In Palworld, the Pals you catch are only half the story. To actually ride them across the map, glide off cliffs, or skim across the water, you need Pal Gear — the specialized equipment built for individual Pal species. Each piece unlocks a Pal’s partner skill, turning a creature you box away into a mount, a glider, or a swimming companion. This guide explains what Pal Gear is, how it splits into saddles, harnesses and utility gloves, and exactly how you unlock and craft each piece.
What Is Pal Gear?
According to The Palworld Wiki, Pal Gear is “specialized equipment designed for use by specific Pals, enhancing their abilities or enabling unique interactions with the player.” Every piece is tailored to one Pal species. Crafting and owning the gear permanently unlocks that Pal’s partner skill — so a saddle, for example, makes the matching Pal rideable. Importantly, the wiki notes saddles “don’t take up inventory space and only unlock the Ridability of a Pal.” You craft the gear once and the capability sticks; you do not re-equip it each time.
The Pal Gear category on the wiki currently lists around 120 items, spanning saddles, harnesses, gloves and Pal-exclusive weapons across many elemental variants (Aqua, Ignis, Lux, Noct, Terra and more). That breadth is why understanding the system matters more than memorizing one mount.
The Three Gear Categories
The wiki explicitly groups Pal Gear into saddles for rideable Pals, gliders, and Pal-exclusive weapons. In practice it helps to think of the riding-and-traversal gear in three buckets:
- Saddles — make ground, flying or swimming Pals rideable. Examples include the Eikthyrdeer Saddle, Nitewing Saddle, Surfent Saddle and Helzephyr Saddle.
- Harnesses — smaller gear tied to partner-skill Pals such as Foxparks’s Harness, Polapup’s Harness and Smokie’s Harness. Some ground mounts like Direhowl use a “Saddled Harness” variant that doubles as a riding unlock.
- Gloves / utility gear — items like Galeclaw’s Gloves, Hangyu’s Gloves and Jolthog’s Gloves that activate a Pal’s partner skill, often a traversal or glide effect rather than a sit-on mount.
There are also Pal-exclusive weapons in the same category — Grizzbolt’s Minigun, Mossanda’s Grenade Launcher and Jetragon’s Missile Launcher — that let you fire while riding the matching Pal.
How to Unlock and Craft Pal Gear
The unlock loop is consistent across every piece. First, capture the matching Pal — this reveals its gear in the Technology tree. Second, spend Technology points at the required level to unlock the recipe. Third, build a Pal Gear Workbench, which the wiki notes unlocks at Technology level 6, and craft the item there using materials like Leather, Fiber, Ingot, Cloth, Pal Fluids and Paldium Fragments.
For example, the Surfent Saddle requires Level 10 and costs 1 technology point, then crafts from 5 Leather, 5 Pal Fluids and 10 Paldium Fragment at the Pal Gear Workbench, unlocking Surfent’s “Swift Swimmer” partner skill for water riding. Bigger flying mounts cost more: the Nitewing Saddle unlocks at Level 15 for 2 technology points and needs 20 Leather, 10 Cloth, 15 Ingot, 20 Fiber and 20 Paldium Fragment.
Pal Gear Quick Reference
| Pal Gear | Type | Tech Level | Unlocks / Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Surfent Saddle | Saddle (swimming) | 10 | “Swift Swimmer” — water riding |
| Surfent Terra Saddle | Saddle (ground) | 25 | “Sand Swimmer” |
| Eikthyrdeer Saddle | Saddle (ground) | 12 | “Guardian of the Forest” mount |
| Nitewing Saddle | Saddle (flying) | 15 | “Travel Companion” flying mount |
| Galeclaw’s Gloves | Utility gloves | 23 | “Galeclaw Rider” — glide + fire weapon |
| Direhowl’s Saddled Harness | Harness (ground) | 9 | Rideable ground mount |
Tech levels and materials above are taken from The Palworld Wiki and corroborated by community databases; exact figures can shift between patches, so confirm against the in-game Technology tree.
Mounting and Riding
Once the gear is crafted, mounting is simple: put the Pal in your active party, stand beside it, and press and hold F (on PC) to climb on. Palworld supports three riding categories — ground, flying and swimming. For dual-purpose flyers like Shadowbeak or Frostallion, the trick is to mount, get moving, then press the jump key at least twice to take off. While mounted you can also command the Pal to use its skills via the on-screen command buttons.
Utility Gear: Galeclaw and Surfent
Not all gear puts you in a saddle. Galeclaw’s Gloves (Level 23) unlock the “Galeclaw Rider” partner skill: instead of a standard glider, you summon Galeclaw to glide with — and you can fire a gun mid-glide. The skill scales as Galeclaw levels, increasing base flying speed and reducing stamina drain while gliding, which makes Galeclaw a popular traversal pick over a crafted glider.
Surfent covers the water. Its saddle grants “Swift Swimmer,” letting you ride across lakes and ocean — a cheap, early unlock at Level 10 that solves water traversal long before you reach late-game flying mounts. The Surfent Terra variant instead grants “Sand Swimmer” for ground movement.
The Feybreak update added new mountable Pals and their gear, most notably Azurmane (one of the fastest ground mounts); base-game Legendaries like Necromus and Paladius have had their own saddles since launch. If you want context on those regions, see our Sakurajima island guide and our Feybreak island guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to re-equip Pal Gear every time?
No. Crafting the gear once permanently unlocks the Pal’s partner skill. Saddles don’t even occupy inventory space — they simply flag that Pal as rideable whenever it’s in your party.
Why can’t I see a saddle in the tech tree?
A Pal’s gear only appears in the Technology tree after you’ve captured that species and reached the required level. You also need a Pal Gear Workbench (Technology level 6) and enough Technology points to unlock the recipe.
What gives the fastest movement?
It depends on terrain: flying mounts like Jetragon and Frostallion are fastest overall, ground mounts like Necromus and Paladius lead on land, and Surfent or other swimming Pals handle water. Galeclaw’s Gloves are the budget traversal option for gliding.
Want to test mounts and share saddles with friends on the same map? Spinning up a dedicated Palworld server keeps your world online so the whole team can fly, swim and ride together around the clock — and our Palworld setup docs walk you through getting connected. For more progression help, check our best Pals by element guide and movement and traversal guide.
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