The Shadowmane is the tame that most looks like a heist. No knockout, no torpor, no trap. You creep up on a sleeping predator, hand it a fish, and leave before it opens its eyes.
Every part of that sentence can go wrong, and most of them go wrong the same way: it sees you.
Why you want it
Teleport. It covers ground in a way no other ground mount does, which changes both how you travel and how you fight.
Cloak. It turns invisible on demand, and a mate-boosted female can cloak every ally within 20 meters in one go. That is a PvP tool and a PvE escape plan in one.
Charge combat. Dealing damage fills a meter that ends in a speed and damage buff, so fights get better the longer they last.
Water mount. No oxygen meter and a water buff, which makes it one of the few creatures that is genuinely good on both sides of a coastline.
The method
Passive taming, but with a twist most passives do not have: it only eats while asleep, and waking it ends the attempt.
| Step | What to do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Wait for daylight, when it sleeps |
| 2 | Fill a fish basket with the largest fish you can get |
| 3 | Put the basket in your last hotbar slot |
| 4 | Equip ghillie, or drink cactus broth for stealth |
| 5 | Clear the area of wildlife first |
| 6 | Approach from directly behind, crouched |
| 7 | Feed when prompted |
| 8 | Turn around and leave immediately |
That last step is the one players skip. It wakes when you feed it, and it turns invisible to look for you. If you are still standing there, it finds you.
The fish size rule
This is the single most important detail in the tame, and community reports agree: bigger fish tame it faster. The wiki puts it slightly more carefully — it is the size of the fish or its level that drives affinity — and sets one hard floor: the basket needs a 0.5+ weight fish.
| Fish size | Result |
|---|---|
| 1.5x | Best. Fewest feeds, fastest bar |
| 1.0x | The practical standard |
| 0.9x / 0.8x | Players report it still works, but each cycle stretches |
| Below 0.8x | Barely moves the bar; do not bother |
| Below 0.5x | Does not work at all — the wiki’s floor is 0.5+ weight fish in the basket |
A tame with small fish means more feeds, and every feed is another chance to be detected. Bring the big fish or do not start.
Why tames reset
The taming bar resets on detection, and detection is broader than players expect:
- Approaching from the front or the flanks instead of directly behind.
- Waking it while you are inside its vision cone.
- Local wildlife fighting it while you are mid-feed.
- Taking damage near it at all.
The standard mitigation is the ghillie plus a cleared area plus a strict rear approach. One community method adds a trick worth knowing: if a feed timer is running out, step into water, which resets the timer.
The three ways this goes wrong
- Small fish. More feeds, more risk, worse tame. Large fish only.
- Standing still after feeding. It wakes, cloaks, and hunts you. Leave.
- Approaching from the front. Instant aggro, instant reset.
A quick checklist
- Daylight only.
- Fish basket with 1.0x or larger fish, in the last hotbar slot.
- Ghillie armour or cactus broth.
- Area cleared, rear approach, exit ready.
- Water nearby if you need a timer reset.
For the stealth items this depends on, see the items guide. For the other non-knockout tames, see best dinos for beginners and the taming guide.