Riding is a much maligned skill. Many tout it as being completely useless, or complain that their mount dies way too easily. Underworld is hopefully to improve it so that more people realise the potential of this skill, but until then I am going to have this guide here. As I progress through the game, I will record the stats of the mounts you can find or buy, as well as provide hints on how to get the best from them.
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How to use Mounts
A lot of people complain that mounts in Sacred die too easily and can't stand up for themselves. And while this is true of most of them, even the weaker ones can have a greatly improved life if you follow a few simple rules.
One important thing to remember is that if you get hit and you're on your horse, the horse will take damage too. If you are in a particularly difficult area where you will take a lot of damage fast, get off the horse. However if you're going to be near Giant Spiders or Dragons, leave the horse a LONG way away, other wise the poison/fire breath can and will kill your horse even though you are not on it.
Horses don't get healed by Life Leech. There are two ways of healing your horse. You can take it back to any horse trader to heal it, or you can drink a potion while sat on the horse. This only works if you are also damaged however. So even if you have huge amounts of Life Leech, drink the odd potion just to keep your faithful steed with you.
If you play melee characters that rush in against much tougher opponents, consider if Riding will work for you. The most successful mounted builds are either ranged, or only get into low level fights, perhaps one on one or just groups of very weak monsters.
Upgrade your horse. whenever you see a stable, look at your horses stats (hover over the horses health bar to view), then go check out what stats are on the horses for sale. Consider what you want as well. Some have much higher health, others have better protection bonuses. Not only that, but whenever you go to a regular trader, check in the armour section for saddles and bridles. You can equip ONE on a horse at a time. Again, either look for ones with high protection, or look for extra bonuses, such as speed or attack rating.
When buying a horse in levels above bronze, buy the horse, then GO BACK to the stable. Once you buy the 'base' horse, most of the time a new horse will spawn that is basically that horse with a saddle already on. They have improved stats and not only that, but can have another saddle put on. This is how to get the wonderful "Gold Mystdale Heavy Warhorse" that is the best 'normal' mount you can get.
Mount Colours
