Best Start Guide for Palworld 1.0

Best start guide for Palworld 1.0 is exactly what you need if you just dropped into Palpagos and want to hit the ground running. Palworld 1.0 launched on July 10, 2026 and it is a full rebuild of the early game. The tutorial is new, the progression is different, and a lot of early access habits are now outdated. This guide covers everything you need to know to get a strong start — from your first five minutes to your first fully automated base.

Palworld 1.0 is available on Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation. You can find more about the game on the official Pocketpair website.

TL;DR — Palworld 1.0 Best Start Tips

• Catch 5 of every Pal species you see for a big XP bonus — it is the fastest way to level early.
• Put your first stat points into Weight and Stamina. Ignore Attack and Work Speed.
• Build your first base on flat ground near Wood, Stone, and Ore deposits.
• Grab every Pal Effigy you spot — they glow green at night and permanently boost your stats.
• Activate every fast travel point you find. Each one gives you a free Technology Point.
• Fight bosses as often as you can — they drop Ancient Technology Points for high-tier gear.
• Assign Pals to your base workbenches as early as possible to start automating everything.
• Build a Statue of Power and spend your Pal Effigies to raise your capture rate.

World Settings — What to Pick as a Beginner

Before you even load in, Palworld 1.0 asks you to choose world settings. If this is your first time playing, start with the default Normal settings. This keeps combat, hunger, gathering, and capture rates balanced while you learn how the game works.

If you want a slightly easier experience, you can reduce the death penalty or raise resource drop rates a little. But do not go overboard. The settings are there to customise later once you know what is giving you trouble. Changing too much too soon means you miss learning the game properly, and things that feel hard early become trivial with the right Pals anyway.

One important note: if you already have an early access save, Pocketpair strongly recommends starting a fresh save for 1.0. The new content and systems are built around a clean playthrough.

Your First Priority — Level Up Fast

The fastest way to gain XP in Palworld 1.0 is through the Catching Bonus. Every time you catch a Pal species for the first time, and for your first 5 catches of each species, you get a large XP bonus. This adds up quickly. Instead of fighting enemies or grinding the same area, just explore and throw Pal Spheres at everything you see. Diversify your catches across as many different species as possible rather than catching 30 of the same Pal.

Completing quests is the second-best source of XP. Follow the main mission markers as you go, especially in the early game. Missions give reliable experience and also teach you the systems you will need later. Do not skip them to go exploring — just complete them as you naturally move around the map.

Also keep this in mind: your Pals are capped to your character level. Leveling up your character directly lifts the ceiling for your entire team. The faster you level, the stronger Pals you can use and keep up with.

Best Stats to Level First in Palworld 1.0

You earn one Status Point per level. The level cap is 80, giving you around 79 total points to spend. Spend them wrong and early game becomes a miserable slog. Spend them right and everything flows much smoother.

Put your first points into Weight. Weight controls how much you can carry before getting slowed down. Early game resource gathering — ore, wood, stone — fills your inventory fast. With enough carry weight, you can finish a full mining run and haul everything home in one trip instead of five. Aim for 600 to 800 Weight within your first 20 levels.

After Weight, invest in Stamina. Stamina covers sprinting, climbing, gliding, dodging, and swimming. Running out of Stamina mid-fight means you cannot dodge. Running out while climbing means you fall. A few early points here make exploration and combat much smoother.

Once Weight and Stamina feel solid, start putting points into Health. More HP means you survive tougher hits from bosses and alpha Pals. Each point adds 100 HP, which becomes very noticeable in harder encounters.

Skip Work Speed and Attack early on. Your Pals handle crafting at the base far faster than you ever could, so Work Speed is wasted. Attack only gives 2 damage per point, which is far less effective than just crafting better weapons. For a full breakdown, check our guide on Palworld 1.0 best stats to level up first.

Where to Build Your First Base

Your first base sets the pace for the entire early game. Pick the wrong spot and you will constantly run out of resources or waste time traveling between materials. Pick a good spot and your base almost runs itself.

Look for a flat, open area near trees, stone nodes, and ore deposits. Having Wood, Stone, and Ore close by means your Pals can gather them automatically once you set up mining and logging stations. Flat ground also prevents bugs with building placement, which is worth avoiding early on.

Your base acts as a fast travel point too. You can teleport to it from any statue on the map, so location matters for access as much as resources.

Once your first base is running smoothly and your base level is high enough, unlock a second base and place it near a rich ore cluster. A dedicated mining and smelting camp at a second location is one of the biggest mid-game progression boosts you can make. For more information on gathering key materials, see our guide on how to get Soralite and Soralite Ingot in Palworld.

Best Early Game Pals to Catch First

Not all Pals are equal at the start. Some give you carry capacity boosts. Some cover critical base jobs. Some get you a mount early. Here are the Pals worth prioritising in your first few hours.

Cattiva

Catch Cattiva as soon as you see one. Each Cattiva following you as a partner adds 50 carry weight to your character. Stack a few of them early and your inventory problem mostly disappears. They also do crafting and handiwork jobs at your base, making them one of the most versatile early Pals in the game.

Foxparks

Foxparks is a Fire-type Pal that works well for both combat and base work. It can deal fire damage during fights and handles Kindling jobs at your base, which you will need for smelting. Grab one early and assign it to your furnace once you build one.

Pengullet

Pengullet covers multiple base jobs including Watering, Cooling, and basic combat support. It is easy to find near water in the starting area and becomes a reliable base worker right away. Pair it with other early Pals to cover your key production needs.

Eikthyrdeer

Eikthyrdeer is your first double-jump mount. Once you have a saddle for it, your traversal game completely changes. You can reach ledges, climb terrain, and move across the map far faster than on foot. Prioritise catching one as soon as you can and unlock its saddle from the tech tree.

Tombat

Tombat is an excellent base worker with Level 3 Mining, Level 3 Gathering, and Level 3 Transporting all in one Pal. It becomes especially valuable when you set up a dedicated mining base later. Catch a few of these to power your ore production.

Vixy

Once you unlock the Ranch facility, put Vixy on grazing duty immediately. Vixy passively digs up Pal Spheres, arrows, and gold coins from the ground without any input from you. This removes the resource bottleneck for sphere crafting in the early game and saves a lot of Wood and Stone.

For more help getting your Pals working effectively, see our guide on how to assign Pals to work in Palworld.

How to Automate Your Base Early

The whole point of Palworld is automation. You should not be standing at a workbench manually crafting arrows in the mid-game. That is what your Pals are for.

As soon as you place your Palbox and start your base, build a Feed Box and Pal Beds. These are essential. Without food, your Pals stop working. Without beds, they get exhausted and slow down. Get these two structures up before anything else to keep your workforce running.

Then assign Pals with the right Work Suitabilities to each station. A Pal with Kindling goes to the furnace. A Pal with Watering goes to crop plots. A Pal with Mining goes to stone and ore nodes placed inside your base. Match the Pal’s skill to the job and your base will produce materials constantly while you are out exploring.

Do not neglect base missions either. Completing base objectives raises your Palbox level, which increases the number of Pals you can assign and unlocks better base structures. Always check what the next base mission requires and work toward it steadily. For help with material gathering, see our guide on how to get Fiber in Palworld.

Pal Effigies — Collect Them Every Time You See One

In Palworld 1.0, Lifmunk Effigies were reworked into a new system called Pal Effigies. Instead of one type, you now collect different Pal-shaped statues scattered across the world. Each type boosts a different permanent stat — Lifmunk Effigies improve your Capture Power, Lamball Effigies reduce hunger, Herbil Effigies improve gliding, Tanzee Effigies help climbing, and more.

These statues glow green and are visible from a distance, especially at night. The easiest way to farm them is to explore at night on a flying mount and look for the glow. Collect every one you find. They all go to your Statue of Power, which you should build at your base as early as possible.

Boosting your Capture Power through Lifmunk Effigies directly raises your catch rate on every Pal you try to catch. The more you collect, the easier rare and alpha Pals become to land. It is one of the best permanent progression investments in the game. For more on this system, check our guide on how to get and use Mimog Effigy in Palworld.

Technology Points — How to Get Them Fast

Technology Points unlock everything in the tech tree — tools, structures, weapons, saddles, and more. You earn them by leveling up, but there are two faster methods most beginners miss.

Activate every fast travel point you find. The first time you activate a fast travel statue, you get a free Technology Point. These add up fast as you explore the map. Make a habit of running to every waypoint you see, even if you do not plan to use it right away.

Fight bosses regularly. Bosses drop Ancient Technology Points, which are a separate currency used for the highest-tier gear and structures. Tower bosses, world bosses, and human bounty targets all reward them. You should be fighting as many as you can during the early and mid-game. Do not save them for later — the gear they unlock makes everything easier right now.

For more on unlocking powerful upgrades, see our guide on how to get Ancient Technology Points in Palworld.

Catching Pals — Tips That Actually Work

Catching Pals is central to everything in Palworld. Here is how to do it efficiently from the start.

• Weaken the Pal before throwing a sphere. Get the health bar low — not too low or you risk knocking it out — and then throw your sphere. Lower HP means higher catch chance.
• Match the sphere type to the Pal level. Basic Pal Spheres work on early Pals, but you will need better spheres like Mega or Giga Spheres as enemies scale up. Craft better spheres as soon as you unlock them in the tech tree.
• Do not keep fighting the same species. In 1.0, the Catching Bonus XP triggers within your first 5 catches per species. After that, the bonus is gone. Move to a new Pal species to keep the XP rolling.
• Save high-tier spheres for rare Pals. If you find Supply Drops in the world, some contain bundles of Giga or Legendary Spheres. Save these for Alpha Pals or rare species you actually want to keep.
• Never attack a Pal you want to catch with your mount. Mounts can hit very hard and kill a target before you realise. Dismount and weaken carefully.

For more on exploring and reaching new Pal locations, check our guide on how to reach Sunreach Island in Palworld and our guide on how to remove the Fog of War in Sunreach Island.

Three Habits That Pay Off All Game

There are a few small habits that most beginners skip but veteran players never miss. Build these into your routine from day one.

Drop map markers on everything useful. When you find a dungeon entrance, a dense ore cluster, or a Skill Fruit tree, mark it on your map. These all respawn and can be farmed repeatedly. Without a marker, you will spend time trying to remember where they were. For help finding Skill Fruits, see our guide on how to get Skill Fruits in Palworld.

Save every blueprint you find in chests. Weapon and armor blueprints can be upgraded to Legendary tier later at the Drafting Table. There is no reason to throw duplicates away. Hoard them.

Run dungeons as often as you can. Dungeons give good loot, decent XP, and guaranteed boss fights that reward Ancient Technology Points. They are short enough to clear quickly once you have a solid team of Pals.

Admin Commands and Server Options

If you are playing on a private or dedicated server with friends, knowing your admin tools helps a lot. You can use admin commands to manage resources, Pals, and server settings. For a full list, see our guide on all admin commands in Palworld.

For players exploring Sunreach Island and the new 1.0 areas, check our full guide on how to get the Fish Sword in Palworld for an easy early-game power boost.

Frequently Asked Questions