Choosing the right Pals makes Palworld significantly easier and more fun. Different Pals excel at different tasks, from base production to boss fights to traversal. Here is how to build the best team for every situation.
How Pal Roles Work
Every Pal has work suitability ratings across different categories:
- Kindling: Fire-related tasks (cooking, smelting)
- Watering: Crop irrigation
- Planting: Farm seeding
- Mining: Ore and stone extraction
- Handiwork: Crafting speed at workbenches
- Gathering: Harvesting crops and materials
- Lumbering: Cutting trees and wood
- Transporting: Moving items between containers
- Generating Electricity: Powering electrical structures
- Medicine Production: Creating medicines
- Cooling: Temperature control and ice production
Higher levels in a suitability mean the Pal works faster at that task. Some Pals have multiple suitabilities, making them versatile base workers.
Best Base Workers
Your base productivity depends on having the right Pals assigned. For an efficient base:
Mining: Look for Pals with Mining Level 3 or higher. They break rocks and extract ore rapidly without you needing to do it manually.
Kindling: High-level Kindling Pals keep furnaces and cooking stations running nonstop. Essential for processing ingots.
Handiwork: Pals with high Handiwork speed up crafting at assembly lines and workbenches. Stack multiple Handiwork Pals for fast production.
Transporting: Without good Transporting Pals, materials pile up at harvest points and never reach storage. Always have at least two Transporters in your base.
Lumbering: Tree-cutting Pals keep your wood supply flowing for building and charcoal production.
The ideal base has specialists in each role rather than generalists in everything. A Pal with Mining 4 mines far faster than one with Mining 1.
Best Combat Pals
For fighting bosses and wild Pals:
Early Game: Fire and Ground type Pals with high attack stats carry you through the first zones. Look for Pals with strong active skills that hit hard.
Mid Game: Shift toward Pals with high HP pools and area damage. You want Pals that survive boss fights and deal consistent damage.
Late Game: The strongest combat Pals have high base stats across Attack and Defense, strong elemental moves, and partner skills that buff your character. Legendary Pals dominate here.
Best Mounts
Traversal Pals transform exploration:
Ground Mounts: Fast overland movement. Look for Pals with high movement speed and sprinting ability.
Flying Mounts: Once you can fly, the game opens up completely. Flying Pals let you skip terrain, reach high areas, and escape danger. Prioritize unlocking a flying mount early.
Water Mounts: For crossing oceans and reaching island content. Some water Pals also dive.
Team Building Strategy
Your active party holds a limited number of Pals. Build your team around what you are doing:
Exploration Team: One flying mount, one ground mount, one combat Pal, and utility Pals for mining or gathering resources you encounter.
Boss Fight Team: Fill your party with your strongest combat Pals. Bring diverse element types to exploit boss weaknesses.
Base Building: Assign specialists to your base and swap them out as your production needs change. You do not take base Pals into the field.
Passive Skills
Every Pal can roll passive skills that significantly boost (or hurt) their effectiveness:
- Positive combat passives: increased attack, defense, or elemental damage
- Positive work passives: faster work speed, reduced food consumption
- Negative passives: slower work, increased food needs, reduced stats
When catching Pals for specific roles, check their passives. A Mining Pal with "Artisan" (work speed up) is far better than one with "Slacker" (work speed down).
Breeding for Better Pals
Breeding lets you combine Pals to get offspring with better stats and passives:
- Two Pals with good passives have a chance to pass those traits to offspring
- Specific parent combinations produce specific child species
- Breeding is the primary way to get Pals with perfect passive skill combinations
Use a breeding calculator to plan which parents produce which offspring and stack desirable passives over multiple generations.
FAQ
What are the best Pals in Palworld? It depends on the task. For bases, high-level specialists in Mining, Kindling, and Handiwork. For combat, Pals with high attack stats and strong elemental moves.
How many Pals can work at a base? Each base has a Pal limit based on your base level. Upgrade your Palbox to increase the cap.
Can I change a Pal's passives? Not directly. You need to breed for better passives or catch new specimens with better rolls.
Related: Palworld breeding combinations guide, Palworld breeding calculator, Palworld interactive map guide