Taming guide
Note: This tutorial was written before VU10. At this moment, taming has not been implemented yet, so the information in this tutorial is outdated and most likely will need updating. We shall do so after the new taming mechanisms are put in place).
This tutorial will focus on how to tame MOBs. It uses the actions avalable under the Pet section of the Action Library (Default hotkeyed as the "Y" key).
You most likely have seen tamed animals standing around commonly visited places like the Swamp Camp, where they act as advertisements for websites or services of players. Another use for tamed MOBs could be to surround yourself with a protective shield as you go and mine in PVP3 or PVP4.
For now, tamed MOBs don't really have much use, and you're only able to tame three types of MOB (Snablesnot, Exarosaur and Daikiba), but who knows what the future will bring? Speculations include being able to ride your tamed MOB, or maybe even having your tamed MOB fight for you.
The first step in taming a mob yourself requires you to have the tool to actually be able to tame: a whip. You can buy one at the auctioneer. It will be listed under Items -> Weapons -> Melee -> Slash weapons. At the time of writing this guide, there's a limited choice of whips available. Common finds are: Viper (both Limited as well as Unlimited), Mamba (both Limited as well as Unlimited), Rattlesnake (both Mentor Edition and normal), Cobra (also comes in both Mentor Edition and normal).
Less common are the Umbranoid Basic Whip (Limited only) and Umbranoid Space-Time Warped Whip. There are also nine whips called The Ach O Torment's Tainted Whip, which was an event prize.
The difference between the individual whips is in cost per click, and damage. Of the non-Limited, more commonly available whips, the Cobra ME does the most damage and is cheapest to use, but also more expensive to buy, and you easily risk doing too much damage and inadvertedly kill the MOB you are trying to tame. If you just started, I would highly recommend to try a cheap Viper (L). It does limited damage, but considering your starting skills, and therefore the level of the MOBs you will be able to tame (as you become more skilled, you can tame more mature animals), that is perfect.
At level 0 Animal Tamer, you are only able to tame Snablesnots of the lowest maturity (Young and Mature males, and Young females, respectively). But before you're off to have a go at it, remember to either shop the auction, or for some Nutrio Bars as well (they can be found under Items / Food), as you will need them later on. Another way to obtain Nutrio is by using an Enmatter efiner and adding fruit and Sweetstuff ino it, thereby creating Nutrio Bars yourself. You will need a minimum of 200 of them, but I would recommend you to bring more.
One last thing to do before you are off is to create a shortcut to the "Attempt tame" command. You can use Tutorial 05 to see how this is done. You will need quick access to this action while you are taming, so a shortcut usually will prove to be a blessing. Alternatively, assign a hotkey to the command.
Armed with your whip and the Nutrio Bars, find yourself a spot with some Snablesnots (personally I highly recommend the spawn east of Fort Argus for Snablesnots), and have a good look at the mob. You will notice their healthbar is slightly different than the healthbar normally attached to mobs (see screenshot). Where usually you only see health, tamable animals have two bars:
- A normal healthbar, indicating its health
- A yellow bar, indicating its spirit
Note that a full spirit bar is made up out of 10 individual sections. This will be helpful later on. As soon as you succesfully hit it with a whip the first time, a third (red) bar will appear. This indicates the creature's respect towards you. As you deal more damage to the MOB, its respect bar will increase, while its health and spirit will decrease. One important thing to note here is that you should not hit it with any weapon other than the whip, or you will have to wait for it to fully regain its health before you can attempt to tame it again!
Once you reach a state where the MOB has a full respect bar, and almost no spirit (less than a single section), and its health is equally low (also less than a single section of the bar), you can attempt to tame the MOB by using the "Attempt Tame" command.
If your attempt fails, the MOB will regain part of its spirit. In this case, you can wait for it to regain health and then try again (usually the best approach is to wait until its health bar is more full than the spirit bar). In the meantime, while it regenerates health, the MOB will not attack you, unless you hit it with the whip (or tick it off by sweating it, which is how I usually kill time waiting). Be advised that the very first time it may take a few tries before you are succesful in taming your MOB.
If you are succesful in your taming attempt, you will see a message that the animal was succesfully tamed. The colors of the bars also changed. You will now have a pet that has four different bars. Apart from the healthbar, the bars represent the following:
TODO: Add picture when just tamed, and when skilled/fed
- The upper greenbar represents the pet's trust in you.
- Below that is a currently empty bar. Its color is dark blue and it represents the pet's energy. Energy can be added by feeding the pet.
- Right above the healthbar is another empty bar. It will later on be colored light blue, and represents the pet's level.
Your pet will be hungry, and you will need to feed it with Nutrio Bars. The very minimum it will need is 200, though if you want to skill it up, more is required (About 500 Nutrio Bars will enable you to skill up the pet until level 3). In order to feed your pet, open your inventory, and drag the nutrio bars onto the newly tamed MOB. You will know you are succesful if the dark blue bar increases, and the MOB shows an eating gesture.
At level 1, the pet cannot do much yet. It can run to where you want it to go, and it can perform a greeting. By repeatedly have it perform the greeting action, your pet will start gaining experience (at the expence of energy), and eventually gain a level. At level 2, it can also perform tricks to impress fellow Entropians.
If you find your pet is not skilling as fast as you wish, you can use an Animal Brush (which is a crafted item, and can be found in auction under Items / Handhelds) to raise it's trust in you. The more trust the pet has, the faster it will gain experience. I generally brush it unitl it has two full bars of trust, which will be sufficient to get it quickly to level 3.
Once you skill the pet all the way to level 3, you can name it and it will be able to follow you (which is a lot easier than manually telling it where to run all the time). It is now time for you to take the pet to a nearby stable, so you can have it go in there. Pets that are not in a stable when you log out from Entropia Universe will automatically be stabled, but they lose trust, experience and energy in the process. To do this, move the pet next to the stable master, and select the "Stable" action.
TODO: Add picture of stabled pet deed and information.
Your pet will dissappear into the stable, and you will receive a pet deed in your inventory. The pet deed contains details about the pet, and it will tell you when you need to feed the pet again. Remember that starving pets lose trust and experience fast, so be sure to feed them well.