Wolf

The  is an animal in DayZ Standalone. The implementation of this animal marked the introduction of non-infected hostile AI.

General
Wolves can be found alone or in packs of as many as 10, mostly roaming in the far western and far northern forests of Chernarus, such as those around Myshkino, Severograd, and Tisy Military Base. They are prone to howling when they are not actively aggro'd on anything, so survivors can expect to be warned of a wolf pack's presence by audio while still at a distance if they have not already made visual identification.

If the howling is deafening and seems to come from every direction, a pack of wolves is extremely close to you (<200m away) and will likely detect and begin to attack you in less than a minute. Avoiding detection at this point is unlikely, but the best way to do so is to crouch or lie prone and make as little noise as possible. After detecting you, wolves will approach quietly at walking pace until they are within a few meters of your character. Listen for multiple pairs of light footsteps.

Although your character cannot outrun a wolf, running to a nearby building or enclosed area is recommended if one is reasonably close by. This is true regardless of whether or not you choose to engage the pack. When fleeing, zig-zag and dodge attacks as you run to avoid taking damage.

Once the pack has closed the distance to you, the wolves will begin to circle you, attacking one at a time from different directions. A wolf preparing to attack will briefly stop and snarl at you before charging in, leaping, and biting your character at head level. If timed correctly, this leaping animation can be dodged by moving quickly to one side.

When engaging a wolf pack, use a ranged weapon, preferably any gun having high damage per shot and a multiple round magazine. Keep in mind that wolves are difficult to hit due to their agility and smaller size. It is therefore best to fire at a wolf immediately before it charges to attack, when it is briefly stationary.

Melee weapons are strongly discouraged when fighting wolves and should only be used as a last resort. This is because wolves cannot be stunned in the middle of their leaping attack and will almost always inflict damage as you attempt to strike them at close range. Even when in a group, engaging a large wolf pack with melee weapons will likely result in death.

In builds before 1.07, wolf packs would run away after 2-3 individuals were killed. This is no longer consistent. If the pack does begin to retreat however, shooting any of them as they flee will cause them to re-engage.

Community testing indicates that wolves have 3x the HP compared to infected. If a wolf and an infected aggro on each other, odds favor the wolf winning. As such, it may be possible for crafty survivors to lure wolves into infected-filled towns and use them to clear out the infected population.

Although the abundance and aggressiveness of DayZ's wolves make them a constant hazard and a nuisance, they are also one of the best sources of food in the game due to the sheer quantity of meat and fat a full pack can provide.

Trivia

 * The Wolf was first implemented in patch v0.61.136182 (17 Nov 2016)
 * As of 5 May 2017 players utilizing community-made maps are still encountering unmarked wolf spawns, thus it is adivsed to avoid the deep woods where possible even if a wolf spawn is not marked.
 * Wolves may roam a fair distance from their spawns according to player accounts, though this may be the result of an unmarked spawn rather than a roaming wolf pack.