable animal is the Moose of the Deep North (Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate).

Frequently asked questions

Can you tame a Wolf in Valheim? Yes. Trap a wolf in a pit or stakewall pen, throw in raw meat such as boar or deer meat and stay within about 64 meters; taming takes 30 uninterrupted minutes, or 15 with the Brew of Animal Whispers.

What do wolves eat? Boar, deer, lox and chicken meat, neck tails, raw fish and sausages. They refuse wolf, seeker and bear meat.

How do you get a two-star wolf? Hunt the Mountain at night, when about one wolf in a hundred spawns with two stars, and start taming it before dawn. Two two-star wolves always breed two-star pups.

Can tamed wolves go through portals? No. They stay behind and resume following when their owner returns, so players move them by boat.

Sources

• Wolf, Valheim Wiki (weirdgloop)
• Taming and Creature level, Valheim Wiki
• Aggressive creature strategies, Valheim Wiki
• Wolf pelt, Wolf fang, Wolf meat, Wolf jerky and Wolf skewer, Valheim Wiki
• Wolf Armor and Wolf Sight, Valheim Wiki
• Events and Version history, Valheim Wiki
• Wolf, Valheim Wiki (Fandom)
• Valheim 1.0 Has Arrived!, Iron Gate Studio, Sep 9, 2026
• How to Find, Tame and Breed a 2 Star Wolf, Samo (video)
• Complete Guide To Wolves (Damage, Breeding, Aggro Range), Quicksand Riggs (video)
• Valheim - The Complete Taming & Breeding Guide!, Embr (video)
• Weaknesses for Every Mob in Valheim, Jiroc the Viking (video)
• Have YOU Mastered Valheim Raids?, SnazzyGames (video)