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Your buddies aren't just there to look cute, pick up items, and carry you through the forest. Your Palico and Palamute friends are useful in battle, to heal you, and generally offer support in a challenging situation. But those bonds of companionship don't come easily. You'll need to train them up and encourage certain skillsets so they may best fight by your side in Monster Hunter Rise.

Related: Best Collaborations In The Monster Hunter Series

Palicos and Palamutes can have their behavior and abilities changed, so you can adapt their tactics before you go into battle, making them more capable in specific situations - as long as you know exactly what you'd like them to aim for. The Buddy Skills are fundamental, giving your buddies entirely new abilities and factors that can make them survive longer and act more efficiently on a hunt, but only if you know how to change them around. In this guide, we're going to break down all the need to know of working alongside Palico and Palamute buddies, so just read below to not only become a better monster hunter but a skilled buddy trainer in MHR.

Updated by Kim Dailey on January 5, 2022: With the launch of Monster Hunter Rise on PC, we wanted to round out our coverage on one of the game's fan-favorite aspects; buddies! Now everything you wanted to know about Palico and Palamute handling can be found on this page.

Buddy Overview

Monster Hunter Rise gameplay screenshot

Before even breaking into the game, there is a three-phase character creation; one for your hunter and two more for your main Palamute and Palico buddies, respectively. You'll be able to fully customize their fur patterns, colors, and names, but it's not all about appearances. Palamutes and Palicos both have individual roles that aid their hunter in different ways.

Key Differences Between Palicos and Palamutes

Both Palicos and Palamutes will aid you in battle, but they each have unique ways to contribute to other aspects of the hunt as well.

Palicos

Palicos enjoy scrounging along the trails for any little thing that might prove useful, which helps ensure you gather plenty of materials to take back to the village. Though the felines are perfectly capable of holding their own in battle, it's usually more tactful to deploy them as healers or support, which we'll discuss later.

Palamutes

Palamutes are better primed to tag-team an enemy with their hunter, but the pups can also be ridden. No doubt this helps hunters make quick work of uncovering the map, but it's a far more versatile mechanic than that. Hunters can gather materials and even fight monsters using their Kunai without dismounting. Granted, you'll want to try out one of those fancy jumping dismounts when entering any substantial encounters, but it's an efficient way to clear pests and explore the area without missing a beat.

Places of Interest

Though Kamura is a quaint village, there's a host of vendors you'll need to visit to keep everything in check for a successful hunt. Even just keeping your buddies in tip-top condition will require stopping off at several different locations.

Location

Actions

Buddy Board

Select Buddies, Behaviors, Change Equipment, Equipment Display

Buddy Smithy

Forge Buddy Gear, Make Scraps

Buddy Plaza

Buddy Dojo (Training), Buddy Scout (Hiring, Rename)

How To Change Buddy Behavior

Buddies Palamute Palico guide Monster Hunter Rise pose

If you visit the Buddy Board, you will be able to change the behavior of your Palamute and Palico friends for when they're out on a hunt with you. Just select the "Behavior" option. There is a Buddy Board located in the main square and the Buddy Plaza, to the left on your way down to the docks.

Palicos

For Palicos, you'll be able to govern which monsters your feline companion will target. There are five different tactics you can set your Palico buddies to focus on.

  1. Focus on Large Monsters
  2. Focus on Small Monsters
  3. Prefer Large Monsters
  4. Prefer Small Monsters
  5. The Balanced Approach

If you find yourself swarmed by a siege of monsters, a Palico with a preference to fight small monsters can execute some deft crowd control tactics to keep them away from you. In general, Palicos function best in support or healer roles, and you can train them to be quite proficient in gathering efforts during a hunt as well.

Palamutes

Typically, it will be your Palamute buddies that partner with you to take down the larger hunts. Palamutes have three behavior options:

Behavior

Tactic

Basic

Your Palamute will stay fairly close to you while attacking.

Pincer

Your Palamute will circle around to the back of the monster to execute a team flank tactic.

Follow

Your Palamute will stick close to your side during the fight.

A Basic approach is good in general, and having your buddy Follow you is a shrewed tactic if you want to focus all damage output and attention on a single spot, but Pincer is great if you want your Palamute to help you get behind a monster that's keeping you in its sights.

Related: How Long Does It Take To Beat Monster Hunter Rise?

How To Change And Unlock Buddy Skills

Buddy Plaza Palamute Palico guide Monster Hunter Rise

As your buddies level up they will earn Buddy Skills, which you can also change at the Buddy Board. Each skill is worth one to three "memory," and buddies only keep a meager memory capacity - three memory for buddies below level ten, and four for those above.

You can equip any skills as long as you don't exceed the memory limit. Early on, the skills will be simple and grant small buffs to the health and defense of your buddies, but later, they can end up making your buddies invulnerable to monster roars, or have them assist in weakening your foes. Make sure to keep honing your buddies' skills as they progress and level up.

You will unlock new skills on every fifth level. For instance, when buddies reach levels five, ten, 15, and 20, they will unlock a new set of skills to pick and choose from. Below is a list of the skills in order of the level they are unlocked.

Skill

Description

Memory

Unlock Level

Attack Up (S)

Basic Attack Buff (Stackable)

1

5

Health Up (S)

Max Health Buff (Stackable)

1

5

Defense Up

Significantly improves defense


Overrides Defense Down debuff

1

5

Negate Paralysis

Nullifies the effects of paralysis

1

5

Negate Poison

Dampens the effect of poison


Nullifies poison and lethal poison

1

5

Knockout King

Improves chance to KO or tire out monsters

1

10

Negate Sleep

Wards off sleep

1

10

Negate Tremor

Overrides staggering effects from earth tremors caused by Large Monsters

1

10

Omniresistance

Improves all resistances


Overrides Resistance Down debuff

1

10

Webproof

Overrides webbed status

1

10

Health Up (L)

Improves Max Health (Stackable)

2

10

Negate Stun

Overrides stun effects

2

10

Artful Dodger

Improves chance to block or deflect attacks

2

10

Earplugs

Nullifies flinching effects caused by roars from most monsters

2

10

Negate Wind Pressure

Nullifies wind pressure from most monsters

2

10

Deflagration Relief

Prevents Blast and Hellfire

1

15

Elemental Attack Up

Improves the power of elemental attacks

2

15

Critical Up (L)

Significantly improves affinity (Stackable)

2

15

Attack Up (L)

Significantly improves attack (Stackable)

2

15

Ranged Attack Up

Improves ranged damage

2

20

Status Attack Up

Improved the power of abnormal status attacks

3

20

Medic's Touch

Improves the amount of health regained from healing

3

20

Related: Monster Hunter Rise: Beginner's Guide And Tips

How To Equip And Craft Buddy Gear

Monster Hunter Rise gameplay screenshot

It's easy to ignore Buddy Gear for the longest time, but that doesn't mean you should. Buddy Gear can be crafted early on with Scraps leftover from crafting your own gear, or salvaged from carved materials brought back from hunts. Those unassuming scraps can be fashioned into some top-quality threads for your most trusted pals.

You just need to stop off at the Buddy Smith, the small Palico blacksmith that works across from Hamon in Kamura Village's main square. You can also find another Buddy Smith on the second level inside the Gathering Hub. Both of your buddies will each be able to equip a head armor, body armor, and a weapon, with some of the sets boasting truly fantastic designs.

Just like your own gear, buddy gear will have attack, defence, and elemental stats attached. If you're finding a particular monster fight tough, it might be time to upgrade your buddies' gear.

How to Train and Hire New Buddies

Buddy Plaza training Palico guide Monster Hunter Rise

Training and hiring new buddies can seem a tad overwhelming, especially if you haven't gotten a handle on raising your main buddies yet. That's why we've written up a whole other guide dedicated to hiring and leveling Palamutes and Palicos in Monster Hunter Rise. Still, let's quickly run over the basics here.

When you're ready to expand your list of helpers, you can hire more buddies from the Buddy Scout to the right after entering the Buddy Plaza. There's an ever-changing roster of buddies raring to see some action, so stop by to add new buddies to your team and let them stretch their legs. You can purchase up to 14 buddies and there is the option to dismiss them, so don't feel bad if the partnership isn't working out. You can go your separate ways and leave some team vacancies to try out new companions.

You can drop off any inactive buddies for training at the Buddy Dojo with the Buddy Expert, who you'll find on a stump just left of the entrance to the Buddy Plaza. You can have up to six buddies training at one time, so don't be shy about loading up the training ring with a full panel to raise a small army of highly skilled companions at your disposal.

Next: Monster Hunter Rise Complete Guide And Walkthrough