Sooner or later, something is going to come for your base in Palworld. Whether it is a swarm of hostile wild Pals or an armed band of Syndicate raiders, base attacks can flatten your storage, knock out your working Pals, and cost you hours of progress. This guide breaks down exactly how raids trigger, who shows up, and how to layer walls, turrets, and combat Pals so that an attack becomes free XP and loot instead of a disaster. Everything below is grounded in the official Palworld wikis; where a detail is patch-sensitive or unconfirmed, it is flagged as such.
How base raids trigger
A raid can occur at any time, but it usually triggers while you are present at your own base. Importantly, raids can still happen even when you are away, including in single-player, so leaving your base undefended is risky. The strength and composition of a raid scales with your progression: early on you will face weak, land-based Pals, and as you advance you face stronger, more varied enemies and tougher human factions. One key qualifier from the wiki is that a base must be reachable on foot to be raidable at all, which is the foundation of the placement strategy covered later.
A raid ends when one of three things happens: every raider is defeated, every Pal at your base is defeated, or the raiders retreat and despawn after the raid drags on too long. That last condition matters for tactics, since simply holding the line behind walls can outlast some attacks.
Who attacks: factions and wild Pals
Attacks come in two broad flavors. Wild Pal raids send herds of hostile Pals to wreck buildings and harm your workers, while faction raids send armed human NPCs to break in, destroy structures, and loot storage. The wiki lists distinct raiding factions, each gated to certain “grade” ranges that roughly track your progression.
| Attacker | Grade range | Typical threat |
|---|---|---|
| Syndicate | 2 to 99 | Thugs, gunners, hunters, and elite operatives |
| Free Pal Alliance | 10 to 99 | Devout members and eco-militants |
| Brothers of the Eternal Pyre | 14 to 99 | Fanatics with rifles and flamethrowers |
| PAL Genetic Research Unit | 18 to 99 | High-level enemies with laser rifles |
| Wild Pals | Scales with progression | Herds that target buildings and workers |
One common point of confusion: the Palpagos Islands Defense Force (PIDF) is not a base-raiding faction. According to the wiki, PIDF NPCs are not hostile to the player by default. They will only attack you if you strike first, if you gain a Wanted status (where they act as rapid-response enforcers), or if you intrude on a Wildlife Sanctuary they guard. They do not show up to raid your settlement, so you do not need to plan base defenses around them, only your own behavior. Faction lists and grade gating can shift between updates, so treat exact ranges as version-dependent.
Walls: your cheapest, strongest defense
Walls are the single most effective deterrent against raids. Even basic stone walls have very high defense, to the point that most incoming attacks deal only 1 damage against them. Rather than ringing your entire perimeter and hoping enemies bounce off, the proven approach is to build a funnel: use walls and gates to channel raiders into a single chokepoint where your Pals and turrets can focus fire. Because attackers tend to try to melee through obstacles rather than reliably finding ranged angles, a well-designed funnel turns a chaotic swarm into an orderly kill zone. Upgrading from wood to stone to metal increases durability further, with metal being the sturdiest tier.
Turrets and mounted weapons
Palworld’s automated defenses are mounted weapon emplacements that a Pal operates rather than free-standing auto-turrets. You unlock the Mounted Crossbow on the technology tree at around level 26, with the Mounted Missile Launcher arriving much later, around level 50. The Mounted Machine Gun has an assigned Pal automatically load and fire Rifle Ammo at enemies in range, and the Mounted Missile Launcher works similarly with rocket ammunition.
Two practical rules apply. First, only a Pal with the Handiwork work suitability can man these emplacements, so keep a capable Handiwork Pal available during raids. Second, the weapons consume ammo, so stock the right ammunition — Arrows for the Mounted Crossbow, Rifle Ammo for the Mounted Machine Gun, and Rocket Ammo for the Mounted Missile Launcher — in a nearby chest before a fight. Be aware that community testing has reported reliability quirks with mounted weapons, including Pals abandoning posts and the missile launcher struggling against elevated targets; the exact behavior is patch-dependent, so verify in your current build before relying on turrets alone.
Best defender Pals
Your combat Pals do most of the real work in a raid. The standout pick is Anubis, a high-stat ground Pal with strong attack, fast attack speed, and great mobility, letting it chase down scattered raiders and hit groups with wide melee strikes. Mossanda is a tanky bruiser with high HP and defense that can soak hits while engaging at melee or mid-range; running two or three around the base helps pin attackers. Fenglope offers excellent speed plus strong area ice abilities that hit clustered enemies hard. For details on squeezing maximum stats out of these defenders, see our companion pieces below.
During an attack, swap weaker worker Pals out for your strongest fighters from your party or Pal Box, and use an Alarm Bell to shift Pals from working to fighting so they actually engage the raiders instead of standing at their stations.
Base placement to avoid raids entirely
The most powerful trick is geographic. Because a base must be accessible on foot to be raidable, the wiki notes that bases placed on top of mountains or plateaus that are surrounded by cliff faces on all sides will never be raided. If you can find a flat-topped plateau with sheer drops around its edge, you effectively opt out of ground raids altogether. The trade-offs are mobility and convenience, so many players keep one “fortress” base in a cliff-locked spot for storage and breeding, and accept that more accessible bases will need real walls and defenders. As always, terrain interactions can change between updates, so confirm a spot is truly raid-proof on your current version before going all-in.
Frequently asked questions
Can my base be raided while I am offline or away?
Yes. While raids usually trigger when you are present at your base, the wiki confirms raids can happen even when you are not there, including in single-player. That is why leaving capable defender Pals and good walls in place matters even when you head out exploring.
Does the PIDF raid player bases?
No. The PIDF is not a raiding faction. They only turn hostile if you attack them first, if you earn a Wanted status, or if you enter a Wildlife Sanctuary they protect. Your settlement is threatened by the Syndicate, Free Pal Alliance, Brothers of the Eternal Pyre, the PAL Genetic Research Unit, and wild Pals instead.
Are walls or turrets better for stopping raids?
Walls are the more reliable foundation, since even stone walls reduce most incoming attacks to 1 damage and can funnel enemies into a kill zone. Mounted turrets add firepower but need a Handiwork Pal, a steady ammo supply, and have had reliability quirks across patches. The strongest setup combines funneling walls, a couple of turrets stocked with ammo, and strong combat Pals like Anubis.
Want to defend a base alongside your friends instead of soloing every raid? Raids get a lot more fun when you are running an always-on Palworld world together on a dedicated server, so everyone’s bases persist and your guild can coordinate defenses. If you are setting up multiplayer for the first time, our Palworld server documentation walks through the configuration step by step.
Keep building your knowledge with our Palworld progression guide, learn to coordinate defenders in the guild and co-op guide, and push your defender stats higher with the perfect Pal guide covering IVs, passives, condensing, and souls.
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