As a new resident of the Palpagos Islands, things may seem a bit confusing — even frightening. Not only are there dangerous Pals out there ready to ambush you, but humans as well. This isn’t a turn-based game like Pokemon, so you will need to rely on your skills in addition to strategy if you want to be a great Pal Tamer in Palworld. Being a survival game at its core, combat is just one aspect of the equation, along with exploration crafting, breeding, and more. The learning curve can be steep, but we can help you get your footing and begin your journey to be the best Pal Tamer in the land with a few tips and tricks every player should know.
Best Palworld tips and tricks
Palworld has a lot of mechanics going on under the hood, and while it does its best to explain them all, a lot of nuance is left for you to figure out on your own.
Get the essentials
First, you need to get yourself a pickax as soon as possible. Crafting is the key to progression in Palworld, and the trusty pickax lets you gather all the most necessary materials, including, most importantly, Paldium Fragments. These blue rocks are necessary for crafting Pal Spheres that you need to catch Pals with, which we shouldn’t have to explain the importance of. You can make a Workbench out of just 2 Wood, and then use it to craft the pickax out of 5 Wood and 5 Stone. From there, your next priority should be the Palbox, so you can start catching and holding as many Pals as you can catch.
Put your Pals to work
Pals aren’t just here to fight your battles alongside you. No, you can — and should — put these monsters to work at your base doing manual labor right away. After building a base and a roster of Pals, start assigning Pals to do things like gather materials for you by interacting with the Palbox and going into the Pals at base section. Once placed in this section, Pals will start doing whatever they are good at automatically, but if you pick them up and chuck them at the task you want them to do, they will obey. You should also work to upgrade your base by completing whatever objectives it gives you to expand.
Get some better drip
Another mechanic you probably won’t be ready for is weather conditions. Hot and cold regions of the Palworld map are deadly if you don’t have the proper clothing. Even being out at night can get cold enough to start causing you to take freezing damage. A campfire will due early on, but once you want to start exploring farther out, you will need to use cloth to make either cold- or heat-resistant armor.
Play matchmaker
Pals don’t evolve in Palworld, so the only real way to see meaningful improvements in your team is to breed two together and pass on their traits to their offspring. It is somewhat random as to which skills, passives, and type the new Pal will be, but it will always be more powerful than its parents. You will also want to speed up the process by making an Egg Incubator so you can hatch it in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
Find as many Lifmunk Effigies as possible
As you’re exploring, you are likely to spot some glowing green objects tucked in various spots. These are Lifmunk Effigies that you should always make a detour to collect. Once you grab one, bring it back to your base and use it with a Statue of Power that you can build to get a boost to your Capture Power, which makes it easier for you to capture higher-level Pals. If you’re on the hunt for the game’s Legendaries, you will need all the Capture Power you can get.