The short version
The best first mount is the one you can capture, saddle and use now; upgrade later when a faster option changes a route you run often.
Before you begin
✓Captured mount candidate
✓Saddle unlock
✓Crafting materials
✓Open party slot
✓Food for the trip
✓Nearby travel point
Start with a usable ground mount
- Direhowl can arrive through early raids and turns long beginner routes into manageable loops.
- Test handling and stamina before investing in several saddles.
- Keep the mount in the party only while its travel value exceeds the combat or carrying slot it replaces.
Take access before perfection
- An early flying option opens cliffs, tower approaches and safer scouting even without ideal passives.
- Carry enough stamina to land somewhere safe instead of crossing the final stretch while exhausted.
- Activate travel points from the air, then return later for resources with an empty inventory.
Upgrade when a route changes
- Compare a mount on the journey you repeat, not in a short flat test.
- Movement traits matter continuously; damage traits matter only when the mount is also your fighter.
- Keep the old saddle loadout until the new mount is captured, crafted and proven useful.
Video research
Creator videos, distilled into a field guide.
We reviewed the public player videos below, compared their demonstrated routes, and rewrote the useful findings in our own words. No official guide copy or video transcript is reproduced here. Results can still vary with world settings and later patches.
Palworld 1.0 — Do This Now: Early Pals, Base Unlocks, Iron and Flight
Fresh-save priorities, early Pals, capture progress, raids and the Desolate Church ore route.
Watch on YouTubePalworld 1.0 — Biggest New Features and Mistakes to Avoid
Watchtowers, Hacking Towers, new regions, combat changes and progression traps.
Watch on YouTube