Part One - Understanding how Taming gains work
(If you just want the "bare bones guide" to what to tame at what skill, skip to "Part Two")

The implementation of the Guaranteed Gain System (GGS) has eliminated skill gains from failed attempts, so it is important to understand that you need to tame animals that are challenging enough to tame and faciliate a skill gain but don't let you fail too often.

The most critical change in taming skill gain probably are the control slots. With the implementation of publish 16 you will only be able to tame and command as many creatures as you have control slots for, so people will have to release their tames in order to tame more. All those players who were too lazy to release their tames in the past will now be forced to learn a lesson or slow down their own skill advancement drastically.

In order to optimize your chances for skill gains you will have to focus on taming creatures that won't let you fail too often but are still challenging enough to tame. The "sweet spot" for gains is at the point where you have a chance of about 50% of successfully taming a creature, which is about 25 points below your current skill level. You can gain from slightly harder and easier creatures as well, but the more often you fail the more time you waste, and creatures that are too easy require a lot of volume for decent gains. Most people find they get the best gains if they tame a variety of creatures while staying within the range of 40-60% of success chance.

Use the Taming and Control Calculator to determine what you should be taming at your level.

Part Two - The "bare bones" guide to raising Taming
(If you want to understand why the method below works, read "Part One")

The main key to great taming gains is quantity, so do not, I repeat do not bother with wandering around different areas taming, renaming and releasing animals - you will only be slowing yourself down. If you have no intention forgetting about that old routine, don't even bother reading on, since it won't help you.

Tame, release and kill, so you will have a steady supply of fresh spawned creatures with a known taming difficulty without wasting time on finding the next animal to tame. You can tame one creature and kill the previously tamed one at the same time, so by the time you are done with both, a new one will have spawned close by. With this method you will easily be able to tame at least twice as many creatures as someone who just roams around doing the old, ineffective tame-rename-release routine. Twice as many tames means twice as many successful skill checks, which also means more chances to gain!

Buy your skill from an NPC up to the 30s, or start a new character with 50 taming. Alternatively make use of any taming increase jewelry you may have. The numbers below refer to your skill level regardless if you are wearing jewelry or not, the game doesn't care if you have for example 60 "real" skill or reach that level by putting on jewelry - your success chance is the same, and that is what counts for taming gains.

I have only listed animals that spawn in plentiful numbers and their spawn locations, since you want the fast and simple version. For any more in-depth explanations, go back and read "Part One".