Palworld Breeding Guide: Breeding Farm, Cakes, Eggs and Combos
Palworld breeding needs a Breeding Farm, one male and one female Pal, and a Cake. The pair makes an egg that you hatch in an Egg Incubator. The baby is not random: each species has a hidden breeding value, and the game picks the Pal whose value is closest to the average of the two parents, unless the pair is a special combo with a fixed result.
This guide explains the full process, what each cake type is for, how to avoid unwanted passive skills, and the one egg-related server setting that affects everyone on your world. Palworld's breeding tables change between updates, so work out your exact parents with our Palworld breeding calculator and use this page to understand the mechanics. Checked on 2026-11-15 against the official server documentation and community breeding guides, which disagree on some fine details, so this guide leaves out exact odds.
- You need a Breeding Farm, one male and one female Pal, and at least one Cake in the farm's storage. Cake is used up once per egg.
- The child species comes from the parents' hidden breeding values. The game picks the species closest to their average, and a list of special combos overrides this with a fixed result.
- Parents do not need to be the same species, but the pair must be one male and one female.
- Keep the parents' combined passive skills to only the ones you want. Extra or duplicate passives do not help and make a clean result less likely.
- On a server,
PalEggDefaultHatchingTimeinPalWorldSettings.inisets the hours to hatch a Huge Egg. Other eggs also need incubation time.
On this page
What you need to breed Pals
- A Breeding Farm, which you unlock from the technology list.
- One male and one female Pal assigned to the farm. Two Pals of the same gender will not breed.
- Cake in the farm's storage. One Cake is used for each egg.
- An Egg Incubator to hatch the egg, and space in your base to hold the new Pal.
- Time. Breeding and hatching both run on timers.
Cakes are baked from ingredients that come from your ranch and farm. Players commonly keep a Pal that produces milk, eggs and honey for this. Recipes and ingredient amounts can change between updates, so check the recipe in game.
How the child Pal is decided
Every breedable species has a hidden breeding value. When two Pals breed, the game averages the parents' values and the baby is the species whose own value is closest to that average. Because it is a calculation and not a roll, the same pair of species gives the same species every time.
- Unique combos ignore the average and always give a fixed Pal. For example, community guides list Relaxaurus with Sparkit as producing Relaxaurus Lux.
- Same species. Two parents of the same species give that species. Some legendary Pals can only be bred this way.
- Not every Pal can be bred by normal pairing. Some are only obtained through special combos, special eggs or encounters.
- Combos change. Updates have changed which parents give which Pal, so a pairing from an old guide may no longer work.
Cakes and what they change
A plain Cake is the basic fuel. Later cakes are unlocked at higher technology levels and affect the result. The names and exact effects differ a little between sources, so read the item description in game. In general:
| Cake | General effect |
|---|---|
| Cake | The standard cake with no bonus. |
| Mushroom Cake | Improves the chance of better hidden stats (potentials). |
| Vegetable Cake | Makes two eggs. |
| Extravagant Vegetable Cake | Improves hidden stats and raises the chance of a mutation. |
| Special Cake | Improves the chance of passing on passive skills. |
Put cake in the farm's storage, not in a Pal's own inventory. A cake only pays off if the parents are worth it, so spend the expensive ones on parents that already have the passives you want.
Passive skills without the junk
A baby can inherit up to four passive skills. They come from the parents' passives, and sometimes the game adds a new random one. Community testing gives different odds for each slot, so treat any percentage you read as approximate.
- Choose the target passives first, up to four.
- Give the parents only those passives, split between them, for example two on each parent.
- Avoid duplicates and unwanted passives. They fill slots without helping, and more passives in the pool make a clean result less likely.
- Breed again. Expect to hatch several eggs. A good result is usually a handful of tries, not one.
- Use the best baby as the next parent to build up to a perfect Pal over generations.
Eggs and hatch time on your server
Eggs hatch in an Egg Incubator. Egg size depends on the Pal, and bigger eggs take longer. One server setting applies to the whole world:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
PalEggDefaultHatchingTime | Hours to hatch a Huge Egg. Other eggs also need incubation time, so it changes how long every hatch takes. |
- Open the settings file
In the panel open your server, then the Configs tab, and pick World settings (PalWorldSettings.ini).
- Change the hatch time
Find
PalEggDefaultHatchingTimeinside theOptionSettingsline and change the number of hours. A lower number hatches faster. Keep the file's punctuation exactly as it was.PalEggDefaultHatchingTime=2.000000 - Save and restart
Click Save, then Restart at the top of the page. Changes apply when the game next starts.
Palworld versions can also change incubation for new worlds, so a setting copied from an old config may not behave the way it used to. If you are not sure, take a copy first with Back up now on the Backups tab. The Palworld settings generator helps you build the settings line, and our server settings guide explains each one.
Breeding problems and fixes
| What you see | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| The pair makes no egg | No Cake in the farm's storage, both Pals are the same gender, or one of the pair is not assigned to the farm. |
| The baby is not the Pal you expected | The pair was not a unique combo or the average landed on a different species. Check the pair in the calculator. |
| Wrong passives on the baby | The parents' combined passives include extras. Remove unwanted passives from the pool and try again. |
| Eggs take too long to hatch | Check PalEggDefaultHatchingTime in the settings, and use a better incubator. |
| Settings change does nothing | You did not restart after saving, or a formatting error on the OptionSettings line made the server fall back to defaults. |
| Server lags with a big breeding base | Many Pals and bases cost performance. See lag and crash fixes. |
Want a world where you and your friends can breed at your own pace? See Palworld server hosting.
Frequently asked questions
How does breeding work in Palworld?
Assign one male and one female Pal to a Breeding Farm and keep Cake in its storage. The pair makes an egg, which you hatch in an Egg Incubator. The baby species is the one whose hidden breeding value is closest to the average of the two parents, unless the pair is a special combo with a fixed result.
Do both parents have to be the same species in Palworld?
No. Parents can be different species, but they must be one male and one female. Two Pals of the same species give that species.
What does Cake do in Palworld breeding?
Cake is the fuel for breeding, and one is used per egg. Later cake types improve hidden stats, make two eggs, raise the mutation chance or improve passive skill inheritance.
How do I get good passive skills when breeding Palworld?
Decide up to four target passives, give the parents only those, avoid duplicates and unwanted passives, and breed several eggs. Then use the best baby as a parent for the next round.
How do I speed up egg hatching on a Palworld server?
Lower PalEggDefaultHatchingTime in PalWorldSettings.ini, which sets the hours to hatch a Huge Egg. Save, then restart the server. Better incubators also hatch faster.
Where can I find which Pals to breed together?
Use our Palworld breeding calculator. Breeding tables change between updates, so check your pair before you spend cakes on it.