Pets in Black Desert Online are more than just adorable companions—they provide invaluable assistance by picking up loot, offering powerful buffs, and enhancing your life skills and combat efficiency. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about pets, from acquiring and leveling them to maximizing their utility with advanced tiering strategies.

Why Pets Matter

Although pets are not required to play BDO, they dramatically enhance the quality of life by automating item collection and providing useful buffs. At higher tiers, pets gain additional skills that make them even more valuable.

• Tier 1: Unlocks one skill at level 10.
• Tier 3: Gains a second skill.
• Tier 4: Unlocks a third skill, making them significantly more powerful.

There are four types of pets—Classic, Limited, Premium, and Event—each with its own unique skills and methods of acquisition.

Understanding Pet Types and Skills

Life Skill Pets

• Offer bonuses like increased gathering amount and higher desert sickness resistance.
• Best suited for players focused on professions like fishing, gathering, and cooking.

Combat Pets

• Provide buffs such as increased combat XP, hostility detection, and monster taunting.
• Ideal for players who spend most of their time grinding mobs.

Universal Pets

• Offer traits like increased knowledge gain, item drop rate, and reduced death penalty.
• Great for players who want versatile benefits across different activities.

Tip: Prioritize universal pets initially, as their buffs benefit all playstyles.

How to Acquire Pets

There are multiple ways to obtain pets:

1. Quest Rewards: New players can acquire up to three classic pets through quest rewards, providing a good starting point.
2. Pearl Shop: Pets range from 900 to 1,650 pearls depending on type and rarity.
3. Central Market: Some pets can be bought using silver, but demand often leads to long wait times.
4. Referral and Login Bonuses: Occasionally offer free pets.

Feeding and Leveling Pets

Pets require food to function and level up. Options include:

• Cheap Feed: Buyable from stables; restores 12 hunger.
• Nutritious Feed: Purchased for pearls; restores 60 hunger.
• Good Feed: Crafted using meat, fish, water, and flour; restores 80 hunger.
• Organic Feed: Best for leveling pets, restores 160 hunger.

Crafting Tip: Stockpile pet food to ensure continuous leveling and uptime.

Pet Tiering and Exchange System

How to Increase Pet Tiers

• Exchange pets of the same type to increase their tier.
• Tier 3 to Tier 4 exchanges have a chance to fail, requiring multiple attempts.
• Using Wizard Gofree pets can simplify the exchange process, especially for limited pets.

Tip: Save limited pets for exchanges to avoid losing rare traits.

Reducing Tiering Costs

• A single Tier 4 pet can cost up to $121 if purchased directly.
• During sales and with coupons, this cost can drop by 20% or more.
• Utilizing loyalty points and crafting feed instead of buying from the Pearl Shop also saves money.

Conclusion

Pets are an essential investment in Black Desert Online, offering a blend of convenience and power. By understanding pet types, feeding strategies, and cost-effective tiering methods, you can assemble a powerful team of companions that significantly enhance your gameplay.

For more advanced strategies, be sure to explore our other BDO guides!