Palworld beginner’s guide

Palworld is an early access title that employs monster-catching survival mechanics. At the start, you’re literally dropped down into a world teeming with dangerous and cute creatures known as Pals. While figuring out how you can survive the perils the environment throws at you, you can befriend, capture, and battle Pals and let them do your bidding.

As a new resident of the Palpagos Islands, things can be confusing—or even frightening. Not only are there powerful Pals ready to kill you, but humans as well. Your first time in Palworld can feel daunting, especially when you only have nothing but the basic tools to protect yourself. With our beginner’s guide to Palworld, we can help you get on your feet and jumpstart your journey to being the best Pal tamer (or enslaver) in the land.

Don’t Be Afraid to Adjust the World Settings

When you first make your world, you can adjust the settings of the world to your liking. To do so, go to the difficulty settings and choose ‘Custom.’ From there, you can alter almost everything—from how much EXP you can gain, whether or not you want the items you’ve been carrying to drop whenever you die outside of your base, to many other gameplay elements that can alter how Palworld works for you.

If it’s your first rodeo playing survival games like Palworld, we recommend turning off the setting where you drop all your items when you die. Then, once you’ve got the hang of things, you can revert some of the stuff you tweaked to its default setting. You can check the world settings anytime before you plop down, so feel free to experiment to see what works for your playthrough.

Need Help Doing Something? Maybe the Survival Guide Can Help

If some of Palworld’s mechanics confuse you or you’re unsure what your next step should be, the game has a built-in tutorial that leads you through the first few quests. But if you want to know more about the specifics of certain concepts, you can look at the Survival Guide of your Paldeck.

Most players tend to open and close the Survival Guide at the start since the game requires them to look at it, which is a shame because it’s a treasure trove for all things Palworld. You can always learn things as you go, but if you need extra help on how to do stuff, the Survival Guide is always there to help you out.

Leveling Up in Palworld is A Must

Your character level, base level, and the levels of the Pals in your team are all essential factors in Palworld. For example, the higher the level of your base is, the more bases you can set up in the Palpagos Islands. The higher the level of your character and your Pal team is, the more opportunities you’ll have to take on tougher and more impressive enemies. Increasing the level of all these things will take time, but in exchange, it’ll make your playthrough of Palworld smoother, and you’ll have access to Pals and different biomes that otherwise wouldn’t be available to you.

Be Mindful of Your Pals’ Abilities

Every Pal is suited for specific tasks in your base. While at first, you might think it’s wise to fill your base with Pals who can have multiple options regarding Work Suitability, it’s actually quite problematic since it leads them to always run off and find new things to do. Ultimately, they never get any proper work done and leave tasks unfinished.

Instead of picking Pals who tick all the boxes, try to add Pals to your base with specific tasks only they can do to avoid getting sidetracked. For example, if you want a Pal to water the berry and wheat plantations only, you can add a Teafant. Compared to having a Fuack or Pengullet, Teafants only have Lv. 1 Watering as their Work Suitability; they won't be able to do anything else. In contrast, Pengullets and Fuacks can still transport items around the base and craft weapons/materials.

Assign Jobs to Your Pals

Similarly, you can assign your Pals to specific tasks if they always seem to be wandering around the camp or leave certain jobs unfinished. However, since we’re still in the early version of Palworld, it doesn’t always work, especially if your tasks are too close together. Regardless of where they’re assigned, Pals can sometimes leave their task to rest, eat, or take a break.

You can lift your Pals around your base and throw them in an area where the workshop is to assign them there, but doing that all the time can be tedious. One of the ways you can ensure that you’ll always have a steady supply of materials is by getting the Monitoring Stand.

The Monitoring Stand can be unlocked at Level 15 through the Technology Tree, and you’ll need the following materials to craft it:

• Stone x10
• Wood x30

Using this item, you can command your Pals to work on various things inside your base at a certain pace. You can increase your Pals’ work rate from normal to “cruel” or even “brutal.” Of course, there’s a catch. Forcing them to work faster depletes their sanity levels significantly, and if their sanity plummets, your Pals have increased chances of getting injuries. They can get fractures, ulcers, or depression.

To keep your Pals alive, using the normal setting in the Monitoring Stand while diverting to the higher work rates infrequently is best. You can heal your Pals’ injuries with medicine, but that requires you to dedicate Pal slots to medicine production, which adds more pressure to work the remaining Pals harder.

Allocate Your Stats to Weight, Stamina, and Health Above All Else

Stats are an integral part of creating a character, and they can make your life easier or more complicated in the game—depending on how you allocate them. There’s no way to reset your stats yet, so knowing where to put your points as you level up is crucial.

Depending on your playstyle, weight, stamina, and health are all important stats you should prioritize increasing. Attack is generally useless since Pals will always do the more significant damage. If you’re still in the early game, we advise putting most of your stat points to your weight limit. You’ll need it since you’ll be carrying around a lot of resources when going to and back from your base.

Collect Lifmunk Effigies

As you explore Palworld, you will likely spot glowing green objects tucked away in various areas. These are Lifmunk Effigies, which can be used at a Statue of Power. You should always try to make a detour whenever you spot these glowing bits. Once you’ve accumulated enough Lifmunk Effigies, go to a Statue of Power to boost your Capture Power. Boosting your Capture Power makes it easier for you to capture high-level Pals and even humans.

You can visit multiple Statues of Power around the map, but building one in your base is best once you’ve unlocked the recipe on your Technology Tree. That way, you don’t have to visit specific Fast Travel points. You’ll need the following materials to build a Statue of Power:

• Palladium Fragment x10
• Stone x20

If you’re on the hunt to capture Palworld’s Legendary Pals and add them to your Paldeck, you’ll need all the Capture Power you can get.

Make Weather Resistant Armor to Explore Palworld Fully

The Palapagos Islands are huge, and you'll need to face different weather environments/systems if you want to get to a certain biome. Some will present you with extreme cold or heat; some places have both! Hot and cold regions can be deadly if you lack the proper clothing. Even being out at night can cause you to take freezing damage.

Creating heat-resistant and cold-resistant armor as soon as possible is the best answer. Sure, a campfire does the job fine, but once you have to explore the farther regions, you’ll need to protect yourself as best as you can while also fighting stronger Pals.

Unlock Mounts to Make Exploring More Fun

Don’t neglect those saddles sitting on the Technology Tree; they’re helpful for exploring the game. It’s an excellent way to get around Palworld more efficiently. Some Pals will have saddles, which need to be crafted after being unlocked in the Tech tree. Don’t pass these up, as they only cost a few points and can come in handy.

These saddles can help you by traveling the land or seas faster or taking to the skies entirely. Note that flying and dashing will utilize your stamina system, so building that up with the mounts is the ideal way to get by.

Increase Your Chances of Survival By Getting A Shield

One way to ensure your longevity in combat is by crafting a shield. It’s best not to sleep on these since it allows you to take a few blows before your HP bar becomes vulnerable to attacks. While crafting guns and ammo earns you an advantage in battle, remaining alive is just as pivotal. The Common Shield is available once you reach Level 4, while the Hyper Shield—the strongest shield in the game—unlocks at Level 43.