Palworld is now in early access for PC and Xbox Series X/S, amassing over 435,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. Many players are experiencing the magic of exploring, capturing and adventuring with their friends when not committing horrible crimes, but what are some things to keep in mind throughout? Here are 15 tips and tricks for Palworld to make the journey through the mysterious archipelago easier.
Don’t Fight Wild Pals Alone (Initially)
When you first start, you’ll encounter relatively easy Pals to take down and capture. Cattiva and Lamball will become your best friends as they fight, mine, gather and transport materials, and much more for you. It should be obvious enough but don’t try to fight any other wild Pals beyond these two (or their equivalents) in the beginning until you have more health or better armor for damage reduction. Wild Pals will attempt to rush you, even if your Pals are on the field, so if you’re alone, there’s nothing to draw aggro and help aid your survival.
Get a Flying Mount ASAP
Pals have skills and Partner Abilities, the latter which you can manually activate. Some require specific equipment to buy with Technology Points and then craft. That said, get the one that turns a flying Pal into a flying mount immediately. Nitewing is available in Windswept Hills, so that’s the soonest you can capture a flying Pal. Very few traversal methods in the early to mid-game can beat a flying mount.
Set up a Berry Farm ASAP
From the outset, having a sustainable means of food production in your base – so you don’t have to keep feeding your Pals manually – is ideal. Since so many Pals can subsist on berries, get a farm going and set up a feeding station as quickly as possible. If you want them to restore more nutrition, replace the berries with roasted berries.
Capture Bonus XP
As you progress through the game and tussle with higher-level wild Pals, the average Pal Spheres aren’t going to cut it. However, don’t get rid of your lower level Spheres right away. Instead, use them to capture the lower-level Pals near the start. With a higher capture power, they should be relatively easy to tame, and you get bonus capture XP for every duplicate of a Pal that you capture (up to 10 or so). You can also keep them around for a variety of different purposes.
Pal Essence Condenser
While Butchering Pals (and humans – more on that in a bit) is barbaric, they can make for an emergency food supply when the situation calls for it. However, before doing that, use the Pal Essence Condenser. It allows for sacrificing multiple copies of a Pal to strengthen one, raising its stats and, more importantly, leveling up its Partner Skill. In the case of, say, Cattiva, that means increasing the player’s max carrying capacity even further.
Keep Rolling, Rolling, Rolling
There is an option to roll in the game, the default being Ctrl, but it’s remappable. When aiming down sights, it allows for side-flips and back-flips in combat. It’s no substitute for running away when outmatched but can help dodge several attacks from wild Pals, quickly reposition in dicey situations (like when a Syndicate Gunner starts spinning away) and get some decent distance on threats.
Recommended Early Weapons to Chase
Melee weapons are pretty average in the early going, and without decent damage mitigation, they can put you at severe risk. Save your Technology Points to get the Three Shot Bow, which consumes a single arrow to fire several shots and then an elemental crossbow. The regular Crossbow is also fine, but its reload time is annoying, so opting for a Poison Crossbow or Fire Crossbow for that added status damage is ideal. Remember to keep the regular Crossbow around when dealing with enemies resistant to Poison and Fire.
Farm Syndicate Members for Coarse Ammo
Throughout the archipelagos, you’ll encounter members of human factions like the Rain Syndicate and Free Pal Alliance. If you want ammo for your bows, the latter is worth pursuing, but farming the Syndicate is worth doing, especially when unlocking the Makeshift Handgun, your first firearm. Depending on the Syndicate type, they’ll drop Coarse Ammo for the weapon (along with other ammo types, but you won’t unlock those weapons till significantly later). Syndicate members can be found in camps through the open world (look for the smoke trails) and Dungeons.
Don’t Collect Cooked Food
As your base expands, you’ll quickly notice that the task automation in Palworld is a little iffy. That Pengullet you assigned to refrigeration will often not be at his post, potentially leading to food spoilage. If you have doubts, cook a meal and leave it at the fire without collecting it. It won’t spoil and remains for as long as you’d like. This method isn’t ideal for quick, consumable food in bulk, like roasted berries, but it’s great for some more complex foods. Set them to cook, leave and then return when you need them for boss fights or Pal breeding.
Capture Humans
Though considered inhumane, you can capture humans using Pal Spheres. They’ll function like Pals, fighting in battles and even completing different tasks for you. However, the real kicker is that they sell for significant cash at the Contraband merchant. Consider it a guaranteed method to get some gold coins from enemies (since not all of them drop the same) if nothing else, you monster.
Lifmunk Effigies
Get the Lifmunk Effigies littering the world as soon as possible, whether between islands or when there are breaks in your adventure. They increase your capture power noticeably, helping save on Spheres and making it slightly easier to secure Alpha Pals. Effigies are glowing green statues littered throughout the world – you’ll find several around the Ancient Ritual Site. The flying mount is even more useful in this region since it makes collecting them easier. After you’ve located enough, go to a Statue of Power to consume them.
Pick up Every Pal Egg
Don’t ignore eggs of any kind in the wild, especially the large ones. They could provide Pals you don’t own, like Suzaku, who can be tough to capture when entering the desert region for the first time. With how Pal Essence works, having free duplicates to power up Pals of the same type is ideal.
Get Feed Bags and the Lantern
As you capture/kill Alpha Pals or Tower bosses for the first time, you’ll get Ancient Technology Points to research items like the Grapple Gun, Egg Incubator and so on. The Incubator is pretty much necessary, but otherwise, pick up the Feed Bag and Lantern as soon as possible.
The Feed Bags allow for automatically feeding Pals in your party (and yourself) while traveling, while the Lantern will remain a constant light source (no more having to switch to a torch). Remember that Pals used as mounts can’t automatically feed themselves, so make sure to dismount or feed them manually in those cases.
Second Palbox
As your initial base levels up, the option to set up a second base becomes available. Even if you don’t want to manage a second base, throw down a Palbox and keep it in the world regardless. You can use it as a fast travel point and when necessary, dismantle it from the map and set it up somewhere else (the materials are also refunded, so no need to carry them around). Set it up near a dungeon entrance and use it to ferry materials back and forth with your base (since you can’t build inside the dungeon itself).
Gravity Rush
When battling foes from a flying mount and near a cliff, try dipping below it. It provides some necessary cover from their attacks, but even more hilarious is that some enemies will attempt to chase you and fall to their teeth. Meanwhile, you’ll remain safe, even without stamina, since you can’t take fall damage while on a flying mount.
Share Your Thoughts Below (Always follow our comments policy!)