Palworld Guide: So What Are We Doing Here?
Welcome to the madness that is Palworld, one of the most popular games right now! Whether you're brand new to the game or just plain stuck, this Palworld guide has exactly what you're looking for, you're in the right place!
Palworld can be described as a sort of open-world Pokemon (oops, sorry! not Pokemon, it's Pal 🙄) catching game. Despite being in early access only, it grabbed everyone's attention on January 27th by reaching over 2 million concurrent players on Steam. That figure put it in second place on Steam's all-time peak concurrent player list.
The record of 3,257,248 concurrent players set by PUBG back in 2018 still stands. In this Palworld guide, I'll walk you through 3 different progress milestones. Feel free to jump to whichever section applies to you:
- 1. Hello Palworld! You've just started the game and are taking your first steps.
- 2. Which Pals? Which adorable pals should you catch first?
- 3. Final Mission: How do you defeat the Rayne Syndicate Tower boss?
- Bonus: The ideal location for your 2nd base!
1. Hello Palworld! First Steps
You start in a corner of a massive map. Cute chubby sheep and chickens are bouncing around. No problem, no danger, everything is under control!
Head to the glowing column and unlock the fast travel point, this lets you teleport anywhere on the map. You'll see your objectives in the top right; the game will ask you to build a primitive workbench, but don't rush.
First, gather some wood and stone from the ground and keep moving until you find a waterfall. Pick up any small blue stones (paldium) you come across along the way. Grab any red berries you spot too, your hunger will kick in out of nowhere and these will be your main food source.
Once you've found the waterfall, you can go ahead and build your primitive workbench, palbox, and anything else you need. The area to the right of where the waterfall flows is a fantastic starting spot, when setting up a base, having a wide flat area and access to ore is essential.
You've set up your base. Carefully approach the sheep and chickens and catch 1-2 of them. Once you put them to work in the Palbox, you'll see them get straight to it. If you're struggling to catch them, deal a little damage first, but don't kill them!
Instead of taking risks, try approaching from behind, your catch rate will go up noticeably. You'll suddenly find yourself leveling up fast.
In Inventory → stat points, you have options like health, stamina, attack, defense, work speed, and weight. Up to level 20, put points into weight first, then health. The others really aren't worth the points, your pals are handling that kind of work anyway!
2. Which Pals? Best Pal Picks
We talked about catch rates, but first let's discuss which ones you should actually be going after. This might be the most critical section of this Palworld guide!
Best Pals for Your Base
Lamball
This chubby little buddy will craft items at the workbench on your behalf. Don't waste time crafting things yourself, let your pals handle it! Once you build a ranch, it'll also produce wool for you.
Cattiva
Handles both base production tasks and item transport; if you have a stone source, it'll mine too. It also has the gathering skill, which is the critical 3rd stage of the food production chain.
Foxparks
Lights up the area when you're out at night. With its Kindling skill, a little further into the game it smelts ingots from ores and cooks food, an absolute must-have for everything!
Lifmunk
Every base needs one. It chops wood, handles production, plants seeds, and harvests crops with its gathering skill.
Fuack
Beyond production and transport, it takes on the 2nd link in the food chain: watering.
With Fuack and Lifmunk, the berry plantation you set up early in the game becomes endlessly self-sustaining. Automated food production and transferring to the feedbox is now your pals' responsibility! You just grab from there when you're hungry, eat, and carry on.
Best Pals for Your Combat Team
You can carry a total of 5 pals in your party. Here are the four most useful ones at the start of the game, for the 5th slot, you can pick a flying mount pal (Nitewing works in the 10s, and Vanwyrm becomes useful as you approach the 20s). Also keep the element advantage/disadvantage chart in mind when fighting:
Daedream
On your first night, you'll spot these tiny things glowing purple all around you. Run over and catch one immediately. With just this pal in your party, you can summon a 2nd pal alongside you, having 2 pals out at once is an advantage in every situation!
Chillet
The first boss pal you can get your hands on. It's very close to the starting area, but don't go before level 12, it has an attack that'll really ruin your day 😅. Once you catch it, it quickly becomes your most valuable combat pal because it ruins the enemy's day right back.
Tombat
This pal only appears at night, and its partner skill requires absolutely no technology points or crafting: Ultrasonic Sonar! Activate it and all nearby pals will appear on your directional bar, finding the pal you're looking for is now a piece of cake.
Rushoar
This little boar can also be used as a mount, and its "reckless charge" ability is tailor-made for collecting ore. Charge straight at ore or stone deposits and 10+ ore instantly ends up in your bag, there's no comparison to swinging a pickaxe.
3. Palworld Guide: How to Kill the Rayne Syndicate Tower Boss
This is the last and hardest of the tutorial objectives. If you rushed over there too early, I'm pretty sure you've already taken a slap from a slightly mutated Pikachu. There's nowhere to run, there's a time limit, and running won't save you either... Tough stuff!
So how do you beat it? Chillet takes the main load, Lifmunk provides mid-fight support, and a Foxparks waits on standby. What you'll need:
- Foxpark's Harness (optional)
- Daedream's Necklace
- Lifmunk's Submachine Gun
- Small feed bag (they get hungry during the fight, without this you'll lose your mind!)
- Bow and arrow (crossbow preferred)
With Daedream by your side, immediately throw Chillet into the fight. While Chillet attacks, keep running around the outer edge of the arena.
Chillet is carrying the bulk of the fight; once you've put some distance between yourself and Zoe and Grizzbolt, fire an arrow (every time you shoot, Daedream lands a hit too!), then keep running.
When Chillet's HP starts dropping, pull it back before it dies and send out Lifmunk. If its partner skill is active, it rides on your head like an automatic weapon and deals serious damage. Don't stop running during this time, buy yourself some time while the Chillet you pulled back recovers.
If Lifmunk burns through its magazine too fast (spray calmly, don't empty it all at once!), throw out Foxparks and use it as a flamethrower. By this point Chillet's HP will have recovered, throw it back into the fight right away and keep firing 1-2 shots while on the move.
You've got this, with this Palworld guide strategy, the odds of you failing to kill the boss are pretty slim!
If you're looking for survival games similar to Palworld, the Don't Starve Together quick survival guide and Oxygen Not Included (ONI) beginner's guide are right up your alley! You can also browse more game guides and reviews on 2hbn.
For even more tips, check out the official Pocketpair developer page and the Palworld Reddit community for the latest discussions and player strategies.
Bonus: The Ideal Spot for Your 2nd Base
You've got tons of options for your second home, but there's one spot that offers combat advantages (enemies can't even reach you during raids!), contains plenty of ore, and has a stunning view: Coordinates: -260, -360
Have fun!
