Palworld best mounts: what to unlock, and in what order
Mounts split by terrain in 1.0 — a ground mount, a flyer, a water mount. Here's the order to unlock them so you're never stuck on foot.
Mount unlock order at a glance
- 1. Rushoar
- Saddle at tech level 6
- 2. Celaray's Gloves
- Tech level 7 — buffs your equipped glider, not a mount itself
- 3. Eikthyrdeer
- Saddle at tech level 12, double-jump
- 4. Nitewing
- Saddle at tech level 15 — first real flyer
- Best flyer (speed)
- Jetragon — highest top speed, low stamina
- Best flyer (stamina)
- Xenolord — ~2700 sprint, ~300 stamina
- Best ground
- Necromus (double-jump) / Paladius (triple-jump) — saddle level 61
- Best water
- Neptilius, then Jormuntide (saddle level 39) — no stamina drain
Traversal splits by terrain, not one do-it-all Pal
The biggest mount change in Palworld 1.0 is that there is no single "best mount" anymore. Traversal splits hard by terrain: you want a fast ground mount for land, a flyer for crossing gaps and scouting, and a water mount that actually leaps instead of paddling. Chasing one do-it-all Pal is what leaves you crossing half the map on foot.
The early unlock order
The unlock order that keeps you mobile from the start: the Rushoar saddle comes first at tech level 6 — the earliest possible mount if you're willing to travel for it. Celaray's Gloves follow at tech 7, but note the 1.0 change: Celaray itself is no longer a rideable glider. The Gloves are now a Partner Skill that buffs whatever glider you have equipped instead, preventing fall damage and extending high-speed glide duration. Your reliable early ground mount, Eikthyrdeer, unlocks its saddle at tech 12 and double-jumps, which matters more than raw speed early. Your first real flyer, Nitewing, lands at tech 15 and spawns right near the starting area — it's most players' first set of wings.
Upgrade by role
From there, upgrade by role rather than by hype. A flyer is the single biggest time-saver in the game: it turns a two-minute trek into ten seconds and lets you hunt Lifmunk Effigies at night, when they glow. A ground mount handles the terrain a flyer can't land on cleanly. And once you reach the water-heavy regions, a dedicated swimming mount stops the ocean from being a wall.
The endgame ceiling
At the endgame ceiling, the picks split by trade-off, not by a single winner. For flight, Jetragon has the highest top speed in the game but low stamina, so it shines on short hops; Xenolord trades a little speed (around 2700 sprint) for roughly 300 stamina, which makes long crossings far smoother, and it can push past 3200 with speed passives. On the ground, Necromus (double-jump) and Paladius (triple-jump) are the kings, with saddles unlocking at level 61 — noticeably later than some older guides suggest — and the 1.0 legendary Hartalis adds a damage-blocking barrier while mounted on top of its own speed. In the water, the new Neptilius tops the category while the long-standing Jormuntide (saddle at level 39) stays excellent — and since swimming mounts don't spend stamina in water, raw speed is all that matters there.
Three separate rosters
One reflex worth keeping from the veteran side of the game: your best combat Pal is almost never your best mount, and your best mount is rarely your best base worker. The rush treats mounts, fighters and workers as three separate rosters — so don't sink your best saddle into a Pal you also need on the front line.