Guide to Locating and Mounting a Dragon

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If you’re hoping to find and ride a dragon in Crimson Desert, you should keep your expectations realistic. Many players were excited about the idea of riding dragons, and it was heavily advertised during the game’s marketing, but the reality is a bit different.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Crimson Desert!
Dragons don’t show up until you’re quite far into the game. Also, there are strict limits on how and when you can call upon a dragon, and they are not treated like your usual mounts such as horses.

Can You Ride a Dragon in Crimson Desert?

Yes, dragons are part of the game, but not as common mounts. You won’t be able to find or ride a dragon until much later in the story, specifically in Chapter 9. The dragon mount isn’t available throughout the game and can only be summoned for a limited time, with a cooldown of 50 minutes after each use.

Later in the game, you’ll encounter dragons and wyverns, but you can’t tame or ride them like horses. The first dragon, named Blackstar, appears in the Shattered Stars quest in Chapter 9.

How to Find and Ride a Dragon

In Chapter 9, you can find and ride the Blackstar dragon during the Shattered Stars quest. To do this, head to the Urdavah palace, where you will need to tame the dragon by following in-game prompts that appear when you enter the area.

To succeed, you’ll need high stamina and a good understanding of how the Axiom grapple works. Completing this quest is important to move the main story forward. However, Blackstar won’t become a permanent mount option until after you finish Chapter 11.

Blackstar can shoot fireballs, has a lock-on feature, and can burn enemies at close range. Despite its power, it has an almost one-hour cooldown, which can be disappointing for players who expected to ride it more freely, especially since it was heavily promoted.

While dragons and wyverns are available in the late game, you can’t tame or mount them in the same way as horses. If you hoped to fly around the entire game on dragons, you might be disappointed. That said, the developers may update the game in the future, so things could change with planned updates.