One of the new pieces in the Palworld DLC is a Stronghold located on an offshore oil rig, and you can learn how to fully clear it out in the guide below.
The Sakurajima DLC update in Palworld introduced a slew of new content to the game, but one of the more exciting additions is the Oil Rig Stronghold. The Oil Rig is jam-packed with loot to grab, but there are also dozens of human and AI enemies ready to mow you down the second you get near the Stronghold.
Today, we’ll be detailing how to find the Oil Rig Stronghold and what you need to do to complete it in Palworld. We’ll also go over some requirements you’ll want to meet before even thinking about challenging the Stronghold.
Oil Rig Stronghold Location in Palworld
First and foremost, we need to establish exactly where the Oil Rig is so you know where you’re going when you attempt to complete it. The Stronghold is located on the southeastern side of the map, but it’s deep in the waters off the coast of any nearby land. It’s almost parallel to the starting area on Palpagos Island.
You can reach the Stronghold by taking a flying Pal and heading out into the ocean, where you’ll start to see the Oil Rig as you head out further. It’s a long distance away from any fast travel point, though, so you might want to bring two flying Pals and plenty of food to keep their stamina up throughout the journey.
Requirements for Oil Rig Stronghold in Palworld
Before you start making the trek to the Oil Rig, though, you want to ensure you meet a few prerequisites. These are by no means a strict requirement, as the Stronghold can be visited by any player who has the ability to reach its location. However, if you don’t meet some prerequisites, the enemies at the Oil Rig will tear you down before you’re even able to step foot in the area.
If you want to bring along some strong Pals to take on the rig, check out our previous guide on the best breeding combinations in Palworld.
You can see our recommended prerequisites for the Oil Rig below:
- Reach at least level 50, with the new max level of 55 being preferred
- Bring two flying Pals in case one of them perishes, as you need to ensure you can make it back to the mainland (swimming is not an option without adjusting gameplay sliders)
- Pack plenty of food and healing items for both you and your Pals (which requires a solid [Kindling Pal] (https://steelseries.com/blog/best-pals-to-work-on-base-in-palworld-1077) to create)
- Take as much ammo as you can carry. There are dozens of enemies to fight off, so you need all the firepower you can muster
Once again, you don’t need to meet any of these requirements to challenge the Oil Rig. Without checking these boxes, though, your raid on the Stronghold likely won’t last for too long.
Defeating the Oil Rig Stronghold in Palworld
Finally, let’s talk about what you need to do when you arrive at the Oil Rig. Prior to stepping foot on the rig, you’ll be targeted by large red lasers when you fly in on your Pal. You can dodge these lasers, but one hit from them and your Pal will either perish or lose a significant amount of HP. The best advice I can give to avoid these lasers is to stay low to water and constantly move to the left and right to stay out of the laser’s targeting system.
After dodging the lasers, head up to any of the platforms on the rig. There is only one set goal for you to complete at the Stronghold to consider it “completed.” That goal is to loot a large yellow chest that contains rare items in Palworld. You won’t find any boss or dedicated tasks to finish, but there are several smaller loot chests to find in addition to the large one.
Unfortunately, the location of the large loot chest is random for every player. I was able to find the chest in my playthrough inside the large gray warehouse towards the back of the Oil Rig, but your mileage will almost certainly vary. During your time looking for the loot chest, you’ll come across dozens of level 55 Syndicate enemies carrying high-powered weapons.
Most of the Syndicate enemies are carrying guns, whether that be a rifle, shotgun, or heavy machine gun. However, some enemies are also melee-focused and they’ll charge you with their weapon, which can inflict some damage if they connect. We can’t forget about Pals either, as a few enemies will send out a high-level Pal to challenge you. These Pals tend to be random, but I battled Grizzbolt, Leezpunk, Dogen, and Blazehowl more than others.
While you might be tempted to send out your own Pals to battle enemies, this isn’t something I recommend most of the time. Due to the sheer number of enemies on the rig, they can knock out your Pal fairly quickly when they all start shooting at it. You only want to send out one of your Pals when there aren’t too many enemies in any area.
In addition to the dozens of Syndicate enemies on the rig, you’ll also find several automated turrets across various platforms. These turrets will shoot at you with rapid pace, but they can be disabled by approaching them and interacting with the screen. This process takes a few seconds, though, so you want to clear out as many enemies near you as possible before attempting to disable the turrets.
Throughout the Oil Rig, you want to check all tents and rooms in the buildings for chests. You’ll find more than a fair share of chests, but most of them are hidden. Some loot you can find in the chests includes Crude Oil, ammo, healing items, and other crafting resources. However, the large loot chest that “completes” the Oil Rig contains even more items, including:
- Dozens of Crude Oil
- Hundreds of one ammo type
- Ancient Civilization Cores
- Rare weapon schematic
- Lotus
As previously mentioned, the location of the large chest is random for all players. The loot inside is also random to a point, but the chest respawns every hour or so. This means you can continue to come back to the Oil Rig and loot the chest over and over again for additional rewards. It’s one of the best ways to farm Crude Oil, which is in short supply in Palworld after the Sakurajima update.
And that does it for the Oil Rig Stronghold in Palworld. As long as you have a reliable way of getting to and from the Stronghold, you can come back time and time again for XP, loot, and challenging battles.
