When I first booted up Palworld, I wrote off partner skills as fun but useless bonus perks for my caught Pals. I’d summon my Lamball for its shield once every few boss fights, but never thought to put time into upgrading the skill, until I fought my first tower boss and got one-shot because the shield only lasted 2 seconds. That’s when I started digging into how to level up partner skill Palworld players can use to make every part of gameplay smoother, from gathering to endgame raids. This guide pulls from 70+ hours of playtesting to break down exactly what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid wasting hours of grind on useless tactics.
How to Level Up Partner Skill Palworld: Core Mechanics You Need to Know
First, let’s clear up a common misconception: partner skills don’t level up automatically when your Pal gains general experience from fighting or working in your base. Each partner skill has its own separate XP bar that you can’t see in your Pal’s stat screen, but it tracks every time you actively use the skill. That means you have to summon the Pal to your party and trigger its partner skill manually to earn XP for that specific skill.
Every time you use a Pal’s partner skill actively, you earn invisible XP for that skill, regardless of how effective the use was. For example, if you use a Cattiva’s partner skill to carry extra items, you get the same XP whether you fill the extra slots or leave them empty. The only time you don’t get XP is if the skill gets interrupted halfway through, or if your Pal faints before the skill finishes activating.
Most partner skills have 5 total levels, with small stat boosts at each level, and a big hidden bonus when you hit max level. The XP requirement goes up with each level, but you don’t have to grind all 5 levels in one sitting; XP saves even if you swap your Pal out of your party or log off for the day.
The Fastest Ways to Grind Partner Skill XP for Any Pal
You don’t have to spend 10 hours running around the map to max out a Pal’s partner skill if you grind strategically. The key is to minimize downtime between skill uses, so you can trigger the skill as often as possible in a short window.
Avoid wasting skill uses on high-stakes fights if you’re just grinding, because if your Pal takes damage and faints, you’ll waste time reviving them and waiting for their stamina to refill. Stick to low-risk areas near your base or a fast travel point so you can resupply quickly if needed.
These are my go-to grind hacks for every type of partner skill:
- For combat-focused partner skills: Spawn low-level Chikipi near your base and use the skill on them repeatedly, no risk of your Pal taking enough damage to faint
- For utility partner skills like mining or logging: Use the skill on small resource nodes first instead of large ones, since each activation counts the same for XP regardless of node size
- For mount partner skills: Ride your Pal in small circles near a fast travel point so you can refill your Pal’s stamina instantly if it runs low, no downtime between uses
Make sure your Pal is well-fed before you start grinding, because hungry Pals will refuse to use their partner skill randomly, wasting your time. I always keep a stack of their favorite food in my inventory before I start a grind session, so I can top them up every few minutes if their sanity or hunger drops too low.
Common Mistakes That Slow Down Partner Skill Leveling
I wasted almost 10 hours grinding my Anubis’s partner skill before I realized I was making a bunch of avoidable mistakes that cut my XP gain in half. The first and biggest mistake is leaving the Pal in your base work lineup when you want to level their skill. Base work doesn’t count towards partner skill XP, even if the Pal is doing a task related to their skill. My Anubis was mining in my base for 3 days straight, and its partner skill didn’t move up a single level until I started summoning it to use the skill manually.
Another common mistake is using the skill when your Pal is low on stamina. If the skill cuts out halfway because stamina runs out, you don’t get full XP for that use. For example, if you start riding your Jetragon and it runs out of stamina 2 seconds in, you only get 10% of the XP you would have gotten for a full activation. Always wait for your Pal’s stamina bar to refill completely before activating their partner skill again to get the maximum XP per use.
You also don’t want to grind partner skills for Pals you don’t actually use regularly. It’s way more efficient to max out the skills for your 3 or 4 most used Pals first, instead of spreading your time thin across 20 different Pals you only summon once a month. I have a rule that I only grind a Pal’s partner skill if I use it at least 3 times a week, either for gathering, travel, or boss fights.
What You Unlock When You Max Out a Pal’s Partner Skill
Most players don’t realize that max level partner skills have hidden perks that aren’t listed in the Pal’s stat page. For example, max level Chillet mount skill lets you run across water without slowing down, which is not mentioned anywhere in the level 1 skill description. Max level Lamball shield skill lasts 3 times longer than the base level, and can even block tower boss one-shot attacks that would normally kill you instantly.
Maxed partner skills also reduce the stamina cost of using the skill by up to 40%, so you can use them more often without having to wait for stamina to refill. My max level Jetragon mount uses so little stamina that I can fly across the entire map without stopping once to refill, which saves me hours of travel time every week.
You also unlock a special Pal Soul bonus when you max out a Pal’s partner skill, which lets you transfer 10% of that skill’s boost to another Pal of the same type. For example, if you max out a Tombat’s combat partner skill, you can use its Pal Soul to give a bonus to any other dark-type Pal’s partner skill. This is a game-changer for endgame builds, since you can stack bonuses for your strongest raid Pals to make them even more powerful.
At the end of the day, leveling your Pal's partner skills doesn't have to be a tedious grind if you follow the tips we covered. You don't need to spend hours grinding every single Pal, just pick the 3 or 4 you use most often and focus on those first, and you'll notice a huge difference in how easy every part of the game feels. If you've been struggling to get more out of your favorite Pals, these methods for how to level up partner skill Palworld players rely on will help you get the most value out of every catch. Next time you log on, try grinding one skill for 10 minutes, and you’ll be shocked at how fast you see results.