How to Tame Pets in Rune Slayer

Updated on April 14, 2025: Added Golden Fairy

Being able to tame pets (and mount them later on) is one of my favorite things about Rune Slayer. However, it’s hard to find your way with the plethora of different beats, requirements and quicks. That’s where our guide on how to tame pets in Rune Slayer comes into play. We’ll also throw in the full Rune Slayer pet list for good measure. 

Taming Pets Guide in Rune Slayer

To tame a pet in Rune Slayer, you’ll first need to decide which animal you’re going to go for. Why is this important? Well, to tame a beast, you have to get its favorite food and offer it. Without that one specific item, they won’t heed your call. 

Let’s take the Deer as an example. Apples are their favorite fruit, so you can easily get one from one of the trees by the pond in Wayshire. 

Once you have your Apples, go to the Wilderness east of Wayshire. 

Look around and find a Deer. Approach it and use M1 to strike it. After the first strike, take out your Apple. Don’t eat it and don’t kill the animal. 

After a second or two, you’ll see a heart appearing above the deer’s head. However, it can also disappear, causing the deer to attack you and cancel the taming process.

It might take a couple of tries, but you’ll eventually see the heart growing in size. That means the taming is working. 

And voila, you’ve learned how to tame pets in Rune Slayer. But, hold your horses for a bit. This guide is only for taming Deer in the Wilderness area. There are 10+ other pets in the game, so how do you unlock them?

Full Rune Slayer Pet List And Where to Find Them 

If you don’t want to spend hours figuring out how to tame pets in Rune Slayer that aren’t Deer, check out the table below. It contains all the key info you need to find the best pet for your class: 

How to Mount Your Pet in Rune Slayer 

Aside from serving as companions and quasi-tanks, pets in Rune Slayer can also be used as mounts. You can get a mount once you reach level 20. Then, just go and talk to Jimmy the Stable Master. 

He’ll send you on a quest to deliver a note to Ashenshire, the second zone. Just head down the path, and you’ll see a rope heading up a tree. Climb it and the NPC will be on your right. She’ll hand you a package, and you’ll just have to deliver it back to Jimmy the Stable Master to get your Saddle. Not the worst fetch quest, eh? 

How to Tame the Golden Fairy in Rune Slayer

Recently added, the Golden Fairy is a rare pet found in the Greatwood Forest. It doesn’t need to be fed or battled—but you have to kill Elder Treants that have a chance to drop it. Once added to your collection, it provides the unique Fairy Buff, which grants +3 bonus loot rolls per monster kill. This significantly boosts your chances of farming high-rarity items and is especially useful in boss runs. The Golden Fairy has a very low spawn rate, so players often server-hop to find one. Alternatively, it can drop with a 2% chance from the Elder Treant boss in the same area.

How to Get the Beast Tamer Class and Tame Stronger Beasts 

Aside from regular pets and mounts, there’s another aspect of taming—getting stronger, more dangerous pets. However, only the Archer class is able to do this by getting the Beast Tamer subclass. 

To do this yourself, just follow our guide on how to level up fast in Rune Slayer and get to level 30. Then, choose the class from the menu and try your hand at taming a Barracuda or Adult Spider. The Adult Spider in particular is my favorite pet tank in the game. 

And there you have it, your one-stop-shop to learning how to tame pets in Rune Slayer. Not only will you be able to have a loyal companion, but also a way to speed around the map and get to level 40 fast. Don’t forget to check out our Rune Slayer tier list to make sure you have the best pet for your build, too.