Beginner's tips and guide - Palworld
Handy tips to make your time in the Palpagos Islands a bit easier.
A Palworld beginner's guide is almost a necessity. Pocketpair is happy to drop you in their open-world game with little guidance and plenty of vague tips leaving everything to guesswork. Sure, finding out on your own can be fun, but when a mistake leads to lost progress and materials, it gets pretty annoying, pretty fast.
Our Palworld beginner’s guide lays out some tips to help make your journey through the Palpagos Islands a bit more enjoyable.
Hunger won’t kill you
It looks pretty frightening when your hunger meter starts to drop, and in other survival games, your HP usually starts going down with it until you die. Palworld is different. Your HP will drop when you enter the starving state, but – in my experience anyway, and maybe it was a bug – you won’t actually die.
You will, however, drop to 1 HP. That’s fine if you’re in a safe place, but if a Syndicate grunt jumps you or a random Pal decides you’d look better smeared across a rock, then you’re in trouble.
Take some time after you first set up your base to explore the area north of the first fast travel point and collect as many berries as you can find. Hunger won’t be an issue after that, especially if you set up a berry farm later.
But temperatures will
Extreme temperatures, like those in the northern biomes and the Twilight Desert west of your starting point, drastically reduce your health, and unlike the hunger situation, you’ll die. Quickly. Don’t venture into these areas until you have the right gear – Tropical Gear for hot climates and Tundra Gear for cold. Unlock and craft those as soon as you can.
Do some DIY
I ignored the repair kit option at my craft table early on. Why waste resources on that when I could use them for something else? The answer is because repair kits make life much easier if one of your buildings gets destroyed in a raid or by some random Pal that followed you home with a grudge. You save on material costs and get your structure back, so it's a win for everyone.
The Syndicate thugs are real, but they won’t hurt you (much)
Palworld’s AI isn’t the greatest, but that’s a good thing for you. Syndicate thugs and the Free Pal Devotees tend to just… fly right past you most of the time. You can run away from them and not get hit, so don’t get put off from exploring if you see a group of enemy humans.
There are a few exceptions. The ones with guns tend to have accurate aim, and if you’re in an area with multiple Pal and human enemies, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
Build your base before anything else
Leveling up your base isn’t just part of the tutorial. It’s a smart way to fill out your technology tree with strong tech and get yourself high-powered equipment. Completing base missions directs you to new resources and better recipes, and it pushes you to explore and set up material farming routines. That’s essentially the foundation of your entire experience, so don’t leave it for later.
Ignore the Rayne boss for a while
Palworld’s tutorial pushes you toward the Rayne Tower boss right away, and that’s a great way to get discouraged. Zoe and Grizzbolt are tough, and you might even struggle against them at level 15 or higher. Your best bet for taking them on is waiting until you’ve got strong Pals – ideally a Ground-type Pal – with good armor for yourself, and whatever weapon you can craft for your Pals. Lifmunk’s and Tanzee’s guns are helpful, but if you can bring your own gun or the crossbow, you’ll be in good shape. Bonus points if you have elemental or poison arrows.
Build a ranch early
One of the first buildings you should spend on is the ranch. Put a Lamball and two Chikipi, and you’ll have no end of wool for cloth and eggs for food. Throw in a Vixy, and they’ll dig up dozens of Pal Spheres so you can devote your Paldium and stone to better uses.
Don’t skimp on defenses
Palworld PvP isn’t a thing yet, but thugs and hungry Pals will raid your base frequently. Decide your base location with that in mind, and try to make sure you don’t build somewhere with several sides open to attack.
Unlock and build defensive technology, and build walls as well.
Be kind...
Developer Pocketpair leaned into the idea of being cruel to Pals in Palworld’s marketing, but it really is to your benefit if you’re kind instead. Care for their sanity, provide them beds and ways to destress, and keep their food basket full. There’s a practical reason for all that, too. Happy, sane Pals work more efficiently, so your base produces materials at a steady rate without you having to get involved.
...Except sometimes
The bigger your Pal, the hungrier they are and the more food it takes to satisfy them. Pals at high levels also seem to need more food, and while you could feed them 250 stacks of berries, the more efficient way to fill them up is with cooked food. That means using Pal meat, which means using the cleaver. It's not nice, but it gets the job done.
You can defeat Alpha Pals several times
Alpha Pals, the giant boss Pals that roam the world, respawn after you defeat or capture them. It takes a few hours of real-world time, but there’s no limit on how often you can challenge them. If you’re after Ancient Technology Parts, I recommend checking in on Chillet near the starting area a few times in one day. They’re the lowest-level Alpha Pal, so you can get your parts quickly and be on your way.
Everything renews
I was hesitant to gather resources at first, unsure whether they would reappear, and I was wrong to hold back. Trees, rocks, ore nodes, and even Pals all come back the next in-game day, so don't hold back when you go out farming for resources.
For more Palworld help, check out our Palworld Strategy Guide for guides like how to assign Pals to your base and where to get copper keys for those shiny, tantalizing treasure chests.
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