Palworld: 10 Starter Pals ranked

If you’ve just bought yourself a copy of Palworld in order to play along with the millions of others discovering this game, then you might be wondering which Pals are worth catching in the opening hours.

Take a look at Palworld in action below.

Once you’ve grabbed Palworld from Steam or downloaded it on Xbox Game Pass, you’ll quickly find yourself surrounded by Pals. They’re all good options, but out of them all, which should you be targeting for your team and base?

Cattiva

• Element/Type - Neutral
• Work Skills - Handiwork, Transporting, Gathering, Mining
• Drops - Red berries
• Partner Skill - While in your team, increase carrying capacity

Cattiva

Cattiva, a small pink kitty is fine in a battle but ultimately is one of the weaker Pals to use in a fight. They are very helpful within your base though, as they can help across several different stations and tasks. Having one in your team early on does allow you to gather and transport more materials back to base, which can help in a pinch.

Melpaca

• Element/Type - Neutral
• Work Skills - Farming
• Drops - Wool, Leather
• Partner Skill - Can be used as a mount

Melpaca

As an early mount, Melpaca is helpful, however, they’re very slow and you’ll soon find better options for travelling. Their drops are very useful. You’ll need both wool and leather for early equipment and armour so keep an eye out for them in the wilds. Much like Cattiva, they’re fine in a fight, but you have better Pals for throwing down.

Chikipi

• Element/Type - Neutral
• Work Skills - Gathering, Farming
• Drops - Egg, Chikipi poultry meat
• Partner Skill - Lays eggs when assigned to a ranch

Chikipi

Having a Chikipi back at your base and assigned to the ranch will mean lots of food for you and your Pals. Fried eggs are a great source of energy, especially for low-level exploring as they will fill your energy reserves more effectively than berries. You can also hunt them for meat. Basically, you’re farming food with Chikipi.

Lamball

• Element/Type - Neutral
• Work Skills - Handiwork, Transporting, Farming
• Drops - Wool, Lamball mutton
• Partner Skill - In battle, becomes a shield to defend against attacks

Lamball

Lamball becoming a shield in battle is very helpful. This little ball of fluff will soak up impacts from projectiles helping you to stay in fights longer. It’s also a source of wool, which can be used to make cloth. They’re not bad to have hanging out at home as they’re adept at several tasks.

Nitewing

• Element/Type - Neutral
• Work Skills - Gathering (LVL 2)
• Drops - Leather
• Partner Skill - Can be used as a flying mount

Nitewing

Having an aerial fighter in your party is great. They can really stick and move in a brawl. Of course, the main upside to Nitewing is being able to use them as a flying mount. Being the first of its kind you’ll catch, it’s a slow mount, however, being able to scale tall mountains or ruins is a great way to discover hidden treasures, plus flying will keep you out of danger.

Foxparks

• Element/Type - Fire
• Work Skills - Kindling
• Drops - Leather, Flame organ
• Partner Skill - Becomes strapped to the player and acts as a flamethrower

Foxparks

Having a fire-type around is always helpful. A great counter to some early Pals and bosses, but also the only way to operate your furnace in the early game. And that furnace is important for creating metal which is a core material for a lot of helpful tools.

Lifmunk

• Element/Type - Grass
• Work Skills - Planting, Handiwork, Lumbering, Medicine, Gathering
• Drops - Berry Seeds, Low-grade medical supplies
• Partner Skill - Jumps on your head and fights with a sub-machine gun

Lifmunk

Lifmunk, aside from being very cute, has a lot of use early on in your adventure. This little critter will hands-down rule your base by covering pretty much every crafting station. When out in the field it can be equipped with a sub-machine gun and lay waste to your enemies and it’s a good source of medical supplies for later on.

Rushoar

• Element/Type - Ground
• Work Skills - Mining
• Drops - Leather, Bone, Rushoar pork
• Partner Skill - Can be used as a mount

Rushoar

As much as it pains me to say, Rushoar is good for only two things - riding through the landscape, or eating. Sorry little dude, but if you aren’t taking me to my next destination, you’re filling my belly. Rushoar is a decent mount due to its speed, but as it doesn’t pull its weight at home, it’s better hunted for meat and leather. Fill your gut and your chests with this Pal.

Tanzee

• Element/Type - Grass
• Work Skills - Planting, Handiwork, Lumbering, Transporting, Gathering
• Drops - Mushroom
• Partner Skill - Wields an assault rifle and fires on enemies

Tanzee

Tanzee, much like Lifmunk, can step up in a range of places. If it’s back at your base, its available work skills will have you covered. Tanzee is a hard worker - you could assign several to your home and they’ll dash back and forth keeping everything ticking over. When out in battle, Tanzee’s core abilities are hard-hitting, but even more so is the Partner Skill which gives them an assault rifle to spray around wildly.

Daedream

• Element/Type - Dark
• Work Skills - Handiwork, Transporting, Gathering
• Drops - Venom gland, Small pal soul
• Partner Skill - Follows the player and fires magic bullets at enemies

Daedream

Daedream is the MVP. The only thing that this Pal lacks is the ability to use it as a mount. Otherwise, it’s got everything else going for it. Great with small jobs and covering crafting stations; important drops for your technology progression; and brilliant in a fight where it’ll use high-power attacks. Plus, and this is very basic, Daedream is one of the prettier Pals to accompany you.