Hillside Cavern Guide: Pals, Bosses, and Loot

Hillside Cavern is the grassland starter dungeon — the one you'll stumble into first, tuned for level 5–10. Runs are quick, the danger is low, and the payoff is real: early spheres, a Copper Key, and a boss room whose winner might become the strongest Pal on your team for the next ten levels. Every cavern rotates its entrance spots, so check the List of All Dungeons for what else is out there.

Why Run It Early

Two things make this cavern worth detouring for before level 10. First, chests: Mega Spheres this early trivialize catches that would take five Pal Spheres otherwise, and the Copper Key opens the locked chests you've probably been walking past. Second, the boss room — an oversized boss Pal at level 10–13 that, once caught, outclasses nearly anything wild at this stage.

Chest Loot	Why Grab It
Mega Sphere	A big capture-rate jump at this level
Copper Key	Opens early locked chests
Pal Sphere	Stock up for the boss
Training Manual (M)	Fast EXP for a fresh catch
Bread	Cheap hunger management
Frag Grenade	Real burst damage before you have guns
Gold Coin	Early spending money
Arrow	Free bow ammo
Low Grade Medical Supplies	Patch up mid-run

The Pals in the Corridors

The regular spawns are a small dark-leaning crew at level 5–10 — nothing a starter team can't handle, and Fuddler is a genuinely useful early catch for base mining. Turtacle paddles in the water pockets.

Pal	Elements	Best Work
Daedream	Dark	Handiwork
Fuddler	Ground	Handiwork
Killamari	Dark, Water	Transporting
Mau	Dark	Farming
Turtacle	Water	Watering

The 30-Pal Boss Pool

Hillside Cavern has the widest boss lottery of any cavern — 30 possible bosses, one rolled per run at level 10–13. Standouts worth re-running for: Eikthyrdeer (your first proper mount), Direhowl (a fast, cheap ride), and Dinossom (a sturdy grass bruiser). The full pool:

Possible Boss	Elements	Best Work
Caprity	Grass	Farming
Cattiva	Neutral	Handiwork
Celaray	Water	Watering
Chikipi	Neutral	Farming
Clovee	Grass, Neutral	Planting
Cremis	Neutral	Farming
Daedream	Dark	Handiwork
Depresso	Dark	Farming
Dinossom	Grass, Dragon	Planting
Direhowl	Neutral	Gathering
Eikthyrdeer	Neutral	Lumbering
Foxparks	Fire	Kindling
Fuack	Water	Watering
Fuddler	Ground	Handiwork
Gumoss	Grass, Ground	Planting
Hoocrates	Dark	Gathering
Jelliette	Water	Watering
Jolthog	Electric	Generating Electricity
Killamari	Dark, Water	Transporting
Lamball	Neutral	Farming
Lifmunk	Grass	Planting
Mau	Dark	Farming
Melpaca	Neutral	Farming
Pengullet	Water, Ice	Watering
Rooby	Fire	Farming
Rushoar	Ground	Mining
Tanzee	Grass	Planting
Teafant	Water	Watering
Tombat	Dark	Mining
Vixy	Neutral	Farming

Rerolling the Boss You Get

One in thirty is bad odds for a name you actually want, and you do not have to accept the draw. The boss is chosen when you enter the chamber, not when you enter the cavern — walk back out of the room and keep going until the fight unloads behind you, then come back, and the game rolls the pool again. Nothing you have already opened is lost, so you can sit at the door cycling draws until Eikthyrdeer or Direhowl turns up rather than clearing the whole cavern thirty times over. Full pool sizes for every cavern are on the dungeon list.

Getting back there quickly matters more than it sounds. The corridors fork, and the branch that floods is the one that ends at the boss — if there is water underfoot you are heading the right way, and the dry branch is a side room with Pals and a chest in it. Sweep the dry branches on the way in for loot, then follow the water in and out for as many rerolls as you have patience for.

Isolated Island Cavern: The Same Dungeon, Different Door

One quirk worth knowing: Isolated Island Cavern, out on the PvP island, is this exact dungeon wearing a different name — same corridor crew, same 30-boss pool, same chest loot, same level 5–13 tuning. If you run into it there, everything on this page applies unchanged.

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