Breeding in Palworld is a mechanic that is essential not only in getting the rarer Pals, but also in getting Pals with favorable skills and traits. Breeding in Palworld is fairly straightforward with just a few steps, however, determining what the outcome will be is a bit more complicated, so read ahead as we go through the basics on how to breed Pals in Palworld.
Unlocking the Ranch to start breeding Pals
To start breeding, players need to unlock a ranch, which becomes available at Level 19. This ranch is the key to making the breeding process work smoothly. The main idea behind breeding is to bring together one male and one female of each character or different character types to produce a new Pal. This forms the basis of creating a breeding farm.
Breeding Pair
To breed, a male and female pair of Pals is needed, either from the same species or from different species.
Finding Pals with High Base Stats: The success of breeding hinges on identifying Pals with the highest base stats. To assist in this process, using a spreadsheet like the one by Reddit user u/blahable or data sheet is recommended. These tools can help players pinpoint the best combinations for breeding, ensuring a solid foundation for creating powerful Pals. There is a rather extensive breeding mechanic in Palworld which shows that most of the breeding pairs follow a simple formula to find out what their offspring will be.
Understanding Attack and Defense: Two primary stats, attack, and defense, play a critical role in determining a Pal’s strength. It’s essential to focus on capturing Pals with the highest base stats in these areas for an effective breeding strategy.
Passive skills add an extra layer of complexity to breeding. It is crucial to capture Pals with the least amount of passive skills to ensure the highest base stats.
Each species of Pals has a hidden unique Breeding Power (BPower) stat that serves as their breeding ID, and it goes from 10 to 1500, with 10 being the rarest Pal in the game (Blazamut) and 1500 being the most common Pal in the game (Chikipi). The offspring of two Pals can then be determined by following this simple formula:
[(Parent #1’s BPower) + (Parent #2’s BPower)] / 2 = Offspring’s BPower
If the offspring’s BPower lands right in the middle of two Pals’ BPower, the offspring will turn out to be the Pal that comes first between the two based on their Paldeck number or in-game index.
To put it into an example, say we breed both extremes, a Blazamut (10) and a Chikipi (1500):
(10 + 1500) / 2 = 755 (Foxcicle)
The offspring of a Blazamut and a Chikipi will always be a Foxcicle (760) and not a Tombat (750) since Foxcicle (#57) comes first in the dex than Tombat (#68).
Variant Pals and some rare pals do not follow this formula and have set parent combinations, as listed down in out Palworld Breeding Combinations guide. Also, there are just a little over 19,000 possible combinations for breeding pairs, way more than what we would want to write down in just one article.
Cakes and Hatch Eggs
Producing hatch eggs is a crucial step in the breeding process, and it requires cakes. Cakes are made using a kitchen and ingredients like flour, red berries, milk, eggs, and honey. These items can be either purchased or crafted through the player’s base. Setting up an efficient cake production system is important for a successful breeding operation.
Cake is required to be fed to the breeding pair in order for them to be able to breed and lay an egg. It has to be fed to them via the Breeding Farm’s built-in feed box and not just on a separate Feed Box.
Making a cake will require the following materials:
A Cooking Pot is required to make a cake and one cake will cost 2,000 Workload. Even with a Pal that has a level 4 Kindling plus with you helping with the cooking, it will still take some time to make a cake, so having multiple Cooking Pots and Kindling Pals cooking in parallel can help speed up the production.
As long as there is cake inside the feed box of a Breeding Farm, the breeding pair kept in it will continuously breed.
Breeding Farm
The Breeding Farm is where the Pal pairs will breed. Its blueprint can be unlocked at level 19 and it requires the following crafting materials:
- x100 Wood
- x200 Stone
- x50 Fiber
Each Breeding Farm can accommodate a single pair. It is also built with its own feed box where Cakes are placed in. Aside from building a Breeding Farm, it is also worth mentioning that the base where it is built on has to be well sustained with the base basics such as having Berry Plantations to keep the breeding pair fed.
It also helps to put a separate Feed Box close to the Breeding Farm to cut down the travel time of the breeding pair when they get hungry and keep them at the farm throughout the breeding period.
It takes a couple of minutes for a breeding pair to lay out an egg which will then appear within the farm, ready to be brought into the Incubator.
Egg Incubator
The Egg Incubator is required to hatch Pal eggs, both for those that have been obtained from the Breeding Farm and for those found in the wild. The Egg Incubator can be unlocked at level 7 using an Ancient Technology Point. To craft one will require the following materials:
- x10 Paldium Fragment
- x5 Cloth
- x30 Stone
- x2 Ancient Civilization Part
Once the Egg Incubator is set up, an egg can be placed in it and it will be incubated. The incubation time will depend on the rarity of the egg and the game’s world settings, so it can take between a few real-time minutes to a few real-time days to hatch an egg.
The incubation speed can be affected by its surrounding temperature which will be shown on its status box, whether it is too hot, too cold, or just comfortably right. Campfires, heaters, or coolers can be placed around the egg to reach the desired temperature range which can give an incubation speed bonus of between +50% to +100% boost.
This guide aims to provide a clear understanding of the breeding process, focusing on base stats and passive skills. There are some common misconceptions about breeding, and this guide seeks to address those issues to help players achieve the best results. I recommend maintaining a diverse set of Pals to cater to various needs within the game. Whether you require workers, fighters, or speed-focused Pals, having a well-rounded collection is crucial for success.