SAN is the hidden clock on every Palworld base. When sanity drops, work speed collapses, combat Pals act erratically, and your best miner sits idle at the worst moment. Clinics fix burnout, but only if you build them before a raid week, not after.
Quick summary
- SAN falls faster on overworked Pals, during raids, and when beds are far from job sites.
- Clinics restore SAN over time; higher tiers add faster recovery and better medical coverage.
- Meals, rest, and swapping workers beat letting one Pal run every suitability slot alone.
Each Pal carries a SAN meter visible in the party and base menus. Mining, crafting, combat, and even long transport routes drain it. Low SAN triggers the depressed state where skills misfire or stop entirely. The fix is not always a new Pal. Often it is rotation, food, and a clinic within walking distance.
Build your first clinic once you have more than four active workers. Place it central to ranch, mine, and lumber zones so handlers do not path across the whole map. Upgrade when you notice recovery queues stacking during daytime production windows.
💊Tip: Cook SAN-positive meals in bulk on weekends and stock the chest nearest your clinic so medics never run out mid-recovery.
Clinic tiers and staffing
Early clinics run with no dedicated medic Pal, but assigning a Pal with Medicine suitability speeds throughput. Do not pull your only combat Pal for medic duty during tower prep. Instead, breed a low-maintenance support worker and leave fighters on standby.
Prevention beats emergency surgery
Rotate Pals every few in-game days, keep feeding troughs full, and pause nonessential jobs before base raids. If SAN hits critical on a perfect IV worker, clinic rest is cheaper than disposable implant churn unless you already planned a replacement build.
Related on MyPalworld
- Paldeck to find Medicine suitability Pals
- Breeding Calculator to breed backup workers before burnout
- Palworld on Steam (base building updates)
- IGN Palworld SAN (SAN mechanic summary)
- Game8 Clinic Guide (clinic build paths)
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