Sacred 2:Horse

Across Ancaria you will find many horse dealers. They offer all kinds of animals, from the simple nag up to a real war horse. Any NPC with a horseshoe icon will be happy to exchange a large sum of gold for a nice mount.

Riding Skill

You can be effective from your mount without having any points in Riding. There are no more negative attack/attack speed penalties as in Sacred. You also don't require higher Riding to ride higher level (and therefore better) mounts. Your Riding skill increases your Horse Combat Arts. These combat arts are only available if you ride a horse instead of your class-specific mount.

Horse Combat Arts

You can potentially get three Combat Arts while on horseback. The ones you have depend upon which type of horse purchased. There are two damage and one exploration Combat Arts for horses:

Leap

The horse leaps forward, thereby overcoming medium-sized obstacles in its way. This will allow you to jump over small rivers and fences, or jump off a cliff, thus granting totally unique traveling and exploration possibilities. (You can use it as a shortcut to avoid running around an obstacle, or to get to an area that would be impossible to reach otherwise.) It has a Cooldown Timer, which depends on Combat Art level (higher level horse/art has lower timer).

Rear Up

The horse rears up, inflicting area damage (affected by Riding) with its front hoofs, and knocks back opponents. It has a Cooldown Timer, which depends on Combat Art level (higher level horse/art has lower timer).

Charge

The horse charges at opponents, inflicts light damage (affected by Riding), and stuns them. It has no Cooldown Timer.

You may also use your Divine Gift (God Spell) from horseback. Buffs are deactivated while on a horse.

Types of Horses

There are different types of horses again, as there were with the original Sacred. However, in Sacred 2, the type of horse determines the types of bonus it will award you, rather than all horses having the same but some simply having higher values. There are five different types of horse:

Gait Horse

Combat Arts: Leap Rear Up Possible Attributes: Regeneration penalty +X% Rider's max hitpoints +X% Physical resistance +X Run Speed +2,5% Block chance Knockback (Riding)

Racer

Combat Arts: Leap Possible Attributes: Regeneration penalty +X% Rider's max hitpoints +X% Run Speed +X%, Evade +X% Block chance (Riding)

Nag

Combat Arts: None Possible Attributes: Regeneration penalty +X% Rider's max hitpoints +X% Defense Value +X Defense Value +X% Willpower +X Block chance (Riding)

Charger

Combat Arts: Charge Leap Rear Up Possible Attributes: Regeneration penalty +X% Rider's max hitpoints +X% Attack Value +% Defense Value +X Defense Value +X% Physical resistance +X Willpower +X Damage Mitigation: Physical +X% Chance to evade +X% Chance to reflect (Riding) Block chance (Riding)

Saddle Horse

Combat Arts: Charge Leap Possible Attributes: Regeneration penalty +X% Rider's max hitpoints +X% Run Speed +X% Attack Value +X% Defense Value +X% Defense Value +X Block chance (Riding)

Different horses will give bonuses to different types of defensive skills, with all of them increasing your hitpoints. You can also get each type in a variety of different colors ranging from black to chestnut to pinto and even with different face/leg markings.

The horse type and level determines the level of their Combat Arts. Higher level Combat Arts have lower cooldown. Charger has the highest level Combat Arts, followed by Gait Horse, Saddle Horse and Racer which has the lowest level arts (and the longest cooldown).

All horses move at the same speed. Note that the Run Speed bonus is not actually working for mounts, so horses that offer more Run Speed do not make you move faster. This bonus would apply if you were not mounted, but since you are mounted it doesn't. Weird, huh? To move faster while mounted, you need to master the Riding skill, which will give you the "Run Speed while mounted" bonus. High horse level does not give you a speed penalty, but the mount has its level lowered next time you load a game or sell the mount (this is not affected by Riding).