A fast Pal is only useful as a mount after you craft its Pal Gear. Saddles unlock at different player levels, and several late-game choices need rare materials or a specific boss. The best mount for a new save is therefore different from the fastest endgame option.

Version 1.0 also changed Partner Skills and added new Pals. Speed still matters, but stamina, jumping, terrain, body size, and party bonuses can change which Pal feels better during normal exploration.

How to Unlock a Mount

  1. Build the Pal Gear Workbench: it becomes available near the beginning of the Technology tree.
  2. Catch the Pal: its saddle or mount item usually appears in Technology after the species enters your Paldeck.
  3. Unlock and craft the gear: the item stays in Key Items, so you only need to make it once.
  4. Deploy the Pal: hold the Partner Skill control to ride after the gear is finished.

Do not unlock every saddle you see. Technology Points and materials are more useful when spent on one ground mount, one flying mount, and a water mount only when you begin fishing, salvaging, or crossing long ocean routes.

Best Starter Mounts

  • Direhowl - ground: its saddle unlocks early, it has good basic speed, and the Partner Skill improves riding speed. Low stamina is its main limit.
  • Nitewing - first flight: its saddle is available at level 15. It is slower than later choices, but early flight makes cliffs and short gaps easier.
  • Elphidran - better early flight: its saddle unlocks at level 20. It is faster than Nitewing and can remain useful until the stronger midgame flyers become available.

A ground mount is still useful after you unlock flight. It can move through trees, caves, and small ruins without the camera problems caused by very large flying Pals.

Best Midgame Mounts

  • Pyrin - ground: a reliable level-29 choice with better sustained movement than most early runners.
  • Beakon - flying: a strong level-29 flyer. Its version 1.0 Partner Skill gains extra speed from other Electric Pals in the party.
  • Fenglope - ground alternative: its double jump helps on broken terrain, and condensation can improve its movement speed.

Choose Beakon when you want easier map travel. Keep Pyrin or Fenglope available for dungeons and narrow areas. Crafting both is reasonable because they solve different movement problems.

A Palworld character riding a large green Pal in the sky.
Mount abilities can include flight, extra jumps, combat bonuses, and party-based speed increases.

Best Endgame Ground Mount

Hartalis is a strong endgame ground choice. Mobalytics recommends it for its high stamina, fast sprint, and triple jump. It does not spawn normally. You obtain its Huge Common Egg after the Hartalis raid, which requires slab fragments and a Summoning Altar.

Necromus and Paladius remain good alternatives if you already own strong versions. Do not replace a fully improved mount only because a ranking puts another Pal slightly higher. A good passive set and condensation can matter during long travel.

Best Endgame Flying Mount

Eidrolon is the strongest current choice when you build the party around it. Its movement speed and attack increase for every other Dragon or Dark Pal in your team. That bonus is why it can move ahead of older favorites in version 1.0.

Jetragon is easier to use when you do not want a specific party setup. It is fast without asking you to fill the other slots with particular elements. Keep Jetragon for general travel and use Eidrolon when its party requirement matches your combat team.

Eidrolon appears as a boss in Sunreach, and its saddle is a late-game craft. It is not a realistic target for a player still using early equipment, even if it ranks first under the right conditions.

Best Water Mount

Neptilius is the clearest late-game water choice. It has high swimming speed and stamina, can leap over the water while mounted, and gains more swimming speed through condensation. The Alpha appears near the Isle of the Glacial Core at about 139, 651.

Its saddle unlocks at level 64 and needs Coralum Ingots, so it belongs late in the progression. Earlier water mounts remain useful for fishing and salvaging because they do not need the same endgame materials.

Three Palworld players traveling on different flying Pals.
Keep more than one travel Pal when your routes include caves, oceans, cliffs, and long flights.

How to Make a Mount Faster

  • Condensation: raising the Partner Skill can improve movement speed for mounts that include a speed bonus.
  • Passive skills: movement and stamina bonuses are useful when they can pass to the species you plan to ride.
  • Party setup: Eidrolon, Beakon, and several other 1.0 mounts gain speed from specific party elements.
  • Use the correct mount: raw speed does not help when a large Pal cannot fit through the area or runs out of stamina before the destination.

Upgrade the mount you use most instead of improving every option. Direhowl, Elphidran, Beakon, Hartalis, Eidrolon, Jetragon, and Neptilius cover most travel needs from the first islands through the World Tree.