Befriending dinosaurs is key to progression in Paleo Pines, but you’ll need to make newly-tamed dinos into Helpers before you can use their talents. In order to break the rocks blocking the path to Dapplewood for the game’s first major quest, you’ll need to tame a Styracosaurus and make use of its Smasher ability. Just taming the beast isn’t enough though. To make it a Helper and unlock it’s ability, you need to pamper it and have a whole lot of patience. Here’s what you need to know about Helpers in Paleo Pines.
How to Make a Styracosaurus a Helper in Paleo Pines
Once you’ve tamed a Styracosaurus by playing its Friend Call, you can bring it back to your ranch and give it a new home in one of your pens. As long as the befriended Styracosaurus is assigned to a pen and has a Dreamstone to serve as its bed, it will stay on your ranch and remain a part of your roster. If you check your journal, you can see the dinosaur’s status, which should be set to “Friend” by default.
Related: All Paleo Pines Dinosaur Locations
To make it into a Helper, you have to completely fill the circular green meter surrounding the Friend icon. This is done by raising the bond level with the Styracosaurus. Make sure it has adequate room in its pen, keep its trough filled with food, and keep its pen clean. Pet it every day and use your Flute to order it to follow you. Exploring the world with a dinosaur in tow will quickly raise its friendship level.
Most importantly of all, feed it yummy snacks. Every dinosaur’s taste is different, but check your journal to see what the Styracosaurus typically prefers. If it likes juicy things, look for Cranberries and other fruits. If it likes earthy things, feed it a potato. You’ll know you’ve hit the sweet spot when a notification pops up telling you the dinosaur really liked that treat.
It’ll take a couple of in-game days, but if you keep pampering the dinosaur, it’ll eventually become a Helper. Once it reaches Helper status, approach the saddle hanging in the pen and place it on the dinosaur. Now, you can ride it and make use of its abilities!
How to Open the Path to Dapplewood
After unlocking the ability to mount a Styracosaurus, ride it to the boulders blocking the path to Dapplewood. Then, just interact with the rock to smash it. The rock will take multiple hits to break, so make sure your prehistoric pal has a full stamina bar. That’s all there is to it!
After breaking the rocks and unlocking Dapplewood, you can break a second set of boulders blocking access to a sandy area in the southeast corner of Veridian Valley. There’s a Large Dreamstone behind those boulders, and you can find some really cool dinosaurs in the small desert corner of the valley as well.
