Black Desert Online: Advanced Horse Training Guide

Black Desert Online, often lauded for its expansive, breathtaking landscapes and its serpentine, engaging life skill activities, offers an unparalleled depth to those willing to dive into its numerous, detailed mechanics. Among these, horse training stands out for many adventurers as not just a means to an end but a passionate endeavor. This advanced guide explores the nuances of Horse Taming, Horse Breeding, Horse Skills, Horse Gear, and Imperial Horse Trading, providing you with the insights needed to thrive in this lucrative aspect of the game.

Horse Taming

The first step in becoming a master horse trainer in Black Desert Online is mastering the art of horse taming. This engaging activity not only allows you to capture magnificent wild horses roaming the vast landscapes but also is your initial foray into the complex world of horse breeding.

Tools and Preparations

To start, you'll need a few essential tools: a capturing rope and a lump of raw sugar. Capturing ropes can be purchased from stables in any major city, while the raw sugar lumps can be crafted by heating raw sugar and mineral water, both of which are purchasable from any cooking vendor.

The Process

Once equipped, locating a wild horse is your next task. Several online resources and maps pinpoint their spawning locations. Approach cautiously; wild horses are easily startled. Once in range, use your capturing rope to initiate a mini-game, where the goal is to keep a moving bar within a specific area. Success leads to the final step: offering raw sugar lumps to soothe wild steed before attempting to mount. This process might require a few attempts, as the horse can easily reject your advances, necessitating patience and a steady supply of sugar lumps.

Horse Breeding

Horse breeding is where the depth of Black Desert Online’s horse training truly unfolds. This complex process allows trainers to potentially produce offspring with superior speed, endurance, and a higher tier than their parents.

Stable Preparation

First, ensure you have access to a stable with enough room for two horses and register your tamed or purchased horses there. Note that both horses need to be checked in, at full health and stamina, and not equipped with any gear.

Breeding Market

You can choose to breed your horse with another player's horse through the Breeding Market or with another horse of your own. The latter requires a breeding count on both animals, which can be checked in the stable interface. Remember, each horse has a limited number of breeds (male: 2, female: 1), which can be reset with a Pearl Shop item.

The Outcome

Breeding results depend on various factors, including both parents’ tiers, levels, and skills. Higher-tier horses are not only faster but possess the capacity to learn more skills as they level. The community has developed several breeding calculators to predict the potential outcomes of your breeding pairs, which can be invaluable tools for aspiring breeders.

Horse Skills

As your horses gallop across the continent, they gain experience and levels, unlocking new skills in the process. These abilities range from practical speed boosts like Sprint and Instant Accel to more unique skills such as Two-Seater, allowing another player to ride with you.

Skill Training

Training these skills to their maximum potential is crucial. Each skill has its own mini-game or training requirement, often a test of timing or resource management. Failing to adequately engage in these training exercises can result in a horse with high potential but low practical application.

Skill Changing

Not all skills are created equal, and sometimes a horse might learn less desired abilities. Fortunately, the Pearl Shop offers Skill Change Coupons, allowing trainers to reroll an unwanted skill in the hopes of acquiring something more beneficial for their steed’s build and their personal preferences. Strategic use of these items can significantly impact your horse's performance in races and general travel.

Skill Inheritance

The skills a horse learns can also influence breeding, as offspring have a higher chance of inheriting skills if both parents possess them. Planning breeding pairs with complementary skills can give the next generation a significant advantage, easing the training burden and potentially leading to a more marketable or capable companion.

Horse Gear

Outfitting your horse in gear not only adds a visual flair but also improves various aspects of their performance. Horse gear comes in different sets and qualities, affecting speed, acceleration, turning radius, and braking.

Procurement and Enhancement

Horse gear can be acquired through crafting, purchasing from the market, or as rewards from specific quests and achievements. Like with all gear in Black Desert Online, horse gear can be enhanced using Black Stones, increasing its effectiveness. However, this process also carries the risk of failure, which can lead to a decrease in enhancement level, making it a high-risk, high-reward endeavor.

Set Bonuses

Equipping your horse with a set of gear not only improves individual stats but can also yield set bonuses for increased effects. These bonuses often provide significant boosts, making the possession of a complete set a priority for serious trainers.

Imperial Horse Trading

Imperial Horse Trading represents the pinnacle of horse training, where players can sell their prized steeds to the Imperial Court for a significant profit and unique rewards. This endgame activity not only serves as a status symbol but also as a vital economic activity within Black Desert Online.

Eligibility

Not every horse can be traded to the Imperial Court. Only horses of tier 8 and above that have achieved certain skill and level thresholds are eligible. Ensuring your horse meets these stringent requirements can take considerable time and resources but results in substantial rewards.

The Process

Once eligible, horses can be traded at any Imperial Horse NPC, found in major cities. The process removes the horse from your stable but rewards you with Imperial Training Seals, used to purchase rare items, including materials to craft the coveted Dream Horse.

Approach

Successful Imperial Horse Trading requires a abysmal understanding of the market and breeding strategies to consistently produce horses that meet the Imperial standards. As such, it's often pursued by the most dedicated trainers, combining their knowledge of taming, breeding, and skill training to produce the ultimate steeds.

In conclusion, advancing through the ranks of horse training in Black Desert Online is no small feat. It requires patience, strategic planning, and an intimate understanding of the game's deeper mechanics. From the initial thrill of taming a wild horse to the careful planning of pedigree in breeding, and finally to the high-stakes world of Imperial Trading, each step offers unique challenges and rewards. Armed with this guide, you are now better equipped to embark on your journey as a master horse trainer, unlocking the full potential of these magnificent creatures and perhaps even achieving the dream of raising the perfect steed.