How to fix being encumbered in Palworld: Best way to transport resources

You have options, depending on your path.

Palworld character looking at the Crusher
Screenshot by Dot Esports

Moving resources from one location to another can bog down your Palworld experience, especially if you are out mining a lot or want to alter your base’s layout. This is almost entirely based on the fact that your character can become encumbered if you aren’t careful. 

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In Palworld, most status effects will only be applied to your Pals outside of battle—with a few, like being on fire or poisoned, impacting your player character during combat. Being encumbered, however, is a natural occurrence that you will likely encounter multiple times while playing, especially early on. This status has to do with your character’s weight and storage capabilities, meaning there are several ways to deal with the problem and transport your items more efficiently without being slowed down. 

What does being encumbered mean in Palworld?

By definition, encumbered means to restrict or burden someone or something in a way that makes action or movement difficult. That is exactly what it does to your player character in Palworld if you don’t pay attention to how much you are carrying in your inventory. 

The Storage Chest interface in Palworld.
That’s a hefty inventory. Screenshot by Dot Esports

When you are encumbered in Palworld, you are carrying items that weigh more than the allotted weight you can hold in your inventory, which you can see at the bottom of your inventory menu or occasionally when you pick up items. Each item has a set weight value determining how much room it takes up in your bag. For example, a piece of Ore weighs eight while a Pal Sphere only weighs 0.1. 

Before the Jan. 31 update, if you went too far over your inventory weight limit, your character would be completely incapable of moving unless you do one of a few things. Now you can still move, just a lot slower than usual—and can sprint or jump.

How to fix being encumbered in Palworld

If you find yourself encumbered while out and about in Palworld, you have three options to fix that problem. 

  • Drop heavy items from your inventory until you are back underneath your inventory’s weight threshold.
  • Have a Pal capable of acting as a mount and use it to carry you back to your base so you can deposit your items. 
  • Increase your “Weight” stat as you level up. This will allow you to carry more items in your inventory overall.
An in game screenshot of the inventory screen in Palworld, which shows a bonus to defense being applied.
Shed some of that weight. Screenshot by Dot Esports

Best way to transport resources without being encumbered in Palworld

While you can find ways to get out of being encumbered, there are a few methods to completely avoid the issue when transporting resources to, from, and in your base. 

The best way to avoid encumbering yourself while collecting resources in Palworld is by utilizing the Pals in your base to gather them for you. This will take some effort because you need to actively make and build up your base, or multiple bases, in locations with the resources you want within the boundaries—such as Ore deposits or trees. Just ensure you have Pals that are good for the task you need to be done, like Mining or transporting

If you want to use the newest method players have discovered to easily transport items in your base, this drag-and-drop method has become a useful tool—though only for PC users. Here is the exact way to use it: 

  1. Open your storage chest, then click and hold down the cursor on the resource you want to move. 
  2. Drag the items outside the storage container’s menu and walk toward where you want to move them to.
  3. Open that chest. Place the items inside, and repeat.

There is also the option of loading up your inventory with items and using the Grappling Gun to move from place to place, which might be faster if you move multiple stacks of items at once.

Author
Image of Cale Michael
Cale Michael
Lead Staff Writer for Dota 2, the FGC, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and more who has been writing for Dot Esports since 2018. Graduated with a degree in Journalism from Oklahoma Christian University and also previously covered the NBA. You can usually find him writing, reading, or watching an FGC tournament.