How Mounts and Taming Work in Crimson Desert

Overview

What this guide is for

Traversing the vast continent of Pywel requires a reliable companion, but Crimson Desert handles its mounts differently than most open-world RPGs. While you can commandeer a massive variety of wildlife and war machines, there is a strict divide between permanent companions and temporary rides. This guide breaks down exactly how to claim and stable a permanent horse, master the tricky taming minigame, and ultimately unlock the late-game Blackstar Dragon mount.

Permanent Horses vs. Temporary Beasts

One of the most common points of confusion in Crimson Desert is attempting to stable a wild beast. While the game boasts 29 different rideable mounts, the vast majority are temporary. If you manage to hop onto a bear, dire wolf, or raptor in the wild, you can ride it and use it in combat, but you cannot register it at a stable or summon it later.

Instead, horses serve as your primary, permanent mounts. Once tamed, a horse can be summoned at will, upgraded, and maintained throughout your journey.

Temporary mounts are best treated as environmental weapons. Each offers unique burst-damage capabilities before they inevitably flee or are destroyed:

• Bears: Provide devastating heavy AoE swipes, perfect for clearing tightly packed enemy camps.
• Raptors: Highly agile, excelling at hit-and-run bite attacks against slower targets.
• ATAG Mechs: Act as mobile artillery, offering explosive area damage for a short duration.

How to Tame a Wild Horse

To acquire a permanent mount, you must find a wild horse and successfully complete the taming minigame. This stamina-based challenge is notorious for bucking off impatient players. The key to success is entirely directional.

When the minigame initiates, watch the horse's head and body direction carefully. You must move your joystick and camera in the exact opposite direction. Moving forwards or backwards is a guaranteed failure and will immediately buck you off.

There are five distinct breeds of horses in Crimson Desert. If you are hunting down the legendary horses (Royler, Rokade, and Camora), be prepared: these top-tier mounts have much higher base stats, but the taming minigame will drain your stamina significantly faster.

• Approach the horse slowly and trigger the taming prompt.
• Observe the horse's direction. If it pulls left, immediately pull your joystick and camera right.
• Never push directly forward or pull directly backward during the struggle.
• Manage your stamina; if your stamina bar depletes before the horse yields, you will be thrown off.

Trust, Fatigue, and Mount Customization

Securing a horse is only the first step. Permanent mounts utilize a Trust System that scales from Level 1 to 5. By simply spending time with your horse—riding, interacting, and feeding it—you will passively increase its Trust Level. Higher Trust unlocks specialized traversal maneuvers and mounted combat skills.

However, mounts also accumulate fatigue over time. A fatigued horse will drastically lose its top speed. To restore its stamina, you must stable it, feed it high-quality crops, or use the player-cast 'Healing Force Palm' ability while dismounted.

You can further enhance your companion through the mount gear system. Equipping high-tier horse armor, saddles, and specialized vendor tack physically alters the mount's appearance while providing crucial stat boosts to durability and maximum speed.

Endgame: Unlocking the Blackstar Dragon

The ultimate mount in Crimson Desert is the Blackstar Dragon, capable of true, sustained flight across Pywel. However, it is locked behind the late-game Chapter 11 main quest, Foreboding Shadows: Whispers in the Wind.

Because of its immense power and traversal capability, the Blackstar Dragon is governed by a strict timer system to balance exploration. Once summoned, you have a 15-minute flight limit. Once this timer expires or you manually dismiss the dragon, it enters a 50-minute real-time cooldown. This cooldown cannot be bypassed, skipped by sleeping, or sped up with items, requiring players to plan their aerial routes carefully.