Table of Contents
Palworld is a massive game filled with lots of overlapping systems, things to do, and bases to maintain. Then you have exploration, catching Pals, crafting, defeating World bosses – all of that on top of all those systems. So, it's incredibly easy to feel overwhelmed and a little bit lost when you first visit the island. In this guide, we're going to take things step by step and explain everything you need to know to get started. Welcome to the ultimate Palworld guide!
Setting Up Your Game Server
To start things off, let's step outside of the game and talk about servers and settings. When you first launch Palworld, you'll need to create your game server. This comes with some preconfigured settings that you can choose between: casual, normal, and hard. Each of which will adjust how difficult your life will be. These affect things like whether or not you drop items on death, crank up damage that you take, or how hard it is to capture Pals. You can also choose to blaze your own trail and create a server that fits your needs. If you don't like the survival system and want to minimize hunger and deterioration, adjust a few sliders for that. If you want to level up faster, adjust how fast you earn experience. You can also get into the nitty-gritty about how hard it is to capture different Pals, whether or not Pals will spawn, enemy density – all of these settings can be set when you first create the server, and you can change them anytime after.
Crafting Your Character
Once you get your server created, you'll also need to create your character. There aren't any important choices here other than what you want your character to look like, so feel free to create the character of your dreams. Palworld will drop you into an open world with a very light tutorial quest chain to get you started.
Mastering Basic Mechanics
Stamina Management
First things first, we need to cover the basic mechanics of the game, starting with stamina. Stamina is essentially your energy level; it dictates how far you can climb, glide, swim, and how long you can harvest materials. If you run out of stamina, you'll need to stop whatever you're doing and rest to recover it. Your Pal's stamina is separate from your own, so if you're riding a Pal, they'll use their stamina, and once that's out, you can dismount and use your own stamina. This makes for some great methods to consume all of your Pal's stamina, then dismount and glide to safety.
Hunger Awareness
Another thing to keep an eye on is hunger. It's a meter that slowly falls over time and needs to be refilled by eating food. You can cook food at a campfire initially, and as you unlock new cooking methods, you'll also unlock new recipes to craft. Different foods provide varying levels of nutrition and even stat boosts, so pay attention to what foods you're consuming. Additionally, food has a timer, and it will rot, so be mindful of that.
Temperature Challenges
Outside of hunger and stamina, you'll also encounter temperatures. Starting with basic cloth gear, you'll eventually unlock more advanced armor types for different environments. Heat-resistant and cold-resistant armor will become crucial as you explore diverse regions. Make sure to craft the appropriate gear for the expedition you're on.
Leveling Up and Stat Points
Moving on to leveling up, everything you do in Palworld gives you experience – crafting, capturing Pals, killing enemies, and clearing content. Capturing Pals gives more experience than killing them, so prioritize capturing when possible. Leveling up grants stat points and technology points. Use stat points to increase health, attack, stamina, work speed, and weight. Prioritize weight and work speed initially. Technology points unlock new crafting recipes; prioritize production structures, weapons, and Pal gear.
Power Statue and Advanced Enhancements
The Power Statue is another essential aspect. Craft or find it in churches to trade Pal souls for stat boosts. Improve your Pal's attack, defense, stamina, and work speed. Utilize LIF Monk statues to enhance your capture power.
Resource Gathering and Crafting
Gathering resources is a key aspect of crafting. Use tools to gather wood, ore, stone, fiber, and wool. Refine these resources at production workbenches to create usable assets. Be mindful of weight capacity; use the grappling gun to navigate while encumbered.
Bases: Your Home in Palworld
Bases play a significant role in Palworld. You can have multiple bases, and they serve as homes for you and your Pals. Defend against raids using defensive precautions and engaging in combat. Raids offer opportunities to capture higher-level Pals.
Combat Strategies
Finally, combat in Palworld is a layered experience. Be prepared for combat scenarios, especially during raids. Utilize defensive precautions and explore various tools and strategies for effective combat navigation.
Exploring the Basics
The first layer is what you, the player, can do. It isn't much initially; you'll be able to craft melee weapons like a bat and spear. Moreover, you can craft other items, including guns like assault rifles and rocket launchers. You can also dodge attacks and jump around to avoid damage. Additionally, you'll need to craft a shield and an outfit to gear yourself up, preparing for anything the game throws at you.
While there isn't much complexity in weaponry from your perspective as the player, you can still defend yourself. In combat, you pull out a weapon and start blasting. However, adding in Pals and Pal gear is where things get more interesting.
Gear Durability and Combat Strategy
Another thing to note about your gear is its durability. As you use an item, you'll need to repair it now and then to keep it fresh and impactful. Once they break, you lose those bonuses. This applies to crafting tools, gathering tools, weapons, and armor.
Pal Companions in Battle
During a battle, you can have one Pal out at a time. These Pals fight alongside you, using their skills to deal damage. Some Pals have passive partner perks, providing stat bonuses, while others have active skills that you can control. For instance, the War sect has a passive that increases defense and adds fire to attacks, while the Gob fin has a controllable attack skill.
Pals also come with elements that you need to take note of, as there are elemental advantages in the game. Exploiting these advantages will make battles much easier. This follows the standard approach, where fire beats grass, grass beats ground, and ground beats electric. There are some curveballs like dark, normal, ice, and dragon, but they follow their own side pyramid.
Capturing Pals in the Wild
When capturing Pals in the world, you need to whittle down their health and then throw a sphere at them, similar to a Pokeball. There are different types of spheres, ranging from basic to legendary, with higher-level Pals requiring more powerful spheres. Applying ailments like shock or freeze can boost your chances of capturing a Pal.
Assembling Your Pal Party
Once you've captured Pals, you can assemble them into a party. Consider their passives, partner perks, and skills. Passives come in three tiers, positive or negative, and can be minor or major impacts. Partner perks aren't always combat-focused; they can provide riding bonuses or other non-combat advantages.
Skills can be customized using skill fruits found in the game. Rare or shiny Pals, larger and glowing versions, have special perks, making them valuable additions to your team.
Crafting and Efficiency
Crafting with your Pals involves deploying them to work in your base. Early on, Pals may be slow at crafting, but as you capture more powerful ones, their proficiencies increase, making them more efficient workers.
Duplicate Pals can be used in the Pal condenser to boost the stats of similar Pals. This is a powerful feature, so don't overlook it.
Exploring the Vast World
Exploring the vast world of the game involves encountering dungeons, world bosses, towers, merchants, chests, and eggs. Dungeons offer materials, Pals, and boss battles. World bosses provide rare materials and subspecies of Pals. Towers offer challenges, materials, and extra fast travel locations. Merchants, including a black marketeer, sell materials and Pals for gold. Chests and eggs, found throughout the world, offer various rewards.
Bandit Camps and Wanted Status
Bandit camps, where you clear out bandits, are a good source of Pals, gold, and ammo. Wanted status is gained in wildlife sanctuaries if caught trespassing or attacking the military. Clearing out sanctuaries can be challenging due to accumulating wanted status.
I hope this comprehensive overview helps you as you embark on your journey in Palworld!
