Horse Leveling is one of the most fundamental aspects of the Training Life Skill.

Horses gain experience by running around. After a horse levels, he will require more experience than the last level.

Leveling Horses increases their stats and skills. Max level for a tier 1-7 horse is 30. Max level for a Tier 8, T9 Dream, or T10 Mythical horse is level 100.

Horse Leveling takes longer for higher tier horses. A level 1 tier 8 takes about 40 to 50 hours of AFK Training to reach level 30.

 

Are you being left in the dust on a potato?! Dust no good! Potato for soup! Run around and be a horse leveling champ of the Dustless League!! 🙂

*laughs*

BDO Horse Leveling

Horse Leveling at Higher Tiers

The max level of Tier 8 horses, Dream horses, and Mythical horses is level 100.  (Source: patch notes June 29, 2021)

  • Level 31+ do NOT gain new skills
  • Level 31+ do NOT increase the stats of the horse.
    • HP, Stamina, Max Weight, Speed, Acceleration, Turn, Brake, etc do NOT increase
  • You DO gain Training EXP when the horse levels up.
  • Horses that are Lv. 31 or higher can be registered in the Horse Market and Breeding Market.
    • Levels over 30 have no impact on their price in the Horse Market, Breeding Market, and Imperial Delivery.
  • Horses or players that are 15 levels above the monsters will not be attacked by the monsters.
    • excludes some events in monster zones.

Horse XP Per Tick

How fast a horse levels is determined by several factors. One of these is “Horse EXP per tick”

Your mount gains EXP every X meters it travels.

You can view this whenever you are traveling on your horse and press the P key to view their EXP bar.

Calculate EXP Per Tick:

  • Take note of your current Horse EXP. Jot this down.
  • Begin traveling
  • Start counting the seconds until the Horse EXP bar moves up. Record the seconds.
  • After about 5 to 11 seconds, the number will increase. Jot this down.
  • The difference is that horse’s current “EXP per tick”
  • Variations in EXP Per Tick is common even if you use the same food/buffs/etc on the same horse and route
    • variation is dependant upon several factors, which we will discuss below
    • find your average XP per Tick by recording the increase several times

 

 

BDO Horse Leveling Experience Bar

How to Calculate Horse Leveling Time

Using the method above, jot down all of the following:

  • Horse Tier
  • Current Horse Level
  • Desired Horse Level
  • EXP Per Tick (usually a number between 400 and 1500)
  • Seconds Per Tick (usually a number between 6 to 10 seconds and up to 25 seconds for wagons)
  • Current EXP (shown in the Mount EXP bar, aftering pressing P)

The image below is from the wonderful website by Blisschen, which has a Horse Level Time Calculator.

 

Blisscen's Horse Level Time Calculator

 

Increasing Horse EXP Per Tick

  • Special Events like “Giddy Up”
  • Maintain a good internet connection and computer.
    • Lag and GPU performance can impact horse travel distance.
  • Straight paths of longer distances with less turns
    • Every time your horse makes even a slight turn, the speed decreases before it climbs back up again.
  • Clear roads (no obtacles like stones, monsters, etc)
  • Riding Crops can lower the tick time dramatically for solo and wagon training
  • Training Gear that increases Training Mastery and Mount EXP (Be careful, as Mastery gear can get very expensive.)
  • Increase Horse Speed (active travel using skills or horse speed gear)
    • wagons have a slower and lower exp tick than solo horses (But they also level 4 horses at the same time.)
      • wagon wheels help improve speed
    • Krogdalo Horse Gear and Granvere give +3% to +8% Movement Speed

 

Mount Exp Items for Horse Leveling

These items will help you level your horse faster so it can reach level 30.

Mount Exp Item Effect
Trainer’s Clothes Mount EXP +15% (Can use Tailoring Coupon on)
Silver Embroidered Trainer’s Clothes Movement Speed +1, Mount EXP +5%.
EXP increases with every enhancement.
Fine Horse Trainer’s Clothes Movement Speed +1, Mount EXP +7%.
Exchange “Golden Seal – [Imperial Training]”
EXP increases with every enhancement.
Venia Riding Attire (Pearl Shop) Mount EXP +20%.
Can be equipped with Trainer’s Clothes.
Value Pack (Pearl Shop)
 Mount EXP +30% (Pearl Shop)
Artifacts & Lightstones
 Mount Exp +25% (Horses Over Flowers Combo)

 

Mount EXP Consumables

You can also increase the horse’s EXP gain by using the following consumables:

  • Elixirs:
    • Elixir of Training: +8% Horse EXP, 5 min duration, 10 min for [Party]
    • Elixir of Expert Training: 10% Horse EXP: 8 min duration, 15 min for [Party]
    • [Mix] Time-Training Elixir: 15% Life EXP, 10% Mount EXP, 8 min duration
    • Celerity Draught: Mount EXP +15%, Training EXP +20%, 180 min duration
    • Unbridaled Celerity Draught: Mount EXP +15%,Training EXP +20%, 360 min duration
    • Fiery Celerity Draught: Mount EXP +30%, Training EXP +30%, 600 min duration
  • Food:
    • Stonetail Wind’s Meal: Mount EXP +10%, Training EXP +20%, Life Skill Mastery +25 (Grand Prix Reward)
    • Carrot Confits: restore 12,500 stamina and 5,500 HP instantly with a 5 minute cool down. (you can use while AFK Training to speed mount leveling time)

Horse Leveling via Wagon or Solo?

You can connect 4 horses to a Merchant Wagon and level 4 horses at the same time.

So which horse leveling method is best?

There are a few things to consider before you level horses.

  • Wagons give an overall greater amount of Mount Experience within the same time frame, but the exprience is split between 4 horses.
  • Wagons nullify the set effects of horse costumes.
  • Riding crops increase the speed of wagons.
  • Wagons will take longer to level all 4 horses vs just one horse solo.
  • Wagons potentially produce horses with lower skills.
  • Enhanced wagon wheels will improve experience.

In other words, use a wagon, if you have 4 horses of low tier.

If the horse is a T9, or a T8 and you’re trying to obtain Courser status, don’t use a wagon.

BDO Merchant Wagon for Horse Leveling

Forest Path Wagon

Forest Path Wagon with Rush is the top tier wagon for the most mount experience gain.

Forest Rush is a skill like Instant Accel, causing greater speed.

Forest Path Wagon requires 2 short daily quests and materials to obtain. Its greatest benefit is it has an unlimited Lifespan.

BDO Forest Path Wagon

Forest Path Wagon

Speed/Accel: 105%
Turn/Brake: 110%
Weight Limit: 5000LT
Inventory Slots: 22
Horses: 4
Special Skill: Forest Rush
Lifespan: Unlimited

 

Forest Path Wagon Guide

Forest Path Wagon for Horse Leveling

All Wagon Stats

Merchant Wagon has the lowest cost and is the easiest wagon to craft for horse leveling. But Forest Path Wagon has the best stats, especially if you obtain and enhance the gear. Noble has 4 spaces for horses as well, but isn’t as fast.

Minature Elephant has the same LT as the Shabby Wagon after he is leveled to 15. Forest Path Wagon is considered BIS and has the largest weight capacity and excels in every stat except for base Speed. (This can be improved with gear.)

Wagon Speed Inventory Slots Weight Lifespan Horses Wheels Durability Impact Absorber
Flimsy 100% 6 900 LT 148,501 1 2 9900 70
Shabby 110% 8 1200 LT 247,501 1 2 9900 80
Mini Elephant
(level 15)		 105% 16 1200 LT infinite 0 0 13000 –
Strong 110% 10 1500 LT 495,001 1 2 11900 80
White 110% 12 2200 LT 990,001 1 2 13900 80
Farm 100% 14 2700 LT 247,501 2 4 15900 80
Trade 100% 16 3200 LT 495,001 2 4 17900 80
Merchant 100% 18 3700 LT 990,001 4 4 19900 80
Noble 95% 20 4200 LT 990,001 4 4 21900 80
Forest Path 105% 22 5000 LT infinite 4 4 29900 80

 

Example Horse Leveling Report

Training Professional 7

T8B Horse Coat, Level 20, +10 Light Iron Horseshoes

  • Speed% 146.4
  • Accel% 144.9
  • Turn% 141.1
  • Brake% 140.4
Merchant Wagon +10 Solo T8B
 Solo
Training Clothes		 Solo
Riding Crop		 Solo Riding Crop
+ Training Clothes
Tick 21 seconds 14 seconds 14 seconds 9 seconds 9 seconds
Experience per Tick 472.14 740.93 767.47 677.08 767.41
7 Minute Experience per horse 9,915 22,228 23,024 31,146 35,301
Experience total 39,660 22,228 23,024 31,146 35,301

Source: Horse vs Wagon Horse Exp doc by Flippington Vain#1554

 

Horse Leveling Routes

You can save and load navigation routes from the World Map (M).

 

  • RMB on the World Map to set and save 3 routes.
  • Select “Set Looped Auto-Path”
  • Path will turn green.
  • Alt+RMB adds check points.
  • Press T to travel the Auto-Path
BDO Horse Leveling: Set Looped Auto Path
BDO Horse Leveling: Save Looped Auto Path
  • The routes are saved locally to your PC, so they won’t be loaded when you play from another PC.
BDO Horse Leveling: Retrieve Looped Auto Path
  • You can load and delete the saved routes by pressing the button “Retrive Looped Auto-Path” located at the bottom of the World Map.

Horse Leveling Route Best Practices

  • Horse leveling routes should be as straight as possible
  • You can be knocked off your horse or killed, if you auto-path outside a safe zone
    • Optionally designate a level 49 character to be your main trainer to avoid PVP
  • Choose routes without rocks, monsters, and other obstacles in the way
  • Watch the loop run once to make sure the loop will work well.
  • Avoid any lag in your route (Some computers and connections will lag in large cities like Calpheon.)
  • Some routes might be really good for solo horses, but awful for wagons.

    Here are some example routes:

    BDO Horse Leveling Route Map Calpheon

    Route credit to ʝεŋʝıo (míѕѕ_чunα)

    BDO Horse Leveling Route Map Olvia

    Route credit to Jezirea – NA

    BDO Horse Leveling Route Map Calpheon

    Route credit to KMD

    BDO Horse Leveling Route Map Calpheon

    Route credit to MesaFalcon

     

    Sources & Additional Info