Every Pal has up to four passive skill slots, and what fills them matters more than levels, souls, or condensation for most builds. There are 115 passive skills in our database — this guide cuts that down to the ones actually worth building around, split by what the Pal is for, with the fastest way to get each one onto your Pal.

How passives get onto a Pal

There are three routes, and endgame builds use all of them:

• Catching. Wild Pals spawn with random passives; a lucky catch is a breeding foundation, not a finished product.
• Breeding. Offspring inherit passives from their parents' combined pool, so you concentrate good passives over generations — the Breeding Calculator handles the pairings. Boss-exclusive passives like Legend can only enter your lines this way.
• Surgery. The Pal Surgery Table overwrites any passive with one you've unlocked — the deterministic finisher for a slot breeding won't cooperate on. Our implants guide covers every unlockable passive and where its implant comes from.

In the tables below, "how to get" shows the surgery route where one exists — anything marked "catch or breed" can't be implanted and has to be bred in the old-fashioned way.

Best combat passives

For Pals whose job is damage. Attack multipliers stack across slots, so a finished attacker runs three or four of these at once.

Passive	Effect	How to get
Demon God The biggest unconditional attack boost in the game.	Attack +30% Defense +5%	Disposable implant
Twin-Edged Holy Blade Glass-cannon pick — pairs well with Diamond Body to offset the defense loss.	Attack +50% Defense −30% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
God of Destruction Massive offense at half your HP; best on Pals that fight from range.	Attack +40% Defense +20% Max HP −50% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
Legend Attack, defense, and speed in one slot — breed it in from its natural holders.	Attack +20% Defense +20% Movement Speed +20%	Catch or breed Paladius Necromus Frostallion Frostallion Noct
Musclehead Combat-only: the work speed penalty makes it poison for base Pals.	Attack +30% Work Speed −50%	Implant — bounty merchant
Ferocious	Attack +20%	Surgery Table · 50,000 gold
Vampiric Life steal plus night activity — excellent on expedition and raid teams.	Nocturnal (works through the night) Life Steal +5%	Disposable implant
Immortality Life steal, huge regen, and attack in one slot.	Life Steal +5% HP Regen +100% Attack +15%	Disposable implant Glistening relics only
Lucky Attack, defense, and work speed — a do-everything filler slot.	Attack +15% Defense +15% Work Speed +20%	Catch or breed

Best defensive passives

For tanks, raid anchors, and anything that keeps dying. Defense passives are also the safety net for the glass-cannon World Tree attack passives.

Passive	Effect	How to get
Diamond Body The flinch and knockback immunity matters as much as the defense.	Defense +30% Flinch Immunity Knockback Immunity	Disposable implant
Sanctified Meat Shield Ultimate tank stat — keep it off your damage dealers.	Defense +50% Attack −30% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
Idiosyncratic Defense, regen, and burn/poison immunity — a one-slot survivability package.	HP Regen +50% Resist Additional Effect Burn +100% Resist Additional Effect Poison +100% Defense +25%	Disposable implant Glistening relics only
Burly Body	Defense +20% Flinch Immunity	Implant — bounty merchant
Heavily Armored Niche but unmatched against explosion-heavy bosses and raids.	Explosion Resist +100%	Disposable implant Glistening relics only
Hard Skin	Defense +10%	Surgery Table · 10,000 gold

Best base worker passives

Work speed is king, but the sanity and hunger reducers decide how long a Pal actually stays at its station. A great worker mixes both.

Passive	Effect	How to get
Demon’s Hand The best work passive in the game — offset the sanity drain with Positive Thinker or good base food.	Work Speed +90% Sanity Drain +15% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
Remarkable Craftsmanship	Work Speed +75%	Disposable implant
Artisan The classic worker passive, and one of the easiest to unlock permanently.	Work Speed +50%	Implant — bounty merchant
Work Slave Free real estate on base Pals that never fight.	Work Speed +30% Attack −30%	Surgery Table · 10,000 gold
Serious	Work Speed +20%	Surgery Table · 10,000 gold
Hermit Sage Near-zero sanity drain; the work speed penalty is worth it on Pals doing slow background jobs.	Sanity Drain −50% Work Speed −20% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
Heart of the Immovable King	Sanity Drain −20%	Disposable implant
Workaholic	Sanity Drain −15%	Surgery Table · 50,000 gold
Positive Thinker	Sanity Drain −10%	Surgery Table · 10,000 gold
World Tree Seedbed Halves food consumption — huge on high-appetite workers.	Hunger Drain −50% Max HP −20% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
Mastery of Fasting	Hunger Drain −20%	Disposable implant
Diet Lover	Hunger Drain −15%	Surgery Table · 50,000 gold
Insomnia Night-shift crews: pair with sanity passives, since sleep is how Pals recover.	Nocturnal (works through the night)	Surgery Table · 10,000 gold

Best mount passives

Movement speed passives stack, so a dedicated mount wants every tier of speed it can hold plus stamina to sprint on.

Passive	Effect	How to get
Dimensional Leap The fastest passive there is; the hunger cost is trivial on a mount.	Movement Speed +50% Hunger Drain +15% World Tree Decay Immunity	Disposable implant
Swift Swift, Runner, and Nimble stack — the classic triple-speed mount build.	Movement Speed +30%	Disposable implant
Runner	Movement Speed +20%	Implant — Arena Shop
Nimble	Movement Speed +10%	Surgery Table · 10,000 gold
Eternal Engine Sprint dramatically longer — the best single mount quality-of-life pick.	Stamina +75%	Disposable implant
Infinite Stamina	Stamina +50%	Implant — Arena Shop
Skymarcher Two extra ride jumps; transforms ground mounts in vertical terrain.	Ride Jump Count Increase +2	Disposable implant Glistening relics only
Lightfooted	Ride Jump Count Increase +1	Catch or breed
King of the Waves For swimming mounts — on land Pals the slot is wasted.	Swim Speed +50%	Disposable implant
Ace Swimmer	Swim Speed +40%	Implant — Arena Shop

Trainer passives (they buff you)

These affect the player while the Pal is in your party — they work from inside the Pal Sphere. Spread them across your five team slots for a permanent stat sheet upgrade.

Passive	Effect	How to get
Vanguard Buffs YOUR attack while this Pal is on the team — stack one of each trainer passive across your party.	Attack +10% (player)	Implant — bounty merchant
Stronghold Strategist	Defense +10% (player)	Implant — bounty merchant
Motivational Leader	Work Speed +25% (player)	Implant — bounty merchant
Wellness Watcher	Player S P Decrease Rate −5% (player)	Implant — bounty merchant
Healing Coach	HP Regen +5% (player)	Implant — Arena Shop
Reload Master	Reload Speed Up +4% (player)	Implant — Arena Shop
Serenity	Active Skill Cool Time Decrease +30% Attack +10%	Implant — Arena Shop
Mine Foreman Player mining damage — keep a Pal with it in your party while farming ore.	Mining +25% (player)	Surgery Table · 50,000 gold
Logging Foreman	Logging +25% (player)	Surgery Table · 50,000 gold

Boss-exclusive passives and who carries them

These passives never appear on the surgery table and never roll on ordinary wild Pals — they belong to specific (mostly boss) Pals. To use one in a build, catch a carrier and breed the passive into your line. The elemental boost passives are the best-in-slot damage multiplier for mono-element attackers.

Passive	Effect	Found naturally on
Legend	Attack +20% Defense +20% Movement Speed +20%	Paladius Necromus Frostallion Frostallion Noct Jetragon Neptilius
Flame Emperor	Fire Damage +30%	Blazamut
Lord of Lightning	Electricity Damage +30%	Orserk
Ice Emperor	Ice Damage +30%	Frostallion
Earth Emperor	Earth Damage +30%	Anubis
Spirit Emperor	Leaf Damage +30%	Lyleen
Celestial Emperor	Normal Damage +30%	Paladius
Divine Dragon	Dragon Damage +30%	Jetragon
Eternal Flame	Fire Damage +30% Electricity Damage +30%	Blazamut Ryu
Savior	Normal Damage +30% Leaf Damage +30%	Hartalis
Siren of the Void	Dark Damage +30% Ice Damage +30%	Bellanoir Libero
Lunker	Water Damage +20% Ice Damage +20% Defense +20%	Neptilius
Invader	Dark Damage +30% Dragon Damage +30%	Xenolord

Negative passives to remove

Wild-caught Pals often come saddled with these. Any of them can be overwritten at the Pal Surgery Table — even swapping one for a cheap 10,000-gold default passive is a big upgrade. When breeding, cull carriers early so the bad passive doesn't propagate through your line.

Passive	Effect
Slacker	Work Speed −30%
Brittle	Defense −20%
Pacifist	Attack −20%
Bottomless Stomach	Hunger Drain +15%
Destructive	Sanity Drain +15%
Clumsy	Work Speed −10%
Downtrodden	Defense −10%
Coward	Attack −10%
Glutton	Hunger Drain +10%
Unstable	Sanity Drain +10%
Mercy Hit	Non-Lethal Attacks
Easygoing	Active Skill Cool Time Decrease −15%
Sickly	Stamina −25%
Shabby	Shop Sell Price Money Increase −10% Shop Buy Price Money Increase +10%
Night Owl	Nocturnal (naps during the day)

Putting a four-slot build together

1. Start from what can't be implanted. Breed in the catch-or-breed passives first — Legend, the elemental boosts, Lucky — using the Breeding Calculator to plan the line.
2. Fill the rest with surgery. Once breeding, IVs, and gender are final, overwrite the leftover slots at the Surgery Table — defaults and unlocked implants are repeatable, so use them freely (implants guide).
3. Spend disposables last. Demon God, the World Tree set, and the Glistening exclusives (the passives mutated Pals hatch with) are one-shot items — apply them only when the Pal is otherwise finished, and farm replacements via the Ancient Relic Recycler.
4. Theory-craft first. The Pal Builder lets you preview stat totals with any passive combination before you spend a single relic.