Tamer Class Guide

Introduction

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.

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).

Locked Skills

To lock a skill, press the lock icon on the top of each skill icon in the skill window (K).

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.

Weapons

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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:

• Awakening Tamer Arena of Solare PVP by Stardawg Gunrocks
• Awakening Tamer PVP by WhiteCrows
• Awakening Tamer PVP #1 by Tiny
• Awakening Tamer PVP #2 by Tiny
• Tamer PVP by Yuber Crypt
• Succession Tamer PVP by Meriove
• Succession Tamer PVP by 모니터링

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!