Can you capture Alpha Pals in Palworld?

Alpha Pals are Palworld‘s version of unique bosses, and in addition to being tougher than regular Pals, they’re bigger. Way bigger.

There probably isn’t a single Palworld player whose first thought wasn’t, “Can I catch that?” and who didn’t subsequently end up running for their life after realizing they needed to be at a way higher level before they could start asking themselves those kinds of questions. We’ll explain exactly how Alpha Pals differ from regular Pals in Palworld, as well as what your taming options are for these big boys.

Palworld Alpha Pals, explained

In theory, Alpha Pals are just boss variants of regular Pals, but it isn’t quite that simple in practice. Here are the ways that Alpha Pals differ from any other kind of Pal you will encounter in Palworld:

• Alpha Pals are giant versions of regular Pals.
• Alpha Pals have set spawn points that are indicated on your map. They do not randomly spawn in the world.
• Certain Alpha Pals have no regular variant—they are truly one of a kind.

There are a couple of other things that make Alpha Pals unique, such as Ancient Civilization Parts, but you don’t need to go too in-depth on that when you’re still at the point in Palworld where you’re learning how to catch Alpha Pals.

How to catch Alpha Pals in Palworld

Great news: Alpha Pals can be caught in the exact same way that all other Pals can be. You don’t need to have any sort of special Pal Sphere, and there isn’t any prerequisite for catching these giant Pals. With that said, they are harder to catch than regular Pals, but only because of a decreased success rate, not because of any new or different mechanics.

For that reason, it’s a good idea to take some extra steps of preparation when you’re planning to go after an Alpha Pal. You’ll want to bring at least five Pal Spheres—especially if the Alpha is a much higher level than you. It’s also a great idea to bring along some Mega Spheres for a bonus to your chances of success, which can be found by looting Syndicate Thugs if you aren’t able to craft them yet. Finally, a Poison Bow will make an Alpha Pal more susceptible to your Spheres.

Because Alpha Pals are bosses with vastly more health than regular Pals, you also should consider which Element Type the Pal you’re after is. Just to give one example, capturing Chillet is going to be much easier if you bring Fire Pals in your party, as Chillet is an Ice type and is thus vulnerable to fire damage.

Can you catch the same Alpha Pal more than once?

Alpha Pals respawn at set intervals regardless of whether they were killed or caught. While you cannot reap the Ancient Civilization Parts bonus granted from defeating a new Alpha Pal more than once, you are free to catch the same Alpha Pal as many times as you want.

The Passive Skills that captured Alpha Pals have are subject to random change just like with any other Pal, so if you feel like you got unlucky with the Passive Skills on a boss you were really looking forward to acquiring, you can always just try again.