Palworld’s 5 Tower Bosses in 1.0: The Exact Counter Pal for Each, and Why Your Old Strategy Just Got Cut in Half

Five minutes. That is how long you get to kill each of Palworld’s original Tower Bosses now — half the ten-minute window every guide published before the 1.0 launch on July 10, 2026 assumed you had. If you are still building around the old timer, or trusting an HP number you saw on a wiki six months ago, you are planning for a fight that does not exist anymore.

This guide covers the five base-game Tower Bosses — Grizzbolt, Lyleen, Orserk, Faleris, and Shadowbeak — not the full nine-tower roster 1.0 built on top of them. Those five are still the backbone of your first 50 levels, they still gate your Ancient Technology Points, and getting the counter Pal wrong inside a 5-minute window is still the fastest way to walk out with nothing. For the four post-1.0 additions and the World Tree finale, our Necromus guide covers what is waiting past the original five.

Below: the exact counter Pal for each fight, verified against the current 9-element type wheel instead of the vague "bring fire stuff" advice most guides repeat, plus the gear you need going in and the order that clears all five with the least backtracking.

The 5 Tower Bosses at a Glance

Skip straight to whichever fight you are stuck on — every row below links to the full breakdown further down the page.

This is the fast-reference version. Our Palworld Beginner’s Guide covers base-building and early leveling before you touch Tower 1; the sections below cover the actual fight mechanics.

What Changed in Patch 1.0 (and Why Old Guides Are Wrong)

Three things changed about tower fights when 1.0 shipped, and all three break strategies written before July 10, 2026. First, the time limit was cut from 10 minutes to 5 — slow attrition builds that used to out-turtle a boss now run out the clock instead. Second, boss HP pools were reduced to fit the shorter window, which means the HP figures still floating around on some older wiki pages and guides (Grizzbolt’s old 12,900, Faleris’s old 72,900) no longer reflect what you are actually fighting. Third, bosses now change tactics mid-fight instead of repeating one attack pattern, so a strategy built entirely around dodging one specific move stops working halfway through.

The other structural change: towers went from optional endgame content to a story requirement. Nine tower fights now exist total, and eight of them each drop a Key Sphere needed to unlock the World Tree finale. The original five covered in this guide are still the first half of that ladder, and they are still gated by level far more than by luck.

Quick Type-Chart Primer

Every element in Palworld sits on a nine-point wheel where each type has exactly one hard counter — no double-weakness combos except where a boss itself is dual-typed. The five that matter here: Electric loses to Ground. Grass loses to Fire. Dragon loses to Ice. Fire loses to Water. Dark loses to Dragon. Match the boss’s type to its one counter and your attacks land at a damage bonus while its attacks on you take a penalty.

Tower 1: Zoe & Grizzbolt (Level 10)

Grizzbolt is the one fight on this list where type-matching barely matters, because it carries the smallest HP pool of the five even after the 1.0 reduction — almost any Ground-type Pal near level 10 clears it inside 5 minutes.

You will find the Tower of the Rayne Syndicate in Windswept Hills, roughly (118, -422), northwest of the Plateau of Beginnings. Grizzbolt is pure Electric, and Electric’s only hard counter on the type wheel is Ground, so a Ground attacker deals bonus damage while taking reduced damage back from its lightning attacks.

Best counter: Anubis is the strongest single pick for this fight — its Partner Skill imbues your own attacks with Ground damage on top of its own Ground moveset, and it dodges enough incoming hits to stay alive through the arena’s lightning barrages. If you have not caught one yet, Digtoise trades damage output for a 120 base Defense stat and works fine as an off-tank paired with a harder-hitting Pal.

Gear: starter tier is genuinely enough here — an Old Bow or Ruzara Spear plus basic armor. This is the only tower where undergearing rarely costs you the clear.

Skip it for now if: you have no ranged weapon at all yet. The arena pillars only help if you are actually using them to break Grizzbolt’s line of sight from range.

Tower 2: Lily & Lyleen (Level 20)

Lyleen’s tower moved in the 1.0 update — it is no longer tucked into the Frostbound Mountains, it now sits out in the open Central Grasslands, so do not trust an old screenshot guide’s map pin here.

The Tower of the Free Pal Alliance sits at roughly (34, -308). Lyleen is pure Grass, and Grass’s only counter is Fire.

Best counter: Arsox is the earliest pure-Fire Pal most players have already caught by level 20, and it is enough on its own for this fight. If you want a second option, Incineram adds a Fire/Dark typing — the Dark half does nothing special against Lyleen, but it does not hurt either.

Gear: move up to a metal-tier weapon before this one; fire-based ammo or skills noticeably speed up the clear inside the shorter timer.

Skip it for now if: you are under level 15 with no Fire-type Pal at all. Lyleen’s grass-based attacks stack up fast against a Neutral-only party once the clock is running against you.

Tower 3: Axel & Orserk (Level 30)

Orserk is the only one of the five original bosses with two weaknesses at once, and most guides tell you to "bring Ice or Ground" without mentioning there is a single Pal that covers both. Orserk carries a dual Dragon/Electric typing, so Ice (which beats Dragon) and Ground (which beats Electric) both land bonus damage.

Reptyro Cryst carries a genuine Ice/Ground dual typing of its own, making it the one Pal in this guide that exploits both of Orserk’s weaknesses at the same time instead of forcing you to pick a lane.

The Tower of the Brothers of the Eternal Pyre sits atop Mount Obsidian, roughly (-595, -531).

Gear: heat-resistant armor or an equivalent accessory is not optional here — Mount Obsidian’s ambient heat starts damaging you before Orserk even gets a hit in.

Skip it for now if: you have no heat resistance equipped. You will lose HP to the environment itself before the fight starts.

Tower 4: Marcus & Faleris (Level 40)

Faleris is pure Fire, and Fire’s only counter is Water. Jormuntide is the strongest pick here — it is a dual Water/Dragon Pal, and while the Dragon half of its typing does nothing special against Faleris, the Water half does the actual work.

The Tower of the PIDF sits in the Desiccated Dunes, roughly (542, 335).

Gear: a Heavy Assault Rifle-tier firearm or equivalent Water-Pal damage output, plus heat resistance again for the desert biome.

Skip it for now if: you are walking in with a Neutral-type party at level 40. Faleris’s fire-based mechanics are built to punish slow, non-elemental clears inside 5 minutes.

Tower 5: Victor & Shadowbeak (Level 50)

Shadowbeak is pure Dark, and Dark’s only counter is Dragon. Quivern and Elphidran are both straightforward Dragon picks. If you have already built out a rideable-Pal roster, your Jetragon doubles as a Dragon-type attacker here in addition to being your fastest travel mount.

The Tower of the PAL Genetic Research Unit sits in the Astral Mountains, roughly (-139, 465).

Gear: Pal Metal armor minimum plus a high-damage firearm. This is the last of the original five, and its HP pool is still the largest of the five even after the 1.0 reduction. For the full attack-pattern breakdown of this specific fight, see our Shadowbeak guide.

Skip it for now if: you are under level 45 with no Dragon-type Pal at all. This is the point where undergearing burns the entire 5-minute window with nothing to show for it.

Gear Progression by Tower

Match your loadout to the tower ahead of you rather than crafting every new unlock as soon as it appears — big power spikes clear towers faster than incremental upgrades.

Which Approach Fits Your Playstyle

The right prep for each tower depends on why you are playing, not just what level you are.

Completion Order and When to Skip Ahead

Do the five towers in level order, Grizzbolt through Shadowbeak, unless side content has already pushed you well past a boss’s level. If you are 10 or more levels above a given tower boss, skip the counter-Pal matching entirely and bring your strongest current Pal — type advantage stops mattering once your raw damage output outpaces the 5-minute clock on its own. If you are at or under the recommended level, always bring the counter; the shortened timer punishes an off-type fight hardest exactly when you can least afford the extra minutes.

FAQ

Do I need to beat all 5 towers before the post-1.0 content?
Yes, for the story path. Patch 1.0 turned towers from optional endgame content into 8-of-9 mandatory Key Sphere gates before the World Tree finale opens, so skipping them the way you could in early access is no longer really an option.

Is Grizzbolt still the easiest, or is that outdated advice?
It is still accurate post-1.0. Grizzbolt has the smallest HP pool of the five even after the general HP reduction, so the relative difficulty order — Grizzbolt easiest, Shadowbeak hardest of the original five — held even though the raw numbers changed underneath it.

Can I reuse the same counter Pal across multiple towers?
Only Reptyro Cryst doubles up cleanly, and only because Orserk himself is dual-typed. Nothing else on this list crosses over, because the five bosses were deliberately spread across Electric, Grass, Dragon/Electric, Fire, and Dark — not overlapping enough to reuse one Pal past Tower 3.

What if I do not own any of the recommended counter Pals?
Bring the highest-level Pal you have regardless of type and expect a longer fight. Counter Pals shave time off the clock, they are not the only way to win — but without one you are racing 5 minutes with a damage penalty instead of a bonus, so budget extra levels above the boss to make up the difference.

Key Takeaways

The five original towers are still Palworld’s clearest gear-check ladder even after 1.0 folded them into the main story. The timer got shorter and the HP got smaller to match, but the underlying type logic never changed: Ground beats Grizzbolt, Fire beats Lyleen, Ice and Ground both beat Orserk, Water beats Faleris, and Dragon beats Shadowbeak. Catch or breed next tower’s counter Pal while you are still clearing the current one, and you will never walk into a 5-minute fight blind. Once Shadowbeak is down, our Necromus guide picks up where the original five leave off.

Sources

Verified against Palworld 1.0 (build 1.100.427, released July 10, 2026).

• Palworld 1.0 patch notes: 9 biggest changes — Video Games Chronicle
• Palworld 1.0 Tower Bosses: New Fights and How to Beat Them — Two Average Gamers
• All Palworld Tower Bosses in Order — Game8
• All Palworld Tower Bosses in Order – Best Strategies and Tips — Skycoach
• Palworld type chart: Element strengths & weaknesses — Dexerto
• Anubis — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Digtoise Location, How to Breed, and Drops — Game8
• Arsox — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Incineram — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Reptyro Cryst — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Jormuntide — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Quivern — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Elphidran — Palworld Wiki (Fandom)
• Palworld Best Armor Tier List 2026 – Version 1.0 Guide — Skycoach

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.