Starting with the humble turkey, new mounts appear as the adventure goes on - each with their own unique attacks. As you’ll expect from a game as systemic as Spelunky, mounts have their own quirks to take advantage of. It’s early days to say whether Spelunky experts will turn to mounts as part of their end-game runs, but it’s clear in the right situation they can give you an edge. If you’re looking for more help, we explain how to reach later worlds easily with Spelunky 2 shortcuts. Taming a mount is a simple matter of jumping on and letting it run around until it settles down. You’ll know this has worked when several hearts appear above the mount, your character’s arms stop waving, and the mount stops moving around. Of course in practice, taming can go wrong. You cannot control the mount in the three to five seconds it takes to tame them, and will happily fall down any nearby ledges you are next to. Also, if a creature isn’t tame, the creature can attack. Turkeys are benign, but the rock dog - first appearing in World 2’s Volcana - will shoot a fireball the instant you meet its line of sight. As such, approach from the top, and never the sides, unless you can guarantee it won’t spot you. The most ideal situation to tame a mount is within an enclosed room, with walls of at least one block to each side, and no enemies nearby. Luck has to be on your side for this to happen, and if things are looking too dangerous, it might be best to leave the mount where it is. Alternatively, if you can stun the mount - such as using your whip - you can then carry it to a safe location then tame it when it wakes up. Here is a list of things you should know about using mounts:
Mounts are surprisingly mobile, allowing you to crawl into one block-high spaces. However, they cannot climb up or descend ladders and ropes, or enter doors, restricting where they can go. You can, however, ride a mount through the level exit, if you want to take it across multiple levels.
You are able to carry things while using a mount, provided you dismount first, pick up the object, then jump on the mount. The turkey can glide by holding the jump button - perfect if you want to slowly descent into unknown territory. Mounts are also good as a first line of defence against arrow traps when falling. You’ll be kicked off, and the mount injured, but at least it’s not you, right? The turkey can be cooked to give you a cooked turkey, granting you an extra life. You need fire rather than a bomb for this to work; on the Volcana level, position them next to the fire ladybirds, or using a rock dog’s attack, to toast them until they turn into the health-giving item.
Mounts can be commanded by enemies - making them particularly dangerous. But, if you can defeat the enemy riding them, then the creature will automatically be tamed.
There are some challenges and sub-goals specific to certain mounts… The aim here is to find the two turkeys elsewhere in the level. The difficulty of this challenge varies dramatically depending on the level layout, and how easy it is to reach the turkeys. Provided you can get the turkeys there in one piece - remember when they are injured, they can be carried - you’ll receive a key to unlock the door. The initial reward for this is pretty measly - there’s a chest with just a few gems inside within the locked door you can then open. There is a later reward, however, where Yang will appear again later with a Pet Shop. Buying this out will grant a Trophy / Achievement, so for completionists, it’s worth following this chain through to this step to get this unlocked. Regardless of whether you do this, there are some other things you should know about Yang’s initial appearance; if you steal a turkey in the pen - even one you donated - Yang will attack. Also, bringing a dead turkey will offend Yang - also resulting in an attack. However, that doesn’t rule out getting the key, as injuring or killing Yang will see it drop for you to take.
