When you start a new game of Palworld, decked out in a loincloth and capable of wielding nothing more than crude tools, your first thought is probably 'I saw guns in the ads. Where are the guns?' Don't worry, you can indeed use guns in Palworld - but it takes a while. And once you can make your first gun, you'll need to put in some work assembling the thing.
The guide will help you create your first gun, the Musket, in Palworld. Until then you'll need to rely on bows for ranged damage, so you might want to get acquainted with early ranged combat.
Creating a Musket
The Musket is a level 21 Technology. Getting to that point requires a substantial hour investment, so unless you really know what you're doing you shouldn't expect your first firearm until you're somewhere between five and ten hours into Palworld. Once you reach level 21 you can create the Musket at a Weapon Workbench, which itself is a level 20 Technology.
You'll need three resources to build a Musket:
- 5 High Quality Pal Oil
- 30 Wood
- 25 Ingots
Wood you get from cutting down trees, and Ingots you get by smelting Ore at a Primitive Furnace. High Quality Pal Oil, on the other hand, you'll need to get from Pals.
You can collect High Quality Pal Oil from a variety of different Pals. That said, your best source of the stuff is probably Dumuds. Dumuds are Ground-type Pals found in abundance in the small desert in roughly the center of the map. If you sbegan at the Windswept Hills, the recommended starting point for new players of Palworld, you'll find this desert by traveling more or less directly northwest of your base. The trip takes a while, but you will get there with enough effort.
Dumuds are weak against Grass-type moves, so make sure you bring a few green Pals along. Ranged attacks and plenty of rolling should keep you safe against these lazy-looking beasts. While you're in the area you should also look out for Tocotocos, a brand of exploding bird that comes in handy once you have a Musket. That brings us to our next subject...
Coarse Ammo
Having a Musket is all well and good, but you'll need Coarse Ammo to make it fire. There are a few ways to get Coarse Ammo:
- Buy it from Merchants. Don't rely on this source for your Coarse Ammo, as you'll never know if they have any in stock or not.
- Win it from Syndicate soldiers. Defeating just about any member of the Rayne Syndicate in the field should earn you some Coarse Ammo. You can find them in their camps, during raids, or randomly on the world map.
- Craft it.
We'll focus on that last one. Coarse Ammo is another level 21 Technology, available at the same time as the Musket, and is crafted at Weapon Workbenches in lots of ten bullets. You'll need one Ingot and one Gunpowder to craft Coarse Ammo.
As your base expands you can craft Gunpowder at a High Quality Workbench. Gunpowder costs two Charcoal (from a Primitive Furnace) and one Sulfur (mined from deposits in hotter areas of the map). Once you can set up bases near Sulfur deposits this is the way to get Gunpowder, but early on you'll probably want to rely on the Tocotocos mentioned above, as they drop Gunpowder when defeated. Tocotocos attempt to blow themselves up on you, so aggravate a flock and get out of the way. Voila, plenty of Gunpowder.
It's important to note that Gunpowder goes into crafting all levels of ammo, not just Coarse Ammo. You'll be collecting this stuff for the rest of the game if you plan to fight alongside your Pals against high-level enemies.
Using the Musket
In practice the Musket works more or less the same as the Crossbows from earlier in Palworld. Line up your shot, wait for a good moment, and blast away. There are three big differences between Muskets and Crossbows, however:
- Muskets hit much harder (almost four times harder, in fact)
- Muskets take quite a bit longer to reload
- Muskets don't have Fire or Poison added effects
On the whole you'll want the extra penetrating power of the Musket, so give up on Crossbows as early as you can. You'll get used to the reload time - and won't need to worry about it for long, as the next weapon in line, the Makeshift Handgun at Technology level 25, doesn't require quite so much effort.