Palworld Hard Mode Tower and Ultra Raid Prep: IVs, Passives, Condensing, and Pal Souls

Hard Mode tower rematches and Ultra Raids are the only content in Palworld that checks whether you finished a Pal. Not caught a good one, finished one. There are six separate upgrade layers on a single Pal, and endgame fights assume all six. Most players who bounce off Hard Mode have three of them.

The six layers, in the order you should build them

• Layer 1: IVs. The hidden Health, Attack, and Defence rolls the Pal was born with.
• Layer 2: Passives. The four named skills on the card.
• Layer 3: Condenser stars. Plus 5 percent Health, Attack, and Defence per star, four stars maximum.
• Layer 4: Pal Souls at the Statue of Power. Direct stat investment on the individual Pal.
• Layer 5: Stat fruits. Permanent Life, Power, and Stout Fruit increases.
• Layer 6: Awakening. The World Tree system that raises stat caps with radiant gems.

Order matters because the early layers are the ones you cannot fix later. IVs and passives are set at birth or reroll, so build those into the Pal before you spend anything permanent on it.

Layer 1: get the IVs right before anything else

IVs are the reason two identical Pals at the same level hit differently. They are baked in at capture or hatch, which means the only fix is a different Pal. Do not spend Pal Souls or stat fruits on a Pal with bad IVs, because you are permanently investing in a worse foundation.

• Check IVs before you invest. Ability Glasses show Health, Attack, and Defence on a 0 to 100 scale.
• Breed rather than hope. Hatching several eggs from good parents is faster than re-catching a legendary.
• Accept good enough. Perfect IVs on all three stats is a long project, and Hard Mode does not require perfect.

Layer 2: passives that actually matter for endgame

Combat passives are the largest percentage swing available on a Pal, which makes a four-passive combat set worth more than most gear upgrades. Build these into your breeding stock before you finish the Pal, since rerolling later means the Dr. Brawn surgery gamble.

• Stack Attack passives on damage Pals and defensive passives on anything holding aggro.
• Support passives that buff you, the player, are often better than passives that buff the Pal, since your gun does a lot of the work.
• Clean the pool first. Two parents carrying only your target passives beat two parents carrying eight between them.

Layer 3: condense to four stars

Four stars is plus 20 percent Health, Attack, and Defence, plus work suitability increases. It takes 48 same-species duplicates, spread as 4, 8, 12, and 24 across the ranks. For a breedable Pal this is an evening of eggs. For a legendary, Ripe Starfruit covers the expensive rank.

Ripe Starfruit

50 bounty tokens

A magical fruit, said to be seen only on the rarest of occasions. Raises a Pal’s rank by one.

Layer 4: Pal Souls at the Statue of Power

Pal Souls are direct stat investment offered at the Statue of Power, and they come in four sizes. This is the layer players most often leave completely untouched, usually because souls accumulate quietly and never feel urgent. On a finished Hard Mode Pal, the soul investment is a meaningful chunk of its final numbers.

Small Pal Soul

Materials

A spirit left behind by a small Pal. It can draw out hidden abilities if offered to a Statue of Power.

Medium Pal Soul

Materials

A spirit left behind by a Pal. It can draw out hidden abilities if offered to a Statue of Power.

Large Pal Soul

Materials

A spirit left behind by a large Pal. It can draw out hidden abilities if offered to a Statue of Power.

Giant Pal Soul

Materials

The soul left behind by a highly trained Pal. It can draw out hidden abilities if offered to a Statue of Power.

Layer 5: stat fruits from bounty tokens

Life, Power, and Stout Fruit are permanent stat increases available for 25 Successful Bounty Tokens each. Spend them last on this list, because they are the only layer that is cheaply repeatable once you have a bounty circuit running. Power Fruit on damage, Stout Fruit on anything Hard Mode keeps killing.

Layer 6: Awakening raises the ceiling

Awakening is the World Tree system that lifts stat caps using radiant gems and Holy Water, ten Holy Water per element crystal. It is the last layer because it only matters once the other five have pushed a Pal near its existing cap. Do not start here.

Everything outside the Pal

Pal layers are half the fight. The other half is you, and endgame content assumes your own kit is finished too.

• Best available armor with good stat rolls, plus the right resistance type for the boss element.
• Elemental Resistance Rings at plus two for the boss you are fighting.
• Legendary firearms with deep ammo stock. Hard Mode fights are long.
• High Grade Medical Supplies to the inventory cap, not a handful.
• Food buff before you enter. Mammorest Curry for damage, Galeclaw Nikujaga for survival, Seafood Pasta if the opener is explosive.

Hard Mode specifics worth remembering

• Hard rematches unlock after clearing Azure Covenant in the main story, not after clearing every Normal tower.
• Most Hard bosses spawn extra allies at the start, often around level 70 or higher, and those adds cannot be captured. Clear them before tunnelling the boss.
• Several Hard bosses change attack behaviour rather than just inflating numbers, so Normal muscle memory will get you killed.
• NPC hats are guaranteed on first Hard clear. Training Crystals and legendary schematic rolls are the repeatable income.

The honest checklist

If you are stuck on Hard Mode, work down this list and find the layer you skipped. It is almost always Pal Souls or passives, and it is almost never that you need a different Pal.

• Are your IVs checked and acceptable?
• Are all four passive slots doing combat work?
• Is the Pal at four condenser stars?
• Have you actually spent Pal Souls at the Statue of Power?
• Have you fed stat fruits?
• Is the Pal near its cap, and if so, have you started Awakening?
• Are you wearing the right resistance ring and eating the right meal?