For the player-wolf's howls, see Customization/Howls.

Howls are an auditory vocalization that various species of wolf are capable of emitting as a form of communication. The implementation of it in-game varies considerably between major revisions of WolfQuest! This article is specific to non-customization howls.

In WolfQuest: Anniversary Edition, all wolves are capable of howling at any time. The player-wolf will only ever howl on command when the player presses the key (controller: Xbox , PlayStation or Steam Deck ) once to perform their primary howl, or twice in quick succession to perform their secondary howl. The player has a variety of howls to choose from in the Customize Wolf interface. They can be performed while idle or resting, but not while asleep or on the move without coming to a complete halt.

Howling plays a role for the player's pack by way of maintaining territorial claim; if the player-wolf has the Territorial Might perk, performing a full, uninterrupted howl once every 24 in-game hours provides a small boost to the strength of all player-claimed hexes throughout the player-pack's territory. When in the company of packmates, howling initiates a pack rally which raises affinity with a small boost in return from all wolves who participate.

In NPCs, whether a wolf howls and its frequency to do so are aligned to their personality traits. Dispersals, rivals, and the mate all use the same selection of howls present in the customization interface when in close range. Wolves populating large, established packs will use alternate howls from time to time and can occasionally be heard in various audio clips with a chorus of multiple wolves howling when at a distance to exaggerate the presence of a far bigger pack in contrast to the numbers actually spawned and present.

Young pups will also howl, either prompting their packmates to do the same for a small Pack Affinity boost. They may also do so automonously based on their personality traits, or they will follow after the lead of one of their packmates!

In WolfQuest: Classic, howls were extended into a selection of eight (6) options including the original sample and made their first debut as a customization with the release of 2.7. They are present in the Free Trial.

All wolves make use of this pool of howl samples, so it is uncommon to hear the same howl in a single playthrough. The player-wolf may howl at any time as long as they are stationary and standing on solid terrain by pressing the H key. NPCs including Dispersals and strangers will howl on their own terms, and the mate will howl when they choose to do so or in response to their partner and pups.

Howling plays a role in marking territory and pack affinity upkeep.

In Legacy versions of WolfQuest, the player is able to howl anytime on command by pressing the H key. NPCs such as dispersals and strangers do not howl nor will they do so while in a social encounter, however the mate will howl and often joins the player's wolf shortly after they initiate a howl. Doing so provides little to no benefit during the first episode, though it does play a more significant role in maintaining territory and pack affinity in the second episode.

In the 2.0.0 Survival of the Pack update, the mate received a drastically different new howl while the player's wolf retained the existing default howl.

Multiplayer[]

In the Anniversary Edition, certain aspects of howling are unavailable during multiplayer. The secondary howl has no major functionality to it, thus players can decide amongst themselves whether to give it an alternative use.

If another player's wolf isn't visible on the world map, they will reveal their position if they howl. If a server has at least two players, the game will initiate a pack rally when at least two player-wolves howl. During this time all players present in the server must cooperate by repeatedly howling together until the meter is filled. Alternating between primary and secondary howls effectively keeps the meter filling for as long as there are no breaks.

The position of a carcass marked with a primary howl by any player-wolf is shared and synchronized with all other player-wolves in the server. Any new joining players or existing players who re-join without going into limbo will not see any carcass markers unless they are howled at again.

In Classic multiplayer, when at least two player-wolves howl, a pack rally will be initiated, during which time all players in the server must come together and cooperate either by repeatedly howling themselves or performing emotes to raise the bar.

Pups will respond to howling by joining in.

In Legacy versions' multiplayer, a howl's main function served only to initiate a pack rally, to which players would be required to repeatedly howl with or perform emotes in order to raise the bar. Players could also use it to communicate distance, provide hints while playing minigames such as hide and seek with nametags toggled off or similar.

Notes[]

In the Anniversary Edition, there are some things to take note of:

A lesser-known tip that is worth knowing: howl duration does not matter — as long as the player allows their wolf's howl to elapse for at least three (~3) seconds, interrupting or cutting it off before it completes will still count towards territorial upkeep. This applies to all howl audio clips!

Audio[]

All of these audio clips were extracted from the game's own assets.

Loud volume and pitch sensitivity warning! Howls in the modern game are better optimised, but those in older revisions are not. If you choose to proceed with playback, do so at a reasonable volume. Listen with care! ♥

Pup Samples[]

Samples used by pups and young wolves. Yearlings and subordinate adults cease use of these audio clips and they will instead use adult howls.

Anniversary Edition Juvenile Howls

1 Month Old Howls

Howls used by 1-month-old pups.

Name	Audio sample
Pup Howl #1
Pup Howl #2
Pup Howl #3
Pup Howl #4
Pup Howl #5
Pup Howl #6
Pup Howl #7
Pup Howl #8
Pup Howl #9
Pup Howl #10
Pup Howl #11
Pup Howl #12
Pup Howl #13
Pup Howl #14
Pup Howl #15
Pup Howl #16
Pup Howl #17

2 Month Old Howls

Howls used by 2-month-old pups.

Name	Audio sample
Pup Howl #1
Pup Howl #2
Pup Howl #3
Pup Howl #4
Pup Howl #5
Pup Howl #6
Pup Howl #7

pending

Other Wolf Samples[]

Samples from other wolves and clips used by wolf packs. These can't be selected by the player for their own wolf in customization. They may occasionally be heard during gameplay.

Anniversary Edition Other Wolf Howls

placeholder

Classic Other Wolf Samples

In Classic, pending

Legacy Other Wolf Samples[]

Name	Notes	Audio sample
Mate Howl	2.0.0 - 2.5.1

Gallery[]

Anniversary Edition Gallery

Contributions for Howls in the Anniversary Edition are welcome in this gallery!

Classic Gallery

Contributions for Howls in Classic are welcome in this gallery!

Legacy Gallery

Contributions for Howls in Legacy versions are welcome in this gallery!

WolfQuest - Mate's New Howl (v2.5.1 Clip)

Bugs[]

Anniversary Edition Bugs

Classic Bugs

Legacy Bugs

It is possible to bypass the mission Mark your Territory by repeatedly spamming howl to quickly fill the Pack Affinity meter.

Trivia[]

Up to a certain distance, wolves can identify each other by their howls in real life.^[1]

Anniversary Edition Trivia

In 1.0.8l, new howl vocalisations can be heard. These seem to correspond to pack (and possibly dispersal) wolves. None of these are currently available in the Customize Wolf interface.
1-month-old pup howls 8 and 13 are identical. (This is not uploader error.)
1-month-old pup howls 14 upto and including 17 are currently unused in-game. It's possible they may be used when the pup levelling system is added.
Pup howls were provided by the Voyageurs Wolf Project. Some can be heard in their pup videos!^[2]

Classic Trivia

Classic and Legacy Trivia

The mate will always perform a full, uninterrupted howl, even if the player cancels out their own howl and moves far away from them. It is unknown whether this was intentional or if it is a bug.
This makes it possible to stall the mate to manipulate their behavior, which can sometimes be useful while hunting.
This could also be exploited to reach the edges or corners of the game world while also leaving the mate far enough to be near enough to the opposite edge or corner of the game world by repeatedly howling again when the mate's howl was complete.
The mate no longer does this in the Anniversary Edition release; instead, their howl will be interrupted if the player moves far enough away from them.

Legacy Trivia

Thankfully, the mate's howl in Legacy's Survival of the Pack: Deluxe Edition is the only alternate howl and it was a one-off used only in the late releases of the Legacy game.

It has not made a return as a wolf howl, whether player-wolf accessible, NPC-only, or in the ambient distant howls. (At least... not yet.)
As of 2.0.2, it has returned in the Anniversary Edition and plays whenever the wolf plushie is picked up.

References & External Links[]

↑ John and Mary Theberge, two Canadian wolf biologists, were doing research in the park on wolf hunting. When a wolf howls, the vocal cords vibrate to produce a fundamental tone and numerous mathematically related harmonic overtones. The Theberges told me it is the harmonic overtones of a howl that enable a wolf to identify other wolves they know [...] each howl has a main frequency and then bands of sound that deviate from the main, giving it its distinctive pattern [...] But this section of the howl does not carry well over distances. The howling animal could be identified by others if they were nearby, but not if they were far away. — from Rick McIntyre's book The Alpha Female Wolf: The Fierce Legacy of Yellowstone's 06, published October 25^th 2022.
↑ wolfquest.org • Hard Rock Den developer's blog, posted 2-Apr-2020 by loboLoco.

Anniversary Edition Customization
Coats	Free	Original (Classic) • Lamar Canyon Pack • Blacktail Deer Plateau Pack • IWC Ambassador Wolves • Minnesota Browns • Campfire • Unlockable
	Paid	Founders • Hall of Fame • Cool Coats • Beauteous Blacks • Gorgeous Grays
	Assorted	All Coats • Genetics • Pup Coats • Wolf Coats
	Bundles	Life is Rough Pack • Yellowstone Wolf Coat Pack • Building Character Pack
Modifiers	Ears	Bent • Flat • Notched • Torn
	Eyes	Missing • Corneal Edema
	Head	Snaggletooth
	Body	Back Curve • Body Mass • Neck Ruff • Radio Collar
	Tail	Fluffy • Mange • Short • Cut Off • Crooked
Miscellaneous	Abilities	Age (birthdays, perks) • Attributes • Biography • Howls • Personality
	Non-customizable	Injury (Limpy) • NPCs (howls, personality)
	Related	Customize Wolf • Howls • Ironwolf (elder) • Random Events • Personality

Classic Customization
Coats	Free	Original
Coats	Paid	Lamar Canyon • Life is Rough Pack • Blacktail Deer Plateau
Modifiers	Ears	Bent • Flat • Notched • Torn
Modifiers	Body	Limpy • Radio Collar
Miscellaneous	Abilities	Howls • Stats
Miscellaneous	Related	Choose Your Wolf • Create Your Wolf • Howls

Legacy Customization
Coats	Original
Miscellaneous	Abilities	Howls • Stats
Miscellaneous	Related	Customize Your Wolf • Howls

[1] John and Mary Theberge, two Canadian wolf biologists, were doing research in the park on wolf hunting. When a wolf howls, the vocal cords vibrate to produce a fundamental tone and numerous mathematically related harmonic overtones. The Theberges told me it is the harmonic overtones of a howl that enable a wolf to identify other wolves they know [...] each howl has a main frequency and then bands of sound that deviate from the main, giving it its distinctive pattern [...] But this section of the howl does not carry well over distances. The howling animal could be identified by others if they were nearby, but not if they were far away. — from Rick McIntyre's book The Alpha Female Wolf: The Fierce Legacy of Yellowstone's 06, published October 25^th 2022.

[2] wolfquest.org • Hard Rock Den developer's blog, posted 2-Apr-2020 by loboLoco.

[1]

[2]