Umamusume: Pretty Derby has released globally and taken over streaming platforms and social media for good reason. Although Umamusume: Pretty Derby is a gacha game, it’s a horse racing simulation game with many in-depth mechanics that can be very confusing for both new players and sports sim fans. Additionally, the game is chock full of story and entertaining races that can pull just about anyone in.
Below, we’ve listed 10 beginner tips and tricks that you should know before starting Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
Prioritize support cards over characters
As you start out in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, it’s natural to gravitate towards the character banners as they’re the ones actually doing the racing. However, you’ll quickly learn that support cards are not only vital to strengthening your characters, but also your account in general.
Each horse has different stats, racing strategies, and, of course, looks, but support cards will prop up your horses for success. Additionally, support cards can be used for every character in career mode and they’ll provide them with extra stats, skills, friendship, and more.
Borrow legacies and support cards from others
When you’re starting a career in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, you’ll need to select two legacies and six support cards. Legacies and support cards will provide your character with bonus stats and skills at the start of your career and as you progress through your goals. They make it much easier for you to accomplish all of your goals, but if you’re just starting out, there’s a high chance that you don’t have many legacies or support carts to use.
Luckily, there are a lot of players that have incredibly strong legacies and support cards for you to borrow. Unfortunately, legacies can only be borrowed three times a day, but support cards can be borrowed as many times as you want.
To borrow a legacy and support card, you can either let the game choose for you by clicking the “Auto Select” button or borrow specific legacies and support cards from players you follow. As you’re learning the game, it’s completely okay to let the game choose for you as you get the hang of things. But when you’re ready to delve into the stats, start following trainers who have legacies with three-starred sparks and powerful support cards, so you can use them whenever you’d like.
Unique skills have unique conditions
There will be many races where your character doesn’t activate their unique skill and you’re just sitting there wondering why. Often times, it’s because your character isn’t being set up to reliably use their abilities. Make sure to look over your character’s unique skill and what conditions are needed to activate it. For example, some skills require you to be towards the back on the final corner of a race, but if your racing style is set to front or pace, you probably won’t activate the ability.
Choose your skills carefully
In the career mode, you’ll gain skill points through events and races, and the points can be used to unlock skills for your horse. As you’re choosing which skill to unlock, you’ll want to carefully read through each one and see if it’s something that your horse will really use.
Some of the skills are only usable if your horse is running a specific distance like sprint or mile and others are locked to specific racing strategies. These will always be denoted at the end of the skill in parentheses, so make sure you’re choosing a skill that matches up with your style.
Improve your friendships
Before you decide to put all of your stat points into speed, look through all of the stats and search for any stat that has multiple friendships, which can be found in the top right section of the screen. If you train a stat with a friend, their friendship gauge will increase.
Once a friendship gauge has reached the orange tier and the support card is in its respective training type, you’ll unlock rainbow training, which will provide you with bonus stat points. Always try to improve each friendship gauge to the orange tier as it’ll drastically improve your later training.
Keep your umas happy
Brightening up the mood is pretty important for your horses. The better mood your horse is in, the better they’ll perform in races and trainings. During a race, a happy horse is more likely to activate their skills, which is detrimental to your placing. Additionally, you’ll gain more stats from trainings when your horse is happier, so make sure to reach “great” as soon as possible!
Stats will vary
Every horse has their own aptitude, which dictates their track type, distance, and style. As they all differ, there isn’t a set stat line that’ll work across all of characters. For example. if your horse is running a lot of sprints, they won’t need a ton of stamina. On the other hand, a long distance runner will need more stamina as they’ll need to cover more ground.
To help you prepare for future races, look your goal details, which is located at the top of your screen. On this screen, select any of the “i” buttons in the green banners to see more info about the respective race.
Don’t take the gamble
In order to train, you’ll need enough energy to successfully increase any stat. If you’re low on energy, your odds at completing the training will drop. If you do fail a training, your horse’s mood will worsen, you’ll lose a few stat points, and you’ll still lose your energy.
Then in turn, you’ll need to spend valuable turns that could’ve been used to increase your stats on improving your mood and regaining your energy instead. Rather than wasting your turns, play it safe and just rest.
Watch the races
Feel free to watch or skip any of the content that you want, but the main thing that makes Umamusume: Pretty Derby such an entertaining game is the races themselves. Watching your horse idle in last place to make a roaring comeback will have you out of your seat and cheering for them as if you’re at a live sporting event. If you do end up skipping the races entirely, you’ll be left wondering why people are raving about the experience.
Get your free carats and rewards
Carats are the premium currency in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, and you’ll use them to unlock horses and support cards. To get the most carats as soon as possible, look in the missions tab to see your daily, main, and special missions. There are a lot of easy missions that’ll give you a bountiful harvest of carats and other rewards!
Additionally, don’t forget about the other modes like Story and Race. Story is full of, well, story. You can either watch every cut scenes or skip them altogether to receive carats. Race will have you participate in races like Team Trials or Daily Races, which will provide you with a variety of rewards.