How to land a Sphere Critical in Palworld

Palworld’s Feybreak update dropped Dec. 23, bringing a slew of new feature to the creature-catching game. But there’s one recent mechanic that has thrown players a curveball, and that’s Sphere Criticals.

Okay, it may not be a curveball like in Pokémon Go, but these special throws can make a big difference when you’re trying to catch a new Pal species—especially one that’s refusing to stay in its Pal Sphere. Sphere Criticals increase your chances of catching a Pal in Palworld, but to pull one off, you have to throw a Sphere at the correct body part of whatever creature you’re trying to catch. Unfortunately for players, the game doesn’t exactly tell you which part that it; you’ll just have to figure it out on your own through trial and error.

Here’s everything you need to know about Sphere Criticals and how to throw one in Palworld.

Palworld Sphere Critical hits, explained

Sphere Criticals can increase your catch chance by a couple percentage points, to upwards of 10 percent, as shown in the image above. To land a Sphere Critical in Palworld, the Pal Sphere must hit the creature’s weak spot, which varies from species to species. For most creatures, this is their head. But for others, it can be their crests or other body parts. In my experience, I’ve had the most luck landing a Sphere Critical when I’m directly facing the Pal—not standing behind it.

It may take a couple of attempts to pull off your first Sphere Critical. But once you get the hang of it, it becomes fairly easy to replicate on future throws. We recommend mastering this skill, because it will make catching higher level foes like Silvegis much easier.

Other ways to increase your catching chances in Palworld

Of course, you’ll need to lower a Pal’s health if you want a fair shot at catching it. But if you’ve weakened your foe significantly and the Sphere Criticals just aren’t getting the job done, you’re in luck; there are additional ways to increase your odds at catching high-level monsters in Palworld.

Use higher level Pal Spheres

The first and most straightforward way to up your catching rate is by choosing a higher level Pal Sphere. In many cases, if you try to throw a basic Pal Sphere at a Pal above level 15, the orb will simply bounce off the creature with no effect. The game will inform you to switch to a higher level Sphere. The highest levels of Pal Spheres are Ultimate and Exotic Spheres, the latter of which was also added in the Feybreak update.

Here are all the Pal Sphere levels, in order of weakest to strongest:

• Pal Sphere
• Mega Sphere
• Giga Sphere
• Hyper Sphere
• Ultra Sphere
• Legendary Sphere
• Ultimate Sphere
• Exotic Sphere

To get a higher level Sphere, you’ll need to unlock the ability to craft it in the Technology tree, then use one of the Sphere Assembly Lines to build it.

Equip a Sphere Module

Regardless of what Pal Sphere you use, you can add an upgrade called a Sphere Module as an equipment item. There are currently six different types of Sphere Modules in Palworld, all of which will influence the trajectory of your throw in slightly different ways. One thing’s uniform across the six types, though: they all increase your chance of catching a Pal.

Every Sphere Module needs to have its crafting recipe first unlocked on the Technology tree. Then, you’ll have to craft it at either a Sphere Workbench or a Sphere Assembly line using a Pal with the Handiwork trait.

Collect Lifmunk Effigies

The second way of increasing you catching chance is to collect Lifmunk Effigies and offer them to a Statue of Power. There are, quite literally, hundreds of these little green statues around the map, and with each increase to your Capture Power comes the need for more and more of the effigies.

Hopefully, when you combine all of these elements into one, you’ll have a much easier time catching those elusive Pals.

Sphere Criticals aren’t the only new mechanic introduced in Palworld’s Feybreak patch. We also got a new Expedition system that allows your Pals to go on Cave Raids of their own, a ton of new species that can be found on Feybreak’s island, and additional resources like Dark Fragment and Chromite.