Bear Mounts

Overview

Bear mounts are one of the combat mount types available in Crimson Desert. Unlike horses, which prioritize speed and mobility, bears are built for raw offensive power and survivability. When riding a bear, the mount itself actively participates in combat with claw swipes, bite attacks, and body slams, effectively doubling your damage output during mounted combat encounters.

Bears trade speed for combat dominance. They are the slowest of the three combat mount types (bears, raptors, and direwolves), but they compensate with the highest combat and stamina ratings. A bear mount transforms Kliff into a heavy assault platform that can absorb significant punishment while dealing devastating close-range damage.

How to Tame a Bear

Bears can be obtained through two methods:

Wilderness Taming

Wild bears can be tamed through encounters in forested and mountainous regions. The taming process works similarly to horse taming:

1. Locate a wild bear in the overworld. They spawn in forested areas, caves, and mountain regions depending on the variant.

2. Approach the bear and initiate the taming minigame by pressing the interact button.

3. During the minigame, move your left stick (controller) or press the direction keys (keyboard) in the opposite direction the bear is facing.

4. Continue until the taming bar fills completely. If you fail, the bear will attack you.

Beat Into Submission

An alternative method involves attacking a wild bear until it stops moving. Once subdued, a prompt to ride the bear appears. This method provides a temporary mount rather than a permanent tame. Bears obtained this way will eventually buck you off after a period of time.

Bear Mount Variants

Four bear variants exist across the regions of Pywel:

The Ironhide Cave Bear has the highest combat rating (90) among all bear variants, making it the top choice for players who want maximum damage. The Pailune Snow Bear is notable for its frost resistance aura, which is extremely useful when exploring the cold Pailune region.

Combat Abilities

Bears function as independent combat partners that attack alongside their rider. The bear's attacks activate automatically during combat, though riders can also trigger specific abilities:

Bear attacks deal additional damage when the rider applies elemental infusions to their weapon. All three combat mount types (bears, raptors, and direwolves) become substantially more powerful when combined with elemental effects.

Bear vs. Other Combat Mounts

Where to Find Bears

Brown bears can be found roaming various wilderness areas throughout Pywel. The most reliable locations include:

• Hernand Highlands: Several brown bears roam the highland areas north of Hernand. This is one of the earliest areas where you can encounter bears, often near dense tree lines and cliff edges.

• Pailune Region: Bears appear in forested and mountainous zones throughout Pailune. The dense woods between settlements are prime bear territory.

• River Areas: Bears frequently spawn near rivers and streams across multiple regions. Check riverbanks and forest clearings.

• Dense Woodland Zones: Any forested area in the open world has a chance to contain bears. They spawn most commonly in areas with thick tree cover and rocky terrain.

How to Mount a Bear

Mounting a bear requires a different approach than horse taming. There is no taming minigame; instead, you must defeat the bear in combat first.

1. Step 1: Find a bear in the wilderness and engage it in combat.

2. Step 2: Damage the bear until it becomes exhausted and stops moving. You need to deplete a significant portion of its health bar.

3. Step 3: When the bear is incapacitated, quickly approach it and press the ride button prompt that appears on screen.

4. Step 4: You now control the bear as a mount. The bear is immediately rideable with no additional minigame.

The window for mounting the bear after it collapses is short. If you take too long, the bear may recover and resume attacking you. Sprint toward it immediately once it drops.

Important Limitations

There are several critical limitations to keep in mind:

• Temporary Only: Bears are temporary mounts. You cannot register them at stables or summon them later. Once you dismount, the bear is no longer your mount.

• Hostile After Dismount: When you dismount a bear, it immediately turns hostile toward you. Move away quickly or draw your weapon to defend yourself.

• No Stabling: There are no known stables or facilities that accept bears. This means you cannot keep a bear as a permanent companion.

• Dismount on Damage: Taking enough damage from enemy attacks while riding a bear can knock you off, ending the mount session and making the bear aggressive toward you.

• Low Speed: Bears move significantly slower than horses. They are combat mounts, not travel mounts.

All Temporary Mount Types

Bears are one of several temporary mounts available in Crimson Desert. Here is a comparison of all temporary mount types:

Bear vs. Horse Comparison

Tips

• Use bears as situational combat tools rather than primary transportation. Ride them into a fight, deal damage, then move on to your horse.

• If you need to dismount, make sure you are ready to sprint away or have your weapon drawn. The bear turns hostile instantly.

• Bears work well for clearing groups of weaker enemies at blockaded areas but may struggle against bosses that have dismount mechanics.

• You can find bears near rivers and forested areas throughout most regions of the game. Check the Hernand Highlands for the earliest encounters.

• Before engaging a bear you want to ride, clear nearby enemies first. Fighting both the bear and enemies at the same time makes the encounter harder than necessary.

• Bears cannot jump obstacles or swim effectively. Stick to flat, open terrain while mounted on a bear.

Three Bear Mounts at a Glance

The three rideable bears available after Patch 1.06.00 and Patch 1.07.00 use two completely different acquisition paths. The wild Brown Bear and the Clawed Bear are both meat-tameable through the Special Mounts trust loop, while the legendary White Bear is registered through a kill-and-craft witch consumable. The comparison table below summarises every variant the community has confirmed as registerable as of the 1.07.00 patch cycle.

Feed and Trust Rules for Tameable Bears

• All non-bird meats grant 40 trust per feed when used on a Brown Bear or Clawed Bear. Lean Meat, Fine Meat, Tough Meat, and Marbled Meat are all valid.

• Bird Meat is rejected by both bears. Feeding bird meat consumes the inventory stack with zero trust gained.

• Honey has been suggested as an alternative feed but is not confirmed in the current build. Honey Tea is a player consumable and does not interact with the mount trust system.

• Make a manual save before engaging. The taming attempt fails permanently if the bear dies; the only recovery is reloading or waiting for the next respawn cycle.

Force Palm From the Ground or From the Saddle

Both rideable bears accept Force Palm from either stance. The on-foot loop produces an unambiguous on-screen Ride prompt when the bear is ready, which is the cue to mount and start feeding. The on-saddle loop avoids the bear's swing-grab attack and is gentler on player health, but the head-bow animation that signals the open feed window is much harder to read from the saddle. New players are usually better off using the on-foot loop until they recognise the head-bow timing. Either method works.

Bear Saddles

Bear saddles are sold at the standard Saddleries network. A single bear saddle fits any of the three rideable bears.

For the per-mount saddle list and full vendor map pointers, see All Saddles and Saddleries.

Re-Blockading Rideable Bear Spawns

The Beast Hunters Camp Clawed Bear rider and certain neighbouring Brown Bear spawns share state with the Liberation System. After a camp is fully cleared, the rideable rider may not respawn under normal world rules. The fix is Settings to Gameplay to Re-Blockade Frequency to War, then leave and return to the area. The trigger is random and may take more than one reload. See Re-Blockading for the full set of areas that benefit from this setting.

White Bear vs Tameable Bears

The legendary White Bear is the only bear mount obtained through a kill-skin-craft path rather than the Special Mounts trust loop. Treat it as part of the bear roster for completion purposes but do not bring meat for the encounter. The reagent skinned from the carcass is converted into a permanent unlock consumable at any witch crafting vendor; see Witch Locations and Witch's Workshops for vendor map pointers. The Witch's House near the main city is the most common early-game stop. The Legendary Mounts Guide covers the full legendary roster alongside the Silver Fang and Snowwhite Deer.

Related Articles

• Mounts

• Horse Taming

• Mounted Combat

• Raptor Mounts

• Dragon Riding

• ATAG Mech

Bear as Animal Companion

The permanent Polar Bear legendary mount does not just serve as a ride. When you dismount, the bear stays with you and actively fights alongside you as an animal companion. It will engage any nearby hostile creatures or enemies on its own, functioning as a second combatant during encounters.

The bear's companion damage is extremely high. Even in late-game areas where enemies have significantly more health, the Polar Bear continues to deal what can only be described as ridiculous damage, making it one of the strongest combat assets in the game regardless of zone. This passive fighting behavior is unique among the legendary mounts; the Silver Fang wolf also fights while dismounted, but the bear's raw damage output exceeds it.

While fighting as a companion, the bear can also use a roar ability that stuns nearby enemies. This crowd control effect hits multiple targets in a radius around the bear, temporarily incapacitating them and creating openings for you to land free hits or heal. The combination of high damage, area stuns, and independent targeting makes the bear companion extremely effective for clearing camps and handling group encounters.

Brown Bears and Black Bears

In addition to the permanent Polar Bear mount, wild brown bears and black bears found throughout the map can be ridden as temporary mounts. You need to stagger them first by dealing damage until they collapse, then stow your weapon and press the mount prompt that appears.

Members of the Black Bear faction ride bears that have saddles fitted to them, implying that the game's lore supports bears as trained, long-term mounts. If you knock a Black Bear faction rider off their mount, you can steal the saddled bear and ride it yourself.

All bear mount variants, including the wild brown and black bears, share the same attack moveset as the legendary Polar Bear. They have two attack options: a regular claw swipe and a double claw swipe on the turning slash input. The only difference is that wild bears are temporary; you cannot register them at a stable or summon them later. The existence of multiple bear color variants has led players to hope that all bear types will eventually become available as permanent mounts, giving riders the option to choose their preferred color while retaining the full bear combat functionality.

Bears as Permanent Special Mounts (Patches 1.06 and 1.07)

Patch 1.06.00 added bears to the Special Mounts system, converting several previously temporary bear variants into permanent registerable mounts. Patch 1.07.00 expanded the bear roster further with additional variants and added reins as a visible accessory on saddled bear mounts. The earlier sections of this article describe the pre-1.06 temporary-mount behaviour; the section below covers the permanent path.

Bear Variants Confirmed Registerable

The 1.06.00 launch of the system confirmed Brown Bear and Clawed Bear as rideable permanent mounts. Patch 1.07.00 added more bear variants to the rideable pool, with the patch notes confirming the change without naming every type up front. The community has been mapping the new variants to specific spawn sites as players find them; the table below covers the patch-confirmed entries.

Taming Loop for Bears

Bears use the same universal trust loop as other Special Mounts, with raw meat as the primary feed item.

Patch 1.06.00's feed-while-riding change applies here: you no longer need to dismount to feed a freshly subdued bear. See Mounted Combat for the broader feed-while-riding note.

Bear Saddle Vendors

Bear saddles are sold at two saddleries. A single bear saddle fits every rideable bear variant.

See All Saddles for the cross-mount saddle directory, Saddleries for the saddlery network, and Special Mounts for the broader trust-loop system.

Difference From the Legendary Polar Bear (White Bear) Mount

The 1.06/1.07 bear-mount path is separate from the legendary White Bear (Polar Bear) registered through the Sigil of Solidarity in Patch 1.01.00. The legendary White Bear remains the highest-damage bear mount and is the only bear that fights autonomously as an animal companion while you are on foot, as described in the earlier section of this article. The 1.06/1.07 special-mount bears do not provide the same dismount-companion behaviour; they follow the standard Special Mounts behaviour. Players who want both the legendary combat companion and a regular registered bear collection can pursue both paths on the same save without conflict.