Pals and Catching Mechanics
Building a powerful team of Pals requires understanding capture rates, crafting better spheres, and analyzing Pal stats. Every Pal serves a specific purpose, whether in combat or working at your base.
Crafting and Using Pal Spheres
You need Pal Spheres to capture Pals. The basic Pal Sphere works well on low level creatures but fails frequently against higher level targets. Progressing through the Technology tree unlocks better spheres with increasing material costs.
| Sphere | Unlock Level | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Pal Sphere | 2 | 1 Paldium Fragment, 3 Wood, 3 Stone |
| Mega Sphere | 14 | 1 Paldium Fragment, 1 Ingot, 5 Wood, 5 Stone |
| Giga Sphere | 20 | 2 Paldium Fragments, 2 Ingots, 7 Wood, 7 Stone |
| Ultra Sphere | 35 | 7 Paldium Fragments, 8 Refined Ingots, 3 Carbon Fiber, 3 Cement |
| Legendary Sphere | 47 | 10 Paldium Fragments, 5 Pal Metal Ingots, 3 Carbon Fiber, 5 Cement |
Always lower a Pal's health before throwing a sphere. Applying status effects like poison or stun further increases the capture chance. Hitting a Pal from behind triggers a "Back Bonus," granting a significant boost to your success rate. Sneak up on unaware targets and throw your sphere directly at their back for the best results.
Carry at least two tiers of Pal Spheres at all times. Use cheaper spheres on weak Pals to save your high tier spheres for rare encounters.
Upgrading Catch Rate
Collect Lifmunk Effigies scattered throughout the world. These glowing green statues are often hidden on cliffs, ruins, or behind waterfalls. Build a Statue of Power at your base and offer the effigies to permanently upgrade your character's base capture power. This upgrade applies to all sphere types and is crucial for catching endgame bosses.
Understanding Pal Stats
Every captured Pal possesses unique stats and traits. Check their details in the Palbox menu.
| Stat | Description |
|---|---|
| HP | Total health pool. Determines survivability in combat. |
| Attack | Damage dealt to enemies. Influences skill power. |
| Defense | Damage mitigation. Reduces incoming attacks. |
| Work Speed | How fast the Pal completes base tasks like crafting or mining. |
Passive Skills
Pals are born with up to four Passive Skills. These traits offer positive or negative modifiers. A Pal with "Ferocious" gains a 20% boost to attack power, making it excellent for combat. A Pal with "Artisan" gains a 50% boost to work speed, making it an ideal base worker.
Conversely, traits like "Slacker" or "Coward" reduce work speed and attack power. Filter out Pals with negative traits unless you need them for breeding purposes. Refer to the Breeding and Passives guide to learn how to pass desirable traits to offspring.
Partner Skills
Each Pal species features a unique Partner Skill. Some Partner Skills trigger automatically, like Daedream attacking alongside you. Others require crafting specific Pal Gear. For example, unlocking Foxparks's Harness lets you hold Foxparks like a flamethrower. Foxparks unleashes continuous fire damage while equipped.
Mounts also require Pal Gear. Crafting a saddle allows you to ride certain Pals, increasing your travel speed across the map. Prioritize unlocking saddles for fast mounts like Eikthyrdeer or Direhowl to make exploration faster.