Best starter Pals in Palworld

Palworld’s early game will involve a lot of setup to get your base optimized and the resources flowing. Here are the best starter Pals to help with that.

Palworld might be called ‘Pokemon with guns’ by some but setting foot on the Palapagos Islands kills that notion pretty quickly. Yes, there are 100 Pals to catch in the early access version but you’re not just fighting with these little monsters.

Each Pal in Palworld has different strengths in and around the base you’ll be steadily building up on your journey. In the early game, getting it running efficiently will make things easier.

Of course, you’ll also need some combat-oriented Pals to keep you alive as you venture out in search of resources. Here are some of the best starter Pals to pick up at the start of your Palworld Adventure.

Lamball

Perks:

• Lots of base utility
• Produces useful materials
• Can be used as a shield (if you have the stomach for it)

Lamball is one of the earliest Pals you’ll encounter in Palworld and the game will direct you to catch one as part of its tutorial. While it’s a little underwhelming in combat, Lamball can build structures, craft equipment, and transport goods.

When you unlock the ability to construct a ranch, you can farm Lamball for wool which is used for repairing armor and you’ll be doing a lot of that early on. Lastly, Lamball’s Partner Skill lets you use it as a shield to absorb incoming damage which is handy before you can craft armor and your health is on the low side.

Cattiva

Perks:

• Automated stone mining
• Fruit harvesting for food production

Cattiva is another Pal that lives in abundance right around where you’ll start your adventure. They’re weak and easy to catch which means you can have a small army of them mining stone in your base, if you’ve built a stone pit that is.

Stone is handy because it is a key ingredient in crafting Pal Spheres which let you add even more pals to your combat squad and workforce. It can also collect and store materials, and harvest fruit and berries to keep you and your Pals fed making it one of the best starter Pals to put to work early.

Foxparks

Perks:

• Cooks meat
• Smelts ore
• Can be used as a portable flamethrower

Foxparks is a lot more handy in combat than our first two starter Pals thanks to its fire attacks. Where it shines is when used as a flamethrower thanks to its Partner Skill. Using it this way melts through early-game Pals.

Back at base, Foxparks can cook meat for more effective hunger control and smelt ingots in a Primitive Furnace. If you want to upgrade your base and progress beyond Primitive crafting, you’ll need Ingots.

Lifmunk

Perks:

• Cuts trees for wood
• Plants crops
• Can be used as a shoulder-mounted turret

You can never have enough wood in Palworld and Lifmunk is the best starter Pal to use as a lumberjack. It is also one of the first Pals you can use to plant and harvest berries for food. Those berries can also be used to craft drugs and if you throw Lifmunk at a Medieval Medicine Bench, it’ll cook those for you.

When you progress far enough along the Technology Tree (level 11 to be exact) you can craft and arm Lifmunk with an SMG. Its Partner Skill lets it sit on your shoulder and spray your targets with bullets.

Pengullet

Perks:

• Waters crops
• Fantastic base utility
• Can be fired from a rocket launcher
• Just the cutest little guy

While Lifmunk plants those berries, Pengullet is one of the few Pals that can water them this early in the game. This speeds up their growth and makes it easier to keep all your other pals fit and ready for their work.

It can also craft, build, and use the Crusher to turn stone into Paldium Fragments, another key ingredient for Pal Spheres. Not only does Pengullet have all that utility, but with sufficiently advanced technology, you can load one into a rocket launcher and fire it for big damage.

Daedream

Perks:

• Combat god

Daedream is serviceable enough in the lead and its Dark typing is useful in the early game thanks to its increased effectiveness against the many Neutral-type Pals around. It’s far better as a support member of your team thanks to its excellent Partner Ability.

Once you have crafted a Pal Gear Workbench and reached level 11, you can craft a Daedream necklace to access its Partner Skill. This handy skill lets any Daedream in your party follow you and follow up your attacks with a blast of Dark energy. If you have more than one with the necklace, you can unleash a barrage of extra damage.

Eikthyrdeer

Perks:

• A more efficient lumberjack
• Vastly improves your combat capabilities
• Easily acquirable early mount

Early areas of Palworld are littered with Eikthyrdeer and you’ll want to kill a bunch of them for leather so you can craft that Daedream Necklace. Make sure to spare one though because not only are they a far better lumberjack than Lifmunk, they’re the earliest ridable Pal that we’ve encountered.

Doing so requires you to build an Eikthyrdeer saddle and you’ll need the skills of each of the Pals in this list to do it. Once you do, you can ride Eikthyrdeer and travel further from your base. You also gain access to its attacks while mounted which is a big combat buff during your first few hours.