Share this
Navigation Hide
1.Introduction
2.Awakening VS Succession
3.Skill Builds
4.Protected Skills
5.Locked Skills
6.Hotbar Skills
7.Core Skills
8.Skill Enhancement (Rabam) Skills
9.Skill Add-ons
10.Weapons
11.Armor
12.Accessories
13.Crystals
14.Artifacts and Lightstones
15.Useful Links/Credits
Introduction
Class guides are a rough explanation of the class, designed to give you an idea of the class and what you should be aiming for. You should really adapt the guide and follow your own instincts to match your play style!
I highly recommend looking at as many different sources as possible. The class discords are a great place to start, most have their own guides and resources as well as plenty of skilled players willing to help with questions.
The Tamer class has one of the more unique play styles in Black Desert. At level 20 you are able to summon your pet “Heilang” who will aid you in combat. Once you reach level 49 another skill becomes available which allows you to ride your pet as a mount and attack whilst riding it, which is incredibly fun, even if it’s not really recommended. The Tamer class is very dependent on their pet and should keep it summoned at all times during combat.
Tamer uses a Shortsword as their main hand weapon, and a Trinket as their secondary weapon. At level 56, Tamer unlocks her awakening skills and a new awakening weapon, which is the Celestial Bo Staff. Awakened Tamer is considered one of the harder classes to play because they have a lot of skill cancels and really require a lot of work to master. They are also one of the squishiest classes because of their low base damage reduction so if you make a mistake it can be very punishing. Tamer really shines in 1v1 situations because they have great engages and a good amount of iframes. Your pet can also stun while you are in your iframes and give you great opportunities or save you in some cases.
Awakening VS Succession
Tamer Succession and Awakening can be unlocked after level 56 after speaking to the Black Spirit and completing the Awakening and Succession quests under the suggestions tab.
- The Awakening will unlock a completely new skill tree, which will be your primary skills from now on. The skills in the pre-awakening are mostly utility skills, and your main damage dealers will be your Awakening skills.
- The Succession skill kit enhances your shortsword skills instead and only has a few awakening skills.
Your awakening weapon still affects your succession damage and vice versa. For example, if you are using the Succession kit, then 30% of your Awakening AP is still applied to the damage of Succession skills, as well as the additional item stats on the awakening weapon, such as Human/Species Damage and Accuracy.
Both specs are completely viable and comes down to player preference.
In PVE, Succession tends to do a little better, and is a much easier/relaxing grind, since Awakening requires a lot more work for the same result. However, in higher tier grind spots, succession can sometimes be a little squishy and awakening is slightly safer due to them having more protections.
In PVP, Awakening is the master of 1v1s and smallscale, she has lots of really good engages and potential for outplays. Succession can do well against specifc matchups, but in general, Awakening tends to perform better.
Skill Builds
Since the skill point update in late 2022, you can obtain all skills for approximately 1,000 skill points. Focus on your main skills first, then level the passives. The Weight Training skill should be leveled last since it only gives you weight limit increase.
[Click to Show/Hide] Tamer Awakening Build - 1005 Skill Points
Share this
[Click to Show/Hide] Tamer Succession Build - 1002 Skill Points
Share this
Protected Skills
It is important to read through your skills to understand which skills have protection and crowd control effects. Read through your skills carefully to get familiar with what each skill does. You can also filter the different effects in the Skill Window (K).
- Super armor (SA)
- This means you cannot be crowd controlled while this effect is active (except grab/grapple), but you will still take damage from any attacks
- Forward guard (FG)
- This means you will block damage and crowd control effects coming from the front direction of your character. The block can be broken if you take enough damage and you will see a blue shield with a number, indicating the % left of the block.
- Some classes have an “S block”. This means you will automatically use Forward Guard when moving backward with “S”.
- Invincible (I-frame)
- This means that you will not take damage and cannot be crowd controlled from any direction for the duration of the effect
PVE Iframe
Evasion and Heilang: Evasion are also “PVE Iframes”, which means these skills have a 1-second invincibility effect against monsters only, even if you spam the skill repeatedly.
Locked Skills
To lock a skill, press the lock icon on the top of each skill icon in the skill window (K).
These are the Awakening skills I recommend locking to help prevent messing up combos during PVP.
- Evasion
- Evasive Attack
- Flurry of Kicks
- Stretch Kick
- Whiplash
- Lightning of Earth
- Heilang: Berserk
- Stance Shift (optional)
- Flow: Fullmoon (only if you take Core: Beast Rampage)
- Throat-Burn (optional)
These are the Succession skills I recommend locking to help prevent messing up combos during PVP.
- Evasive Attack
- Flurry of Kicks
- Stretch Kick
- Whiplash
- Prime: Heilang’s Aura
Hotbar Skills
These are the minimum skills I recommend putting on your hotbar.
You may also want to put more skills on your hotbar and cooldown slots to keep track of them. For more information about how to do this, check out our Edit UI and Settings Guide.
Awakening:
Summon Heilang, Absorb Heilang, Heilang: Howling, Breath Spike, Moonlight Strike, Flow: Intimidation, Heilang: Berserk, Heilang: Roaring, Flow: Soaring Strike, Command: Follow, Command: Attack, Command: Guard, Command: Help, Skyreach
Succession:
Summon Heilang, Absorb Heilang, Heilang Roaring, Breath Spike, Trample, Prime: Heilang’s Aura, Command: Follow, Command: Attack, Command: Guard, Command: Help
Core Skills
Core skills are a way of upgrading 1 skill from your awakening skill kit.
Core skills are usually down to preference but most players choose Beast Rampage for general PVP and Garuda for PVE. I recommend starting with Garuda for PVE and trying out your other cores once you learn the class a bit more. Legendary Beast Dance and Moonlight are also useful in PVP for certain situtations.
- Core: Beast Rampage: Bound on hits (nullifed on cooldown)
- Core: Garuda: Forward Guard during the skill (nullified on cooldown)
- Core: Legendary Beast Dance: Super Armor during the skill (nullified on cooldown)
- Core: Moonlight Strike: Stiffness on hits.
- Core: Allround Spinner: Floating on extra attack hits
- Core: Echo Pierce: Super Armor during the skill (nullified on cooldown)
Skill Enhancement (Rabam) Skills
Skill Enhancement skills can be obtained in the Skill Window (K) under the “Skill Enhancement” tab at the top. At levels 56, 57, and 58, you will have 2 different options to choose between. These skills have no skill points cost, but you have to have other skills leveled up to be able to take them.
Level 56 – [SHIFT + X]
- Resonance – Requires [Fearful Trembling VI] and [Void Lightning IV]
- (Preferred Choice for Succession)
- Horror Slam – Requires [Fearful Trembling VI] and [Heilang: Surging Tide VI]
These two rabams come down to preference, however for Succession you are generally recommended to go with Resonanace. It has a Super Armor protection and also CC in PVE only. The skill deals ok damage and has good mana regen.
In comparision, Horror Slam has no protection but deals decent damage to downed enemies due to the extra down attack modifiers. It also has a small pulling CC for monsters only, which is useful for PVE.
Level 57 – [SHIFT + Z]
- Legendary Beast’s Claw– Requires [Flash: Stance Shift II] and [Heilang: Scratch IV]
- Jolt Stab – Requires [Flash: Stance Shift II] and [Jolt Wave III]
- (Preferred Choice)
Jolt Stab tends to be the more popular choice. Even though the skill is unprotected, it can easily be canceled and chained out. The skill has good damage, a DP debuff and CC for PVE only.
Legendary Beat Claw is useful for movement, and does have Super Armor for the end of the skill, however it cannot be cancelled and has a fairly long animation, so it can leave you vulnerable. The skill also has a knockdown CC and gives a +10 DP buff instead of the -10 DP debuff that Jolt Stab inflicts.
Level 58 – [Quickslot Only]
- Lightning Burn – Requires [Throat -Burn III] and [Void Lightning IV]
- Breath Spike – Requires [Throat -Burn III] and [Flash: Pole Thrust III]
- (Preferred Choice)
For the 3rd Rabam skill, the preferred and more popular choice is Breath Spike. The skill is very quick and can also be cancelled very quickly to move into other skills smoothly. It has a low cooldown with a knockdown CC on the first hit, and also does decent damage.
Lightning Burn has decent damage and super armor, but has a long cooldown, and again, cannot be cancelled out of which can leave you vulnerable to a grab.
Skill Add-ons
Below are some examples of PVE skill add-ons you can take.
If you would like example skill add-ons for other scenarios, please refer to the Class Discord and its resources.
I recommend experimenting with your add-ons and figuring out what is best for you because it really depends on your personal preference and how you play your class. If you’re simply not sure what to take then you can blindly follow the examples below and they will still be effective.
You can also check our Skill Add-on guide for a complete list of Skill Add-ons.
Awakening PVE Add-ons (Credit: gunrocks#0793) | |
---|---|
Fearful Trembling I | Extra AP Against Monsters +30 for 7 sec |
Critical Hit Rate +30% for 7 sec | |
Roaring I | Attack/Casting Speed +7% for 7 sec |
All DP -15 for 10 sec for target | |
Beast Rampage I | All Accuracy Rate +4% for 7 sec |
All Evasion Rate -4% for 10 sec for target | |
Moonlight Strike I | Extra AP Against Monsters +20 for 7 sec |
Attack/Casting Speed +7% for 7 sec | |
Flow: Soaring Strike | Back Attack Damage +5% for 5 sec |
Critical Hit Damage +5% for 5 sec | |
Flow: Full Moon | All DP -15 for 10 sec for target |
Critical Hit Rate +20% for 7 sec |
Succession PVE Add-ons (Credit: Toddy#5555) | |
---|---|
Jolt Wave I | Extra AP Against Monsters +20 for 7 sec |
Attack/Casting Speed +7% for 7 sec | |
Flash: Pole Thurst I | Back Attack Damage +3% for 5 sec |
Critical Hit Damage +3% for 5 sec | |
Fearful Trembling | Extra AP Against Monsters +30 for 7 sec |
Critical Hit Rate +30% for 7 sec | |
Flash I | Critical Hit Rate +20% for 7 sec |
All DP -15 for 10 sec for target | |
Roaring I | Extra AP Against Monsters +20 for 7 sec |
All DP -15 for 10 sec for target | |
Lightning of Earth I | All Accuracy Rate +4% for 7 sec |
All Evasion Rate -4% for 10 sec for target |
Weapons
Mainhand Weapon | Details |
---|---|
Tuvala Shortsword | Tuvala Weapons are obtained through Season Servers and are the best starting weapons. If you are a new or returning player, I would recommend creating a Season Character. |
Kzarka Shortsword | Kzarka is a boss weapon that you will upgrade your Tuvala weapon into. It is a great weapon for PVX. |
Offin Tett Shortsword | Offin Tett is a boss weapon alternative. Most players tend to pick Kzarka. The difference is that Offin has slightly more AP which can help you reach the higher AP brackets more easily, in return you lose accuracy, which can be fine on certain classes that don’t rely on accuracy too much. If you are unsure of which weapon to go for, just go with Kzarka. |
Blackstar Shortsword | Blackstar is the best in slot PVE weapon. Godr-Ayed weapons are an alternative to Blackstar weapons, with the same stats but a different enhancing method. You can swap from a PEN Kzarka to a TET Blackstar and it will still perform better in PVE due to the additional monster damage. The monster damage applies to both your pre-awakening and awakening skills, even though it is a main-hand weapon. Unlike boss weapons, you cannot put caphras into this weapon, but it has a higher base AP. PEN Blackstars are also the hardest weapons to enhance. |
Awakening Weapon | Details |
---|---|
Tuvala Celestial Bo Staff | Tuvala Weapons are obtained through Season Servers and are the best starting weapons. If you are a new or returning player, I would recommend creating a Season Character. |
Dandelion Celestial Bo Staff | Dandelion is a boss weapon which you will upgrade your Tuvala weapon into. It is a great weapon for PVX. You can also enhance this weapon with a Garmoth’s Heart to make it a Fiery weapon and unlock extra Crystal slots. |
Blackstar Celestial Bo Staff | Blackstar is the best in slot PVE weapon. Godr-Ayed weapons are an alternative to Blackstar weapons, with the same stats but a different enhancing method. Like the main-hand Blackstar weapon, the awakening Blackstar has additional monster damage. However, it has less monster damage than the main-hand, so usually players prioritize getting the main-hand one first, or may choose to only use the main-hand Blackstar weapon. |
Offhand Weapon | Details |
---|---|
Tuvala Trinket | Tuvala Weapons are obtained through Season Servers and are the best starting weapons. If you are a new or returning player, I would recommend creating a Season Character. |
Kutum Trinket | Kutum is the offhand weapon you should get first and should swap your Tuvala offhand for. The Kutum weapons have a mixture of AP and DP with additional monster damage. This makes them great for PVE and they are also good in PVP when running hybrid evasion builds on certain classes. You can also enhance this weapon with a Garmoth’s Heart to make it a Fiery weapon with extra stats. |
Nouver Trinket | Nouver is your PVP offhand. It is considered the best in slot for PVP in most classes due to its high AP. You can also enhance this weapon with a Garmoth’s Heart to make it a Fiery weapon with extra stats. |
Blackstar Trinket | Blackstar offhands are another choice for PVE. Godr-Ayed weapons are an alternative to Blackstar weapons, with the same stats but a different enhancing method. However, when you compare a PEN Blackstar offhand with a PEN Kutum (Caphras 20), there is very little difference between the two. Blackstars are known to be the hardest weapons in the game to enhance, and obtaining a PEN Kutum with caphras level 20 is much more obtainable, for this reason, it is not recommended to go with a Blackstar offhand at the moment and would be an endgame goal for very few players. |
Armor
For your armor, you will make a choice between Damage Reduction or Evasion gear. I recommend reading our guide about the two different DP stats if you want to learn what the two different stats do.
Generally, you are recommended to build Damage Reduction on Tamer.
Armor | Details |
---|---|
Tuvala Set
| Tuvala Armors are obtained through Season Servers and are the best starting armors. If you are a new or returning player, I would recommend creating a Season Character. |
Boss Set (Damage Reduction)
| This boss set is the most popular boss set to go for after graduating from Season. This set is focuses on Damage Reduction, which is viable on all classes. Classes which should always pick damage reduction:
This is because these classes either have bad base evasion or have shields that scale well with Damage Reduction. ** Choosing the Red Nose Armor is recommended instead of Dim Tree to save you silver later on, since it requires far fewer caphras to get to caphras level 10. |
Boss Set (Evasion)
| This boss set is the evasion build boss set. If you are unsure of which to pick, the general answer is to just go with the Damage Reduction set. Evasion is only considered good on certain classes:
and can be considered viable on other classes in return for less damage:
** Choosing the Red Nose Armor is recommended instead of Dim Tree to save you silver later on, since it requires far fewer caphras to get to caphras level 10. |
Fallen God Armor | Fallen God Armor is the best in slot armor piece. It will eventually replace your Red Nose armor. To make the Fallen God Armor, you will need a Flame of Despair and a PEN Red Nose or Dim Tree Armor with level 10 caphras. This is why it is recommended to go with Red Nose, since it costs fewer caphras to get to caphras level 10. |
Labreska Helmet | Labreska Helmet is the best in slot helmet piece. It will eventually replace your Giath/Griffon helmet. To make the Labreska helmet you will need a Flame of Frost and a PEN Giath or Griffon Helmet with level 10 caphras. Both of these helmets require the same amount of caphras to get to level 10. |
Accessories
There are various different accessories in the game. At first, just focus on using the accessories that give you the highest AP in each slot.
There are also “free” accessories that all new players should get:
Accessory | How to obtain |
---|---|
Tuvala Accessories | Tuvala accessories are starter accessories obtained from the Season Server. Try to push up your accessories to PEN if possible, but if you don’t have much time to play Season, then focus on your Weapons and Armor first. |
PEN Capotia Necklace | You can obtain a FREE PEN Capotia Accessory from the Season Servers Special Reward. For your first season, it is recommended to get the PEN Capotia Necklace because it gives the most AP. You then want to create another Season character in the next season to get the PEN Capotia Belt, and finally the PEN Capotia Ring or Earring. |
PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian | You can obtain a PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian by completing Jetina’s PEN Accessory quests. These are daily quests that take a minimum of 45 days to complete. Every new and returning player should complete these as early as possible for a highly discounted PEN accessory. |
Common Starter PVE accessories:
- TET Black Distortion Earrings or TET Narc Ear Accessory (PEN Capotia Earring)
- TET Basilisk’s Belt (or PEN Capotia Belt)
- TET Ring of Crescent Guardian
- TET Ogre Ring/Laytenn’s Necklace (or PEN Capotia Necklace).
PEN Tuvala Necklace | ⇒ | PEN Capotia Necklace | ⇒ | PEN Tungrad Necklace PEN Ogre Ring PEN Laytenn’s Necklace |
PEN Tuvala Ring | ⇒ | PEN Capotia Ring | ⇒ | PEN Ring of Crescent Guardian PEN Tungrad Ring PEN Eye of the Ruins Ring |
PEN Tuvala Belt | ⇒ | PEN Capotia Belt | ⇒ | PEN Basilisk Belt PEN Valtarra Eclipsed Belt PEN Tungrad Belt |
PEN Tuvala Earring | ⇒ | PEN Capotia Earring | ⇒ | TET Black Distortion Earring |
Crystals
Below is an example starter Crystal build for PVE. Some of the crystals are expensive. You can obtain the Rebellious Crystal by completing the main story questline. For more example crystal builds, including an end-game PVE crystal build, and PVP Crystal builds, check our Crystal Preset Guide.
- Ah’krad Crystal x2
- Rebellious Spirit Crystal x2
- Red Battlefield Crystal: Adamantine x2
- Ancient Magic Crystal of Crimson Flame – Power x2
- Dark Red Fang Crystal – Valor x2
- Corrupted Magic Crystal x2
- Max HP +350
- All AP +34
- All Accuracy +6
- Extra Damage to Monsters +20
- Hidden Damage Reduction -4
- Knockdown/Bound Resistance +50%
- Stun/Stiffness/Freezing Resistance +10%
- Critical Hit Level +4
- Critical Hit Damage +22%
- Skill EXP +10%
This is an example PVP Build for Tamers using Damage Reduction Armors and going full Human Damage (glass cannon). For more example crystal builds, check our Crystal Preset Guide or the Class Discord.
- Glorious Crystal of Gallantry – Olucas x2
- Red Spirit Crystal x2
- Crystal of Elkarr x2
- Corrupted Magic Crystal x2
- JIN: Magic Crystal – Viper x2
- Red Battlefield Crystal: Viper x2
- Red Battlefield Crystal: Carmae x2
- Ancient Spirit’s Crystal – Swiftness x1
- All accuracy +70
- Ignore All Resistance +20%
- Max HP +200
- All AP +14
- Extra Damage to Humans +56
- All Damage Reduction -4
- Critical Hit Damage +22%
- Attack, Casting Speed +2%
- Attack Speed +6
- Casting Speed +4
- Critical Hit +2
- Movement Speed +2
Artifacts and Lightstones
There are a few different viable choices for both Artifacts and Lightstone combos. Tamer is the “Magic Damage” type so you want to go for Magic Accuracy and Magic Damage for offensive artifacts.
For PVE Lighstones there are a few different options to min-max. For certain spots, you may want to use Species damage combos (eg. The Wild: Demihumans, The Wild: Kamaslyvia, The Wild: Humans). Species damage combos perform better if you are reaching the monster AP caps at a certain zone.
A more generic PVE combo is listed below that is recommended for your class and will work at any spot.
You can also find more information about Artifacts and Lightstones, and how to obtain them, in our guide. We also have a list of Best in slot Artifacts and Lightstones.
Artifacts for PVE:
Marsh’s Artifact – Extra AP Against Monsters
- (Extra Damage to Monsters +6)
Lesha’s Artifact – Monster Damage Reduction
- (Monster Damage Reduction +9)
Artifacts for PVP:
Marsh’s Artifact – Magic AP
- (Magic AP +4)
Marsh’s Artifact – Magic Accuracy
- (Magic Accuracy +8)
PVE Lightstone Combo | |
---|---|
[Vicious Shadows] Fire: Predation Fire: Predation Fire: Shadows Fire: Strike | Total Combo Effects: Monster AP +13 Back Attack Damage +6% Critical Damage +3% |
PVP Lightstone Combo | |
---|---|
[Target Openings] Fire: Rage Fire: Marked Wind: Lungs Fire: Strike | Total Combo Effects: All AP +10 All Accuracy +16 Maximum Stamina +100 Critical Damage +6% |
Useful Links/Credits
I highly recommend checking out the Tamer Class Discord for resources about your class. The class discords always have the most up-to-date information and tons of experienced players that can help with questions or gearing advice. I would like to give a shoutout to the Mods and Helpful roles in the Tamer discord for all their hard work gathering resources. You can find some of their own guides below. I honestly cannot recommend enough to join the discord.
Useful links to check out:
- Official Tamer Forums
- Beginner Tamer Tricks by Froxin
- Beginner Tamer PVP by Yuber Crypt
- Awakening PVP Guide by Poncho
- Beginner Tamer Guide by Steak_Yaj
- Awakening Tamer Guide by Steak_Yaj
- Awakening Tamer Combos by Steak_Yaj
PVP Montage Videos:
Credits Disclaimer: Since there are now 26 BDO classes, it is impossible for me to keep class guides fully maintained. My main class is Ranger and I don’t claim to be the best in any class. Therefore, I use resources and recommendations from the Class discords since (as all other players would agree) this is the best source. I also ask for advice from friends who are more experienced in the class. Where possible, I credit specific players for information such as Add-ons, and combos. However, sometimes there is no player mentioned as the original sharer. If there are any issues with credit or you would like certain information removed/changed, please reach out to me!