Ready to race into the world of Umamusume: Pretty Derby, where anime girls meet intense horse racing strategy? Before you dive into this unique blend of gacha mechanics, training sims, and thrilling races on mobile or PC, these 10 essential tips will sharpen your gameplay, accelerate your career mode success, and help you turn your horselike heroines into unbeatable champions. Whether you’re a newcomer or a seasoned racer, mastering support cards, training strategies, and race tactics can make all the difference on the track.
Below, we’ve listed 10 beginner tips and tricks that you should know before starting Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
Prioritize support cards over characters
When starting Umamusume Pretty Derby, it’s essential to prioritize acquiring and leveling up support cards over focusing solely on characters. Support cards provide crucial training boosts, skills, and friendship bonuses that significantly enhance your horse’s development across all careers. Unlike characters, which you cannot borrow or reuse, support cards can be used by any horse in career mode and often have events and skills that accelerate stat growth and race performance. Investing resources in strong support cards ensures smoother training progress, faster skill acquisition, and ultimately stronger horses, giving you a strategic edge in the game.
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
In Umamusume Pretty Derby, you can borrow Legacies and Support Cards from other players to enhance your trainee’s potential. Borrowing veteran characters as Legacies helps you gain valuable Sparks and build stronger stats more efficiently, as these borrowed Legacies might have better builds than you could train yourself. You can also use borrowed Support Cards, which provide essential training boosts and skill hints to improve your trainee’s growth. Utilizing these borrowed assets effectively can give you a significant advantage in developing high-star Uma Musume and succeeding in races.
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
Every Umamusume character comes with her own unique skill, but these powerful abilities aren’t guaranteed to activate every race-they each have specific activation conditions tied to race scenarios or your horse’s strategy. For example, some skills require your horse to be in a certain position, such as being toward the back during the final corner; if your strategy keeps her at the front, the skill simply won’t trigger. Always check your Uma’s unique skill description and ensure your strategy, position, or race type aligns with the requirements if you want to see these special moves activate during key moments.
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
Choosing your skills carefully in Umamusume: Pretty Derby is essential to shaping a strong and competitive racer. Each Uma Musume has unique skills that complement their natural racing style, such as front-running or late surging, so selecting skills that enhance their strengths and cover weaknesses can make a significant difference. Prioritize training speed, stamina, and wit, as these directly impact performance-speed determines how fast your horse runs, stamina how long they can sustain top speed, and wit affects skill activation timing. Additionally, leveling up unique skills can further boost race outcomes, so plan which skills to develop based on your Uma Musume’s traits and race strategies to maximize your chances of victory.
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
Building strong friendships with your Support Cards is crucial for raising top-tier Umamusume in Pretty Derby. Focus on choosing training sessions where the most Support Cards show up, as this increases their bond gauges more efficiently and can trigger Friendship Training once the bar turns orange. When multiple Support Cards are present together, you can raise several bonds at once and earn bigger stat gains. Level up your Support Cards to unlock higher Friendship bonuses and increase their effectiveness in training. Aim to build these friendships as early as possible, since activated Friendship Training gives your horse girls a massive stat boost and can also unlock special skill events-giving you a vital edge in tougher races.
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
Maintaining a positive mood for your horse girls is essential in Umamusume Pretty Derby, as it directly impacts their performance in both training and races. When your uma is in a high-spirited or “great” mood, she gains more from training sessions and is more likely to trigger her skills during races, improving her chances of winning. Conversely, low mood can result in failed training attempts, hinder stat growth, and reduce energy recovery, so make it a priority to rest or use items as needed to keep your umas happy throughout their career progression.
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
In Umamusume: Pretty Derby, stats will vary for each character based on several factors, including their unique traits, training choices, and the support cards you use throughout their career. Each horse girl has different strengths and growth rates, meaning your training results in distinct stat outcomes each time-one run could yield high Speed and Stamina, while another might see more Power or Wit, depending on the focus of your sessions and random events. This variability makes experimentation essential and encourages you to adapt your training plans to suit both the character’s natural tendencies and your desired race strategy, ensuring that no two training experiences are exactly alike.
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 Umamusume: Pretty Derby, resisting the urge to train when your energy is low is essential to avoid unnecessary risks. Attempting training with insufficient energy significantly increases the chance of failure, which not only wastes precious turns and saps your energy, but also lowers your horse girl’s stats and worsens her mood-making it harder to recover and progress smoothly. Instead of gambling on low odds, focus on keeping your energy levels up with rest or recreational activities so that every training session counts.
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
Watching the races in Umamusume: Pretty Derby is not only entertaining but also essential for understanding your horse girl’s performance and in-race skill activations. By observing race segments and how your Uma Musume handles different situations-such as overtaking, pace changes, and skill usage-you gain valuable insight into race strategies and your character’s strengths or weaknesses. Paying close attention to these details helps you make smarter training and skill assignment decisions, ultimately improving your chances of success in future 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
You can quickly stock up on free carats and rewards in Umamusume Pretty Derby through several easy methods. Start by logging in daily-the game often grants carats just for showing up, with even larger bonuses during special campaigns. Make sure to complete your daily missions and objectives, as these frequently offer carats for tasks like racing, training, or finishing all dailies. Advancing through the main story and individual character stories is another reliable source of carats, as each completed chapter or episode provides generous currency payouts. By consistently playing, finishing missions, and exploring story content, you’ll steadily accumulate the premium currency and valuable rewards needed to progress, all without spending real money.
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!
What beginner mistakes should I avoid in Umamusume Pretty Derby
Here are some key beginner mistakes to avoid in Umamusume Pretty Derby to ensure a smoother and more successful start:
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Skipping the Tutorial
The tutorial is about 15 minutes long and includes important mechanics, game lore, and features. Many beginners skip it out of impatience, but it provides valuable foundational knowledge that helps you understand the game better and avoid early pitfalls. -
Spending Gacha Currency on Characters Instead of Support Cards
New players often use their gacha pulls mainly for SSR horse girls, but the real power lies in support cards. Support cards enhance your character’s stats, skills, and training benefits, and are usable by all characters in career mode. Prioritize acquiring strong support cards over expanding your character roster early on. -
Ignoring Friendship Bonds and Leveling Support Cards
Raising your support cards’ friendship level dramatically improves training outcomes. Beginners may focus on other tasks, but increasing friendship bonds and leveling up support cards is essential for career progression. -
Using Skill Points Poorly
It is important to save skill points for key skills rather than spending them on the cheapest or least useful skills immediately. Planning which skills to unlock and when is crucial for efficient progression. -
Not Training According to Your Umamusume’s Strengths
Each horse girl has natural aptitudes and bonuses in certain stats like speed, stamina, or wit. Neglecting these primary stats and training randomly can lead to poor racing performance. -
Doing Every Race Without Proper Preparation
Beginners sometimes race too frequently without preparing their characters properly with the right training and rest cycles, which can burn out the character or reduce training efficiency. Strategic planning of races is important. -
Overusing Rest in Training
Resting is generally the least efficient action in the game and should be minimized. Instead, use wit training as a buffer to recover minor energy before more demanding training activities.
In summary, focus on learning the game mechanics properly through the tutorial, prioritize support cards over characters, strategically level support cards and skills, and train your Umamusume according to their strengths. Avoid excessive resting and manage your race participation wisely to avoid burnout.
If you want, I can provide more detailed tips on any of these points.
What is the most common rookie mistake in Umamusume Pretty Derby
The most common rookie mistake in Umamusume Pretty Derby is spending your gacha currency too early or on the wrong things, especially using free SSR tickets or Carats primarily on character pulls rather than prioritizing support cards. Support cards are the fundamental source of power in training and progression, as they boost stats, skills, and training efficiency, and can be used by any horse girl. New players often get tempted to pull on flashy character banners, but neglecting support cards seriously hampers career success.
Other frequent beginner mistakes related to this include skipping the tutorial, not investing in support cards, over-racing without preparation, and hyperfocusing only on the speed stat rather than a balanced training approach including stamina and wit. These points are commonly emphasized by experienced players and guides as critical rookie pitfalls to avoid for a smooth progression.
In summary, the top rookie mistake is mismanagement of gacha currency with a focus on characters instead of support cards, combined with insufficient understanding of training and racing strategy learned through the tutorial and experience.
