Special Mounts is a Crimson Desert gameplay system added in Patch 1.06.00 on May 10, 2026. The system lets the player subdue and tame eleven huntable species, raise their trust to one hundred, and register them as permanent rideable mounts with a dedicated inventory tab separate from horses.
Special Mounts sit alongside the existing horse roster covered by the Mounts page. They are intended for traversal across difficult terrain and for cosmetic variety; combat use varies by species.
Universal Tame Loop
Find the target species in the wild. Most ferocious species use Force Palm as the recommended stun.
Light-attack or stun the animal during the chase phase. Avoid killing it; reduced damage attacks keep the animal alive long enough to subdue.
Mount the animal on the Ride prompt. Do not dismount before the tame completes.
Open the inventory and feed the animal from the appropriate diet category. Trust gains roughly forty per feeding for most species.
When trust reaches one hundred, choose Take In. The mount registers permanently and appears in the Special Mounts inventory tab.
Take In is bound to the bottom-face button by default (Y on Xbox controllers, Triangle on PlayStation). The Special Mounts inventory tab is separate from horses, and each tamed species has a quickslot for fast selection.
Tameable Species
Species | Rideable Variant | Diet | Notable Location |
|---|---|---|---|
Rainforest Tiger (male only) | Meat only | Rainforest north of Beardtree Gorge | |
Legendary White Lion or Demeniss circus captive | Meat only | Varnia pride or Demeniss circus | |
Meat | Howlsands Camp and Sandfang Marauder packs | ||
Raw meat | Multiple regions | ||
Mixed | Multiple regions | ||
Mixed | Varnia desert | ||
Giant Iguana (Green) and Giant Iguana (Red) | Vegetables only | Multiple regions | |
Mixed | Multiple regions | ||
Mixed | Multiple regions | ||
Icicle Edge Alpine Ibex (Mountain Goat) | Mixed | Mountain regions | |
Mixed | Multiple regions |
Tigers and Lions strictly require meat. Iguanas strictly require vegetables. Most ferocious species accept some form of meat. Mixed-diet species accept several food categories, but trust gain favors a sensible primary food consistent with the animal's behavior in the wild.
Confirmed Special Mounts (Patches 1.06 and 1.07)
The following entries cover every Special Mount confirmed through patches 1.06.00 and 1.07.00, with the taming method, food category, world spawn, and saddle vendor each player needs to register the mount. Use the universal tame loop above for any species marked as Force Palm; White Bear and Sandwalk Camel are the two exceptions and use the kill-skin-craft and quest-reward paths noted in their rows.
Mount | Taming Method | Food | Location | Saddle Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Knock the rider off, kite away from the camp, then Force Palm until the Ride prompt appears. | Any non-bird meat (40 trust per piece). Bird meat does not work on bears. | Beast Hunters Camp near Silver Wolf Mountain. | Bear saddle vendors near Hernand, Pailune (Araminta), and the Calphade saddlery. | |
Force Palm until the Ride prompt, then feed from inventory. | Any non-bird meat. Tames in roughly three pieces. | Fast travel point above the Steel Mountains near Willow River, just below the Sanctum of Penitence. Four possible spawn nodes. | Brown bear saddle sold by Araminta in Pailune; also stocked at the Hernand-area saddler and the Calphade saddlery. | |
Defeat the legendary white bear in combat, skin the corpse, then bring the skin item to a witch NPC to craft the biscuit-style consumable that unlocks the mount in the Special Mounts tab. | Not applicable. Unlocked via kill, skin, and craft rather than the universal tame loop. | Frostpeak Cave and the Whitewash Sanctuary area near Wolf Mountain. | Uses the bear-saddle line shared with the brown and clawed variants. | |
Kite or kill the other tigers in the pride to isolate one regular male, then Force Palm until the Ride prompt. | Meat only. Bird meat awards 35 trust; lean, fine, tough, and marbled meats award 40. | Cliff/island east of Demenissia and north of Delesyia, just above the Old Soul Legendary Island. The legendary white tiger spawns with the pride. | Stocked alongside the new large-cat saddle line; see Saddleries for the regional directory. | |
Three viable paths. Force Palm the male of a wild pride (see Lion for the Vanya pride spawn), free a captive lion from the Demenissia Circus pen, or break off a male from the Hasteless legendary-animals encounter. | Meat only. Bird meat awards 35 trust; other meats award 40. | Pride beneath Vanya (respawns at night even after the legendary white lion is defeated); Demenissia Circus captive pen; Hasteless legendary-animals encounter site. | Shares the large-cat saddle line. | |
Knock the enemy rider off the riderless raptor. Chase the raptor, mount it on the prompt, and feed meat from inventory. | Meat (about 40 trust per piece; bird meat ~35). | Southern Crimson Desert / Tash Kalpha. Spawns near the Crimson Mountains Fortress, Watchtower, Dushar, and Dawnreach outposts. | Raptor saddle line; check the regional saddleries serving the Tash Kalpha and Hernand belts. | |
Iguanas ridden by enemies in the wild are hostile and cannot be tamed off the rider. The reliable source is the Tash Kalpha town fighting pit: approach with a lantern and choose Steal. Run out of the red zone if the guards notice. | Vegetables only. Carrots, sweet potato, and asparagus each award 40 trust; about three vegetables completes the tame. | Fighting pit inside a Tash Kalpha town. | Giant Iguana Saddle sold at the Tash Kalpha tannery/saddle vendor located next to the fighting pit. | |
Inside the Blood Steel Camp fortress, climb a roofed building (latch onto the wall, hold LT, Force Palm to enter), grab the egg and read the Leaping Kuku Bird Research Journal. Carry the egg to the marked nest spot, drop with RB/R1, then wait roughly two in-game hours (~5 real minutes) without leaving or fast travelling. Hold X/Square to hatch when it glows. | Not applicable. The mount is hatched from the egg rather than tamed. | Steel Mountains south of Demenissia, inside the Blood Steel Camp fortress. | Leaping Kuku Bird Saddle sold by the Hernand-region saddle vendor (patch notes also list a Calphade option). | |
Quest reward, not a tame. Complete the Red Wind Merchant Guild side quest "Outlaws of the Desert": track and defeat the Sand Fang Marauders leader, then deliver the news to nearby locals. | Not applicable for the unlock; the mount registers on quest completion. | Red Wind Merchant Guild storyline in the Crimson Desert. Available from early chapters; players on chapter 6-7 saves can still access it. | Sandwalk Camel Saddle sold via the regional camel saddle line; check Varnia first. | |
Force Palm the alpha after kiting or killing the smaller pack wolves. Patch 1.07.00 added wolf variants to the registerable pool. | Meat. Bird meat awards 35 trust; other meats award 40. | Three confirmed sites in the Hernand and Pailune belt: Howling Hill camp ridge, Silver Wolf Cave fast travel, and Fort Ocelon. | Wolf saddle sold at the Hernand main town stable and the Gold Leaf Trading Post. | |
Force Palm the alpha after isolating it from the pack. Added to the registerable pool in 1.07.00. | Meat. Bird meat awards 55 trust; other meats award 40. | the Hernand highland ridge near The Sage's Peak; spawns at the top, the mid-slope, or in the wider area below the cliff. | Same wolf-saddle line as the Large Wolf. |
For the saddle directory, see Saddleries. For the catalog comparison with horses, see All Mounts Comparison. For the umbrella bear walkthrough, see Bear Mounts. For the Hasteless lion path, see Legendary Animals.
Players who liberate the surrounding outposts before registering a mount can have NPC-ridden spawns despawn permanently. The Re-Blockading setting at War can reseed the area; the 1.07.00 patch line that increased the world animal count may also help, but the fix is not confirmed for every species.
Species-Specific Notes
Tiger
Tigers spawn at only one location: the Rainforest north of Beardtree Gorge, near Giant's Yard Watchtower and north of Demeniss. Only regular males are tameable; legendary variants are kill-only. Bring meat and avoid killing the target.
Lion
Lions have two acquisition paths in 1.06: the Legendary White Lion pride in the Varnia region, or the Demeniss circus captive that spawns inside the city limits. Both paths require meat and the same tame loop.
Wolf
Wolves spawn around Howlsands Camp and as part of Sandfang Marauder packs. Force Palm is the recommended skill for the initial stun. The 1.07 patch adds additional wolf types to the rideable pool.
Bear
Brown Bear and Clawed Bear are both rideable in 1.06.00. The Bear Saddle costs 3 Silver at the Hernand or Pailune saddleries. Patch 1.07.00 adds further bear types.
Iguana
Giant Iguana variants (green and red) accept vegetables only. Saddles are sold at the Tommaso saddlery. The Iguana species page covers the in-world creature in more detail.
Saddleries
Saddles are sold by region-specific NPCs. The table below maps each rideable species to the saddleries that stock its equipment.
Saddlery Region | Mount Coverage |
|---|---|
Equinsher | |
Warthog |
Trust and Take-In
Trust climbs roughly forty points per successful feeding. Feeding the wrong food gives no trust and may aggravate the animal. The trust meter persists across mount sessions, so a partial tame can be resumed later if the animal is found again.
Take In converts the tamed animal into a permanent registered mount. After Take In, the mount appears in the Special Mounts inventory tab and can be summoned from a quickslot. The trust meter resets is no longer relevant once Take In has been confirmed.
Patch History
Patch | Change |
|---|---|
Added Special Mounts system across eleven species with the universal tame loop. | |
Added additional wolf and bear mount types. Added reins as a visible accessory on selected mounts. |
Patch 1.10.00 Additions
Patch 1.10.00 on June 5, 2026 added two new routes to a special mount through growth. A Baby Wyvern and a Kuku Bird Chick can each be fed to grow, and once they reach a certain growth level they can be registered as special mounts. The patch also added the Wyvern Saddle as mount equipment for the resulting Wyvern, plus a growth-level UI in the inventory for checking how close a pet or mount is to its next stage.
Community testing since the patch maps the growth loop in more detail: a newly hatched pet starts at growth Level 1, reaches Level 2 after its first feeding day, and becomes registerable at Level 3 after a third feeding day, with growth capped per in-game day. Feeding works by summoning the pet and dropping a few pieces of raw meat on the ground nearby; the pet eats and glows to confirm progress, which can be checked in the Pets menu and the growth-level inventory UI.
Patch 1.11.00 Mount Fixes
Patch 1.11.00 on June 12, 2026 made several reliability fixes to special and growable mounts. Mounts are no longer summoned in dangerous zones, and Wyverns are no longer summoned in an unmountable state. Players can now use Axiom Force to mount Wyverns without first learning Back Hang. Dismounting from a Wyvern in midair no longer forces an automatic remount, and attacking with a Wyvern on land no longer drains excessive stamina. Kuku bird eggs and Wyvern eggs are no longer stackable, and a dedicated map icon was added for baby wyverns. Growable pets also keep their names when they mature.
Related
Mounts: main mounts directory.
Patch 1.06.00: patch that introduced the system.
Patch 1.07.00: patch that expanded the mount roster.
Force Palm: recommended stun for ferocious species.
Patch 1.07.00 Expansion (Detailed)
Patch 1.07.00 expanded the Special Mounts roster on top of the 1.06.00 launch system. The headline addition is a set of new wolf variants and bear variants that can now be subdued and registered, plus reins added as a visible accessory on certain saddled mounts.
New Wolf Variants
The 1.07 update introduced rideable, registerable variants of the Large Wolf and Large White Wolf, which both follow the universal tame loop. These are separate from the legendary Silver Fang and from the white wolf seen in the Hadum questline.
Wolf Variant | Confirmed Spawn | Trust per Feed |
|---|---|---|
Three sites in Hernand and Pailune: Howling Hill camp ridge, Silver Wolf Cave fast travel, and Fort Ocelon. | Bird meat 35, other meats 40 | |
Hernand highland ridge near The Sage's Peak; spawns at the top, mid-slope, or in the wider area below the cliff. | Bird meat 55, other meats 40 |
Both wolves use Force Palm as the recommended stun. Smaller pack wolves must be killed or kited away first; only the larger alpha is tameable.
Additional Bear Variants
Patch 1.07.00 also expanded the bear roster beyond the 1.06.00 Brown Bear and Clawed Bear. The patch notes confirm new bear variants are subdueable and registerable, with saddle options unchanged. See Bear Mounts for the full bear breakdown.
Reins as a Visible Accessory
Patch 1.07.00 also added reins as a visible accessory on some special mounts whose pre-1.07 ridden state had no visible saddle gear. The reins appear alongside the saddle slot and are sourced from the same regional saddleries that supply each species' saddle. Reins do not currently grant stat bonuses; they are cosmetic. The unequip option introduced in 1.06.00 still applies, so players who prefer the bare-back look can keep the saddle off entirely.
Updated Saddlery Mapping
The wolf saddle vendors are confirmed at two locations near Hernand, both serving any rideable wolf species. See Saddleries for the full saddlery directory.
Species | Saddlery | Region |
|---|---|---|
Hernand main town stable | Hernand | |