Palworld Base Defense Roster — Best Pals & Layout to Survive Raids

Raid Threat Levels

Defense Pal Roster — 5-Slot Standard Layout

Why You Need Dedicated Defense Pals

Worker Pals (Astegon for Mining, Anubis for Handiwork) will fight back when raiders attack their work zone, but their combat AI is poor — they often run to engage rather than holding position, leading to chase deaths. Dedicated defense Pals are assigned to the 'Defense' slot in your Pal Box, which makes them stand at predetermined defense points and engage raiders within their patrol radius without abandoning post.

The Defense slot is separate from the regular Worker assignment. You can have 5 Defense Pals AND 15 Worker Pals at the same base simultaneously, totaling 20 Pals on duty. Defense Pals do not perform work tasks — they exclusively combat raiders. This means you pay a 'slot cost' for defense (one of your 5 active party slots), but in exchange, your worker Pals stay productive during raids.

Without dedicated defense, even a well-equipped base can lose 2–3 buildings per raid as worker Pals get killed and respawn. The economic loss (destroyed buildings + lost work time) over a long campaign is significant. Defense is the single highest-ROI investment after your first 30 hours of play.

Defense Pal Options Ranked

Verdict: Mossanda Lux + Anubis + Lyleen Noct is the optimal 3-Pal defense core. Add Blazehowl and Astegon to fill the 5 slots. Don't assign legendary Pals (Jetragon, Frostallion) to base defense — they're better in your active party for content runs.

Base Wall and Turret Layout

Pal Metal Walls are the highest-tier wall you can build (Tech Lv 38). They have 5–10× the HP of Stone Walls and absorb significantly more damage. Build a complete perimeter wall around your base footprint. Leave only one gate as the entry/exit point — funneling raiders into a single chokepoint lets your defense Pals concentrate fire.

Inside the perimeter wall, build a second 'inner' wall around critical buildings (Breeding Farm, Egg Incubator cluster, Pal Healing Lab). If raiders breach the outer wall, the inner wall buys you time to engage them before they destroy production buildings. This 'concentric defense' is the gold standard for endgame bases.

Auto-Turrets unlock at Tech Lv 28. Place 4–6 around your perimeter, focused on the gate chokepoint and high-traffic raider approach paths. Auto-Turrets fire automatically at hostile entities within range and burn through ammo (Handgun Ammo or higher depending on turret type). Mass-produce 200+ ammo per turret before raids escalate. Better turret variants (Mounted Machine Guns) unlock at higher tech levels with proportionally higher ammo demands.

Wall + Turret Layout Checklist

1. Pal Metal Wall around the entire base perimeter (5–10× HP of Stone)
2. Single fortified gate as the entry/exit chokepoint
3. Inner wall around critical production buildings (Breeding Farm, Pal Healing Lab)
4. 4–6 Auto-Turrets covering the gate and approach paths
5. Spike traps at the gate (cheap area-of-effect damage)
6. Hot Spring + Feed Box inside the inner wall (keeps Pals at high sanity)
7. Save points (sleeping bag, Old Bed) inside the inner wall — survive even if base is overrun
8. Backup ammo stockpile in a chest next to the gate (1000+ ammo for sustained defense)

Raid Timer and Trigger Conditions

Raids are triggered by a combination of base level (number of structures + tier of structures), in-game time elapsed at the base, and your overall game progress (boss towers cleared, Sakurajima entry). The more advanced your base, the more frequent and severe the raids become. There's no way to permanently disable raids without modifying server settings.

On dedicated servers, raids can be set to specific intervals (every 24 in-game hours, every 48, etc.) or disabled entirely. Solo-play raids follow the default scaling — typically every 2–4 hours of active play after the early game. Long uninterrupted play sessions can see 2–3 raids back-to-back at high base levels.

Predictable behavior: raids never trigger while you're physically away from your base (engaged in dungeons, exploring distant regions). To 'cheese' raids, players sometimes leave the base in a paused state by quitting to title screen — but on multiplayer servers this isn't possible. The cleanest solution is to build proper defenses.

Active Defense — What to Do During a Raid

When the raid arrives: immediately swap to your strongest combat Pal (Jetragon, Frostallion Noct) and engage. Use Stun Grenades on the raider squad to interrupt their attacks. Mount your Auto-Turrets if possible (they fire faster with manual control). Move to high ground or a balcony for line-of-sight on the entire battlefield.

Prioritize killing raider snipers (carrying Single-Shot Rifles or Assault Rifles) first — they deal the most damage to your defense Pals and turrets. Then sweep up the melee bruisers. Finally, focus the raid 'boss' (the highest-level enemy in the group, usually with a unique Pal companion).

After the raid: repair all damaged structures immediately (raiders may scout your weakened base if you delay), refill Auto-Turret ammo, rebuild any destroyed traps. Check defense Pal HP — Lyleen Noct will heal them automatically but may need to rest at a bed if HP is critical.