Taming

Taming is a core mechanic in 99 Nights in the Forest that allows players to domesticate hostile or neutral animal entities, transforming them into loyal companions that can assist in survival, combat, or exploration. Introduced with the game’s base version and expanded in updates like the Halloween event (October 2025), taming involves a challenging minigame and resource investment, rewarding players with allies that persist across nights. This mechanic is central to classes like Zookeeper, Beastmaster, and Necromancer, but accessible to all players with the right tools.

Taming Process

To tame an animal, players use a Taming Flute, a craftable or lootable item found in chests or dropped by enemies like Cultists. Using the flute on a valid entity (e.g., Bunny, Wolf, Bear, or event-specific animals like Zombie Bunny) initiates a 30-second minigame that immobilizes the target, preventing it from moving or attacking. The taming process requires completing multiple stages, indicated by angry faces above the animal’s head, which turn green per successful stage and finally become pink hearts when fully tamed.

Minigame Mechanics

The taming minigame mirrors the Fishing minigame’s balance-based challenge. A red bar moves within a vertical interface, and players must keep it within a light-green zone to fill a yellow progress bar to 100%. The mechanics are:

• Tap/Click: Lifts the red bar upward.
• Release: Lets the bar fall downward.
• Hold: Slightly raises the bar, but it falls afterward if held too long.
• Progress: Keeping the bar in the green zone increases the yellow bar; reaching 100% completes one stage.
• Difficulty: Tougher animals (e.g., Bears, Hellephants) have a smaller green zone, demanding precise inputs. The 30-second timer is stricter for these, though it applies to all tamings.

If the timer expires or the bar leaves the green zone too long, the minigame fails, but players can retry immediately with another flute use. Switching to a new animal mid-process resets all progress on the current animal, including any food items fed, so commitment is key.

Feeding Stages

After each successful minigame, the animal demands specific foods (e.g., Morsels, Berries, or event-specific items like Dripleaf for Halloween animals). These must be dropped from the player’s inventory to the animal to advance a stage. The number of stages varies by animal:

• Bunny: 1-2 faces (easy).
• Wolf: 2-3 faces.
• Bear/Hellephant: 3-4 faces (hard).
  Each face represents one minigame + feeding cycle. Once all faces turn green and then pink hearts, the animal is tamed and becomes a permanent ally until released or killed.

Taming Limits

• Standard Cap: 2 tamed animals per player.
• Strong Flute: Increases cap to 3 (craftable or rare drop, takes 1 inventory slot).
• Exceptions: Zookeeper, Beastmaster, and Necromancer classes ignore the cap, taming unlimited animals (or undead for Necromancer) due to their class perks.

Tamed Entity Actions

Once tamed, animals can be commanded via a simple interface with four actions, accessible by interacting with the animal.

Action	Effect
Follow	The animal follows the player, automatically attacking any entity the player damages or is damaged by (e.g., wolves, Cultists, Deer). Useful for combat support in raids or late nights.
Sit	The animal stays in place, becoming passive and immobile. Ideal for keeping them safe near camp or during dangerous events like Cultist raids.
Release	Despawns the animal, freeing up a taming slot. Necessary to tame new animals if at the cap.
Rename	Allows the player to give the animal a custom name, visible to all players, enhancing team coordination or personalization.

Tamable Entities

Strategic Tips

• Early Taming: Start with easy animals like Bunnies to practice the minigame and secure early allies. Their low stage count (1-2) saves resources.
• Food Stockpiling: Keep a stock of Morsels (from animals) and Berries (from bushes) in your inventory, as these are common demands. Event animals like Zombie Bunny may require Halloween items (e.g., Dripleaf, Moonflower), so farm these during the event.
• Harder Animals: Bears or event-specific animals (e.g., Zombie Wolf) offer stronger combat support but require precise minigame skills and more food. Practice on weaker animals first to master the bar balance.
• Team Synergy: Tamed animals shine in groups—set them to Follow during Cultist raids or boss fights (e.g., Night 10+). Use Sit to protect them near camp when upgrading fires or crafting.
• Strong Flute Priority: Seek this in Volcanic Biome chests or craft it (if recipe available) to expand your taming capacity, especially for solo players facing late-game threats.
• Avoid Interruptions: Never switch targets mid-taming, as all progress (and fed items) resets. Clear nearby threats (e.g., wolves) before starting to avoid disruptions.
• Class Synergy: Zookeeper/Beastmaster players should tame high-value animals (e.g., Hellephants) for massive combat impact, while Necromancer can pair tamed animals with undead summons for hybrid strategies.

Trivia

• Husbandry Badge Challenges: The Bear, Polar Bear, Mammoth, and Hellephant are classified as the most difficult animals to tame, required for earning the Husbandry badge.
• Update Party Exception: During Update Parties, players could temporarily tame more than the standard limit of 2 animals simultaneously.
• Kiwi Rarity: The Kiwi bird spawns in any random biome but is extremely rare. It is most commonly encountered in Campfire Level 6 areas.
• Feeding Glitch: A known bug prevents feeding the Mammoth during its taming process. The same issue affects the Arctic Fox.
• Polar Bear Glitch: Tamed Polar Bears (specifically the brown variant) can become stuck in place and immobile.
• Launch Cutscene: Upon the taming update’s release, a cinematic cutscene showed a Camper taming a Wolf just before it could attack a Melee Cultist and Crossbow Cultist, who appeared surprised by the taming ability.
• Foreshadowing in Large Cabin: The presence of a tamed Wolf inside the Large Cabin may imply it was domesticated by a previous owner (possibly a hunter), serving as subtle foreshadowing for the taming update.
• Shared Taming Method: The Mammoth and Hellephant use identical taming procedures, as they are considered variants of each other.
• Guard Animal Restriction: Guard variants of animals (e.g., those protecting structures) cannot be tamed under any circumstances.
• Lava Mine Interaction: Tamed pets are capable of triggering Lava Mines, potentially harming themselves or nearby players.
• Taming Flute Leveling Strategy: To upgrade the Taming Flute, tame 2 Wolves first, then continue feeding them throughout your journey to further level it up.
• Pre-Update Taming Recipes: Before the 2x Gem Weekend + Classes MK III update, animal feeding requirements differed: Animal Old Recipe Wolf Steak + Steak Alpha Wolf Steak + Corn + Stew Bear Ribs + Pumpkin + Stew Polar Bear Ribs + Stew + Stew