Sick of running past awesome beasts and missing the chance to grab one for your build? You’re not alone. In Path of Exile 2: Dawn of the Hunt, the new Tame Beast skill opens up a whole new way to farm and level with companions—and it’s easy to mess up if you don’t know what you’re doing.
This guide will walk you through how to use the tame beast skill, where to find the best beasts/companions, how to reroll their affixes, and which modifiers are worth hunting for. Let’s get you catching beasts like a pro with our PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt Best Beast/Companion Farming and Leveling Guide.
Tame Beast is an active skill gem that you cast directly on a beast enemy. Once activated, it puts a visible countdown—about 10.4 seconds—on the target.
That’s your short window to bring the beast down and successfully capture it.
Here’s the crucial part:
If the beast dies after the timer expires, it’s gone. No capture.
But if you kill it within that 10.4-second window, you lock it in—you’ve successfully added the beast to your companion roster.
The smartest strategy is to weaken the beast first, then cast Tame Beast once its health is low. Think of it like Pokemon—get the monster close to fainting, then “throw the Pokeball.”
This approach saves you from wasting the skill on a full-health target you can’t burst down in time.
Taming Beasts/Companion in PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt with the Tame Beast Skill is especially helpful during early leveling, starting class, where rare beasts can be real tanks.
Some of them soak up a lot more damage than expected, so trying to brute-force a capture often leads to wasted attempts.
Softening them up first gives you a consistent way to secure catches without missing out.
If you're serious about farming top-tier companions, head straight to the Troubled Camp in Jungle Ruins (Act 3). This spot is hands-down one of the most efficient and consistent places to grind for high-quality beasts.
Why? It’s all about the setup.
Right next to the checkpoint, there's a guaranteed unique beast spawn—every single time. That means no RNG searching across the zone. You always know where to look.
The real trick here is how easy it is to reset the fight. All you have to do is click Respawn at Checkpoint, and the unique beast will reload with a new set of affixes.
No zone swapping, no weird rituals. Just fast resets.
Here’s the best companion and best farm loop working in PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt:
Walk to the unique beast spawn and check its mods/affixes.
If they’re trash or not what you’re hunting, hit Respawn at Checkpoint.
Return to the beast spawn—new mods, new chance.
Rinse and repeat until you find a beast that fits your build or farming goals.
This spot is also the best place to catch one of the Strongest Companions in PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt: the Quadrilla.
Why Quadrilla Is Worth It
Tanky: It can take hits and stay alive even in hectic fights.
Melee: Always in the action, staying close to enemies so its utility or auras are constantly active.
Fast Movement: Unlike slower beasts that fall behind, Quadrilla keeps pace with you, which is huge if you're relying on aura synergy.
If you're running builds where your auras buff the beast (or vice versa), movement speed isn’t just helpful—it’s essential.
A slow beast breaks your setup. Quadrilla solves that problem by staying close and always being in the zone.
Every beast you find in PoE 2: Dawn of the Hunt can roll between 2 to 4 modifiers, and the number depends on the game’s difficulty:
Normal difficulty: 1–2 mods max.
Cruel and higher: Up to 4 mods—this is where the real value is.
If you're serious about building a strong companion setup, farming in Cruel or above is non-negotiable.
The Jungle Ruins method makes rerolling beast mods simple and fast:
Head to Troubled Camp, Act 3.
Walk to the guaranteed unique beast spawn.
Check its mods.
If you’re not happy with what you see, hit Respawn at Checkpoint.
Return and check again. New beast, new mods.
Repeat until you land a combo that fits your build.
No need to waste currency. No need to fight through full zones. It’s fast, efficient, and zero risk.
One thing to keep in mind is that the beast won't respawn if you kill or capture it. In case you accidently did that, you will have to start a new instance.
While your build might have specific needs, here’s a breakdown of the strongest and most universally useful mods for beast taming/farming in PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt.
Haste Aura – Increases movement and attack speed. Great for offense and keeping pace.
Energy Shield Aura – Adds survivability for both you and your companion.
Elemental Resistance Aura – Helps shore up defense, especially in heavy elemental zones.
Temporal Bubble – Slows all enemies inside it. Big value for defense and crowd control.
Physical Damage Aura – Buffs physical output. Best for melee/phys-focused builds.
Trail of Ice / Fire / Lightning – Adds elemental damage effects and area denial.
Shroud Walker – Teleports the beast directly into the action. Fixes pathing issues.
Armored / Evasive / Extra Energy Shield – Helps keep your beast alive longer, especially in high chaos zones.
A beast that rolls both Haste Aura and Shroud Walker is S-tier.
Why?
Haste keeps buffs flowing at all times.
Shroud Walker guarantees the beast is always in the fight.
This combo gives you speed, uptime, and consistency—three things every build wants.
If you find this mod pairing on a fast beast like Quadrilla?
Don’t even think—capture immediately.
Right now, most PoE 2 builds are using beast companions as utility engines, not damage dealers.
So your priority? Keep them alive and make them useful.
Elemental Army
Applies exposure to enemies (lowering their resists), and boosts your beast’s elemental resistances.
It’s offense and defense in one gem.
Last Gasp
When your companion dies, it automatically triggers a skill.
Think of it as a backup plan—great for high-pressure fights or when a beast barely survives big hits.
Meat Shield
Forces your companion to stay close to you and take hits instead of you.
This also helps with keeping aura uptime tight if you're running aura-based support.
Empower
Scales the effectiveness of any companion skill that benefits from gem level.
Not a must-have, but great if you're investing into minion utility.
Minion Life
Straightforward survivability boost. Stack it if your beast keeps getting clapped in boss fights.
Mortal Pact (or similar “Shared Damage” gems)
Lets your companion take a portion of your incoming damage.
Risky, but great in tanky builds where you’re already absorbing a lot of hits and want to keep your beast alive longer.
No matter your build, the #1 goal is maximum uptime on your beast’s utility.
That means:
Pick defensive/support gems first.
Only mix in damage gems if your beast is staying alive consistently.
Don’t ignore positioning gems like Meat Shield—a dead beast helps no one.
Stick with this setup, and your beast will be tanky, helpful, and always where you need it.
Here’s something a lot of players miss—Tame Beast is upgradeable, but the game tucks it away in a weird corner.
Don’t look for it in your standard gem interface.
Instead, open the Occult Menu—that’s where it lives.
Once you’re in the Occult tab, you’ll see Tame Beast listed among your occult-related skills.
From there, it upgrades just like any other gem. You’ll need the right resources, but the process is the same.
A higher-level Tame Beast gem might not seem crucial at first—but as you start encountering higher-level beasts or farming in tougher zones, you’ll want it leveled up and ready.
Tame Beast is hidden in the Occult Menu.
It can be upgraded—don’t ignore it.
The UI is clunky, but this is a must if you’re serious about beast farming.
Make sure you upgrade it early so you don’t miss out on stronger captures later.
There you have it, everything you need to know about Beasts, Companions, how to take them in PoE 2 Dawn of the Hunt, and the best location or best to get as of now. But there are a few tips you might want to grasp.
Always carry a Tame Beast gem. You never know when the perfect beast will show up.
Don’t stress about gem level—you can always upgrade it later.
Use Cruel difficulty or higher to farm top-tier beasts with full affix rolls.
Try different beasts. What works best will depend on your build and playstyle.
Once you get the hang of it, beast collecting becomes one of the most fun and rewarding side systems in PoE 2.