There’s no official How to Train Your Dragon mode in Minecraft, but the community built one – and it’s better than you’d expect. The Isle of Berk family of mods drops the entire HTTYD dragon roster into Minecraft Java Edition: tame Toothless and other Night Furies, train and ride them, breed them, and explore a world full of Vikings, dungeons, and dragons straight out of the films.
This guide covers exactly how to play it, current as of June 2026 – the core mod, the must-have expansion, the easiest all-in-one modpack, and how to get a dragon of your own.
Quick heads-up before you start: the whole HTTYD scene runs on Minecraft 1.18.2 (Forge). The original Isle of Berk mod is now discontinued, but it’s still the foundation everything is built on, and the active dragon content comes from the Archipelago Additions expansion and the modpacks below. So 1.18.2 is the version you’ll install – not the latest Minecraft.
The Quick Answer
- Easiest way (recommended): install the Claws of Berk modpack. It bundles Isle of Berk, Archipelago Additions, dungeons, Vikings, and world generation into one click – 50+ dragon species and 1,000+ variants, no manual setup.
- Build it yourself: install Isle of Berk + Isle of Berk Variant Loader + Archipelago Additions + GeckoLib, all for 1.18.2 Forge.
Either way you end up with the same dragons – the modpack just saves you the dependency juggling.
What the How to Train Your Dragon Mod Adds
The base Isle of Berk mod brings the iconic dragons into the game, including:
- Night Fury (Toothless) and Light Fury, plus the Nightlight hybrids
- Skrill, Triple Stryke, Gronckle, Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare, Hideous Zippleback, Terrible Terror, Speed Stinger, and the Stinger
Each dragon can be tamed, trained, ridden, and bred. Add the Archipelago Additions expansion on top and you unlock 48+ more species from across the HTTYD movies, series, games, and books, plus improved animations, new variants, and better rider positions – pushing a full setup past 50 species and 1,000+ variants.
The Mods & Modpacks You Need
Isle of Berk – the base mod (800K+ downloads)
Version: 1.18.2 | Loader: Forge | Requires: GeckoLib | Download: modrinth.com/mod/isle-of-berk
This is the foundation of the entire HTTYD experience in Minecraft – the mod that adds the dragon models, taming, flying, and breeding systems. It’s officially discontinued (frozen on 1.18.2), but every other add-on and modpack is built on top of it, so it’s still essential. Its dragon assets have since passed to the New Berk’s Dawn (NBD) team, who carry the project forward through the expansions and modpacks below. On its own it adds roughly a dozen dragons; with the expansion below it becomes a full archipelago.
Archipelago Additions – the must-have expansion (1.1M+ downloads)
Version: 1.18.2 (v2.5.5, updated June 2026) | Loader: Forge | By: Lycanwing | Download: curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/archipelago-additions
This is where the mod really comes alive – at 1.1M+ downloads it’s actually more popular than the base mod it expands, and it’s actively updated. Archipelago Additions adds 48 new dragon species from across the HTTYD movies, series, and books (including official and non-official hybrids and a brand-new species), remodels and re-animates all 12 base dragons, and pushes the roster past 1,000 variants. It also adds Dragon Hunters and their giant Flag Ships (where you can rescue captured dragons – even Hiccup and Toothless), the wandering trader Trader Johann, new structures and entities, Viking Artifact weapons plus a craftable Dragon Blade, four armour sets, and the Dragonfly (an Elytra alternative). It needs a few dependencies and config files to run – see the install steps below.
Claws of Berk – the recommended modpack (960K+ downloads)
Version: 1.18.2 | Loader: Forge | Download: curseforge.com/minecraft/modpacks/new-berks-dawn (also on Modrinth)
If you don’t want to assemble mods and dependencies by hand, this is the one to install. Claws of Berk packages the full Isle of Berk + Archipelago Additions experience and adds dungeons, Viking ships and villages, custom world generation, weapons, and armour – 50+ dragon species and 1,000+ variants ready to go. Ride dragons into a dungeon, breed your own, or just soar into the sunset. It’s the fastest path from “install” to “flying a Night Fury.” Crucially, unlike the base mod it’s actively maintained – the latest build (v3.1.7) landed in June 2026.
Other HTTYD modpacks worth knowing
If you want a different flavour or quest structure, these are all built on the same base:
- Isle of Berk (Across the Archipelago) – modrinth.com/modpack/across-the-archipelago
- Isle of Berk (Scales and Skies) – exploration-focused pack
- Isle of Berk Expanded – a larger, content-heavy bundle
- HTTYD – Isle of Berk QUESTS – adds a guided questline
How to Install the How to Train Your Dragon Mod
The easy way (modpack):
- Download the free CurseForge App or Modrinth App.
- Search Claws of Berk (or another HTTYD pack), and click Install – it pulls in the right loader and every dependency automatically.
- Launch from that profile and start a new world. Done.
The manual way (mods):
- Install Forge for Minecraft 1.18.2 (version 40.2.10 or newer).
- Download these into your
modsfolder (all 1.18.2): Isle of Berk, Isle of Berk Variant Loader, Isle of Berk Addons, Archipelago Additions, and GeckoLib. - Install the required configs. Archipelago Additions’ new dragons will not spawn without its config files – download them from the mod’s GitHub, launch the game once, then add the configs before you create your world.
- Launch the Forge 1.18.2 profile and start a new world.
Don’t use OptiFine – Archipelago Additions is incompatible with it; use a different performance mod (e.g. Embeddium/Rubidium) instead. Dragon mods are model-heavy, so give your instance 6–8 GB of RAM. See our best Minecraft launcher for low-end PCs guide.
How to Tame and Train a Dragon
Once the mod is installed, here’s the actual process for getting a dragon of your own:
- Find a wild dragon. Species spawn in different biomes and tiers. Terrible Terrors are common and the easiest first dragon; Night Furies are rare.
- Feed it the right food. Most dragons are tamed by feeding them meat or fish, but the food is species-specific – a Skrill takes raw salmon, raw cod, or tropical fish, while a Triple Stryke wants raw beef. Keep feeding until hearts appear.
- Beat the stronger ones first. Higher-tier dragons can’t be tamed by food alone – you have to fight them until they surrender (around 20 HP or less), then tame them.
- Command it with a stick. Right-click a tamed dragon with a stick to cycle between sit, follow, and wander. (Tip: set it to follow while flying and it’ll catch you if you dismount midair.)
- Saddle up and fly. Equip a saddle to ride. Use your dragon’s primary ability (default key R, e.g. fire breath) and secondary ability (default key X, e.g. a Deadly Nadder’s spines) in combat.
- Breed your own. Feed two tamed dragons of the same species to breed, then raise the babies into adults.
Foods, abilities, and controls vary by dragon, so the in-game Dragon Manual and the mod’s wiki are the source of truth for your exact version.
Other ways to get dragons: taming isn’t the only route. You can breed two tamed dragons of the same species, and hatch dragon eggs you find while exploring. In the Claws of Berk modpack, Viking traders also sell dragon egg crates for runes – a fast way to get rarer species without tracking down a wild one – and you can rescue captured dragons (including Hiccup and Toothless) from Dragon Hunter Flag Ships out at sea. Dragons are grouped into tiers, and the higher the tier (a Monstrous Nightmare is tier 4, for example), the tougher it is to tame.
Quick Reference
| What | Type | Version | Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isle of Berk | Base mod (discontinued, still required) | 1.18.2 Forge | 800K+ (Modrinth) |
| Archipelago Additions | Expansion (48 dragons, 1k+ variants) | 1.18.2 Forge | 1.1M+ (CurseForge) |
| Isle of Berk Variant Loader | Dependency for the expansion | 1.18.2 Forge | 1.2M+ (CurseForge) |
| Claws of Berk | All-in-one modpack (actively updated) | 1.18.2 Forge | 960K+ (CurseForge) |
Everything HTTYD-related runs on Minecraft 1.18.2 Forge as of June 2026, because the base mod is frozen on that version. Download figures are community totals from the platform noted (most mods are on both Modrinth and CurseForge) and update continuously.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s the fan-made Isle of Berk mod and its expansions, which add HTTYD dragons – Toothless, Night Furies, Gronckles, Deadly Nadders and more – to Minecraft Java Edition, with taming, flying, and breeding. The easiest way to play it is the Claws of Berk modpack.
The original base mod is discontinued and frozen on 1.18.2, but the community expansion Archipelago Additions and the modpacks built on it are actively updated, so the experience keeps growing.
1.18.2 with Forge. That’s where the base mod lives, so all the dragons, add-ons, and modpacks target 1.18.2 – you don’t use the latest Minecraft version for this.
Find a wild Night Fury (they’re rare), gain its trust by feeding it fish, then saddle it to ride. In the Claws of Berk modpack and with Archipelago Additions there are also Light Furies and Nightlight hybrids to tame.
Yes – it’s free on the official CurseForge and Modrinth pages. Only download from those official sources, never third-party sites.
The Isle of Berk mod is Java-only (Forge, PC), so Bedrock and Pocket Edition can’t run it. If you’re on Bedrock, search the Minecraft Marketplace or sites like MCPEDL for HTTYD-themed add-ons – they’re smaller in scope than Isle of Berk, but they’re the closest dragon experience available on Bedrock.
The Isle of Berk family is one of the most impressive fan projects in Minecraft – a near-complete How to Train Your Dragon sandbox, all built by the community. The quickest start is the Claws of Berk modpack: install it, find a Terrible Terror to practice on, and work your way up to your own Night Fury.
For more, explore our best Minecraft mods and the full Minecraft guides hub.
