Conan Exiles - Thrall Catching Guide (2024)

Basic information about capturing NPCs to turn into thralls: items needed, possible methods of capturing, how to turn into thralls, and tier differences.

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So, you started playing Conan, but you need some thralls for your stations or to protect your base. What do you do next? How do you capture a thrall? What items do you need? What level do you have to be at? I will answer all these questions and more in this guide.

For the purpose of this guide, I will be assuming you have some sort of shelter/base. I will not go into recipe detail on how to craft items, but I will tell you what feats are required and provide a wiki link to each item. Finally, if there is no location listed that you must craft an item at, you can assume the item can be crafted in your inventory.

Valmistelu

Before you leave your base and venture into the wilds, you are going to need several things to capture a thrall.

1. At level 10 you can learn the feat “Thrall Taker.”
2. Craft yourself a Truncheon. OR you can follow the alternative bow and arrows method that is trickier and takes longer, but it is also safer. I will discuss this method further in the Bow and Arrows Method section.
3. Craft yourself Fiber Bindings.
4. Bring extra plant fiber to repair your bindings OR an extra fiber binding.
5. Craft a Lesser Wheel of Pain. Please note this structure by default CANNOT be picked up after it is placed! If you are playing with mods, or on a server with mods, you might be able to pick this structure back up depending on mod settings.
6. Learn the feat “Primitive Cook” if you have not already, and craft a Campfire.
7. Craft “Gruel” in the Campfire.

If you are playing with a mod, or on a modded server, that allows you to pick up your lesser wheel of pain after it is placed – you can carry it and the gruel with you to the location where you are going to be capturing an NPC. Otherwise, put your lesser wheel of pain down in your preferred location, and put the gruel inside. Last, drag the gruel to the fuel slot.

Keep in mind, if you are bringing the lesser wheel of pain with you, “breaking/subduing/crafting” an NPC into a thrall takes time (unless edited in server configs), furthermore, EACH thrall you carry in your inventory uses 50 points of carrying weight.

Now you are ready to head out, but you also need to know where to look! The best place to get thralls early on is from small exile camps that have 2-4 NPCs hanging out, and possibly a chest to loot. If you are feeling more adventurous, you can head to an NPC camp. Pick an interactive map and choose what points of interest you want to be displayed.

Truncheon Method

Armed with your truncheon and other supplies, you head out to the location you picked on your map. But what do you do as you see the NPCs in the distance?

For those who just want to have fun, CHARGE! Knock them all out!

For those who want to be more strategic, try to determine more about the NPCs you see in the distance and observe areas where you can escape if things go south (you need to escape).

• Try to see what clothes the NPCs are wearing.
  • Crafting NPCs frequently have leather gloves and/or leather aprons along with the general faction and area-appropriate armor.
  • Dancers will have some sort of skirt and also can be seen dancing.
• Look at what weapons (if they have them out) the NPCs are carrying. An archer will have a bow and a dancer will have dual knives whereas other NPCs will have a variety of weapons.
• Check for aggressive animals in the area. As you get closer to the area, the AI of these animals may trigger and cause them to attack either the NPCs or you!

Depending on if you are attempting to capture a combat thrall or a crafting thrall, (or even both) target the unwanted NPCs to kill first. If you have a bow and arrows, try to take out any NPCs you are not interested in before approaching closer.

The truncheon will deal with concussive damage along with a small amount of regular damage. It is also affected by whether you use a light or heavy strike. A small bar will appear above the health bar of the NPC that will slowly go down as you deal more concussive damage until the NPC collapses and goes unconscious. Make sure to kill any remaining NPCs and/or aggressive animals in the area so your unconscious NPC is not killed. Then you are ready for the next step!

Muita huomautuksia: You can later learn how to make blunted weapon fittings (or get them in drops or chests) which will increase the amount of concussive damage your truncheon deals.

Bow and Arrows Method

If you prefer to wait until you are more established and have reached level 35, you can use an alternative method to capture thralls with a bow and arrows.

1. Make sure you have learned the feats “Thrall Taker,” “Archer,” “Carpenter,” “Iron Tools,” and finally “Blunted Arrow.”
2. As discussed in the preparation section, you will still need Fiber Bindings, a Campfire, a Lesser Wheel of Pain, and a Gruel. I also suggest bringing extra Plant Fiber, as this is needed to repair both fiber bindings and the hunting bow.
3. Craft yourself a Hunting Bow. You will need a low-level bow to make sure to keep the damage from your arrows low enough to only knock out NPCs and not kill them.
4. If you have not already crafted a Carpenter’s Bench, do so now.
5. Craft yourself Blunted Arrow(s) at the Carpenter’s Bench. Set these arrows as the ammo for your hunting bow.
6. Craft yourself the best tier bow you currently have available.
7. Craft yourself the best tier damage arrows you currently have available. Set these arrows as the ammo for the best bow.

Now you are ready to head out to the location you picked on your map. Once you get to your location, stay back and find a good vantage point. Try to determine more about the NPCs you see in the distance.

• Try to see what clothes the NPCs are wearing.
  • Crafting NPCs frequently have leather gloves and/or leather aprons along with the general faction and area-appropriate armor.
  • Dancers will have some sort of skirt and also can be seen dancing.
• Look at what weapons (if they have them out) the NPCs are carrying. An archer will have a bow and a dancer will have dual knives whereas other NPCs will have a variety of weapons.
• Check for aggressive animals in the area. As you get closer to the area, the AI of these animals may trigger and cause them to attack either the NPCs or you! Please note, if you try to snipe the animals from in the distance, this will also trigger their AI to start attacking.

Depending on if you are attempting to capture a combat thrall or a crafting thrall, (or even both) target the unwanted NPCs to kill first. After you have killed the unwanted NPCs with your good bow, start to target the NPCs you want to knock out with your hunting bow.

Blunted arrows will deal stun damage along with a small amount of regular damage. You want to use a weak bow with your blunted arrows because the damage from the bow will be added to the damage of your arrows. If you use a bow with high damage, even if you use a blunted arrow, you will kill the NPC long before you are able to knock it out. Blunted arrows are NOT affected by whether you use a base shot or a charged shot.

Keep in mind, depending on the distance and your vantage height the NPC AI will respond differently.

• If you are far enough away, the NPCs will change to alert and with weapons out, but they will not move because they cannot detect you. As long as you can consistently hit them with arrows a small bar will appear above their health bar and it will slowly go down as you deal more stun damage until the NPC collapses and goes unconscious.
• If you are within detection range but on a cliff, they will run-up to the bottom of the cliff and stay there for a few moments before returning to their previous location/routine. They will do this even if you are consistently hitting them with arrows. Their health and stun bars will not reset or start to regain as long as you hit them within a few seconds of their return to their original location.
• As for attempting this from a vantage height where the NPCs can run up a slope to reach you. I do not recommend this.

As you start to use blunted arrows on higher-tier NPCs, the stun damage cannot keep up with the amount of damage that your arrows deal due to armor. To counter this, allow NPCs to lose aggro either by not shooting them long enough their bars disappear or by not shooting them immediately when they return to their starting location. Their stun will be slower to refresh/regain than their HP so you have a small window in which their HP will start regenerating, but their stun will not.

Make sure to kill any remaining NPCs and/or aggressive animals in the area so your unconscious NPC is not killed. Then you are ready for the next step!

Post Knock Out

You have an NPC unconscious on the ground, now what?

Put your fiber bindings on your hot bar and activate it. Go to the unconscious NPC and select it to bind them so you can drag them away. The fiber bindings will lose durability over time as it is in use (it will lose durability even if not dragging an NPC as long as it is active). Later, you can craft higher-tier bindings that have more durability.

• You can only drag ONE NPC at a time.
• You cannot climb without letting go of the NPC.
• You cannot use any two-handed weapon without letting go of the NPC.
• You can swim while dragging the NPC.
• You can run while dragging the NPC.

If needed, you can let go of the NPC and re-bind it afterward. For example, if you run into something you need to kill to prevent it from killing your unconscious NPC. If your fiber bindings run out of durability, you will release the NPC. You can repair the fiber bindings and re-equip them on the NPC, or you can switch to using a second fiber binding.

If you are using mods, or on a modded server that has teleportation, you cannot teleport with the NPC you are dragging – only conscious and following followers. (The one exception I know of is the Waystone mod, it allows you to teleport to another waystone and bring the bound NPC with you.)

Once you have returned to your base/shelter with your captured NPC, open the inventory of your lesser wheel of pain. Then, select the start button (small triangle) in the corner to begin.

Muita huomautuksia: The tier and/or level of the thrall itself as well as the level of a taskmaster (after you have one) affects how fast the process will complete. A taskmaster is not required, but it does significantly speed the process. Food and tier of the wheel do not make a difference in how fast the process goes; however, the tier of the wheel does change how many thralls you can craft at once (tier 1 – 1, tier 2 – 4, and tier 3 – 8).