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Horse Leveling
April 8, 2026 at 02:17 PM
Convert partial-term wikilinks to full-term wikilinks (2 merges)
Every horse in Crimson Desert uses a trust-based leveling system that governs which skills and abilities the mount can perform. Trust ranges from Level 1 to Level 5, and a freshly tamed or purchased horse always starts at Level 1 with only basic walking and galloping available. As trust grows, the horse learns new movement techniques, combat maneuvers, and traversal skills that fundamentally change how you explore the world of Pywel.
Unlike Kliff's character stats, horse trust is not raised through combat or quests. Instead, it increases through three everyday activities: riding, feeding, and petting. The system rewards players who use a single horse consistently rather than swapping mounts often, since trust progress is tracked per individual horse. Each of the horse breeds in the game follows the same general trust progression, but the specific skills unlocked at higher levels vary by breed. Legendary horses like Royler, Rokade, and Camora have unique abilities that only appear at certain trust milestones.
Trust is displayed as a level number (1 through 5) visible in your horse's inventory screen. To check it, mount your horse, open the inventory, and press R1 (PlayStation), RT (Xbox), or Tab (PC) to switch to the horse tab. The trust level appears alongside the horse's base stats and equipped horse items. There is no visible experience bar; the trust level simply advances once enough combined interaction has accumulated.
Trust is built through three distinct activities, each contributing independently to the total. Because each method appears to have its own daily cap on how much it contributes, the fastest way to level a horse is to combine all three every day rather than relying on just one.
The most passive way to build trust is simply riding your horse. Every minute you spend mounted contributes a small amount of trust progress. Since you will be riding constantly while exploring, completing quests, and traveling between towns, this trust gain adds up over time without any extra effort. The key requirement is consistency: you need to keep the same horse as your active mount. Switching to a different horse resets nothing, but the idle horse does not gain any riding trust while benched.
Riding trust accumulates during normal travel, sprinting, galloping, and even during mounted combat. There is no benefit to riding in circles or performing specific actions; distance covered and time spent riding are what matter.
Feeding your horse is one of the more impactful methods for building trust. You can feed your horse while mounted by opening your inventory, selecting a feed item, holding the Use button, and choosing the "Feed Horse" option. Alternatively, you can summon your horse, open your inventory, select a food item, and discard it on the ground near the horse. The horse will walk over and eat the dropped item.
Feed items are available from any Saddlery shop. The most common options are listed below.
Item | Effect | Source |
|---|---|---|
Moderate health recovery | Saddlery shops, loot | |
Small health recovery | Saddlery shops, loot | |
Saddlery shops | ||
Health recovery when dropped near horse | General merchants, gathering | |
Health recovery when dropped near horse | Gathering, merchants | |
Pushes horse health to maximum; survive deadly blows temporarily | Saddlery shops, stealing | |
Amplifies horse stamina to maximum | Saddlery shops |
Feeding appears to contribute meaningful trust roughly three times per in-game day. After that point, additional feeding still heals and buffs the horse but does not seem to add more trust progress until the next day cycle. For this reason, it is worth carrying a small stock of cheap feed items (Hay or Sugar Beets are the most cost-effective) and feeding your horse periodically rather than dumping everything at once.
Petting is the easiest free method for building trust because it costs nothing and can be done at any time. To pet your horse, look at it and hold the focus button (CTRL on PC, LB on Xbox, L1 on PlayStation), then press R (PC) or the corresponding prompt button. Kliff will reach out and stroke the horse's neck, and a small trust gain occurs.
Like feeding, petting has a daily cap. You cannot max out a horse's trust purely through petting in a single session. However, making it a habit to pet your horse every time you dismount to gather materials, enter a shop, or visit a town will add up significantly. Think of petting as a free bonus on top of riding and feeding rather than a primary leveling method.
Each trust level unlocks a new tier of abilities for your horse. The exact skills vary by breed, but the general pattern holds for all horses: Level 2 introduces faster movement, Level 3 adds maneuverability and combat moves, Level 4 grants top-speed sprinting, and Level 5 opens up advanced traversal like swimming and breed-specific signature moves.
The following table shows the standard skill unlock pattern shared by most horse breeds, including Herspia, Priden, Elantrima, and Numont. Legendary and specialty breeds deviate from this pattern at certain levels.
Trust Level | Skills Unlocked | Description |
|---|---|---|
Level 1 | Walk, Gallop | Basic movement only. The horse responds to directional inputs and can gallop at a moderate pace. |
Level 2 | Dash | Tap the sprint input repeatedly to dash. The horse moves noticeably faster than a basic gallop, making mid-range travel much quicker. |
Level 3 | Drift, Back Kick | Drift lets you execute sharp, racing-style turns while galloping at speed. Back Kick damages enemies behind the horse, useful for shaking off pursuers. |
Level 4 | Sprint | Full-speed sprinting becomes available. This is significantly faster than dashing and is the primary long-distance travel speed. |
Level 5 | Swimming III, Quick Start, Double Jump | The horse can swim through water at improved speed, launch into motion quickly from a standstill, and perform a mid-air double jump for reaching elevated terrain. |
While the core progression (Dash at Level 2, Sprint at Level 4) is consistent, several breeds gain unique skills at Level 3 or Level 5 that set them apart.
Breed | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
Lateral Movement (Level 3) | Can strafe sideways while mounted. Built for carrying goods with high stamina and an extra inventory slot. Also learns Swimming III, Quick Start, and Double Jump at Level 5. | |
High Jump, Double Jump (Level 5) | Best verticality among standard breeds. High Jump lets the horse clear large obstacles and reach elevated areas that other breeds cannot. | |
Instant Acceleration, Consecutive Instant Acceleration (Level 5) | The fastest standard breed. Instant Acceleration provides a massive speed burst while drifting. Consecutive Instant Acceleration chains multiple bursts together. Low health and stamina are the trade-off. | |
Royler (Legendary) | Instant Acceleration (Level 3), Consecutive Instant Acceleration, Lateral Movement, Water Sprint (Level 5) | The fastest horse in the game with Movement Speed 4. Unlocks skills earlier than other breeds. Also gains Flurry Slash (with Champron equipped) and Double Jump at Level 2. |
Rokade (Legendary) | High health pool, combat-oriented skills | The tankiest horse with the highest health of any mount. A war horse ideal for sustained mounted combat and surviving enemy attacks. |
Camora (Legendary) | Highest Attack and Defense stats | Best combat horse for dealing and absorbing damage. Skills emphasize aggressive mounted combat over speed or traversal. |
Every horse in Crimson Desert has eight core stats. These stats are determined by the horse's breed and are partially randomized when taming wild horses, meaning two horses of the same breed can have slightly different values. Horse items (equipment from Saddlery shops) can further modify these stats.
To illustrate how stats differ across breeds, here is a comparison of base stats for several horses. Wild horses of the same breed may vary slightly due to randomization.
Breed | Attack | Speed | Accel. | Handling | Jump | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
300 | 150 | 7 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
400 | 195 | 10 | 60 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
600 | 255 | 10 | 50 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
Royler (Legendary) | 350 | 315 | 10 | 50 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
In addition to leveling trust, you can boost your horse's effective stats by equipping gear from Saddlery vendors. Horses have five equipment slots, each affecting different aspects of performance.
Slot | Primary Effect | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Saddle | Increases maximum Health | Directly improves survivability. A good Saddle is one of the first upgrades worth buying. |
Passive Stamina regeneration | Horseshoes regenerate stamina over time (e.g., Shabby Horseshoes restore 1.0 stamina per second). Essential for long-distance travel without rest stops. | |
Mounted attack power and stability | Improves damage output during mounted combat and helps Kliff stay seated during impacts. | |
Champron | Head armor; may unlock special attacks | Royler gains the Flurry Slash ability when a Champron is equipped. Also adds Defense. |
Body armor for Defense | The heaviest defensive slot. Available from Contribution Shops and some Saddleries. Makes your horse significantly tougher in combat zones. |
Major Saddlery vendors include Annabella's in Hernand, Fiona's in Demeniss, Eldred's in Pailune, and Bruna's shop. Bardings are also available from Contribution Shops, which accept Contribution Points instead of Silver Coins. Building trust with Saddlery merchants over time can unlock additional equipment for purchase.
Keeping your horse healthy is closely tied to leveling because an injured or fatigued horse cannot use its higher-level abilities. When a horse takes too much damage, it becomes visibly injured (bloody marks on the coat, the horse sits down when summoned) and loses access to sprinting and dashing. If stamina runs out, the horse becomes fatigued and slows to a walk.
Force Palm: Healing is the best field option. This is an upgrade to the standard Force Palm ability that you unlock with an Abyss Artifact. Stand near your horse, charge Force Palm (R3 on controller, middle mouse on PC), then press L3 (controller) or Tab (PC) to switch to the healing variant. It restores horse health instantly and costs nothing. Unlock this ability as soon as possible.
Horse Tonic fully restores your horse's health and can be used while mounted through the inventory Feed option. Available at any Saddlery shop and sometimes found as loot or stolen from NPCs.
Feed Items (Hay, Sugar Beets, Sugar Cubes) provide gradual health recovery. Less effective than Tonics for emergency healing, but cheaper and more common.
Stable Services provide full health and stamina recovery. Visit any stable (marked with a horseshoe icon on the map) and select "Retrieve and Heal Horse" from the stable keeper. This costs Copper or Silver Coins depending on injury severity. The stable near Greymane Camp becomes available after completing certain faction quests.
Horse Stamina is separate from health and depletes during sprinting and dashing. When it runs out, the horse reverts to walking speed until stamina recovers. Methods for restoring it include using a Horse Stimulant (instantly maxes stamina), equipping Horseshoes with passive stamina regeneration, or visiting a stable. Planning routes around stable locations helps on long journeys, especially before your horse reaches Sprint at Trust Level 4.
Stick with one horse. Trust is tracked per individual mount. Switching horses frequently splits your progress across multiple mounts. Pick your preferred breed early and ride it everywhere.
Combine all three methods daily. Riding, feeding, and petting each have their own daily contribution caps. Doing all three each day maximizes progress. Get into the habit of petting your horse every time you dismount and feeding it whenever you visit a merchant.
Buy cheap feed in bulk. Hay and Sugar Beets are inexpensive at any Saddlery. Keep a stack of 10 to 20 in your inventory so you never miss a feeding opportunity. The trust gain from a cheap Sugar Beet is the same as from an expensive Tonic when it comes to leveling.
Pet your horse at every stop. Petting costs nothing and takes only a few seconds. Before entering a dungeon, after finishing a conversation with an NPC, or while waiting for a quest event to trigger, take the time to pet your horse. These small interactions add up faster than you might expect.
Do not ignore early rides. Even during the prologue and early chapters when you have limited fast travel, use your horse for all overworld travel. The passive riding trust you accumulate during the story means your horse will hit Trust Level 2 or 3 naturally by mid-game if you are consistent.
Match your breed to your playstyle. If you prioritize speed and exploration, focus on leveling a Brianto or seek out Royler for the fastest possible mount. If you rely on mounted combat, invest in a tanky Rokade or combat-oriented Camora. Leveling a horse that fits your playstyle means you will use it more, which naturally accelerates trust gains.
Upgrade equipment early. While equipment does not directly raise trust, a horse with better Horseshoes (stamina regen) and a Saddle (more health) survives longer and sprints farther. This means more time riding and less time walking back to a stable, indirectly speeding up your trust gains.
Tame legendary horses when ready. The three legendary horses (Royler, Rokade, Camora) start at Trust Level 1 just like any other horse. If you plan to switch to a legendary mount, do it as soon as you can tame one so you start building trust early. Taming legendary horses requires at least Stamina Level 6 on Kliff.
Does trust carry over between characters?
No. When you switch between playable characters (for example, from Kliff to Damiane), each character has their own active horse with its own trust level. Damiane starts with a Brianto at Trust Level 1 in Chapter 3. You need to level her horse separately.
Can I lose trust?
Trust does not decrease. Once you reach a trust level, it is permanent for that specific horse. Even if the horse is injured and you leave it at a stable for a while, the trust level remains.
Do horse challenges count toward trust?
Completing Horse Challenges (the Harmonious Hooves mastery series) does not directly increase trust. However, the act of riding, taming, and performing mounted actions during those challenges does contribute normal riding trust.
Is there a way to check exact trust progress?
The game does not display a precise experience bar for horse trust. You only see the current trust level (1 through 5) on the horse inventory screen. There is no way to see how close you are to the next level.
What happens at Trust Level 5?
Trust Level 5 is the maximum. At this point, all breed-specific skills are unlocked and the horse is at full capability. There is no further progression beyond Level 5, but you can continue to improve the horse's performance through better equipment from Saddlery shops.
Horse Guide for a general overview of horses in Crimson Desert
Horse Breeds for detailed information on each breed
Horse Taming for the complete taming guide and minigame walkthrough
Horse Items for all equippable Saddlery gear
Horse Challenges for the Harmonious Hooves mastery challenge guide
Mounts for all mount types including bears, raptors, dragons, and vehicles
Mounted Combat Guide for fighting while on horseback
