How Palworld Breeding Works (1.0 Guide)
How to breed Pals in Palworld: breeding power, the averaging rule, unique combinations and how to read the combo table, from the 1.0 game data.
Updated from the game data
Every Pal has a hidden number called its breeding power. When two Pals breed, the game averages the parents' powers and hatches the Pal whose own power is closest to that average.
On top of that rule sit a list of hard-coded unique combinations that override the average, plus one gender-dependent pair (Katress with Wixen). Breeding two of the same species always gives that species.
Examples from the data
Lowest breeding power (rarest to reach by averaging): Panthalus (20), Aegidron (30), Shaolong (40), Bastigor (50), Dandilord (60).
Highest breeding power: Demon Eye (3100), Eye of Cthulhu (3100), Illuminant Bat (3100), Cave Bat (3100), Enchanted Sword (3100).
A worked example
Lamball has breeding power 3050 and Foxparks has 2990. Their average is (3050 + 2990 + 1) / 2, rounded down, which is 3020. The Pal whose own power matches that is Lifmunk (3020), and that is exactly what the game hatches.
How to breed a specific Pal
Work backwards. Open the Pal you want, or use the Find Parents tab of the calculator, and every parent pair that hatches it is listed. Pick the pair you can build from Pals you already have, or let the Path Finder choose a short route for you.
What the formula does not cover
The averaging rule decides which species hatches. It does not decide the passive skills or IVs the baby inherits (see how passive inheritance works), and it does not explain mutations, which arrived with 1.0 (see what is known about mutations).
Try any pair in the Breeding Calculator, or work backwards from a target with the Path Finder.