Best Starter Build Guide
Get a self-sustaining base up within the first 1-2 hours of Palworld 1.0. Covers base placement, early Pal assignments, core structures in priority order, and progression milestones through Level 15.
What Players Need Most
Step-by-Step Starter Build
Punch trees and branches for Wood. Craft a Primitive Workbench (2 Wood), then make a Stone Pickaxe and Stone Axe (Tech Level 1). Gather more Wood, Stone, and Paldium Fragments while heading toward your base spot.
Catch your first Pal: Cattiva (common in starter meadows). It gives +50 carry weight for hauling and has Handiwork, Transport, and Mining skills. This single Pal dramatically speeds up your early game.
Choose a flat, open area with natural resource nodes (trees, stone, ideally 1+ ore or Paldium). Top community picks near the Plateau of Beginnings:
- Waterfall spot at coords ~221, -497: trees, stone, ore, Paldium, berries, and easily defensible.
- Near Penking arena / bridge areas: ore nodes with natural choke points for raid defense.
Place the Palbox in the center or back of your chosen area to maximize the buildable radius. Build a simple Wooden Structure Set (walls + roof) and a Shoddy Bed for sleeping and time-skipping.
Build these in this exact order for maximum efficiency:
- Repair Bench (Level 2) - keep tools maintained.
- Wooden Chests - storage for materials.
- Straw Pal Bed(s) + Feed Box - Pals eat and rest automatically.
- Berry Plantation (Level 5, 3 Berry Seeds + Wood/Stone) - assign Planting and Watering Pals for passive food.
- Logging Site + Stone Pit (Level 7) - passive Wood and Stone generation.
- Hot Spring (Level 9) - restores Pal SAN and prevents productivity drops and sickness.
Keep the layout open for Pal pathing. Use large front openings on crop and mining buildings. Build on foundations for flat, elevated sections.
Catch these Pals as soon as possible and assign them to the right base jobs:
Monitor SAN and food levels. Rotate Pals into the Hot Spring when SAN drops. Use low-level Pals for easier management and breeding later.
- Level to 9-10 fast via catching and exploring. Prioritize weight and stamina stats first.
- Unlock a second base dedicated to ore mining for a steady ingot supply.
- Smelt ore into ingots at a Furnace (assign Foxparks for Kindling). Craft basic armor and weapons.
- Raid defense: use choke-point base locations and combat Pals like Daedream (night, ranged Dark damage) to defend against raids.
Key Decision Points
Base Location
Resource nodes + flat space + raid choke points beat aesthetics early. You can move later via Palbox transfer (1.0 allows this). Prioritize function over looks.
Pal Assignments
Match work suitability exactly. A dedicated Kindling Pal will not get distracted by other tasks. Condense and breed for better levels later. Do not spread Pals too thin across mismatched jobs.
Food Strategy
Start with Berries from your plantation, then move to cooked meals. Set up a Ranch early for eggs and wool. Do not rely on manual food gathering past the first hour.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Building too big or too closed early. Pal pathing fails in tight spaces, SAN drops, and productivity tanks. Keep structures open and simple until you have enough Pals to manage a larger base.
- Ignoring Hot Spring and SAN. Sick Pals work slower or stop entirely. Build the Hot Spring at Level 9 and rotate tired Pals in regularly.
- Bad first Pal choices. Skip weak Pals with no useful work skills. Prioritize Cattiva, Lifmunk, and Vixy for immediate base value.
- Over-focusing combat before base automation. If you chase combat Pals before your base runs itself, you will be stuck manually gathering wood and stone for hours.
- Poor Palbox placement. Placing it too close to a resource node or edge wastes buildable space. Center it to maximize your base radius.