[Grouse House Guide] Illnesses & Herbalism

Posted 2021-10-22 16:53:31 (edited)

#545864

Illnesses and Herbalism

This guide explains the mechanics of illnesses and the herbalist role for wolves. It details the effects of every illness, how illnesses are contracted, and what the herbalist can do to cure them.

You can navigate this post quickly by using the table of contents below.

This guide was last updated October 3rd, 2022.

Table of Contents

1. Illnesses & Ailments

Getting Sick
- Rotting Food
Illness Effects
- Contagious Illnesses
- Lethal Illnesses
- Most Severe Illnesses
- Visible Illnesses
All Illnesses & Effects
Illness Effects Table

1. Herbalism

Foraging
Crafting Medicine
Diagnosing Wolves
Herbs

Credits/Contact Us

Find links to all of our other guides and resources in our directory post, linked [here].

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Sickness · Sick · Illness · Ailment · Diagnose · Diagnosis · Herbalist · Herbalism · Rotting · Undiagnosed · Contagious · Lethal · Severe · Cure · Heal · Forage · Foraging · Crafting · Medicine · Research · Salve · Herb · Biome

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Valentine
#2873

Posted 2021-10-22 16:54:01 (edited)

#545865

Illnesses and Ailments

Getting Sick

Wolves can get sick through hunting and scouting, breeding, exploring, losing a battle, or by eating rotting food. They can also get sick randomly on rollover.

When a wolf has symptoms of an illness, an illness icon will display by their name on your den page, and a banner will appear on their page.

The illness icon.

The illness icon on a wolf's profile.

An undiagnosed illness banner on a wolf's page.

In order to cure them, wolves must first be diagnosed at the Herbalist. Diagnosing wolves can be done on the [Herbalist] page under the 'Sick Wolves' tab. More information about the Herbalist page is available later in this guide.

Artwork from the herbalist page.

New players have a short period of hidden immunity during which none of their wolves should get sick. The purpose of this is to ease them into the gameplay without introducing any difficult mechanics too early. This period lasts for 5 rollovers after you've made your account. The illness contracted by your lead wolf during the illness tutorial quest is excluded from this immunity and is meant to introduce you to illness mechanics. New players, however, can still purchase wolves with illnesses, who they will not be able to cure until they complete the quest.

Rotting Food

Every time you feed a wolf a rotting food item, there is a chance that the wolf will contract an illness. This is per the number of times a wolf is fed, not per uses fed. So, if a wolf is fed a rotting food item with 10 uses, they have a lower chance of becoming sick than from consuming 10 rotting items with 1 use. Rotting food will not be fed to wolves if you use Feed All Play All.

If you don't want to feed your rotting food to your wolves, you can salvage it. This can reward bones with a 5% chance of failing. The bones you get will have total uses equal to half the uses of the item salvaged. So, if you salvage a 15-use carcass, you will get one 5-use Bone and one 3-use Bone.

Below are lists of each way wolves can get sick, and which illnesses can be contracted each way.

Rollover Illness
A wolf contracting an illness randomly on rollover.

Illnesses wolves can get randomly on rollover:

Cough
Cystitis
Distemper
Heatstroke
Influenza
Pox

Illnesses lead wolves can get from exploring:

Diarrhea (roll in poop or lick the Rocky Mountain Toad)
Poison (lick the Rocky Mountain Toad)

Illnesses lead wolves can get from losing a battle:

Infection
Influenza
Mange
Open Wound
Poison
Fleas
Ticks
Ear Mites

Illnesses wolves can get from hunting and scouting:

Ear Mites
Fleas
Infection
Influenza
Mange
Open Wound
Ticks

Illnesses wolves can get from eating rotting food:

Constipation
Diarrhea
Ear Mites
Fleas
Tapeworms

Illnesses contractible in a breeding of two healthy wolves:

Cystitis
Hepatitis
Pox

Illnesses NBWs can have when you befriend them:

Influenza
Open Wound
Ringworm

Illnesses & Effects

Each illness has a number of different effects that can hinder a wolf's performance. Some illnesses do a lot more damage than others, and players are advised to heal these ailments as soon as possible to keep their packs safe.

Contagious Illnesses

Contagious Illness
An illness spreading to another wolf on rollover.

Some illnesses have a chance to spread between wolves at rollover. Contagious illnesses can only spread directly from one wolf to another. If you have two ill wolves in your pack, each illness will be able to spread to one other wolf for a total of four ill wolves the next day. On a subsequent rollover, if each illness passes, this could lead to eight wolves and so forth. In this way, outbreaks of illnesses can grow very quickly.

Due to the way illnesses are spread, it is recommended that you use a 'quarantine cave'. Illnesses can only transfer to wolves that share a cave. Wolves that are unsorted and not assigned to a cave can catch and spread illnesses between any cave.

Lethal Illnesses

Lethal illnesses are illnesses which can kill wolves once they reach 0 HP. Except for Pox in puppies, lethal illnesses will not kill the wolf until they have 0 HP. The wolf must have 0 HP going into a rollover for the illness to kill them. If they go into the rollover with 1 or 2 HP and drop to 0 HP during the rollover, the illness will not kill them.

Pox is an illness which is only lethal to puppies, not adults. If a puppy contracts Pox, they will die the next rollover guaranteed, no matter what their HP was at.

Wolves that have an illness that is not lethal will not die if they're at 0 HP. Additionally, sickness, hunger, and low mood will not kill a lead wolf or cause a breeding male to die or run away. It will only affect ordinary pack members. The only way a lead wolf or breeding male can die is through retirement or old age.

Most Severe Illnesses

Distemper: -6 HP loss on rollover, lethal and contagious, slows energy regeneration, and the wolf cannot breed.
Influenza: -6 HP loss on rollover, extremely contagious, slows energy regeneration, and the wolf cannot breed. Wolf's energy is set to 0 on contraction.
Poison: -10 HP loss on rollover, lethal, and the wolf cannot breed.
Pox: -6 HP loss on rollover, will kill puppies on the first rollover they have it. Contagious through breeding and normal means.

Visible Illnesses

Some illnesses cause visible changes to your wolf, and many are very noticeable due to this. The illnesses that cause visible changes to your wolf's appearance are as follows.

Valentine
#2873

Posted 2021-10-22 16:55:07 (edited)

#545866

Illness Effects

The table below lists every illness and its effects.

The HP effect column indicates how much HP is lost every rollover due to this illness. The energy effect and breeding effect indicates the effects the illness has on energy regeneration and breeding respectively. Contagiousness details the percent chance of the illness passing to one other wolf on rollover. Other Effects might include lethality, an illness's special effects, chance to cure on rollover, etc.

This table is also available in an image format [here].

Illness	HP Effect	Energy Effect	Breeding Effect	Contagiousness	Other Effects
Constipation	None	Slows Regeneration	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	Won't eat, Low chance to cure on rollover
Cough	-2 HP	None	Contagious	21%	Low chance to cure on rollover
Cystitis	-2 HP	Slows Regeneration	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	Low chance to cure on rollover
Diarrhea	-4 HP	Slows Regeneration	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	Low chance to cure on rollover
Distemper	-6 HP	Slows Regeneration	Can't Breed	18%	Lethal
Ear Mites	None	None	Contagious	60%	Can't hunt or scout
Fleas	None	None	Contagious	36%	-3 HP on contraction unless from breeding
Heatstroke	-4 HP	Slows Regeneration	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	Lethal
Hepatitis	-6 HP	None	Contagious	18%	None
Infection	-4 HP	None	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	Lethal
Influenza	-6 HP	Slows Regeneration	Can't Breed	90%	Energy set to 0 on contraction
Mange	-6 HP	None	Can't Breed	18%	None
Open Wound	-6 HP	None	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	HP set to 0 on contraction
Poison	-10 HP	None	Can't Breed	Not Contagious	Lethal
Pox	-6 HP	None	Contagious	18%	Lethal to pups after 1 rollover
Ringworm	-2 HP	None	Contagious	18%	None
Tapeworms	None	None	None	Not Contagious	Additional -10% hunger at rollover
Ticks	Keeps HP max at -3 from full	None	None	Not Contagious	None

Valentine
#2873

Posted 2021-10-22 16:55:36 (edited)

#545867

Herbalism

Herbalism is not unlocked until you complete the Sickness & Heath quest, which automatically starts after your 4th rollover. After this, you are able to access the herbalist page, and your wolves will be able to contract illnesses.

There are a few tasks that herbalists can complete on the herbalist page which can grant them herbalist proficiency and experience.

Foraging

Herbalists can be sent out foraging to gather 1-3 herbs from your home biome. The amount of time it takes for your herbalist to forage depends on their proficiency and level. A Level 20 wolf with 100% proficiency will be able to forage in 30 minutes time, while beginner herbalists will take 60 minutes. Each foraging trip takes 20% energy.

The foraging option on the herbalist page.

The herbs that your herbalist is able to bring home from foraging depends on your territory's biome. The table later in this guide lists every herb and which biome they can be found in.

Crafting Medicine

In addition to foraging, herbalists can craft medicine to be used on ill wolves. Medicines take herbs to craft.

Medicine Mixing
The medicine-crafting option on the herbalist page.

The first time a herbalist crafts a cure, they must use collected herbs to 'research' it. This can be done under the Research Medicines tab. The researching will result in creating a cure with half the potency (only one use), and unlocks the ability to create full potency (two use) cures.

The Research Medicines tab.

Once a herbalist has created all 19 available cures, they will unlock two new recipes for the Rich Healing Salves and Cure-for-All.

The ingredients used to learn to create a cure are the same ingredients that are used to create them each subsequent time. The time it takes to craft/research a medicine is dependent on the herbalist's level. The higher the level, the shorter the crafting/research time.

Herbalists can have up to 5 medicines queued up to learn and/or craft at a time, providing they started with 100% energy.

When you remove a herbalist from their role, or they die, your wolves will forget some recipes. You will have to relearn these recipes normally with your new herbalist. It does not tell you when you switch herbalists that recipes have been lost. You have to check your user log to see which ones were forgotten. The maximum amount of recipes that a herbalist may forget is three. Restoring the same herbalist to the position will not restore the recipes.

Lost Recipes
An example of recipes lost after removing a herbalist.

Using a medicine on a sick wolf will provide wolves with a period of immunity from any illness. For example, if your lead wolf got Diarrhea and you cured them with a Diarrhea Cure, they will not be able to get any illnesses for 1 rollover after this. The period of immunity is increased to 3 rollovers if you use a Cure-for-All. This immunity is not applied when you use a Healing Salve or Rich Healing Salve.

The illness immunity banner on a wolf's page.

The herbs required for every recipe are available to view on the Herbalist page. You won't be able to view the ingredients for Rich Healing Salves or Cure-for-Alls unless you have learned all other recipes, so we've listed their ingredients below.

Medicine	Use	Recipe
Rich Healing Salve	Restores 40 HP	Aloe (3) Buffaloberry (3) Burning Bush (3) Chaparral (3) Charcoal (3)
Cure-for-All	Cures any illness and gives illness immunity for 3 rollovers.	Aloe (1) Arnica (1) Boneset (1) Carrionflower (1) Cedar Bark (1) Ginger (1) Mullein (1) Spoonwood (1) Tansy (1) Turmeric (1)

At 80% proficiency or higher, any Medicine: Healing Salve that your herbalist crafts will be 3 uses instead of 2. This applies only to the Healing Salve and no other medicine.

Diagnosing Wolves

Herbalists also get experience from diagnosing wolves, which can be done on the Sick Wolves tab if you have any wolves with illnesses. The amount of SC it takes to diagnose one wolf decreases as your herbalist's proficiency increases. At 80% proficiency, your herbalist can diagnose wolves for free.

After a wolf has been diagnosed, you can cure them from the Sick Wolves page if you have the necessary medicine.

Proficiency	Cost
0% - 3%	20 SC
4% - 7%	19 SC
8% - 11%	18 SC
12% - 15%	17 SC
16% - 19%	16 SC
20% - 23%	15 SC
24% - 27%	14 SC
28% - 31%	13 SC
32% - 35%	12 SC
36% - 39%	11 SC
40% - 43%	10 SC
44% - 47%	9 SC
48% - 51%	8 SC
52% - 55%	7 SC
56% - 59%	6 SC
60% - 63%	5 SC
64% - 67%	4 SC
68% - 71%	3 SC
72% - 75%	2 SC
76% - 79%	1 SC
80% - 100%	Free

Valentine
#2873

Posted 2021-10-22 16:56:18 (edited)

#545868

Herbs

Herbs are used to craft medicines for your wolves. They are also used in crafting recipes for decors and backgrounds, and can be used to craft Nesting Materials as well!

Herbalists can bring home herbs from foraging. You can also find herbs randomly while exploring. The herbs that you can find are based on the biome your pack territory is in, with the exception of a few explore encounters.

If you need a specific herb but don't have the biome unlocked to find it, you can exchange herbs at the bottom of the herbalist page. Trading in 3 of one herb you have will give you 1 of any herb of your choice.

Herb Exchange
Exchanging herbs at the bottom of the herbalist page.

Below is a table of every herb, including what they are used for and where you can find them. When an herb is listed as being in a certain biome, this means that it can both be foraged there as well as found there while exploring normally.

Herb	Uses	Biomes
Aloe	Ringworm Salve (1) Cure-For-All (1) Rich Healing Salve (3)	Desert Swamp Rainforest
Arnica	Mange Salve (1) Cure-For-All (1)	All Biomes
Bearberry	Constipation Cure (1) Tapeworm Remedy (1)	Deciduous Forest Mountains Coniferous Forest Taiga Tundra
Boneset	Hepatitis Cure (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Taiga Swamp
Buffaloberry	Constipation Cure (1) Rich Healing Salve (3)	Mountains Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Taiga
Burning Bush	Constipation Cure (1) Rich Healing Salve (3)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland
Carrionflower	Ear Mites Ointment (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Riparian Woodland Taiga
Cedar Bark	Tick Remedy (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Coniferous Forest Mountains Grasslands Deciduous Forest Riparian Woodland Prairie Desert Swamp Rainforest
Chaparral	Antidote (3) Rich Healing Salve (3)	Desert
Charcoal	Diarrhea Cure (3) Healing Salve (1) Rich Healing Salve (3)	All Biomes
Dandelion	Cystitis Cure (1) Healing Salve (1) Hepatitis Cure (1)	All Biomes
Feverfew	Heatstroke Remedy (1) Infection Balm (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Rainforest
Garlic	Tapeworm Remedy (1) Tick Remedy (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Swamp
Ginger	Heatstroke Remedy (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Taiga
Goldenseal	Cough Cure (1) Distemper Cure (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Coniferous Forest Riparian Woodland
Guaiacum	Distemper Cure (1) Influenza Cure (2)	Swamp Rainforest
Kava	Cough Cure (1) Cystitis Cure (1)	Rainforest
Mullein	Distemper Cure (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Desert
Oregano	Infection Balm (1) Pox Balm (1) Ringworm Salve (1)	Mountains Prairie Desert Swamp Rainforest
Pineapple Leaf	Cough Cure (1) Influenza Cure (2)	Rainforest
Redwood Sorrel	Cystitis Cure (1) Pox Palm (1)	Mountains Coniferous Forest Swamp
Spoonwood	Hepatitis Cure (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Riparian Woodland Swamp
St. John's Wort	Infection Balm (1) Open Wound Salve (1)	Deciduous Forest Grasslands Mountains Coniferous Forest Prairie Riparian Woodland Swamp
Tansy	Tapeworm Remedy (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Grasslands Deciduous Forest Mountains Prairie Riparian Woodland Coniferous Forest Desert
Tobacco	Ear Mites Ointment (1) Fleas Remedy (3) Mange Salve (1) Tick Remedy (1)	Mountains Prairie Desert
Turmeric	Ringworm Salve (1) Cure-For-All (1)	Swamp Rainforest
Winterfat	Ear Mites Ointment (1) Heatstroke Remedy (1) Open Wound Salve (1)	Mountains Prairie Desert
Yarrow	Mange Salve (1) Open Wound Salve (1) Pox Balm (1)	All Biomes

Time-Limited Herbs

The following herbs can only be obtained during the month of November for the Coigreach event, and they can only currently be used for crafting nesting materials. The Coigreach announcement indicates that they may be used for something more in the 2022 event.

All of these herbs can be found by foraging in November, or by winning a battle against a wolf carrying a herb while exploring in November.