How to hunt the flock

• Reading a fort
• Bites to break
• Abilities
• What to buy
• Wolf or Shepherd
• The pen
• Is it fun?

Reading a fort

You leave the den after 40 seconds. By then each sheep has had about 55 gold to spend, so every fort has a soft spot. Look for:

• Straw. A Straw House breaks in 2 wolf bites. Brick takes 5, about 3.2 seconds of chewing.
• Fresh hedges. A Hedgerow is planted at a quarter strength and takes 60 seconds to grow. A young one breaks in 1 bites, a grown one in 4.
• Windmills. 120 health, 2 bites, and every one you break stops a sheep's income.
• The door. A sheep fits through a one-tile gap and you don't, so the door itself isn't your way in. It tells you where the sheep come out, and a sheep standing in it is inside your 1.32-tile tag reach.
• A gap that isn't one. A Shadow Shed is invisible to you until you come within 3.6 tiles of it, bump it or ward it. If the pathing won't take you through an opening, that's why.

Rock and trees can't be chewed, and sheep build against them for that reason. Go round to the side the fort was built in a hurry.

How many bites to break each farm?

A wolf bites farms for 105, a Shepherd for 150, once every 0.8 seconds. Each level of Iron Claws adds 30, up to 5 levels: 255 for a wolf with the full set, 300 for a Shepherd. For a farm at full health:

Chewing time is from the first bite to the last, for a wolf without Claws and with the full set. Every farm you break pays you a quarter of what it cost the sheep, at least 1 gold.

When to use each ability

Sprint Space, Wolf only

45% faster for 2 seconds, every 15 seconds: 5.8 tiles a second. A sheared sheep runs 4.14, faster than your 4, so Sprint is for closing the last few tiles, not for a long chase. Use it when the sheep has just used its Leap. Every tag also gives you a free Sprint, and your own Sprint's cooldown carries on as it was, so look for the next sheep the moment you tag one.

Huff and Puff E

Every farm within 3.2 tiles of you takes 1.5 times your bite, every 22 seconds. That is 157.5 for a bare wolf, 225 for a Shepherd and 382.5 for a wolf with the full set of Claws. Stand where it touches the most farms: a corner hits three or four at once. It also shows any Shadow Shed it hits.

Howl R

Every sheep on the map shows to your pack for 3.5 seconds, bushes and all, every 60 seconds. Use it when a fort goes quiet: a sheep that slipped out a back door is often closer than you think. Sheep who know the game watch for it and run while it's on cooldown.

Second Wind and scent, no key

Two things help a wolf who is a long way from the action. When the den opens, and after every tag, a wolf with no sheep within 15 tiles gets a Second Wind: 25% faster until a sheep comes within 12 tiles, so the walk to the next fort is short. And a wolf with no sheep near and no farm to chew for 6 seconds catches the scent of the nearest sheep: a trail of amber puffs points the way and your pack sees that sheep for 1.5 seconds. It comes at most every 15 seconds. A sheep in a bush, or within 4 tiles of its own Shadow Shed, leaves no scent, so follow the trail but don't expect it to find everyone.

Watcher Ward F

25 gold. Plant it up to 14 tiles away; it sees 10 tiles round it and shows Shadow Sheds, for 120 seconds. Put one on a fort's door and you'll see every sheep that leaves.

Sheep's Clothing T, Wolf only

For 10 seconds every sheep sees a plain white sheep where you are, with no name over it; your pack sees you in the fleece. You are a sheep's size too, so you slip through the one-tile gaps between farms and in at a fort's door. You can still tag, and the tag rips the fleece off, as does the clock or a second press. If it comes off in a gap only a sheep fits, you break out through the nearest, cheapest farm in your way, at full size, with no gold for the break. A Brick House or Big Barn only takes a heavy hit, and you step out to open ground. Bot sheep see through it inside 3 tiles. It recharges for 3:30 after it comes off, about twice a round. Put it on out of sight, then walk in.

Torch Space, Shepherd only

Every farm within 3 tiles of the spot you aim at, up to 7 tiles away, burns for 80 damage a second for 4 seconds: 320 in all, more than a Straw House's 170 health. Every 16 seconds. Aim it at the middle of a straw wall, or at the Windmills inside a fort.

Snares and watchtowers

Sheep hide rope snares on the ground. Step on one and you are held still for 1.25 seconds, then snares can't hold you for 4 seconds. You can't see one until your pack finds it: walk slowly near one and you spot it, a Watcher Ward sees the ones round it, and a Howl finds every snare within 12 tiles. A found snare shows red for the whole pack so you can go round it, but it still holds you if you step on it. Huff and Puff and the Torch spring them without harm. So when a sheep runs dead straight in front of you, or waits by the pen, it may have left one: slow down, or Howl.

A Watchtower (150 health) shows the flock everything within 15 tiles and rings a bell when you come into view. Chew it down before you hunt near it.

Go deeper: every ability, both sides, with cooldowns side by side.

What should a wolf buy first?

You start with 10 gold and earn 1 a second, so you have 50 when the den opens. In the usual 5 against 2, a tag pays you 15 gold and 5 to every other wolf. The smaller the pack, the bigger the bounty: a wolf hunting 5 sheep alone gets 30 a tag. You can shop in the den.

Fewer wolves bite harder. When there are more than 3 sheep for every wolf, the pack bites harder and runs faster to make up for it. A lone wolf against 5 sheep bites 178% harder and runs 23% faster. It works the other way too: with fewer than 2.5 sheep for every wolf, the pack bites softer and runs slower, so a big pack against a small flock still has to work for it.

• Iron Claws first. The first level is 40 gold and each one after costs 10 more, up to 5 levels (300 gold for the set). The full set takes a Brick House from 5 bites to 2, about 0.8 seconds.
• A Potion of Strength (25 gold, C) right before you bite a Brick House or a Big Barn: that one bite breaks it, whatever it is. One at a time, and the bite uses it up. It costs 15 less than a level of claws, so buy it for the one wall in your way and claws for the long hunt.
• A Watcher Ward (25) when the sheep are using Shadow Sheds, or to watch a door.
• Swift Paws (80 gold, up to 2) when sheared sheep keep getting away. Two take a wolf to 5.2 tiles a second.

Go deeper: items and upgrades has every price, the claw ladder and a buy order for each kind of round.

Wolf or Shepherd?

The Wolf is the class you start with: 4 tiles a second, a 105 bite, sight 10, and Sprint. The Shepherd is slower at 3.75, barely faster than a sheep's 3.6, but bites farms for 150, sees 12 tiles and carries the Torch. Both have Huff and Puff, Howl and the Watcher Ward.

Play the Wolf to catch sheep and the Shepherd to break forts. A pack of one of each is the strongest pair: the Shepherd opens the wall and the Wolf is there when the sheep run. You unlock the Shepherd by winning 10 rounds as a wolf.

Should you guard the pen?

A tagged sheep becomes a spirit in the pen in the middle of the map, and any sheep that touches it, within 1.3 tiles, brings it back with 3 seconds of safety. Both teams always see the pen, and sheep can't build near it.

Players have argued about camping the pen for as long as Sheep Tag has existed. Here's the trade: a wolf parked on the pen stops rescues, and every second it stands there the sheep still out in the world get to build and earn. Late in a round, with one or two sheep left and a full pen, guarding it wins games. Early on, it loses them. Stay near enough to punish a rescue run, not on top of it, and remember that a rescued sheep can't be tagged for 3 seconds, so chase the rescuer instead.

Is it fun to play wolf?

In the old Warcraft III maps, wolf was often the seat nobody wanted. One player summed it up in 2024: "no one want to be the wolf".¹ In 2025 players were still asking whether anyone had enjoyed it.² You waited in the den, the lobby was lopsided, and a wall you couldn't break meant a long, quiet round. We changed what we could:

• Bots fill every empty seat, so you never wait for a lobby to fill. Play wolf against five bot sheep any time.
• Skip the wait: against bots, the den time runs fast forward, then a 3-2-1. The sheep still get their full build time.
• Swap sides each round in a room with friends, so nobody is stuck as the wolf all night.
• Two classes. The Shepherd turns breaking a fort into something you do on purpose.
• No long, lost walks. Second Wind speeds a wolf to the next fort, and a wolf with nothing to do catches a sheep's scent.

What we didn't change: a good fort with a door and a Beehive is meant to be hard to break. That's the game working.