Pals are the main stars of Palworld, the multiplayer survival game featuring hundreds of creatures similar to Pokémon that you can collect to battle others or help run your base. As a result, one of the activities you will spend the most time doing is catching Pals, which works more or less like it does in Nintendo's RPG series.
But how exactly do you do it? If you are new to Palworld and still have questions, don't worry. In this section of our guide, we will walk you through the steps you need to follow to catch Pals easily, as well as share a useful trick to increase your chances of preventing them from escaping.
To catch Pals in Palworld, besides knowing where each creature can be found around the world (you can check Pal locations here), you first need a specific item in your inventory: a Pal Sphere. This item works in a very similar way to Poké Balls in Pokémon, as you can aim a Sphere at a Pal and throw it to trap the creature inside. If you are lucky, the Pal will be captured. If the attempt fails, it will break free and you can try again.
Pal Spheres can be crafted almost from the very beginning of the game after you unlock their recipe in the Technology tab by spending one Technology Point once your character has reached at least level 2. Each Sphere requires the following materials:
Naturally, before you can craft a Sphere, you will also need to build a Primitive Workbench using Wood x2. Its recipe is unlocked at Technology level 1.
Wood and Stone are easy to obtain by picking them up from the ground or by chopping down trees and mining gray rocks. Paldium Fragments, meanwhile, are generally obtained by mining blue-colored rocks, although you will sometimes find them lying on the ground as well.
Don't forget that Pal Spheres can also be found randomly in the wild. For example, if you catch a Vixy and assign it to a Ranch, it can gradually dig up more Pal Spheres at your base. This is an excellent way to passively farm Spheres without having to spend resources or time crafting them yourself.
Depending on the Pal you are trying to catch, you will notice that some are much more difficult to capture than others and may not stay inside the Sphere on your first attempt. Remember that whenever you aim a Pal Sphere at a Pal, you can check the capture percentage, which can range from 0% to 100%.
Naturally, this percentage can change for several reasons. You should keep the following factors in mind:
In any case, the best way to increase your capture chances is by using Statues of Power and Lifmunk Effigies. These effigies can be found throughout the map and collected like collectibles. Once you have gathered a few, you can offer them at a Statue of Power—a structure unlocked with Technology Points at level 6 and built using Stone x20 and Paldium Fragments x20—to increase the capture power of your Spheres.
If you want to search for Lifmunk Effigies, you can use this interactive map and filter its icons to display the effigies, allowing you to see where every one of them is located. There are more than 300 to collect.
