The best Pals to catch early in Palworld

Picking a selection of the best Pals in Palworld is a trial-and-error process, especially early on when you’re first building your base and have no clue as to how you can exploit each cute creature you find. Your first goal should be achieving self-sufficiency; creating a place where Pals work to produce materials, create enough food to eat, and ideally don’t get disgruntled due to sanity loss.

You’ll also want a strong squad of combat Pals to help you capture more fearsome creatures, and overcome the tower-based boss battles where you face opposing Pal trainers. Though there’s a massive selection to choose from, there are definitely some early standout Pals in terms of Partner Skills, and how handy they are in getting your base up and running to produce resources.

Lamball

(Image credit: Pocket Pair)
Good all-rounder for your baseProduces Wool in its spare time once you build a Ranch

This is the first Pal that the game directs you to catch as part of the tutorial, but honestly, Lamballs are fantastic all-rounders for your base. They may be lacklustre in combat, but their combined traits of handiwork, transporting, and farming lets them complete lots of odd jobs. They can collect and store materials that other Pals create, build new structures, craft at workbenches, and once you unlock the Ranch, they’ll spend their spare time producing Wool—a material required for early armour repairs that’s a bit annoying to gather otherwise.

Cattiva

(Image credit: Pocket Pair)
Your go-to mining PalHarvests grown fruit from your Berry Plantations

This catlike Pal is another you encounter early, but it’s useful to grab since its mining trait lets it smash up rocks so other Pals can collect the stone and store it. Once you build the Stone Pit, you’ll have an unlimited source where you can put your Cattiva to work. Stone might not seem super valuable initially, but after you unlock the Crusher, you can convert stone into the Paldium Fragments you need to craft Pal Spheres and all sorts of other useful items. 

Similar to Lamball, handiwork and transporting traits also let Cattiva collect and store materials, and since they have gathering, they can harvest grown Red Berries from Berry Plantations.

Pengullet

(Image credit: Pocket Pair)
Waters Berry Plantations and works the CrusherAlso a good all-rounder

My personal favourite early Pal to grab is Pengullet, primarily because this lil penguin is the first Pal you’re likely to encounter with the all-important watering trait. This allows it to water Berry Plantations—a key step in making your base food self-sufficient. It also works the Crusher to turn stone into Paldium Fragments. Add to that its handiwork and transporting traits, and you have both a vital addition to your base and a good all-round helper. It’s no slouch for base defence either with its Ice Missile projectile attack.

Daedream

Has an incredible Partner Skill for early combat

If you want to make early combat in Palworld a breeze, your best bet is a Dark-type team, and at the centre of that, Daedream. This Pal can only be found at nighttime, but it’s incredibly strong because of its Partner Skill. Once you catch a Daedream and reach level eight, you can unlock the Daedream’s Necklace in the Technology tab to craft at the Pal Gear Workbench. It’s pretty cheap, too. 

The only material that might give you trouble is Leather, which you can get by killing the purple, antlered Eikthyrdeer. Once crafted, any Daedreams in your party will float behind you invulnerable and follow up your attacks with theirs, meaning you can stack multiple at once to barrage enemies.

Hoocrates

(Image credit: Pocket Pair)
Great leader for a Dark-type focused combat squad

This owlish Pal is another that can only be found at night, but it’s the cherry on top of a Dark-type focused squad, especially if you have four Daedreams floating behind you. Hoocrates’ Partner Skill buffs the damage of Dark-type Pals in your party, making them a perfect combo for your Daedreams. They also have a powerful array of their own attacks.

Foxparks

Uses the Primitive Furnace to create IngotsPartner Skill turns it into a flamethrower

While building up your base, Ingots will become a pretty important material, but you can’t make them without building a Primitive Furnace and finding a Pal with kindling. Enter Foxparks. This fiery fox can’t do much else for your base except kindling, but once you reach level six, you can unlock the Foxparks’ Harness in the Technology tab to craft at the Pal Gear Workbench. Similar to Lifmunk’s SMG, activating Foxparks Partner Skill when summoned will let you use them as a flamethrower in combat.

Lifmunk

Chops down trees in the Logging SitePlants and gathers from Berry PlantationsHas a hilarious Partner Skill

While Gumoss is the obvious pick as an early planting Pal for your Berry Plantations, they don’t do anything else. Lifmunk, on the other hand, can both plant and gather from Berry Plantations, plus chop down trees and produce wood once you build a Logging Site. This Pal can also help at workbenches and even produce drugs once you construct a Medieval Medicine Workbench. Last but not least, at level 11 you can unlock and craft an SMG for them, which they’ll fire while perched comfortably on top of your head.

Eikthyrdeer

Excels at chopping down trees in the Logging SiteA strong first mount

These purple deer Pals are excellent at chopping down trees, but they’re also the first potential mount you can get in Palworld. Once you capture one and reach level 12, you can unlock the Eikthyrdeer Saddle in the Technology tab, and craft it at the Pal Gear Workbench. It is quite expensive—the material that’ll likely give you the most trouble are Ingots, since you’ll need to mine ore, build a Primitive Furnace, and find a Pal with the kindling trait like Foxparks to operate it. 

However, once crafted, you simply have to summon Eikthydeer and hold F to hop on. Since you inherit Eikthyrdeer’s attacks when mounted, it can be pretty fearsome in combat.

Teafant

(Image credit: Pocket Pair)
The first Pal you’ll find who provides healing

This teapot shaped-elephant really doesn’t have much to recommend it base-wise, since the only skill it provides is watering. However, Teafant has one unique quality that makes it very valuable early on; healing. If you summon Teafant and hold F, you’ll activate the Soothing Shower skill, which replenishes your HP—perfect if you find yourself struggling in a boss fight and need to stay alive.