Turn your shots to Ground, cover the boss in Muddy, then cash it in for 65% more damage.
This is the Ground-element answer to the Soak and Poison status parties, and it took one swap to finish. Anubis converts your attacks to Ground for 30 seconds and adds 30% attack. Surfent Terra makes those attacks apply Muddy. Pierdon, which the original lineup did not include, raises damage to Muddy targets by 50% to 65% for both you and your pals, which is the payoff that makes Muddy worth applying at all. Orserk sits in the fifth support slot converting your bullet hits into a stacking attack and defense buff on the active pal, up to 150% at full condensation, and Kikit adds up to 30% Defense to every Ground pal in the party, which is four of the five.
Activated: converts your attacks to Ground and raises your Attack by 30% for 30 seconds, on a 50-second cooldown. It is also the strongest Ground attacker in the party, with 130 Attack and the innate Earth Emperor passive for 30% more Ground damage.
Activated partner skills carry no rank curve in the 1.0 export, so this does not appear in the scaling table below. The dataset does record the timings: 30 seconds of effect against a 50-second cooldown.
Recruitment route
Catch it in the wild. Spawns at levels 68 to 72 across 35 points on the main island.
Makes your attacks inflict Muddy Lv 2 to Lv 6. It is the only Muddy source among all 300-plus partner skills, which is why this slot has no substitute.
Muddy InflictionLv 2 →Lv 6YouUnique effect · does not stack
Mounted Move Speed20% →20%This pal
Recruitment route
Catch it in the wild. Spawns at levels 31 to 63 across 474 points on the main island.
Raises damage to Muddy enemies by 50% to 65% for you and your pals. It is the only pal in 1.0 that pays out on Muddy, and without it Surfent Terra is applying a slow for nothing.
Damage vs Muddy Targets50% →65%You and palUnique effect · does not stack
Recruitment route
Catch it in the wild. Spawns at levels 42 to 46 across 16 points on the main island.
Each bullet that lands gives the pal fighting beside you 1% to 5% Attack and Defense for five seconds, stacking 30 times. At rank 5 that is 150% to both stats on whichever pal is out.
Attack and Defense per Bullet Hit1 →5Active palUnique effect · does not stack
Recruitment route
Catch it in the wild. Only spawns on the World Tree region.
Adds 15% to 30% Defense to every Ground pal in the party. Anubis, Surfent Terra, Pierdon and Kikit itself all qualify, so this one slot hardens four of the five.
Ground Pal Defense15% →30%This palUnique effect · does not stack
Recruitment route
Catch it in the wild. Spawns at levels 40 to 48 across 100 points on the main island.
TipThe short version
Activate Anubis to convert your attacks to Ground and gain 30% attack, then use those attacks to apply Muddy from Surfent Terra. Pierdon turns that Muddy into 50% to 65% extra damage for you and your pals, so the status is a damage multiplier rather than just a slow. Field Anubis or Pierdon as the active pal and keep shooting throughout, because every bullet also feeds Orserk stack buff to whichever pal is out.
// 02
Condensation scaling
Rank 1 → Rank 5
Compare every surfaced partner effect at base rank and full condensation. Effects marked Unique can still scale by rank, but a second carrier of the same species adds nothing. Two different species carrying the same effect do add together.
Pal / role
Partner effect
Affects
Rank 1
Rank 5
Surfent TerraMuddy applier
Muddy InflictionUnique
You
Lv 2
Lv 6
Surfent TerraMuddy applier
Mounted Move Speed
This pal
20%
20%
PierdonMuddy payoff
Damage vs Muddy TargetsUnique
You and pal
50%
65%
OrserkBullet-hit stacks
Attack and Defense per Bullet HitUnique
Active pal
1
5
KikitGround party defense
Ground Pal DefenseUnique
This pal
15%
30%
Values verified against current partner-skill rank curves
// 03
Passives to implant
3 core · 5 total
This build splits its damage between you and your pals, so it wants both halves of the passive pool. The two player implants stack once per party slot; the Ground element passives raise the damage of the pal carrying them and do nothing for your converted shots.
Vanguard
All five slots
Rank 3 · Standard pool
10% increase in Player Attack.
Raises your attack, which is what Anubis 30% conversion buff and Pierdon Muddy bonus both multiply. Put it on all five.
50% player attack across five carriers
How to get it
Bought once from a bounty officer for bounty tokens, then applied to any pal for gold. Bounty tokens come from the purple wanted markers on your map.
Stronghold Strategist
All five slots
Rank 3 · Standard pool
10% increase in Player Defense.
Hard tower bosses have a ten-minute timer and a much larger health pool, so the fight is long enough that player defense compounds.
50% player defense across five carriers
How to get it
Same bounty officer, same one-time purchase. Buy both on the first trip.
Earth Emperor
All five slots
Rank 3 · No roll pool
30% increase in Earth attack damage.
Worth 30% more Ground damage to the pal carrying it. Anubis has it innately, so the job is getting it onto Pierdon, Surfent Terra and Kikit. This is the single biggest pal-damage passive available to a Ground party.
How to get it
Rolls on wild Ground pals and breeds down normally. Catch Ground pals until one carries it, then breed or use an implant to move it across.
Diamond Body
Nice to have
Rank 4 · Standard pool
Defense +30% Immune to Flinch Immune to Knockback
Defense +30% plus immunity to flinch and knockback. Hard tower bosses interrupt constantly, and a pal that cannot be staggered finishes its attack animations.
How to get it
Rolls on wild catches and breeds normally. Pierdon already ships with the weaker Heavyweight version.
Legend
Nice to have
Rank 4 · No roll pool
Attack +20% Defense +20% Movement Speed increases 20%
Attack, Defense and Movement Speed all +20%. Only legendary pals roll it naturally, so on this party it has to come from an implant.
How to get it
Pull the implant from the ancient relic recycler, then apply it to the pal you field most.
// 04
Gear and loadout
16 picks
Two things to equip for: your own converted Ground shots, which scale from raw attack, and the active pal, which scales from the Pal Only Equip accessories. Do not mix them up. Materials listed are the first craftable tier of each line.
Weapons
Every bullet that lands feeds an Orserk stack, so rate of fire is doing double duty here: damage now, and a bigger pal for the next 30 seconds.
The highest sustained damage per second in the game, and the fastest way to reach 30 Orserk stacks. Anubis conversion overrides its element, so the Electric flavour is irrelevant.
A rifle that releases an electrical discharge from the point of impact, which chains to multiple enemies.
Run this until technology 78. Its ammunition needs only Soralite Ingots and gunpowder, which matters in a fight where you will empty several magazines.
An assault rifle made from Soralite Ingots. It has been enhanced to handle powerful ammo while maintaining its versatility.
Drones keep damaging the boss while you reload or reposition. Creators building around Orserk report that drone fire alone holds the stack buff at its 30-stack cap; our data does not record whether drone hits count as bullet hits, so treat that as a community finding rather than a confirmed one.
A launcher that fires drones which perform autonomous attacks. Capable of deploying up to 9 units, enabling sustained suppression.
Paloxite Ingot ×70World Tree Holy Water ×40AI Core ×8Ancient Civilization Core ×5
Accessories for the pal
These four all carry Pal Only Equip effects, so they buff the pal fighting beside you and nothing else. Run this set when Anubis or Pierdon is doing the killing.
Pal Attack Up Lv. 4 and Pal Ground Damage Enhancement Lv. 4, so 16% attack and 20% Ground damage in one slot. The best single accessory in a Ground pal-damage build.
An accessory that raises the Attack of the Pal fighting alongside you. It also significantly increases their Ground damage.
Another 20% Ground damage plus 35% Electric damage reduction for the active pal. Take this slot into Zoe and Grizzbolt or Axel and Orserk specifically, where the boss is Electric.
An accessory that greatly reduces incoming Electric damage of the Pal fighting alongside you. It also significantly increases the Ground damage of the Pal fighting alongside you.
Refined Ingot ×20Crude Oil ×15Flame Organ ×10Ancient Civilization Parts ×5
Accessories for you
Swap to this set when you are the one killing things, which is most of the time during the Anubis conversion window. No element accessory in the game raises the player converted damage.
Worth 20% attack. Eat before entering the arena, not during the fight.
Now with cheese, this dish has reached the highest level of fine cuisine. Eating it will increase Attack by +20% and stay full longer for a period of time.
A dish made by simmering vegetables and meat with spices. The rich flavor is highlighted by large chunks of tender meat. Eating it will increase your Attack by 25% for a period of time.
A potion that allows the player to reset their status points when consumed. It has no effect if consumed by a Pal.
Beautiful Flower ×99Horn ×50Bone ×50Aquatic Pal Fluids ×50
// 05
Stat point priority
Highest priority first
Split-damage builds do not get to skew as hard as pure trainer builds. You still take attack first, because the Anubis window is where the fight is decided, but health comes earlier than usual because hard tower bosses hit through a full shield.
1AttackFirst. Your converted Ground shots are what apply Muddy and build Orserk stacks, so player attack drives both halves of the build.
2HealthSecond, and take it seriously. Hard mode arenas have a ten-minute timer, and dying costs more than a slow kill does.
3StaminaThird. You need it for sustained dodging rather than travel.
4Weight and work speedLast. Neither does anything in a tower.
// 06
How to play it
6 steps
Muddy is the axis this build turns on, and Muddy has two rules that decide whether the fight is easy or pointless. Check both before you walk in.
1Check the boss element first
Ground is strong into Electric, so Zoe and Grizzbolt and Axel and Orserk are the two hard towers this party is actually built for. Lily and Lyleen is the one to avoid outright: Grass resists Ground and Grass pals are immune to Muddy, which switches off both halves of the build at once.
2Activate Anubis before you fire
You get 30 seconds of Ground conversion and 30% attack against a 50-second cooldown. Until you press it, your attacks are whatever element your weapon is and they are not applying Muddy through Surfent Terra either.
3Apply Muddy, then keep it up
Muddy is short and it is not Poison, so it does not layer with anything else. It is also mutually exclusive with every other status, meaning a stray Freeze or Burn from an off-element skill wipes it. Reapply with your own converted shots rather than waiting for a pal to do it.
4Do not field Orserk while Muddy is up
Muddy halves the Electric damage its target takes, and Orserk is an Electric attacker. Keep it in the party for the bullet-hit stack buff, which is unaffected, and field Anubis or Pierdon instead. This is the least obvious interaction on the page and it costs half of Orserk damage if you get it wrong.
5Keep shooting to feed Orserk
Every bullet that lands adds 5% Attack and Defense to whichever pal is out, up to 30 stacks and 150% at full condensation. Stacks last five seconds each, so continuous fire holds them and a long reload drops them. This is the reason to bring a fast weapon over a hard-hitting one.
6Rotate pals rather than letting one die
Kikit gives every Ground pal up to 30% Defense, which buys time but does not make anything immortal. Recall a damaged pal before the telegraph lands. A knockout costs the Orserk stacks that pal was carrying.
// 07
What this build turns down
4 considered
This lineup is one slot different from the community thread it came from. That change and the swaps people usually suggest are worth setting out plainly.
Dualith Noct as the second Ground body
The case for it Dualith Noct is Ground and Dark, has 125 Defense and 210 Stamina, and its Corruption Laser hits hard enough to matter in a burst window.
The dataset puts Corruption Laser on a 120-second cooldown for a one-second effect. In a ten-minute hard tower run that is about five casts, and it contributes nothing between them. Pierdon in the same slot pays 50% to 65% on every hit you and your pals land for the whole fight, and it completes the Muddy that Surfent Terra was already applying. That swap is the single biggest change on this page.
Dropping Surfent Terra for another attacker
The case for it Surfent Terra has the weakest stat line in the party at 90 Attack and 70 Melee Attack, so the slot looks like it could hold something that actually fights.
It is the only Muddy source among every partner skill in 1.0. Remove it and Pierdon 65% has nothing to trigger on, which turns two slots off instead of one. Its stat line does not matter because it is a party-slot effect and the pal never needs to leave its sphere.
Going all-in on Ground element accessories
The case for it Earth Emperor Baton, Anubis Talisman, Ground Support Whistle and Menasting Terra Ring together give 20 plus 20 plus 18 plus 20 percent Ground damage, which looks like the obvious set for a Ground build.
Every one of them is flagged Pal Only Equip. They raise the Ground damage of the pal fighting beside you and contribute nothing to your own converted shots. Run them when your pal is doing the killing, and swap to Dogen Emblem, Attack Pendant, Phantom Ring and Silvegis Emblem when you are.
Building around Muddy for the slow
The case for it Muddy slows enemy movement, which sounds like a survivability tool for a hard tower arena.
Tower bosses are large, telegraph-driven fights where a movement slow changes very little. Muddy earns its slot through Pierdon damage bonus, not through the slow. Also note that Muddy halves the Electric damage the target takes, so applying it to an Electric boss you are fighting with Electric pals is actively counterproductive.
// 08
Where to get everything
6 stops
Four of these five are common Ground pals, and the whole party is breedable. Pierdon is the only one most players will not already have.
Catch or breed the five palsEvery recruitment route is on the role cards above, pulled from the mapped spawn tables. All five are breedable, so a missing species is a breeding project rather than a wall.
Condense all five to rank 5Every headline number is the rank 5 value: Muddy Lv 6, 65% from Pierdon, 5% per Orserk stack for 150% at 30 stacks, and 30% Defense from Kikit. At rank 1 the same party gives roughly half. Anubis activated conversion also grows with condensation, though the 1.0 export does not record its rank curve.
Buy the two player implants onceThe bounty officer sells Vanguard and Stronghold Strategist for bounty tokens. Buy each once, then apply to any pal for gold.
Farm Earth Emperor onto the partyAnubis has the 30% Ground damage passive innately. Getting it onto Pierdon, Surfent Terra and Kikit means catching wild Ground pals until one rolls it and then breeding it across, or recycling for the implant.
Craft the Ground accessory setEarth Emperor Baton and Anubis Talisman are the two that matter. Both are also guaranteed Ancient Shrine rewards, so check the map before committing materials.Earth Emperor Baton sources
Clear the tower on normal firstHard mode is a rematch, not a separate fight. Tower schematic rolls only fire on the first-ever clear, so the hard rematch pays cosmetics, challenge loot and experience rather than new blueprints.Tower schematic drop rules
// 09
Alternates and flex picks
4 viable swaps
Keep the build's identity while adapting the lineup to the pals you own or the encounter ahead.
Because Surfent Terra was applying Muddy with nothing in the party that paid out on it. Pierdon Power Stone raises damage to Muddy enemies by 50% at rank 1 and 65% at rank 5, for both you and your pals, and it is the only pal in Palworld 1.0 that does so. Without it, Muddy is just a movement slow.
Which hard tower bosses is this party for?
Ground is strong into Electric, so Zoe and Grizzbolt and Axel and Orserk are the natural targets. Avoid Lily and Lyleen: Grass resists Ground, and Grass pals are immune to Muddy, so both halves of the build are switched off in the same fight.
Should I field Orserk as my active pal?
Not while Muddy is on the target. Muddy halves the Electric damage its target takes, and Orserk is an Electric attacker. Orserk earns its slot through the bullet-hit stack buff, which works from the party slot and is unaffected by the status, so keep it in the party and field Anubis or Pierdon instead.
Do the Ground element accessories help my own attacks?
No. Earth Emperor Baton, Anubis Talisman, Ground Support Whistle and Menasting Terra Ring all carry Pal Only Equip effects, so they raise the Ground damage of the pal fighting beside you. Your converted Ground shots scale from raw attack, which means Dogen Emblem and the Attack Pendant instead.
Kikit or Dumud in the fifth slot?
Both buff every Ground pal in the party, which is four of the five here. Kikit gives 15% to 30% Defense and Dumud gives 15% to 30% Attack. Take Kikit while you are still losing pals to hard-mode telegraphs, and Dumud once the rotation survives comfortably and the ten-minute timer is the thing you are fighting.
How long does the Anubis Ground conversion last?
Thirty seconds of effect on a fifty-second cooldown, so roughly three fifths uptime. Lapure at rank 5 cuts partner skill cooldowns by 50%, which brings the cooldown to 25 seconds against a 30-second effect and makes the conversion permanent. That costs you the Orserk or Kikit slot, so it is a real trade rather than free.
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