Conan Exiles is a brutal survival game, but you don’t have to face the dangers of the Exiled Lands alone. Pets, loyal companions that fight by your side, provide valuable benefits, from increased carrying capacity to powerful offensive abilities. Taming and training these creatures takes dedication, but the rewards are well worth the effort. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about acquiring pets in Conan Exiles, transforming you from a solitary exile to a powerful beastmaster.
Understanding The Pet System In Conan Exiles
Before embarking on your pet-collecting journey, it’s crucial to understand the basics of how the pet system works in Conan Exiles. Pets are not just cosmetic additions; they are functional companions that actively participate in combat and offer unique advantages.
Types Of Pets And Their Roles
Conan Exiles boasts a diverse range of pets, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. These can broadly be categorized based on their combat roles and utility:
- Fighters: Wolves, bears, lions, and tigers excel in melee combat, dealing significant damage to enemies.
- Archers: Hyenas and other ranged attackers can provide support from a distance, peppering enemies with arrows.
- Utility Pets: Camels and shalebacks increase carrying capacity, greatly easing resource gathering.
- Specialized Pets: Some pets, like spiders, inflict poison, adding a tactical element to your combat strategy.
Choosing the right pet depends on your play style and the challenges you anticipate facing. A heavily armored player might prefer a tank-like bear, while a more agile character could benefit from the speed of a wolf.
The Importance Of Pet Stats
Each pet possesses a set of stats, including strength, agility, vitality, accuracy, and encumbrance. These stats determine the pet’s effectiveness in combat and its ability to carry items. Strength increases melee damage, agility affects dodge chance, vitality determines health, accuracy impacts ranged damage, and encumbrance governs carrying capacity. Raising these stats is crucial for maximizing your pet’s potential.
Pet Leveling And Experience
Pets gain experience by fighting alongside you and defeating enemies. As they level up, their stats improve, making them more powerful. This leveling process is vital for keeping your pets competitive against increasingly challenging foes. Higher-level pets can withstand more damage and inflict greater pain on your enemies.
Finding And Capturing Pets
The first step in acquiring a pet is locating and capturing a suitable creature in the wild. This process requires specific resources and techniques.
Locating Potential Pets
Pets spawn in various locations throughout the Exiled Lands, often near their natural habitats. Wolves can be found in colder regions, while lions roam the savannahs. Look for animals that appear to be alone or in small groups, as these are typically easier to capture. Keep an eye out for baby animals, as these are required for taming.
The Thrall System And Pet Taming
The pet taming system in Conan Exiles is closely tied to the thrall system. Instead of directly taming adult animals, you must capture baby animals and place them in an animal pen. The animal pen functions as a crafting station where you feed and raise the baby animal until it matures into a loyal pet.
Required Resources And Equipment
To capture and tame pets, you’ll need the following:
- Animal Pen: This is a crafting station specifically designed for raising baby animals. You’ll need to build one before you can start taming.
- Truncheon: A non-lethal weapon used to knock out potential thralls, including baby animals.
- Fiber Bindings: Used to tie up the knocked-out baby animal so you can drag it back to your base.
- Food: Different animals require different types of food. Providing the correct food is crucial for the taming process.
- Wheel of Pain (Optional): While not directly used for pets, some animals are acquired via the Wheel of Pain similar to human thralls.
The Capture Process: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Locate a baby animal.
- Equip your truncheon and knock out the baby animal.
- Use fiber bindings to tie up the unconscious animal.
- Drag the animal back to your animal pen.
- Place the animal in the animal pen.
- Provide the appropriate food for the animal.
- Wait for the animal to be tamed. The taming time depends on the type of animal and the quality of the food.
Nurturing And Training Your Pets
Once you’ve successfully tamed a pet, the next step is to nurture and train it, maximizing its potential and ensuring its loyalty.
Feeding And Maintaining Happiness
Providing your pet with the right food is essential for its health and happiness. A happy pet performs better in combat and is less likely to run away. Different animals have different dietary needs. Check the animal’s information to determine its preferred food.
Pet Commands And Combat Tactics
Conan Exiles offers a range of commands that allow you to control your pet’s behavior in combat. You can instruct your pet to attack specific targets, follow you closely, or stay put and defend a location. Learning to effectively use these commands is crucial for maximizing your pet’s combat effectiveness.
Equipping Your Pets
Some pets can be equipped with armor, further enhancing their survivability in combat. This requires specific crafting recipes and resources. The type of armor you can equip depends on the animal. Investing in armor for your pets can significantly increase their lifespan and effectiveness in challenging encounters.
Choosing The Right Pet Food
The food you provide your pet during the taming process and afterwards significantly impacts the outcome. Different foods offer different bonuses and influence the type of pet you get.
Understanding Food Tiers
There are different tiers of food available, each offering varying levels of bonus stats and taming speed.
Basic Foods: These are readily available and suitable for starting the taming process. Examples include plant fiber and seeds.
Intermediate Foods: These provide a moderate boost to taming speed and bonus stats. Cooked meats and dried fish fall into this category.
Advanced Foods: These offer the highest taming speed and the best bonus stats. Exotic dishes and rare meats are typically required.
Specific Food And Pet Combinations
The type of food you use can even influence which type of pet emerges from the taming process. Some examples include:
- Shalebacks: Plant Fiber
- Wolves: Meat (Cooked or Raw)
- Bears: Honey
Experimentation and research are key to discovering the optimal food choices for specific pets.
Advanced Pet Strategies
Once you’ve mastered the basics of pet taming, you can explore more advanced strategies to further enhance your pet’s capabilities and your overall gameplay experience.
Breeding And Mutations (If Available In Your Version)
In some versions of Conan Exiles, breeding systems may be available, allowing you to combine desirable traits from different pets. Breeding can result in mutations, which can create exceptionally powerful and unique pets.
Utilizing Pets For Resource Gathering
Some pets, like camels and shalebacks, excel at resource gathering. Their high carrying capacity allows you to transport large quantities of resources back to your base, saving you time and effort. Strategically deploying these pets can significantly streamline your resource gathering operations.
Pets In PvP Combat
Pets can be valuable assets in player-versus-player (PvP) combat. A well-trained fighter pet can distract enemy players, allowing you to gain the upper hand. Utility pets can provide a mobile storage solution, allowing you to carry extra supplies into battle. Utilizing pets effectively in PvP requires careful planning and tactical awareness.
Troubleshooting Common Pet Issues
Even with careful planning, you may encounter issues with your pets. Here are some common problems and their solutions:
Pet Disappearing
Pets can sometimes disappear due to glitches or server issues. Make sure your pet is set to follow you and stay within a reasonable distance. Regularly check your event log to see if your pet has died or despawned.
Pet Not Following Commands
If your pet is not following commands, try dismissing and resummoning it. This can often resolve minor glitches. Ensure that you are within range of your pet when issuing commands.
Pet Dying Easily
If your pet is dying easily, invest in better armor and ensure it is properly fed. Consider using a different pet type that is more resistant to damage.
Conclusion: Becoming A Master Beastmaster In Conan Exiles
Taming and training pets in Conan Exiles is a rewarding and challenging endeavor. By understanding the pet system, mastering the capture process, and nurturing your pets, you can transform yourself into a powerful beastmaster, capable of facing any challenge the Exiled Lands throw your way. So, grab your truncheon, gather your resources, and embark on your pet-collecting adventure today! Remember to experiment with different pet types and strategies to discover what works best for you. The Exiled Lands await, and with your loyal companions by your side, you are ready to conquer them all.
What Types Of Pets Are Available In Conan Exiles?
Conan Exiles offers a diverse range of pets, categorized primarily into animal companions and thralls. Animal companions, like wolves, bears, shalebacks, and spiders, primarily focus on combat support and resource gathering. Thralls, on the other hand, are human NPCs who can serve as guards, archers, alchemists, blacksmiths, and other skilled professions, contributing to your base's productivity and defense.
Furthermore, there are various subtypes within these categories. For example, you might find a regular wolf, a dire wolf, or even a white wolf, each with varying stats and abilities. Thralls are similarly diverse, categorized by their tier (T1-T4) and specialization, making some better suited for combat while others excel at crafting. Choosing the right pet depends heavily on your individual needs and playstyle.
How Do I Acquire A Pet In Conan Exiles?
Acquiring animal companions generally involves finding a baby animal in the wild and placing it in an Animal Pen. The Animal Pen requires food appropriate for the animal type to "grow" the baby into an adult pet. The type of food used can affect the stats the pet receives upon maturity, meaning some foods are more optimal than others. Specific locations in the game are known for spawning certain types of baby animals.
Thralls are primarily obtained by capturing them from NPC camps throughout the Exiled Lands and the Isle of Siptah. Once knocked unconscious using blunt weapons or specialized ammunition, thralls are dragged back to your base and placed on the Wheel of Pain. After a specified amount of time and the consumption of gruel, the thrall is "broken" and becomes your loyal servant. The tier and specialization of the thrall are determined by the NPC captured.
What Are The Benefits Of Having Pets In Conan Exiles?
Pets provide significant benefits to players in Conan Exiles, primarily boosting combat prowess and resource gathering. Animal companions, equipped with armor, can tank damage, deal substantial damage, and provide valuable buffs to the player. Certain animal companions, like pack mules, can even increase your carrying capacity, making resource runs more efficient.
Thralls offer an even wider array of benefits. Fighter and Archer thralls bolster your base defense, while crafter thralls, such as blacksmiths and alchemists, can produce higher-quality items and unique recipes. Taskmaster thralls can speed up the thrall-breaking process, and dancers provide corruption removal buffs, making them indispensable to a well-rounded base.
How Do I Manage And Care For My Pets?
Managing pets in Conan Exiles requires attention to their health and hunger. Pets need to be fed regularly to maintain their strength and effectiveness. Different pets require different types of food, and neglecting their dietary needs will result in a decline in their stats and, eventually, death. Food troughs can be used to automatically feed pets within range.
Pet management also extends to their gear. Equipping animal companions with appropriate armor increases their survivability in combat. Thralls can be equipped with weapons and armor that suit their role, further enhancing their combat effectiveness. Keeping your pets properly geared and well-fed ensures they remain valuable assets to your survival.
Can Pets Die In Conan Exiles?
Yes, pets can indeed die in Conan Exiles. Both animal companions and thralls are vulnerable to various threats, including enemy players, wildlife, and environmental hazards. If a pet's health reaches zero, it will perish, resulting in the loss of any gear it was wearing.
Preventing pet death requires careful planning and execution. Engaging in challenging combat situations with under-equipped or poorly-fed pets is a recipe for disaster. Utilize defensive strategies, such as positioning pets strategically and providing healing potions, to maximize their chances of survival. Keeping a backup supply of pets is also recommended.
Are Some Pets Better Than Others In Conan Exiles?
Yes, certain pets are considered more effective than others due to their superior stats, unique abilities, and overall combat performance. For example, the greater variants of wolves and bears generally outperform their standard counterparts. Some thralls, especially T4 thralls with specific specializations, are highly sought after for their exceptional crafting abilities or combat prowess.
The "best" pet often depends on the specific role you need it to fulfill. A heavily armored greater shaleback might be ideal for tanking damage in a PvE environment, while a highly skilled T4 fighter thrall could be crucial for defending your base against player raids. Experimentation and research are key to discovering which pets best suit your individual needs and playstyle.
What Is The Difference Between A Pet And A Thrall?
The primary difference between pets and thralls lies in their origins, functionality, and acquisition methods. Animal companions, often referred to as pets, are obtained by taming baby animals found in the wild. Their primary role is combat support and resource gathering, and they generally lack the advanced crafting abilities of thralls.
Thralls, on the other hand, are captured human NPCs who are forced into servitude via the Wheel of Pain. They fulfill a wider range of roles, including base defense, crafting, and resource refining. Their skills and specializations are determined by their original profession and tier, making them valuable assets for base management and progression.