Battling in Palworld is more than just a way to beat the bad guys, like the Rayne Syndicate. It ties into catching Pals, which you have to do to create and keep your base up and running.
There are a lot of factors that affect combat in Palworld, and mastering battling means understanding this inside and out.
How Palworld Battles Work
In Palworld, players can battle enemies by throwing their own Pal at them. Owned Pals that are roaming around the overworld can also be set to attack everything on sight, and they’ll initiate a battle on their own. And some wild Pals will attack you if you get close by.
Once a battle’s started, you and your Pal will attack the enemy. However, you don’t have much control over your Pal. In fact, there’s very little you can make your Pal do. Some, like Tanzee or Vanwyrm, have buddy skills you can unlock through technology that let you tell them to do things. Others, like Foxparks, have buddy technology that lets you directly take charge. (For the fire fox, it’s using it as a flamethrower.)
At the end of combat, you’ve either caught the Pal, scared them off, or knocked them out.
Combat Elements
Palworld battling has an element system where certain types of Pals and attacks do extra (or less) damage against other Pal types. Here’s the breakdown of what Elements are good and weak against what:
- Grass: Strong against Ground, weak against Fire
- Ground: Strong against Electric, weak against Grass
- Electric: Strong against Water, weak against Ground
- Water: Strong against Fire, weak against Electric
- Fire: Strong against Grass and Ice, weak against Water
- Ice: Strong against Dragon, weak against Fire
- Dragon: Strong against Dark, weak against Ice
- Dark: Strong against Neutral, weak against Dragon
- Neutral: Weak against Dark
Some elements can inflict status conditions on enemies, like burning them or poisoning them. These are the different status conditions that exist in Palworld as we know it:
- Stun
- Burn
- Freeze
- Poison
Pals and players can cause these conditions. Pals cause them with their skills, while players have access to a Fire Bow and a Poison Bow (and their crossbow equivalents, a Stun Baton, a Shock Grenade, and Ice Grande, and an Incendiary Grenade (for burning).
Abilities and Skills
Pals have different things that affect their battling prowess. Between their passive and active abilities, their skills, and their stats, there are a lot of things at play when a Pal starts fighting.
You can view a Pal’s skills and abilities by looking at them in your party or Palbox. Check out our Pal guide to learn more about how your Pals work and battle.
Player Role in Palworld Battling
While your Pal is battling autonomously, your job is to attack as well. There are a plethora of weapons in Palworld, and you can use ranged or melee weapons. While bringing a sword to a gun fight doesn’t always sound like the best idea, you can do it, and that’s what matters.
Palworld Weapons List & Unlock Levels
You’ll progress from using a wooden club to a crossbow, all the way to building a rocket launcher. Here are the different weapons you can unlock and their respective technology levels:
- Wooden Club, Level 1
- Old Bow, Level 3
- Stone Sphere, Level 4
- Fire Bow, Level 5
- Bat, Level 7
- Poison Bow, Level 8
- Three Shot Bow, Level 10
- Metal Spear, Level 13
- Crossbow, Level 13
- Fire Arrow Crossbow, Level 15
- Poison Arrow Crossbow, Level 17
- Musket, Level 21
- Stun Baton, Level 22
- Makeshift Handgun, Level 25
- Handgun, Level 29
- Shock Grenade, Level 32
- Refined Metal Spear, Level 34
- Single-shot Rifle, Level 36
- Ice Grenade, Level 37
- Double-barreled Shotgun, Level 39
- Incendiary Grenade, Level 41
- Pump-action Shotgun, Level 42
- Sword, Level 44
- Assault Rifle, Level 45
- Rocket Launcher, Level 49
When you’re battling, you’ll need to dodge quite a lot of attacks. You can do this by using the actual dodge action (which is CTRL by default for PC players) or by sprinting around. You can use environmental things like pillars or giant rocks to help block damage too — it’s a good idea to do everything you can to avoid damage when possible.
That’s all there is to Palworld battling! If you have any other tips and tricks to share, feel free to leave them in the comments below.