Whenever you visit a Pal Merchant or Black Marketeer in Palworld, you’ll have a selection of Pals that can possibly be purchased. When hovering over them, you’ll see a small key of icons which relate to base skills, but this key doesn’t offer much explanation as to what these icons represent.
There are 12 base skills in total and each Pal has its own strengths. When putting your base team together, it’s good to know which Pals are suited to what, unless you want to end up with six Kindling Pals when you need a Harvesting Pal.
It’s a good idea, at least when starting out, to find Pals that possess multiple skills and can therefore multitask on your base. It’s also worth noting that some Pals possess Passive Traits which increase the speed at which they perform tasks.
Let’s look at what each icon means, what that skill allows Pals to do on your base and some Pals that are good for this job at a low level.
What work suitability icons mean
1: Kindling
One of the things that you can’t do yourself is work the Furnace, so you’ll need a Pal with the Kindling skill in order to produce Ingots or Charcoal. You’ll also benefit during cooking, because Kindling Pals can reduce cooking time or cook for you while you do other things.
Some good Kindling Pals when you’re starting out are:
- Foxparks
- Rooby
- Arsox
2: Watering
Pals with the Watering skill are particularly useful when it comes to maintaining crops, as well as for powering the Crusher and the Mill. This means that if you want to make cake for Breeding, you’re going to need a Pal with the Watering skill in order to both maintain the Wheat crops and produce the Flour.
Another added benefit of having Pals with the Watering Skill is that they can put out fires on your base; this is particularly useful on wooden bases after Raids.
Some good early Watering Pals include:
- Pengullet
- Fuack
- Teafant
3: Planting
In order to automate the production and maintenance of crops on your plantations, you need Pals with the Planting skill. These Pals plant your crops for you before letting your Watering Pals take over for maintenance.
Some good low-level Pals for Planting are:
- Lifmunk
- Tanzee
- Flopie
4: Generating Electricity
Electricity generators only really become useful once you want to start building electrical items, such as the Electric Kitchen or Production Assembly Line II, and have built the Electricity Generator for them to store their electricity in.
However, it’s a good idea to find some Pals with this skill prior to this so that you’re set up to go when you get to that point.
Here’s some easy to get Pals with the Generating Electricity skill:
- Sparkit
- Jolthog
- Univolt
5: Handiwork
The Handiwork skill is, by far, the most useful skill for Pals to possess as you begin to play Palworld and build up your bases. Why? Because Handiwork Pals are the ones who help to build that base and any item that you place in it. If there’s one skill that you look out for as you begin to capture Pals, this is the one.
The good news is that most of the early Pals you encounter, with the exception of Chikipi, do have the Handiwork skill:
- Lamball
- Cattiva
- Pengullet
6: Gathering
Perhaps the least obvious of the icons, the two leaves represent the Gathering skill. Pals with this skill work hand in hand with Planting Pals and Watering Pals to maintain crops, finalising the process by reaping the final product.
While not strictly necessary, they allow you to gain foods and resources without having to lift a finger, so they’re useful in that sense.
Here’s some early Pals with the Gathering skill:
- Cattiva
- Chikipi
- Tanzee
7: Lumbering
If you want Wood, you need Lumbering Pals. These are the Pals who will remove trees from your base before going to work at the Logging Site, quickly producing large quantities of wood for all of your crafting or decorating needs.
The low-level Lumbering Pals in the Plateau of Beginnings are:
- Lifmunk
- Tanzee
- Eikthyrdeer
8: Mining
Mining Pals are vital to your base, especially as you gain levels and want to begin mining Ore for weapons and crafting purposes. However, even in the early game, Mining Pals work in your Stone Pit to gather endless amounts of Stone that can be used for building and making basic supplies, such as Arrows or Tools.
Some good early game Mining Pals are:
- Depresso
- Rushoar
- Cattiva
9: Medicine Production
Once you’ve been playing a little while, you’ll notice that your Pals sometimes come down with ailments which require medicine to heal. At this point, unless you want to be stuck at the Medicine Workbench or spend your Gold in order to purchase medicine, you’re going to want a Pal who can produce medicine in your absence.
Some good low-level Pals for this are:
- Flopie
- Lifmunk
- Cinnamoth
10: Cooling
Like those Pals which produce electricity, Cooling Pals only really become necessary a little later into the game when you’ve built a Cooler Box or are using a Cooler to help with the incubation of Eggs. However, it’s still a good idea to get some of these Pals so that you’re prepared for this, rather than having to scramble for them when you need them.
Pengullet is the perfect choice for this as it can double as your Watering Pal, but here are three other choices for Cooling Pals:
- Chillet
- Swee
- Sweepa
11: Transporting
In my opinion, Transporting Pals are the most important Pals that you can have on your base, because they’re the ones who take items from the Logging Site, Stone Pit, Ranch and Plantations, placing them into storage for you. Without Transporting Pals, we’d never stop relocating items on our bases.
Luckily, most of the early game Pals have the Transporting skill as well as others, but here are three to get you started:
- Lamball
- Cattiva
- Lifmunk
12: Farming
The only thing you need to know about the Farming skill is that if a Pal has it, they can be placed into a Ranch in order to farm the items they drop.
There are only a few Pals who possess the Farming skill, but these are the three that you need early into your playthrough:
- Lamball
- Chikipi
- Vixy
