Palworld Beginner's Guide: Your First Pal, Setting Up a Palbox and Staying Alive

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1. Choose your difficulty deliberately When creating a world you pick a difficulty. According to the wiki's starter guide, Casual is easiest with no death penalty, Normal drops your inventory on death, Hard also drops your Pals, and Custom lets you tune settings individually. The 1.0 notes say new Normal worlds no longer drop equipped items.
2. Follow the tutorial missions You start in ruins in the Windswept Hills, facing a Great Eagle Statue that works as a fast travel point. The in-game tutorial walks you through the first days, and following the mission list is the easiest way to know what to do next.
3. Food first, then a workbench Red Berries are plentiful near the start, so gather them as your hunger bar drops. Then use wood and stone to build a Primitive Workbench, where your first tools are made.
4. Catch your first Pal The wiki names Lamball and Cattiva as good first Pals because they help around the base. Hit a Pal to lower its health, then throw a Pal Sphere with Q. Lower health means a better chance, and according to the wiki throwing from behind helps too.
5. Craft your own Pal Spheres At first you pick Spheres up off the ground. According to the wiki, a Pal Sphere needs Paldium Fragments, wood and stone, and Paldium comes from breaking stone. Once you craft a stone pickaxe and make your own Spheres, you no longer run short.
6. Place a Palbox to start your base The spot where you build a Palbox becomes your base. According to the wiki, it creates an area with a 35-metre radius in which structures do not decay. Pick flat ground near wood, stone and water; a Palbox cannot be placed on a slope steeper than 15 degrees.
7. Spend Technology points sensibly Levelling up earns Technology points. Unlock Pal Spheres, beds, a feed box and basic production first; decorative pieces can wait. The wiki notes that some recipes also require defeating a specific tower boss.
8. Unlock your first mount Rideable Pals need a saddle crafted at the Pal Gear Workbench. According to the wiki, the saddle for Rushoar, the first mount, unlocks at level 6 and the one for Nitewing, the first flying mount, at level 15. A mount cuts exploration time dramatically.

• Catch different PalsCollect a variety of species rather than many of the same one. Each Pal has different Work Suitabilities and passive skills, and your base only speeds up with a varied workforce.
• Protect your workers' SANAccording to the wiki, working Pals slowly lose SAN (sanity). If it drops too far they stop working, and if it stays low they can become sick or injured. Build beds, a feed box and rest structures such as a Hot Spring, and keep medicine handy.
• Put downed Pals in the PalboxAccording to the wiki, Pals in the Palbox slowly recover health, and defeated Pals revive after 10 minutes there. Swap in a reserve instead of waiting on a downed Pal.
• Prepare for cold nightsThe wiki's starter tips recommend a campfire, cloth outfit and torch so the cold does not drain your health at night. For colder regions, use warm armor or mounts such as Arsox that keep you warm.
• Watch your staminaSprinting, climbing, gliding and swimming all use stamina. According to the wiki, running out while swimming starts draining your health and can drown you, and running out while climbing makes you fall.
• Mind your carry weightA heavy inventory slows you down. Putting some level points into weight or riding Pals that raise carry capacity makes mining trips easier. At base, pressing R with the inventory open quickly moves matching items into nearby chests.
• Recover your Death ChestAccording to the wiki, when you die your dropped items and, depending on settings, your Pals go into a Death Chest marked on the map and compass. Since 1.0 you can respawn at fast travel points other than your base.
• Go into towers preparedTower boss fights are timed; according to the wiki, if the timer runs out the player dies instantly and is removed from the tower. Choose a tower that matches your level and bring healing food and enough ammo.
• Get ready for raidsIf raids are enabled, your base will be attacked from time to time. According to the 1.0 notes, raids now come in waves, making defensive structures and worker placement more important than before.
• Do not put off breedingAccording to the wiki, the Breeding Farm unlocks at level 19, but only after you defeat Lily and Lyleen at the Free Pal Alliance Tower. Offspring inherit their parents' traits, which is the path to strong workers and fighters.

• Catching only one species: your base lacks workers for some jobs and production stalls.
• Placing the Palbox on a slope or far from resources: it either cannot be placed or workers waste time hauling materials.
• Not giving workers beds and food: SAN drops, Pals stop working and get sick.
• Staying out unprepared at night: the cold slowly drains health, and the first night is rough without fire and clothes.
• Rushing into areas far above your level: strong wild Pals wipe your team and recovering your Death Chest gets hard.

This guide was written for version: This guide reflects version 1.0 as of September 2026. Default keys follow the table in the official wiki's starter guide and may have changed in later updates, so check the in-game Controls screen.

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