🆕 Beginner's Guide
Palworld Survival — Your First Week
This guide covers your first 7 days in Palworld. Follow this progression to establish a strong base, catch a solid team, and set yourself up for mid-game success.
Day 1: Establish Shelter and Tools
Priority Checklist
- Collect resources: Gather at least 20 Wood, 20 Stone, and 10 Fiber from the ground
- Build a Pickaxe (5 Wood + 5 Stone) — mine ore nodes for stone and Paldium fragments
- Build a Hatchet (5 Wood + 5 Stone) — chop trees efficiently
- Build a Campfire (10 Wood + 2 Stone) — cook raw meat, survive nights
- Craft 5 Pal Spheres (3 Paldium + 1 Wood + 1 Stone each) — Paldium found in blue ore rocks
- Catch your first Pal: Weaken to ~30% HP, then throw a sphere
Best First Pals
| Pal | Location | Work Suitability | Why Catch It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamball | Starting area | Farming (Lv1) | Wool for cloth, food source |
| Cattiva | Starting area | Handiwork (Lv1), Transporting (Lv1) | Best early worker — boosts carrying capacity |
| Chikipi | Starting area | Gathering (Lv1) | Eggs for food, easy catch |
| Foxparks | Starting area | Kindling (Lv1) | Portable fire — craft its harness for flamethrower |
| Tanzee | Forest areas | Handiwork (Lv1), Lumbering (Lv1) | Shoots guns, helps with base work |
Pro tip: Aim for the head when weakening Pals — it does slightly more stun damage. Use a club or bare fists to avoid killing them accidentally.
Days 2-3: Build Your First Base
Base Location Requirements
Pick a spot that has ALL of these within a short walking distance:
| Resource | Why You Need It | Ideal Proximity |
|---|---|---|
| Trees | Wood for building, fiber, charcoal | Within 20 steps |
| Stone/Ore | Stone for base, Paldium for spheres | Within 30 steps |
| Water | Pal fluid, drinking, fishing later | Within 50 steps |
| Flat ground | Building space for 4x4 base | At least 6x6 tiles |
Recommended starting location: The plateau at coordinates 180, -430 (near the initial spawn point). Flat, close to forests, ore nodes, and water.
Base Setup (4x4 Layout)
[ WALL ][ WALL ][ WALL ][ WALL ]
[ WALL ][ Palbox][ Bed ][ WALL ] ← Palbox (center)
[ WALL ][Chest ][Feed ][ WALL ] ← Feed box + storage
[ WALL ][ WALL ][ DOOR ][ WALL ]
Essential Base Buildings
| Building | Materials | Tech Level | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palbox | 5 Paldium + 10 Wood + 10 Stone | Lv2 | Assign Pals, fast travel |
| Bed | 20 Wood + 10 Fiber | Lv3 | Sleep through night |
| Pal Bed | 30 Wood + 10 Fiber | Lv4 | Pals sleep = less downtime |
| Feed Box | 30 Wood + 5 Stone | Lv5 | Auto-feed assigned Pals |
| Workbench | 20 Wood + 10 Stone | Lv7 | Craft weapons, tools, spheres |
| Campfire x2 | 20 Wood + 4 Stone | Lv1 | Cook food, warmth at night |
Days 4-5: Gear Progression
Tech Tree Priority
| Tech Level | Unlock | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Palbox | Required for everything |
| 3 | Bed | Skip night, set spawn |
| 5 | Bow + Arrow | Ranged damage, hunt safely |
| 6 | Cloth Outfit | Cold resistance, unlock armor slot |
| 7 | Workbench | Craft more complex items |
| 8 | Old Bow (upgrade) | Double damage over basic bow |
| 9 | Cooking Pot | Recipes with stat bonuses |
| 10 | Mount (Nitewing or Eikthyrdeer) | Fast travel |
| 12 | Furnace | Smelt ore into ingots |
| 13 | Crossbow | Major DPS upgrade over bow |
| 15 | Grappling Gun | Vertical mobility, escape combat |
| 17 | Mega Spheres | Catch mid-game Pals reliably |
Weapon Progression Path
Days 6-7: Build Your Pal Team
Best Early-Game Team Composition
| Role | Pal | How to Get | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Eikthyrdeer | Grassy Plains (Lv12) | Fast ground mount, double jump |
| Flyer | Nitewing | Rocky areas/cliffs (Lv14) | First flying mount, cross gaps |
| Auto-Fighter | Daedream | Nighttime (Lv10) | Follow mode, auto-attacks nearby enemies |
| Gatherer | Lifmunk | Forest trees (Lv9) | Excellent logging/mining |
| Transporter | Cattiva | Starting area (Lv2) | Base carrying, +50 weight passive |
| Cook | Foxparks | Starting area (Lv3) | Portable flamethrower, kindling |
Daedream tip: Craft the Daedream Harness (Lv12) and Daedream will float beside you in combat mode, auto-targeting anything that attacks. This effectively gives you a second damage dealer for free.
Pro Survival Tips
- Temperature management: Use the Cloth Outfit by day 4. Cold at night = move near fire or equip a torch. Heat in desert = craft a cool shirt or bring ice Pals.
- Pal sphere economy: Always have 10+ basic spheres on hand. Weaken Pals with a bow from range before throwing spheres. Back-crit sphere throws have a higher catch rate.
- Fast travel network: Build a Palbox near each new area you explore. You can fast travel between Palboxes for free.
- Stamina management: Climbing and sprinting share the stamina bar. Don't climb vertical surfaces unless you're sure you can reach the top.
- Night strategy: Nights are dangerous — stronger Pals spawn. Sleep in your bed or use the early hours to mine ore near your base.
- Capture experience: Each unique Pal capture gives bonus XP. Catch every species you see at least once for rapid leveling.
- Ranch building: Build a Ranch (Lv12) to passively produce resources from Pals — Wool (Lamball), Milk (Mozzarina), Honey (Cinnamoth), Eggs (Chikipi).
- Base defense: Walls are essential by day 5. Raids start around level 7. Build wooden walls around your base perimeter and assign combat Pals to defense.