# How to Rank Up Pals: Condenser, Ripe Starfruit, and Handbooks Every way to rank up a Pal in Palworld — the Pal Essence Condenser's same-species system at Ancient Tech 14, the Ripe Starfruit shortcut from the bounty shop, and the 12 handbooks that permanently raise work ranks. Source: https://palworld-db.com/guides/how-to-rank-up-pals Updated: 2026-07-24 Palworld has three separate systems that all get called ranking up, and mixing them up wastes real resources. This guide covers the two that make a Pal permanently stronger — the star rank from the Pal Essence Condenser and the per-job work ranks from handbooks — plus the one item that shortcuts the grind. (The third system, Trust, has [its own guide](https://palworld-db.com/guides/how-to-raise-trust-fast).) ## The Pal Essence Condenser The core rank system lives in one machine, unlocked as **Ancient Technology at level 14** for 2 Ancient Technology Points — tower boss victories fund those, per the [technology tree](https://palworld-db.com/tech). The official line explains the whole mechanic: it combines several Pals **of the same type** to create a higher-ranked version, feeding your keeper a concentrated extract from its duplicates. The build cost is light for what it does: | Material | Amount | | --- | --- | | [Paldium Fragment](https://palworld-db.com/item/Pal_crystal_S) | 20 | | [Ingot](https://palworld-db.com/item/CopperIngot) | 20 | | [Ancient Civilization Parts](https://palworld-db.com/item/PalCrystal_Ex) | 5 | Each star demands a fresh batch of same-species duplicates, and the appetite grows steeply with every rank — which is why the catch-everything habit from the [day-one checklist](https://palworld-db.com/guides/day-one-checklist) and a [breeding line](https://palworld-db.com/guides/how-breeding-works) pumping out copies are the two engines of a maxed Pal. The payoff scales everything rank-indexed: partner skills across the game carry per-rank value ladders, so a five-star carrier hits the top numbers you see quoted in the [support](https://palworld-db.com/guides/best-support-pals) and [partner skill](https://palworld-db.com/partner-skills) pages. ## The Ripe Starfruit Shortcut One item skips the duplicate grind entirely: the [Ripe Starfruit](https://palworld-db.com/item/Rankup_Arbitrary) raises a Pal's rank by one outright, no copies needed. It costs **50 Successful Bounty Tokens** at the [Vigilante Bounty Officer](https://palworld-db.com/guides/all-bounty-targets) — about ten Ram hunts — and it's at its best on Pals that are painful to duplicate: legendaries you'd rather not re-catch, raid drops, and perfect-passive breeding products you can't bear to feed to the machine. ## Handbooks: Ranking Up Work Instead The other permanent upgrade targets a Pal's job, not its stars: twelve **Applied Handbooks**, one per work suitability, each permanently raising that job's affinity by +1 when a Pal reads it. All twelve sell for **300 Dog Coins apiece at the Medal Shop**, and they also appear as rare rolls in [supply drops](https://palworld-db.com/supply-drops): | Handbook | Raises | | --- | --- | | [Applied Handiwork Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Handcraft) | Handiwork +1 | | [Applied Kindling Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_EmitFlame) | Kindling +1 | | [Applied Watering Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Watering) | Watering +1 | | [Applied Planting Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Seeding) | Planting +1 | | [Applied Generating Electricity Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_GenerateElectricity) | Electricity +1 | | [Applied Lumbering Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Deforest) | Lumbering +1 | | [Applied Mining Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Mining) | Mining +1 | | [Applied Medicine Production Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_ProductMedicine) | Medicine +1 | | [Applied Cooling Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Cool) | Cooling +1 | | [Applied Transporting Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Transport) | Transporting +1 | | [Applied Gathering Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_Collection) | Gathering +1 | | [Applied Ranching Handbook I](https://palworld-db.com/item/WorkSuitability_AddTicket_MonsterFarm) | Ranching +1 | The smart spend is pushing an already-elite worker past its cap — a +1 on top of [Anubis](https://palworld-db.com/pal/anubis)'s chart-topping Handiwork or [Foxcicle](https://palworld-db.com/pal/foxcicle)'s Cooling 4 compounds with the [research lab's work-speed lines](https://palworld-db.com/guides/best-research-to-rush) into absurd base throughput. The [best-pals rankings](https://palworld-db.com/best-pals) show exactly who deserves each book. > **Tip.** Priority order for a new endgame push: condense your main fighter first (partner-skill scaling is the biggest jump), spend Starfruits only on hard-to-duplicate Pals, and buy the handbook for whichever job bottlenecks your base right now — usually Handiwork or Mining. ## Related Guides The full power-up stack: - [How to Raise Trust Fast: Kinship Peaches and Best Methods](https://palworld-db.com/guides/how-to-raise-trust-fast) - [All Bounty Targets: Token Payouts and Every Bounty Reward](https://palworld-db.com/guides/all-bounty-targets) - [How Breeding Works: Combi Ranks and Inheritance](https://palworld-db.com/guides/how-breeding-works) - [All Pal Effigies and Player Upgrade Tracks](https://palworld-db.com/guides/all-effigies-and-upgrades) - [Best Pals for every base job](https://palworld-db.com/best-pals) - [Best Research to Rush at the Pal Labor Research Lab](https://palworld-db.com/guides/best-research-to-rush) --- Palworld Database — every number on this page comes from the game's own data files.