Monster Hunter Wilds Palico Guide — Best Gadgets & How to Support Your Hunt

Palico Gadget Overview

Palico Basics and Role

The Palico is your small feline companion that accompanies you on every hunt. Unlike a secondary player or a Palamute (the dog companion introduced in Rise/Sunbreak), the Palico is a dedicated support ally — it attacks monsters modestly but its primary value is its gadget ability, which provides one of several specialized support functions during combat. The Palico acts autonomously, running around the monster, dealing occasional hits, and deploying its gadget on its own timer.

Your Palico has its own stats — attack, defense, and level — that grow as it participates in hunts. Higher level Palicos deal more damage with their weapons and gadgets, and unlock more frequent and powerful gadget deployments. Equipping your Palico with crafted Palico weapons and armor (crafted at the Smithy from smaller monster parts and ore) boosts its combat effectiveness significantly. A well-equipped, high-level Palico is a meaningful DPS and support contributor, not just a cosmetic companion.

In solo hunts, your Palico is the only ally support you have, making its gadget choice critical. The Vigorwasp Spray is the most life-saving option for hunters still learning the game: the Palico uses Vigorwasps from the environment to heal you when your health drops, automatically. This passive healing support reduces the number of times you need to stop, sheathe, and manually heal, keeping your uptime higher.

Best Gadgets by Scenario

Vigorwasp Spray is the definitive solo hunting gadget. Its healing output scales with your Palico's level and the number of Vigorwasps available in the environment, but in most biomes it provides consistent free heals throughout the hunt. At higher Palico levels, the Palico learns to deploy the spray proactively rather than reactively, healing you before you reach critically low health. This is especially valuable on tough monsters where stopping to heal is dangerous.

Coral Orchestra is the top choice for multiplayer support. It functions similarly to the Hunting Horn weapon — the Palico plays songs that buff the entire party. Possible buffs include Attack Up (team-wide raw bonus), Defense Up, Stamina Recovery (sprint longer between breaks), and various elemental resistances. Having a Coral Orchestra Palico in a 4-player team is like having a fifth member providing continuous passive buffs without requiring any player input or skill slots.

Plunderblade is the best option for material farming runs once you are comfortable with a monster. Each time the Palico successfully Plunders, it steals an additional material from the monster and adds it to your post-hunt reward box. Over many farming runs, a Plunderblade Palico increases your material per-hunt yield by 2–4 extra items, significantly accelerating armor crafting. The trade-off is losing healing or buff support, so it is best used on familiar, manageable monsters.

How to Level and Gear Your Palico

1. Your Palico automatically gains EXP from every hunt you take it on — there is no separate Palico training. Simply bring it on hunts and it levels passively.
2. Check the Smithy's Forge Equipment section regularly for Palico weapon and armor recipes. Palico gear is crafted from the same monster materials as hunter gear but in smaller quantities.
3. Palico gear has its own stat tiers: Low Rank gear → High Rank gear → Rare tier gear. Upgrade Palico armor as you progress to High Rank just as you upgrade your own.
4. Assign the appropriate gadget before each hunt from the Palico settings menu at camp or in the main menu. You can swap gadgets freely between hunts at no cost.
5. At higher Palico levels, gadgets unlock additional abilities. For example, Vigorwasp Spray eventually learns to deploy multiple wasps in sequence; Coral Orchestra unlocks more song types. Check the Palico's skill list as it levels up.
6. Talk to Palico companions at the Gathering Hub to recruit additional Palicoes for hunts (up to 2 Palicoes can accompany you in certain modes). Each can have a different gadget for combined support.

Palico vs Palamute in Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds primarily features the classic Palico as your companion. The game includes additional companion options that may vary by context — always check the in-game companion settings for the full list available in your version of Wilds. Palicoes emphasize support (healing, buffs, material gathering) while dog-type companions in the Monster Hunter series typically provide mobility (rideable for faster traversal) and offensive assist.

For most hunts, the Palico is the superior support choice due to its gadget system. Its healing (Vigorwasp Spray), buff provision (Coral Orchestra), and material stealing (Plunderblade) all provide tangible hunt improvements. The mobility advantage of a dog-type companion matters less in Monster Hunter Wilds because the Seikret mount handles most traversal needs, making the Palico's combat support more consistently valuable.

In multiplayer with 4 players, each player brings their own Palico. Four Coral Orchestra Palicoes provide overlapping buffs that keep the entire party constantly buffed throughout the hunt — a meaningful team-wide DPS increase that requires no additional skill investment from any player. Coordinating Palico gadget choices before a difficult multiplayer hunt is a minor but impactful optimization.

Palico Build Archetypes — Healer / Damage / Support / Bombardier

Verdict: Build at least three Palico loadouts: Healer (Vigorwasp Spray) for solo learning, Support (Coral Orchestra) for multiplayer, and Farming (Plunderblade) for material runs. Swap before each hunt based on context. Damage and Bombardier Palico are specialty picks for experienced players.

Gadget Priority Reference — Acquisition Order

Endgame Palico Armor + Skill Build (Universal)