Palworld (2026): Predator Cores, Best Mounts, Breeding, and More

I put way more hours into Palworld than I planned to. What started as “I’ll just build a quick base and see what the game is about” turned into a 40-hour spiral of breeding Anubis, hunting Predator Pals at 2am, and farming sulfur nodes around a volcano like it was a full-time job. If you’re at any stage of that spiral right now, this guide covers the parts that matter most.

This guide covers everything from how to get Predator Cores and the fastest flying mount to coal and sulfur locations, the breeding tree, implants, server fixes, and how to get technology points without grinding your sanity away. Let’s get into it.

What Is Palworld and Where Is It Now?

Palworld is a survival crafting game from Pocketpair where you catch and train creatures called Pals, build bases, and fight your way through a world full of dungeons, faction bases, and bosses. It launched into early access in January 2024 and hit 1.8 million concurrent players almost immediately, which promptly broke the servers.

Since then, the game has grown significantly. The Sakurajima update added a new island with a Japanese aesthetic and new Pals like Croajiro, Dazemu, and variants like Menasting Terra and Blazamut Ryu. The Feybreak update in December 2024 added the Meowmere sword from Terraria, a whole new island, and Hardcore Mode, where death is permanent.

As of 2026, you can level up to 65, the tech tree has expanded considerably, and there’s more endgame content than ever, centered around Predator Pals, implants, and raid-style boss encounters.

How to Get Predator Cores in Palworld

Predator Cores are the most sought-after endgame material in the game right now. They drop exclusively from Predator Pals, which are boss-tier versions of regular Pals. You need them to craft some of the best items in Palworld, including the Meowmere sword that fires meowing cat projectiles (yes, really) and high-end inventory expansion gear.

What Are Predator Pals?

Predator Pals aren’t your standard wild Pals. They’re supercharged boss versions that hit 50 to 100 percent harder than regular variants. You can identify them by a reddish aura around their body and glowing red eyes. Each one also has “Rampaging” as a prefix in its name. There are 33 of them across the map, and none of them can be captured.

The frustrating part for new players: Predator Pals don’t appear as map markers. You have to track their spawn coordinates manually. According to Bisect Hosting’s Palworld Predator Pal guide, community maps like game8.co list all spawn points, but don’t always reflect the most recent updates.

Predator Core Farming Tips

Bring top-tier gear. These encounters can’t be pushed with mid-level weapons. High-durability armor, strong ranged weapons, and healing items are required. Going in under-equipped almost always means losing your Pal team and loadout.

Some predator spawns only occur at night. Around 40 percent of Predator Pals are nocturnal. If you’re not finding specific ones, wait until nightfall before checking the spawn coordinates again.

Focus only on confirmed Predator-class targets. Many players waste time farming regular Alpha Pals and getting nothing because only Predator-tagged enemies drop Predator Cores. Not every Alpha boss qualifies. Check spawn databases before grinding.

Multiplayer speeds it up. Predator Pals have serious burst damage, so bringing a second player significantly improves survivability, especially on the harder ones.

Predator Core Locations (Best Starting Points)

Start with Direhowl. It’s one of the lower-level Predator Pals, around level 25, in an accessible area that lets you practice the dodge-roll timing Predator encounters demand. Once you have that down, move to the higher-level ones in the desert and volcanic zones.

For the predator core Palworld locations in the desert biome, the Desiccated Desert hosts several of the late-game predators close to each other. This area is the most efficient farming route, provided you have a speedy mount and the combat skills for it.

Palworld Breeding Guide: How to Breed Anubis and More

Breeding is one of the most powerful systems in Palworld and also one of the most involved. Done right, it lets you create Pals with optimal passive skills without fighting high-level bosses for each one.

Unlocking the Breeding Farm

You unlock the Breeding Farm at player level 19, which costs 2 Technology Points. You also need an incubator (unlocked at level 7) and cake to actually start breeding. Be sure to have both ready before you reach level 19, or you may find yourself waiting.

How to Make Cake

Cake needs the following: red berries, flour, eggs, milk, and honey. Grow red berries via berry plantation starting at level 5. Grow wheat via a wheat plantation from level 15 and process it in the mill. Eggs come from Chikipi at the ranch. Milk comes from Mozzarina at a ranch. Honey comes from Beegarde, a ranch. You can also buy ingredients from merchants if you’d rather skip farming them.

To bake it, you need a cooking station from level 17 and a pal with kindling suitability. Foxparks works fine early on.

How to Breed Anubis in Palworld

Anubis is the most recommended breed target early on. It has Level 4 Handiwork and Level 3 Mining, making it the single best all-around base worker in the game. You don’t have to find one in the wild.

The most reliable combo is Penking plus Bushi. Relaxaurus and Celaray also produce Anubis. Place them in the breeding farm with Cake and wait. The result won’t always have the passive skills you want, so repeat breeding until you get an Anubis with the skills you’re targeting.

Passive Skills Worth Targeting

The best passive skills to breed for are Musclehead (increases attack), Ferocious (raises attack speed), Swift (movement speed), and Legend (massive combat boost, but very rare). For base workers, focus on “workaholic” and “serious.” These two together keep your base running significantly faster than default.

Breeding is also how you stack passives over time. Breed Pal 1 and Pal 2 to get passives AB, then breed another pair to get passives CD, and finally breed those offspring together to create a pal with all four passives. It takes multiple generations but produces far better results than catching wild Pals and hoping.

Implants and the Surgery Table

A newer system for transferring passives is the surgery table, which you unlock at technology level 36 for 3 points. It lets you change a Pal’s sex and swap certain passives using implants. Implants in Palworld are one-time purchases from merchants (found in the Bounty Hunter and Arena shops) and can be used infinitely after buying them.

The full Palworld implants list covers combat, harvesting, speed, and defense categories. They integrate directly with the breeding system: if the passive you want is available on the surgery table, you can skip two breeding generations and just apply it via implant instead. For serious min-maxers, the optimal route is to breed the base passives first, then use implants to fill in the rest. For a complete breakdown of how the Palworld implants list works with each build type, Dexerto’s Palworld passive skills guide covers the mount and progression tier list in detail.

Palworld Technology Tree: How to Get Technology Points Fast

Technology points are the currency of progression in Palworld. Every major unlock, from the Breeding Farm to the Surgery Table to firearms, goes through the tech tree. As of 2026, you can unlock technologies up to level 65, and items can cost between 1 and 5 points each. If you’re playing on PC and want smooth performance while grinding through dungeons, our PC optimization guide covers the key settings that help in open-world games like this one.

How Technology Points Work

You earn technology points by leveling up. Each level gives you a set number to spend. Ancient Technology Points are a separate currency earned from Tower bosses and Alpha Pal drops. These unlock specific higher-tier items that the regular tree doesn’t cover.

How to Get Technology Points Fast in Palworld

Catch new Pals. Every unique Pal you add to your Paldeck gives bonus XP, which accelerates leveling. Filling out the Paldeck is one of the most XP-efficient activities in the game.

Farm dungeons. Dungeons across the map, including cave and dungeon locations in the early areas, give consistent XP, loot, and Pal encounters. Clearing them regularly keeps your leveling pace steady.

Defeat Tower bosses. These are the faction bosses you fight at the end of each region. Each one drops Ancient Technology Points in addition to regular rewards. Clearing all five tower bosses in the game currently gives enough Ancient Tech Points to unlock several key late-game items.

Use Technology Books. These are rare items dropped by certain Pals (nocturnal bird Pals like Cawgnito are the most commonly cited source) and are also found in chests on the restricted island in the southern part of the map. They grant extra technology points and are worth farming if you’re trying to rush specific unlocks.

What to Unlock First in the Tech Tree

Early priorities: Berry Plantation (5), Pal Sphere (2), Torch (2), Wheat Plantation (15), Cooking Station (17), Breeding Farm (19).

Mid-game: Grappling Gun (12) for traversal, Nail Gun (16) for faster building, a flying Pal saddle (15), and a double-barrel shotgun (20).

Late game: Surgery Table (36), Sulfur Mine (52), Fish Pond (31 and 55), and the weapons and armor tier unlocks above level 40. Spending points randomly in the early game on furniture or decorative items is the biggest mistake new players make. Hold points until you know what you need next.

Fastest Flying and Ground Mounts in Palworld

Traversal is everything in Palworld. The map is large, resources are scattered across biomes, and the right mount can significantly reduce your farming time. If you’re looking to upgrade your gaming setup to handle open-world games like this without frame drops, check our gaming PC buying guide.

Fastest Flying Mounts

The fastest flying mount in Palworld is Jetragon, and it’s not close. It has more than double the speed of any other flying Pal, making it the fastest mount overall, in the air or on land. It’s a late-game legendary Pal requiring significant preparation to capture and a high-technology-level saddle to ride.

Before Jetragon, Faleris is the best option. You can craft its saddle at Technology Level 38. It sits comfortably at the top of the early-to-mid-flying mount tier.

Early game: Nitewing is the first flying mount you can access. Its saddle unlocks at level 15 and it can be found in starting areas including Forgotten Island, Ice Wind Island, and Windswept Hills. It’s not fast, but it’s a functional first flyer.

Fastest Ground Mounts

Necromus is the fastest ground mount in Palworld, with a sprint speed of 1600, which makes it genuinely competitive with some flying mounts. It’s located in the Desiccated Desert alongside Paladius. Catching it requires defeating both Legendary Pals simultaneously in a boss battle, and you need to be at least Level 49 to craft its saddle. It also gives a triple jump ability, which is useful for terrain navigation.

Paladius is slightly slower at sprint speed 1600 (same tier), but its triple jump partner skill makes it nearly as useful as Necromus overall.

For players not yet ready for the endgame boss fights: Univolt is the best early option, found in the Sea Breeze Archipelago. Pyrin and Rayhound are solid mid-game ground mounts with decent speeds before you reach the desert bosses.

Coal, Sulfur, and Quartz Locations in Palworld

Resources are biome-gated in Palworld, which means you’ll need to travel to specific areas for each one.

Coal Location in Palworld

Coal is primarily found in the volcanic region and around the colder northern biomes. The most consistent coal location Palworld players use is around the volcanic tower entrance in the southwest. There are multiple coal nodes clustered near the Syndicate Tower in the volcanic biome that respawn consistently. A single manual run of 5 to 10 minutes in this area gives more coal than most players need for a full crafting session.

Sulfur Location in Palworld

Sulfur is concentrated around Mount Obsidian in the volcanic biome. The best sulfur location is directly next to the Eternal Pyre Tower Entrance fast travel point, which has 8 or more nodes just steps from the statue. The volcano summit has up to 9 tightly packed nodes with a fast travel point nearby.

Bring heat-resistant armor before entering this zone. The volcanic biome deals passive fire damage without it, and many of the Pals here are high-level. A fast-flying mount is important for efficient sulfur farming routes, letting you hit multiple node clusters in quick succession without running on foot.

The Sulfur Mine structure unlocks at level 52 and automates collection. Until then, manual runs are the standard approach.

Quartz Location in Palworld

Pure quartz is a late-game material found primarily in the northern ice biome and the Feybreak Island area. Where to find quartz in Palworld depends on your progression: early access to quartz is possible in northern areas, but the node density is much higher on Feybreak Island, added in the December 2024 update. If you have access after the February break, farm there.

Farming Other Key Resources

Bones in Palworld

Pals with skeletal or undead classifications drop Palworld bones, with Vixy, Rushoar, and the undead Pals in dungeon areas being the most accessible. Bone drops are also somewhat common from Pals in the early desert zones. These are used in medicine crafting and certain building recipes.

High-Quality Pal Oil in Palworld

High-quality pal oil farming in Palworld is best done with Pals in the oil-producing ranch category or through combat drops. Dumud and Woolipop are the most cited ranch producers of pal oil. Alternatively, you can hunt Pals in the volcanic biome that have high drop rates, but ranch production scales better long-term once your base is established.

Honey in Palworld

Palworld honey comes from Beegarde stationed at ranches. One beehagard on a ranch produces honey passively over time. For large quantities, assign multiple beekeepers. Honey is required for cake in the breeding process, so automating honey production early is worth doing.

Meteorite Fragments

Palworld meteorite fragment drops are event-tied. Meteorites land at specific map locations during active periods and can be mined for fragments. These are used in crafting higher-tier gear. Watch for the map notification when a meteorite lands and get there before the window closes.

How to Use the Fishing Magnet in Palworld

The fishing magnet is a late-game tool that confuses many players because it doesn’t work like a regular fishing rod.

There are actually two magnets: the Fishing Magnet and the Super Fishing Magnet, which unlocks at level 61. The fishing magnet is primarily used to salvage sunken treasure from the ocean floor rather than catch Pals. You deploy it in bodies of water, and it pulls up submerged loot, including rare materials and items not available through standard fishing.

You can search for treasure with earlier fishing gear, but the magnet significantly improves your loot rate. It’s a late-game tool for a reason: the rewards are tied to deeper and more dangerous water locations.

For regular fishing, the system uses six rods split across beginner, intermediate, and expert tiers (two per tier). Higher tier rods increase the size of the bar during fishing, making catches easier. You also need bait crafted from Pal Juice or High-Quality Pal Oil combined with flour and specific foods depending on what you’re targeting. Set up base production for tomatoes, onions, and carrots early to ensure bait supply.

How Many Bases Can You Have in Palworld?

The base limit in Palworld is 3 by default. You can have up to three bases running simultaneously across the map. Most players use one as a main production base and two as resource-specific outposts.

A volcanic biome base near sulfur and coal nodes is a common second base choice. A northern base near ore deposits or quartz nodes works well as a third. The best base pals to assign to production bases are those with high handiwork and mining suitability. Anubis (level 4 Handiwork, level 3 Mining) is the best single Pal for a general-purpose base. Complement it with a Pal that has both transporting and planting skills to cover food production.

Palworld Best Base Pals

For the mining: Anubis, Blazamut Ryu and Necromus. For making. Anubis, Liploc, Wixen. Mossanda. Lifmunk. Bristla. For Farming. Raichuu variants: Grizzbolt. Generating electricity:

Palworld Server Issues and Error Fixes

Palworld Token Not Found Error

The “token not found” error appears in two main scenarios: you’re playing in Steam offline mode, or there’s an authentication failure between your client and the game servers. The fix is simple in most cases: close Palworld completely, restart Steam in online mode, and relaunch. If that doesn’t work, verify game files through Steam (right-click Palworld, Properties, Installed Files, and verify integrity).

Palworld Launch Server Issues

The launch server chaos back in January 2024 has long since been patched, but server issues still occur periodically, especially after major updates when player counts spike. If you’re getting connection timeouts or empty server lists, start simple: close the game, restart your router, and relaunch. For persistent issues on dedicated servers, reverting any recent configuration changes and restarting the server to regenerate defaults often fixes startup failures. For a broader context on the evolution of online game infrastructure, our piece on how the gaming industry has changed is worth a read.

Palworld Cross-Platform

As of 2026, Palworld supports crossplay between Steam and Xbox/Game Pass. This was added after launch and lets PC and console players share dedicated servers.

Palworld Wanted System: How to Get Rid of It

The “wanted” system in Palworld triggers when you attack human NPCs or poach Pals in protected areas. A Wanted Level brings syndicate or ranger faction units hunting you. To clear it, you need to either survive the timer (avoid dying while hunted), escape to a different region and wait, or use a speedy mount to outrun the responders until the heat drops. There’s no item or quick-clear mechanic. Outrunning them on a fast-flying mount is the cleanest solution.

Palworld Tips That Save Hours

Check the tech tree before spending points. Spending 2 points on a decoration item early can delay a breeding farm or cooking station by a full play session. Plan your route before committing.

Name your Pals from the start. Once you have 20 or more Pals in your box, they start to blur together. Naming them by their passive skills (e.g., “Anubis-Musclehead”) makes sorting and breeding significantly faster.

Build a forward outpost near enemy faction bases. Enemy faction bases in Palworld are great for materials and XP but often far from your main base. A small second base nearby with fast travel access saves time on repeat runs.

Don’t ignore dungeon locations early. The cave locations and dungeon map areas in the starting region have early chest spawns and Pal drops that are not available in the open world. Clear them on your way through for consistent material income.

Breed before you reach the late game. The Anubis combo (Penking plus Bushi) is accessible from mid-game. Getting an Anubis with good passives at level 25 to 30 makes the rest of progression considerably easier.

Final Thoughts

Palworld rewards the players who engage with its systems rather than running past them. Breeding, implants, tech tree planning, and mount progression aren’t optional sidequests. They’re what separates a frustrating mid-game from a smooth late-game run where you’re farming Predator Cores with a Jetragon and an optimized Pal team.

It’s still early access. Some things are rough; some numbers will change. But the core loop works well, involving catching Pals, building a base, and pushing into progressively harder content. The Feybreak and Sakurajima updates showed Pocketpair is serious about expanding it, so more new Palworld content is on the way.

Frequently Asked Questions