Conan Exiles Thrall Professions 2026: All 13 Jobs and Their Workbenches

This list of Conan Exiles thrall professions covers all 13 jobs the game knows in its Enhanced state, along with the matching workbench and what each one is really good for. The key takeaway up front: since the crafting overhaul, a thrall's tier no longer decides your crafting speed or your material costs.

Short answer: Nine professions work at a station (Blacksmith, Armorer, Tanner, Smelter, Carpenter, Alchemist, Cook, Taskmaster, Priest), and four follow you or stand guard in your base (Fighter, Archer, Bearer, Entertainer). All names in this list come from the Enhanced database, which is maintained directly from the game files.

📦 List 1: Crafting thrall professions and their workbenches

Crafters don't join your followers after you break them. They go into a workbench slot instead, and only there do they unlock extra recipes. This table assigns each profession the stations where it actually has an effect:

Profession	Workbench	What it handles
Blacksmith	Blacksmith's Bench	weapons, tools, metal parts
Armorer	Armorer's Bench	armor pieces and padding
Tanner	Tanner's Table, Tannery, Precision Tannery	Leather and Thick Leather from hides
Smelter	Furnace, Heat-Efficient Furnace, Fuel-Efficient Furnace	bars, bricks, glass, Steelfire
Carpenter	Carpenter's Bench	wooden parts, bows, arrows, furniture
Alchemist	Alchemist's Bench, Firebowl Cauldron, Dyer's Bench	potions, explosives, dyes
Cook	Campfire, Fermentation Barrel	food, drinks, fermented goods
Taskmaster	Wheel of Pain	cuts the time until a captive is broken
Priest	Altar of Ymir, Altar of Zath, Altar of Jhebbal Sag	religion recipes and avatar summoning

The Taskmaster is the only job on this list that pays for itself: it sits on the Wheel of Pain and shortens the wait for every captive you break afterward.

One point that players regularly overlook in Conan Exiles: a crafter only works in the station its job is meant for. A Tanner in the Furnace does nothing, and neither does a Smelter at the Tanner's Table. The slots accept any captive, but only the matching profession becomes active.

🧪 List 2: Followers and base staff in Conan Exiles

The second list covers the jobs that don't need a workbench. They follow you, guard your gate or stand in your hall as a permanent buff:

Profession	Use	Special trait
Fighter	follower or guard	carries your damage in an Authority build (see the Strength build guide)
Archer	guard on a wall or tower	useless as a melee follower
Bearer	follower for farming runs	increases how much you bring home
Entertainer	placed permanently in your base	removes corruption and regenerates health

The Entertainer is listed in the Enhanced database under exactly that profession, for example the "Nordheimer Entertainer I" of the Heirs of the North faction.

🔧 Tiers I to III: why the numeral in the name is misleading

Every profession on this list comes in three regular tiers plus a named variant the community calls Tier 4. The common mistake: many players treat the Roman numeral in the name as a reliable tier marker. It isn't.

The Enhanced database lists a tier I Black Hand taskmaster with a numeral right next to a "Taskmaster Journeyman" without one. Both are regular tiers of the same job, just named differently. So a captive without a numeral in its name is not automatically a named T4 find.

Reliable test: a named crafter carries a personal name instead of a job title, such as "Secas the Smith" or "Gars the Smith" instead of "Darfari Carpenter I". If a personal name comes first, you've caught the top tier.

💡 The most expensive mistake: the workbench decides

The most persistent misconception among Conan players goes like this: a T4 crafter works faster and uses less material. That used to be true, and it hasn't been since the crafting overhaul.

In its official post on Update 2.1 from October 28, 2020, Funcom states that bonuses like speed, material cost reduction and burn time now depend on the tier and type of the workbench instead of the thrall's tier. At the same time, the old "Exceptional" and "Flawless" recipes of T3 and T4 crafters were removed.

The current Enhanced database confirms this at the furnaces: the Heat-Efficient Furnace is described as a furnace that reduces processing time, and the Fuel-Efficient Furnace carries the fuel savings in its name. Both are buildings, not captives, unlocked through the Grandmaster Smelter knowledge.

What that means in practice: putting 300 Hardened Brick, 100 Steel Reinforcement and 100 Stone Consolidant into a Heat-Efficient Furnace gains you more speed than any hunt for a named Smelter.

⚒️ What the tier still does

The tier isn't worthless, it just works somewhere else. Funcom describes in the same post that crafters get their own specializations instead: an "Edgesmith" gives weapons armor penetration, a "Bladesmith" increases weapon damage.

On top of that, some recipes don't even show up in the workbench without the right captive. The community database Incendar counts around 71 such bonus unlocks from named crafters. Funcom publishes no official overview, so this number is a community figure and not officially confirmed.

The effect is clearest with the Priest: without a top-tier Priest at the altar, you don't get the highest religion recipes. This job is the strongest reason to hunt for named captives at all.

📍 Where to find named thralls

Professions are tied to factions, not to chance. Knowing the factions helps you search with a purpose:

• Darfari: the earliest source in the south, supplying Cooks and Carpenters in the lower tiers.
• Heirs of the North: Nordheimer camps with Entertainers, Bearers and Ymir Priests.
• Relic Hunters: Sepermeru and the Unnamed City, a wide selection including Taskmasters.
• Black Hand: pirate camps in the east, with Taskmasters also coming through the Purge.

Sepermeru and the Unnamed City are the densest hotspots in Conan Exiles: several jobs from this list stand close together there, including named crafters. The walk back with an unconscious captive is long, though, so a Wheel of Pain at the edge of town saves you a lot of hassle.

Some captives on this list only show up in the Purge. The tier I Black Hand taskmaster mentioned above is sorted exactly that way in the database: as a Purge NPC. If you only roam the map, you'll never see these spawns.

🗓️ Order: which thralls to break first

Working through the whole list is expensive, because every catch costs time at the wheel. This order saves the most:

• 1. Taskmaster: shortens every following catch. Always first.
• 2. Smelter and Tanner: bars and leather are the bottlenecks for everything else.
• 3. Blacksmith and Armorer: only worth it once steel and Hardened Leather are flowing.
• 4. Alchemist, Cook, Carpenter: comfort and special recipes.
• 5. Priest: expensive, but the only source of the highest religion recipes.

The cheapest option is enough to feed the wheel: Gruel made from plant fiber and seeds. Expensive food doesn't shorten the breaking time.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions about Conan Exiles Thrall Professions

How many professions are there in Conan Exiles?
The Enhanced database lists 13: Blacksmith, Armorer, Tanner, Smelter, Carpenter, Alchemist, Cook, Taskmaster, Priest, Fighter, Archer, Bearer and Entertainer. Nine of them work at a workbench, four follow you or stand in your base.

Does a T4 thrall craft faster than a T1?
No. With Update 2.1 from October 28, 2020, Funcom made speed, material costs and burn time depend on the tier and type of the workbench, not on the captive's tier. Instead, the tier controls specializations and extra unlocked recipes.

How do I recognize a named thrall?
By the personal name. "Secas the Smith" is named, "Darfari Carpenter I" is not. The Roman numeral is not a reliable marker, because some factions use word tiers like "Journeyman" instead.

Which station does a Smelter need?
The Furnace, the Heat-Efficient Furnace or the Fuel-Efficient Furnace. In any other station, a Smelter has no effect.

Which thrall should I catch first?
The Taskmaster. It sits on the Wheel of Pain and cuts the breaking time for every catch after it. After that, a Smelter and a Tanner pay off, because bars and leather are the bottlenecks for tools, armor and base building.

Does this list apply on consoles too?
Only partly. The professions themselves are identical, but consoles don't get the UE5 update. Values and names in this list come from the Enhanced state on PC. On console, the names of the older build still apply.

📦 Bottom line

Thralls in Conan Exiles aren't a sticker album, they're tools. This list is kept short because the real work lies elsewhere: build the better workbench first, then hunt the named crafter. Taskmaster first, then Smelter and Tanner, Priest last. Stick to that order and you'll save a good share of the hours other players spend at the Wheel of Pain.

As of: checked against the Enhanced database conanexiles.gaming.tools (profession, workbench and faction names straight from the game files), Funcom's official post on Update 2.1 from October 28, 2020, and the community database Incendar. Conan Exiles has no official wiki; community figures are marked as such in the text. Last updated: September 18, 2026 (Enhanced).