How to ride Pals in Palworld

Palworld riding two Pals in mutliplayer
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

Palworld riding two Pals in mutliplayer
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

One of the biggest wishes of any fan of a monster collection game would be to use the abilities of those monsters freely. Pokemon Arceus showed proof of this concept in a way fans loved. Palworld takes that concept a step further, allowing you to learn how to ride Pals in Palworld to traverse the map at a quicker pace.

There's a major emphasis on using Pals for traversal in Palworld due to the vastness of the map. If you want to get anywhere without wasting time, you need to learn how to ride Pals. In our guide, we'll see how you can unlock the option to ride Pals, list some of the Pals you can ride, and showcase the Pal riding mechanics.

While you're here, also learn how to craft a glider and a closer look at how to cook which is bound to be useful as you progress through the game.

How to unlock Palworld riding

You can't ride a Pal from the moment you capture it, and you certainly can't ride wild Pals. You might see a skill for riding, but the option is unavailable and asks you to unlock the Pal's gear.

Once you capture a Pal, you might notice that an 'unknown' entry in the Technology tree has revealed itself to be a Pal's gear. Check if crafting this piece of gear means you can ride the Pal.

palworld unlock saddled harness for direhowl
expand image
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

If so, then you need to spend some Technology Points to unlock it and then craft the gear at a Gear Crafting Table. You'll also have to unlock and build the Gear Crafting Table. Once you have all the required materials, finish crafting the piece of gear, and you'll be able to use it to ride any Pal of that type.

How to ride Palworld Pals

Once you have your Pal's gear unlocked, you just need to add them to the Party and summon them. Hold the skill button to call them to you and begin riding them. There are three types of Pals you can ride.

  • Land Running Pals
  • Flying Pals
  • Gliding Pals

Gliding Pals work mostly similarly to Gliders. Riding Pals will let you ride them along the land and even across bodies of water. They move at various speeds depending on the type as some are slow and bulky while others are lean and swift.

palworld riding direhowl
expand image
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

Lastly, we have the flying Pals that can ascend and descend freely and give you omnidirectional manoeuvrability. However, their distance of movement in a single go will be limited by your Stamina. If it depletes, they'll have to land and rest.

palworld riding on flying nitewing
expand image
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

Pal riding mechanics explained

When you're riding your Pals, Running types will consume Stamina if you hold the sprint button while Flying types will consume Stamina for all actions including movement, ascending, and abilities. Speaking of abilities, you can manually control your Pal's abilities while riding which is bound to be useful

palworld using nitewing tornado ability while flying and riding
expand image
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

While riding, you'll see the keys corresponding to each ability next to the skill button at the bottom of the screen. You can use all three abilities your Pal has, and they'll continue to use their corresponding cooldown time. While riding a Pal, you also have access to all your weapons and can interact with and pick up most objects you fly near.

palworld nitewing riding high in the sky with low stamina
expand image
Credit: Pocket Pair Inc

We did some further testing, and you can't drown while riding a Flying Pal as it will hover over the surface of the water. You can dismount it at any height while Land Pals will start taking damage while trying to swim at 0 Stamina.

Which Palworld Pals can you ride?

Here's a list of Pals you can catch and ride in Palworld

  • Rushoar
  • Melpaca
  • Direhowl
  • Eikthyrdeer
  • Grintale
  • Chillet
  • Nightwing
  • Dinossom
  • Vanwyrm
  • Kingpaca

That concludes our guide on how to ride Pals in Palworld and all riding mechanics. For more guides, learn how all the jobs work and how to increase your Pal capture chances.