You’re 10 hours into your first Palworld playthrough, ready to craft a better metal armor set, a saddle for your newly caught Chillet, or upgrade your base storage, and you hit a very common roadblock: no leather left in your inventory. If you’re asking how do you get leather in Palworld, you’re far from alone. It’s one of the most frequently used resources across all stages of the game, and many new players waste hours chasing the wrong Pals or using inefficient methods to collect it. I’ve logged over 200 hours in Palworld testing different farming routes and tricks, so I’ve broken down everything you need to know to stock up without wasting your time.
How Do You Get Leather in Palworld: Core Basic Methods
If you’re still new to the game, the answer to how do you get leather in Palworld is simpler than you might think, you don’t need any special tools or late-game unlocks to start collecting it. Leather only drops from specific animal-type Pals when you either defeat or capture them, it never spawns from mining nodes, plants, or chests. Capturing Pals that drop leather will net you 20% more resources on average than just killing them, so it’s always worth throwing an extra Pal Sphere if you have spares in your inventory.
You can also get leather by processing excess Pals in the Meat Cleaver crafting station, which you unlock at level 12. This is a great way to use up duplicate common Pals you capture while farming for other resources, instead of just releasing them for a small bit of XP. Leather never drops from neutral or plant-type Pals, so you can skip hunting Lifmunk, Cattiva, or Tanzee for it entirely, that’s just a waste of ammo and healing items. You don’t need fancy weapons to farm leather early on either, a basic wooden club or crude bow works perfectly for low-level Pals.
Best Low-Level Pals to Hunt for Leather Early Game
If you’re still under level 15 and haven’t unlocked fast mounts or strong ranged weapons, you don’t have to travel far from the starting zone to get all the leather you need. The Plateau of Beginnings and surrounding areas have tons of low-risk, high-yield Pals that drop 1-2 leather each, and most won’t attack you unless provoked. I used to farm these Pals exclusively for my first 20 hours of play, and I never ran out of leather for crafting projects.
- Fuack: These duck-like water Pals spawn in packs of 3-4 along all rivers and beaches near the starting fast travel point, are level 3-7, and drop 1 leather every single time. They don’t attack unless you hit them first, so you can pick off entire packs easily with a crude bow.
- Cremis: Fluffy sheep Pals that spawn in the grassy fields west of the first plateau, level 5-9, drop 1-2 leather each. They run away when attacked, so aim for headshots to take them down before they escape into the woods.
- Vixy: Small fox Pals that spawn in the forested areas south of the starting plateau, level 6-10, drop 2 leather each. They’re a bit faster than Cremis, but their small size makes them easy to hit with a club if you sneak up on them from behind.
Make sure to loot every corpse after you defeat them, it’s easy to miss a drop if you’re rushing to the next group of Pals. I once left 8 leather on the ground because I was too focused on chasing a rare Vixy spawn, and I had to walk all the way back to collect it 10 minutes later. Just watch out for any nearby Relaxaurus when you’re farming beaches, they’re extremely territorial and will charge you if you get too close to their spawn points.
Efficient Late-Game Leather Farming Routes for Bulk Stock
Once you hit level 20 and have a flying mount like Nitewing or a fast ground mount like Eikthyrdeer, you can cover far more ground and hunt higher-level Pals that drop 3-4 leather each. This is perfect if you need hundreds of pieces of leather for high-tier armor, legendary saddles, or large base building projects. The best area for late-game leather farming is the northern grasslands near the Sealed Realm of the Frozen Emperor, where high-level leather-dropping Pals spawn in huge, dense groups.
You can use an assault rifle or shotgun to clear entire packs in 10 seconds flat, or bring a fire-type Pal with a wide AoE attack to take down groups without wasting ammo. You can easily get 50+ leather per 10 minute run in this area if you stick to the main path, so it’s worth setting aside 30 minutes every few hours of play to stock up. You can also combine your leather farming runs with ore farming, since there are tons of high-quality metal ore nodes scattered across the same northern grasslands area.
If you have a lot of extra common Pals stored in your Palbox, processing them in the Meat Cleaver is another fast way to get bulk leather. I usually process all the extra Fuack and Cremis I capture while farming for Pal Spheres, since they’re easy to replace and give consistent drops. Just don’t process any Pals with rare passive traits or rare species, you’re better off keeping those for your base work teams or battle party.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming Leather
I made almost all of these mistakes when I first started playing Palworld, and they cost me hours of wasted time that I could have spent exploring or building up my base. First, don’t waste time hunting high-level Pals for leather early on. If you’re under level 10, trying to take down a level 25 Mammorest for 4 pieces of leather is not worth it, you’ll burn through all your healing items and respawn multiple times just for a tiny payout. Stick to Pals that are 2 levels below you or lower for fast, low-effort kills when you’re just starting out.
Second, don’t forget to bring a Pal with the “Lucky” passive trait in your party when you’re farming. Lucky increases all resource drop rates by 15%, so you’ll get extra leather almost every time you defeat or capture a Pal. I always keep a level 10 Lucky Vixy in my party when I’m farming any resource, and the extra drops add up fast over a long play session.
Third, don’t save all your leather farming for one big run. If you’re already traveling to a dungeon or a new fast travel point, take 30 seconds to kill any leather-dropping Pals you pass along the way. I once collected 22 leather just while traveling to a boss fight, and I didn’t even have to set aside extra time to farm it. Also make sure you clear out extra space in your inventory before you go farming, there’s nothing worse than having to throw away valuable ore or Pal Spheres just to pick up leather, or leaving leather on the ground because you’re full.
At the end of the day, figuring out how do you get leather in Palworld doesn’t have to be a frustrating chore. Whether you’re a new player just building your first base or a veteran farming materials for legendary gear, sticking to the right Pals to hunt and avoiding common mistakes will let you stock up on all the leather you need in no time. Don’t overcomplicate it, start with the low-level Pals near your spawn point first, then move to the higher-level northern routes once you have better gear and mounts. Next time you’re stuck waiting for leather to finish that new saddle or armor set, give one of these methods a try, you’ll be surprised how fast you can fill your inventory.