Mounts & Traversal

Crimson Desert uses mounts as a travel toolkit, not one linear upgrade ladder. A regular horse remains useful even after special or legendary traversal becomes available because handling, summon access, terrain and combat utility vary by task.

The three mount layers

Layer	Use	Evidence
Horses	general roads, long overland routes, predictable handling	community
Special Mounts	terrain-specific travel, combat utility, species-specific handling	official
Baby Wyvern	special traversal, vertical movement	official
Kuku Bird Chick	special traversal, compact terrain	official
Blackstar	flight, long-distance aerial traversal, legendary traversal	official

Regular horses

Use a dependable horse for ordinary roads, settlement circuits and long routes where predictable handling matters more than a specialised movement mode.

Special mounts

Patch 1.06.00 introduced registration for eligible animals after gaining their trust. Ferocious species can be subdued and fed; some animals require unique methods. Feeding an animal that cannot be tamed does not increase trust.

Eligible species recorded by Pearl Abyss:

• Bear
• Boar
• Wolf
• Deer
• Mountain Goat
• Kuku Bird
• Iguana
• Raptor
• Camel
• Lion
• Tiger

Legendary traversal

Legendary mounts should be evaluated separately because unlock conditions, summon restrictions and story context may be major spoilers. Blackstar remains behind an explicit reveal control.

Trust, taming and registration

Use this safe process:

1. confirm the animal is an eligible species;
2. approach with enough food and inventory space;
3. subdue a ferocious animal when the game requires it;
4. feed only after the animal is in the correct interaction state;
5. observe whether trust actually increases;
6. stop spending food if the value does not change;
7. complete registration before leaving the area;
8. test summon, dismissal and quickslot behaviour in a safe location.

Unique taming methods

The official patch notes state that some species require unique methods but do not define every method. The guide will not invent a universal feeding recipe.

Feeding while mounted

A registered special mount can be fed while riding:

1. open the inventory;
2. select an appropriate food item;
3. choose Feed;
4. verify that one item was consumed and the intended value changed.

Patch history includes a defect where feeding could consume two food items on Hard difficulty; that was fixed in Patch 1.11.00. Keep only the quantity needed for the current test until behaviour is confirmed on a new patch.

Quickslot rule

The special-mount update fixed the mount quickslot so it can hold:

• one regular mount; and
• one special mount.

Do not interpret a missing third mount as evidence that it has been lost. Check the regular and special mount tabs separately before changing registration or save data.

Saddles and special-mount equipment

Special-mount saddles are equippable items, not part of the animal’s default appearance. The official availability table is generated from data/mounts.json.

Saddlery	Special-mount saddles	Evidence
Hernand	Wolf, Bear	official
Equinsher	Deer, Wolf	official
Calphade	Bear, Kuku Bird	official

Equipment check

Before leaving a saddlery:

1. open the Special Mounts tab;
2. confirm the correct animal is selected;
3. equip the saddle in the mount-equipment interface;
4. verify appearance and statistics;
5. save manually;
6. summon the mount and confirm the equipment persisted.

Choosing a mount by task

Task	Starting choice	Reason
Settlement circuit	Regular horse	Predictable handling and low setup overhead
Open roads	Horse or fast registered special mount	Route length matters more than combat utility
Rough or narrow terrain	Test a smaller or terrain-suited special mount	Body size and turn radius can matter
Hostile route	Mount with understood combat and dismount behaviour	Survival matters more than headline speed
Vertical traversal	Baby Wyvern or another unlocked aerial option	Bypasses some ground-route constraints
Long aerial traversal	Spoiler-controlled legendary option	Access and summon restrictions must be understood first

These are operating recommendations, not a universal ranking. Test the same route with the same starting point, weather and loadout before declaring one mount faster.

Repeatable mount test

Patch:
Character:
Mount:
Equipment:
Route and terrain:
Starting stamina:
Food used:
Travel time:
Forced dismounts:
Collision or pathing problems:
Combat interruptions:
Summon restrictions:
Result:

Current patch cautions

Relevant patch history includes:

• special mounts could previously be sold; Patch 1.08.00 fixed that defect;
• saddle comparison tooltips were corrected in Patch 1.08.00;
• Baby Wyverns and Kuku Bird Chicks became special mounts in Patch 1.10.00;
• Wyverns can be mounted with Axiom Force without learning Back Hang after Patch 1.11.00;
• Patch 1.15.00 fixed Wyvern summoning while airborne and a mounted attack restriction on a quest bear.

Sources

• Patch 1.06.00 — special mounts, trust, feeding, quickslots and saddles
• Patch 1.08.00 — mount and saddlery fixes
• Patch 1.10.00 — Baby Wyvern and Kuku Bird Chick special mounts
• Patch 1.11.00 — Wyvern mounting and feeding fixes
• Patch 1.15.00 — current mount-related fixes