Animal Taming Skill

Animal Taming is a very useful skill, especially in PvM situations. Since there is no skill cap, almost every experienced player carries some level of taming.

To tame a creature, activate the skill from your skill list and then target the animal you want to tame. Every tameable animal has its own minimum skill requirement. If your skill is below that, you cannot tame it.

Once the animal is tamed you can direct it by single clicking it and choosing a command, or by giving spoken commands. Either say the creature's name, or say "all" to address all of your pets, and then follow it with these commands:

• kill or attack - Attack something.
• follow - Follow a target or yourself.
• come - Bring it to where you are standing (it will not follow you afterwards).
• stop - Stop what it is doing.
• stay - Stop moving and remain where it is.
• drop - Drop the items in its pack. This is for dropping looted items; it cannot be used for the goods carried by a pack animal.
• guard - Guards you and attacks whatever attacks you.
• release - Releases the animal from your control.
• transfer - Transfers the animal to another player.
• friend - Adds another player as a friend, giving them limited control.
• unfriend - Removes a friend from the list your pet will listen to.

Animal Taming - Peacemaking Connection

The thing players complain about most on our server is that, with the newer version, an animal calmed by Peacemaking so it will not attack starts attacking again the moment you try to Tame it.

Cu Sidhe, Dragon, Greater Dragon, Hiryu, Lesser Hiryu, Nightmare, Reptalon, RuneBeetle, Swamp Dragon and White Wyrm all share the trait of being permanently angry. Because they are always angry, Peacemaking will stop their attacks. But the moment you try to Tame them they have a %95 chance to attack you. The method players have settled on for taming these creatures is to wear their hit points down, let them flee, and then attempt the tame.

In older versions this was not thought through as thoroughly, so creatures could be obtained comfortably using Peacemaking. Because the runuo team did it that way back then, people got used to it and treat anything else as a bug. It is definitely not a bug. It is how it is supposed to work.

Note: With this update, among the creatures listed above, those whose minimum taming requirement is over 100 will attack you with a %95 chance even while under Peacemaking.

Caring For Your Pet

Pets need to be fed. Use Animal Lore to check your pet's loyalty level toward you. If the pet is not "wonderfully happy", it needs to be fed. Use animal lore to see what food your pet prefers and drop that food onto it. Every time you feed it, its loyalty may go up. A hungry pet is an unhappy pet, and unhappy pets can go wild and slip out of your control.

When you are not using your pet, the safest thing to do is stable it. The animal trainer NPC will keep your pet in the stables for you for a small fee. To stable it, go to an animal trainer and say "stable".


Bonding

When a pet dies, it is gone. If you have tamed a valuable or powerful animal, you should bond it to yourself. When a bonded pet dies it turns into a ghost instead of disappearing, and if you have the Veterinary skill you can bring it back to life with a bandage.

To bond a pet you must first feed it. After feeding it you have to wait 2 days. Keep it stabled during that time. After 2 days, feed it again and you will get a message saying the pet has bonded with you; when you hover your mouse over it, its name will read (bonded). To find out how long is left before your pet bonds, you can use the [BondedTime command on it.

Nearly every complaint about bonding failing comes down to players not having enough skill. To bond a pet you need the required animal taming skill on your own, without the +skill from any jewelry. There is also a minimum animal lore requirement.

A good pet that is properly cared for can live forever. Even though a bonded pet can be resurrected, you can still lose it if you are careless. A bonded pet that goes unfed can also go wild, so feed your pet. Pets can also wander out of sight if they are left somewhere or if they chase a target too far while hunting on their own. Always link your pet to a crystal ball of pet summoning so you can use the crystal ball to call it back to you. When you are not using your pets, stabling them is the safest option.


Strategies

When you have several pets of the same type with you, they help each other in combat through pack instinct. Use animal lore to see which pack type they belong to. Two fighting pets of the same pack type each get a 25% damage bonus. That extra 25% is added per pet, so if you have 5 pets of the same type in a group they deal 100% more damage than they would fighting alone. Pack instinct only works in PvM situations.

When taming an animal it is best to avoid paralysis, peacemaking and Provocation. If a pet is tamed with the help of these, its skills and stats will take a small penalty.

While training Taming, work on animals that sit right at your minimum skill level. Once you have tamed an animal, releasing it and taming it again will not give you gains, because the animal recognizes you as its former owner. If you are taming purely to gain skill, killing the animal is the best approach.


Skill Requirements

Minimum skill requirements for tameable animals:

Albino Steed -> 29,1
Snow Steed -> 62,1
Cream -> 96,1
Jade -> 96,1
Silver Steed -> 103,1
Fire Steed -> 106
Nightmare -> 95,1
Crystal Steed -> 103,1
Sea Steed -> 106
Rainbow -> 115,1
Swamp Dragon -> 93,9
Reptalon -> 119,1
Charger Of The Fallen -> 116,1
Cu Sidhe -> 101,1
Lesser Hiryu -> 98.7
Hiryu -> 98.7
Mule -> 30
Evil Steed -> 106
Energy Elemental -> 97,1
Dark Llama -> 70,8
Dark Ostard -> 70,8
Dark Steed -> 29,1
Crystal Dragon -> 116
Greater Dragon -> 104,7
Fire Beetle -> 93,9
White Llama -> 70,2
White Ostard -> 70,2
Fire Dragon -> 99,9
Serpentine Dragon -> 93,9
White Wyrm -> 96,3
Skeletal Dragon -> 105.9
Ancient Wyrm -> 110.1
Ki-Rin -> 95,1
Fire Ki-Rin -> 100,1
Cold Ki-Rin -> 100,1
Poison Ki-Rin -> 100,1
Energy Ki-Rin -> 100,1
Shadow Dragon -> 93,9
Skeletal Dragon -> 115,1
Unicorn -> 95,1
Fire Unicorn -> 100,1
Cold Unicorn -> 100,1
Poison Unicorn -> 100,1
Energy Unicorn -> 100,1
Shadow Drake -> 84,3
Venom Dragon -> 100,9
Rune Beetle -> 93,9

Common Pet Combinations

Hiryu - Even though it takes up five pet slots, it has a dismount attack that sees some use in PvP. It also has high hit points and fire resist, so it can be used as a tank. Hiryus can be ridden.

Reptalon - Can be ridden, has high hit points, and can use fire breath and a paralysis attack.

Cu Sidhe - Can be ridden by anyone with 100 Animal Taming, and has high hit points.

2 Fire Steeds - Fire steeds have pack instinct, so having two is good. They can be ridden and they have fire breath.

Nightmare - The classic prized mount, with a strong attack, fire breath and Magery.

Ki-Rin - Can be ridden, and if its owner is in serious danger it can cast a lightning attack even while being ridden. It has strong melee and magic attacks. Only male characters can ride it.

Unicorn - Can be ridden and cures poison on its owner. It has strong melee and magic attacks. Only female characters can ride it.

Lesser Hiryu - Can be ridden; not as strong as a regular hiryu, but easier to find.

Dragon - Good on defense, with high hit points, resists, attack abilities, fire breath and magery.

White Wyrm - More aggressive than dragons, with strong cold resist and cold damage but low fire resist. It also has fire breath and magery.

Rune Beetle - Has a strong poison attack and high poison resist.

2 Bake Kitsunes - Strong magery skills and large mana pools.

5 Greater Hellcats or Hellhounds - With pack instinct, a pack of hellcats or hellhounds can put out incredible damage, and they have fire breath as well.

5 Frenzied Ostards - Pack instinct turns 5 frenzied ostards into a feared weapon, and you can ride one of them if you need to.

Fire Beetle - Can be ridden and used as a portable forge.

Giant Beetle - Fantastic for crafters and gatherers. Giant beetles are mounts used to haul goods, with a capacity of 1600 stones. Single click it to open its pack.