Core Keeper Pets: How to Get, Hatch and Level Up Pets

How to Get a Pet (Hatching Pet Eggs)

1. Get a pet egg: depending on the egg, you dig it up, get it as an enemy drop, find it in chests or breakable objects, or buy it (one egg is sold by a vending machine and one by a merchant). The table below shows where each egg comes from.
2. Hatch it in the incubator: put the egg into a powered Egg Incubator. After 30 minutes it becomes a cracked egg.
3. Use the cracked egg: hold it and use it, and your pet is born.
4. Put it in the pet slot: place it in the pet slot on the equipment screen and it will adventure with you. You can only bring one pet.

Pet	Egg	Where to get the egg
Subterrier	Loyal Egg	Digging spot, Digging spot (Azeos' Wilderness), Digging spot (The Sunken Sea), etc.
Embertail	Curious Egg	See how to obtain
Owlux	Lively Egg	Large Stoneware Pot, Stoneware Pot, Large Wooden Nature (breakable object), etc.
Jr. Orange Slime	Oozy Egg	Glurch the Abominous Mass
Fanhare	Nimble Egg	Large Nature (breakable object), Flower Vessel
Jr. Blue Slime	Oozy Slippery Egg	Morpha the Aquatic Mass
Jr. Purple Slime	Oozy Poison Egg	Ivy the Poisonous Mass
Jr. Lava Slime	Oozy Lava Egg	Igneous the Molten Mass
Prince Slime	Oozy Royal Egg	See how to obtain
Pheromoth	Fuzzy Egg	Large Mold (breakable object), Large Ancient Crate, Infected Caveling
Snugglygrade	Squishy Egg	Urschleim, Cultist Chest, Colossal Amoeba
Arcane Symbiote	Arcane Egg	Nature Cicada, World Chest Nature, Scarlet Chest
Electro-Pet	Pest Egg	Electro-Pest, Abiotic Factor Large (breakable object), Abiotic Factor (breakable object)
Earie	Nocturnal Egg	Iron Chest, Large Ancient Crate, Large Wooden Nature (breakable object), etc.
Hoppet	Hoppy Egg	Searpent, Fishing in The Sunken Sea (non-fish catches), Sea Biome Chest, etc.
Cattiva	Lazy Egg	Oasis Chest, Large Oasis Flower Vessel, Oasis Flower Vessel
Azeos Jr.	Glimmering Egg	Azeos the Sky Titan

All Pet Types (Melee, Ranged, Buff)

Melee pets (9)

They run up to enemies and attack them.

Pet	Type	Damage (Lv.1)	Base effects
Subterrier	Melee	110–134	+10% chance to stun targets on melee hit +8% critical hit chance
Jr. Orange Slime	Melee	—	Reduces the target's movement speed by -11.7% for 4 sec +8% damage against bosses
Jr. Blue Slime	Melee	—	+13% chance on hit to apply slippery movement +15% damage against bosses
Jr. Purple Slime	Melee	—	+12% chance to apply poison on hit, which reduces enemy healing received by 75% +15% damage against bosses
Jr. Lava Slime	Melee	—	+2 glow +15% damage against bosses
Prince Slime	Melee	—	+30% damage against bosses
Snugglygrade	Melee	341–415	+15% chance to gain mana on hit
Electro-Pet	Melee	110–134	+20% chance to stun targets on melee hit
Cattiva	Melee	224–272	+4% chance to stun targets on melee hit +12% critical hit chance

Ranged pets (4)

They shoot projectiles at enemies.

Pet	Type	Damage (Lv.1)	Base effects
Embertail	Ranged	110–134	+2 glow +16 burn damage applied on hit
Fanhare	Ranged	110–134	+12% chance to apply poison on hit, which reduces enemy healing received by 75% +1 target(s) pierced by projectiles
Hoppet	Ranged	166–202	+17% chance on hit to apply slippery movement +100% chance to knockback on range hit
Azeos Jr.	Ranged	166–202	+10% chance to stun targets on ranged hit +2 projectile shards on hit

Buff pets (4)

They do not attack. Instead they boost their owner (damage, movement speed and so on).

Pet	Type	Damage (Lv.1)	Base effects
Owlux	Buff	—	+7.6% movement speed +6.5% damage
Pheromoth	Buff	—	+12.6% physical range damage +7% dodge chance
Arcane Symbiote	Buff	—	+28 magic barrier +11% mana regeneration while casting
Earie	Buff	—	+1 max minion count +7.2% minion damage

How to Raise a Pet (Levels, Talents, Treats)

• Leveling: the max level is 10. Your pet gains XP whenever the pet itself, you or your minions damage an enemy: each hit gives its damage ÷ 20 in XP (at least 1, at most 250 per hit). One attack that hits several enemies gives XP for each of them.
• Talents: you get one point every 2 levels (5 in total at Lv.10). Unlock talents with the info button next to the pet slot, which is also where you rename your pet (as often as you like). For 200 Ancient Coins you can reset the points (the talents your pet can learn stay the same).
• Treats for faster growth: holding and using Pet Pellet, Rare Candy or Beast Booster gives your equipped pet 50, 500 or 5,000 XP right away (a Lv.10 pet will not eat them).

Each pet's item page also lists its talents, the best talent order and its color patterns.

Pet types, the level cap, XP per hit, talent points, the reset cost, treat XP and egg sources are read from the game files and code of Core Keeper 1.3.0.6. Who earns pet XP (you, the pet and your minions), XP per target and renaming are from the Core Keeper Wiki (Fandom) page “Pets” (game 1.3, based on the Explorer's Guide p.67-68; CC BY-SA 3.0).

Which Pet Is the Strongest?

Buff pets raise your own damage the most, and the best one depends on your build. See best pets and pet rankings for the per-build ranking and talent order.