Best Base Pals for Every Work Type

How Many Pals Do Each Job (286 workers in total)

The jobs are nothing like evenly stocked, and that decides what you should be hunting for. Transporting is so common that it will fill itself from whatever you catch; Generating Electricity, Farming and Cooling are narrow enough that you should go out and get one deliberately rather than hope one turns up. The ceiling column matters just as much — 10 of the twelve jobs have exactly one Pal in the whole roster sitting at the top level, so that name is the entire endgame for the job. Farming is the odd one out: it stops at Level 4, so a Level 4 farmer already is the best there is.

Job	Pals	Top level	Who reaches it
Transporting	140	Lv 7	Knocklem, Knocklem Ignis
Handiwork	109	Lv 8	Solenne
Gathering	109	Lv 8	Jetragon
Lumbering	63	Lv 8	Celesdir Noct
Mining	57	Lv 8	Aegidron
Watering	46	Lv 8	Shaolong
Planting	45	Lv 8	Dandilord
Kindling	44	Lv 8	Renjishi
Medicine Production	43	Lv 8	Silvance
Cooling	38	Lv 8	Bastigor
Farming	29	Lv 4	Dumud Gild, Sibelyx Primo
Generating Electricity	25	Lv 8	Orserk

Raising a Job Above Its Printed Level (12 aura Pals, one per job)

The level in the table above is what a Pal is born with, not the level your base ends up running on. Two systems add on top of it. The first is a partner skill: exactly 12 Pals carry one that lifts a single job by +1 for the Pals working at that base — one Pal per job, no overlaps, and the carrier only has to be stationed there for it to apply. The second is an Applied Handbook, a consumable that permanently adds 1 to one job on one individual Pal. Put both on a Pal that already tops the ranking and Level 10 stops being a rumour: 10 of the twelve jobs cap at Level 8 in the game files, and 8 + a handbook + a stationed aura Pal is exactly where 10 comes from. The handbook is the permanent half and the aura is the half you can lose, so check the aura Pal is still in the base before you blame the ranking.

Job	Top base level	Aura Pal	Partner skill	Ceiling with both
Transporting	Lv 7	Wumpo	Guardian of the Snowy Mountain	Lv 9
Handiwork	Lv 8	Ribbuny	Happy-Go-Lucky Bunny	Lv 10
Gathering	Lv 8	Clovee	Happy Clover	Lv 10
Lumbering	Lv 8	Eikthyrdeer Terra	Guardian of the Golden Forest	Lv 10
Mining	Lv 8	Tetroise	Masonry Archelon	Lv 10
Watering	Lv 8	Amione	Magical Twin Powers	Lv 10
Planting	Lv 8	Petallia	Blessing of the Flower Spirit	Lv 10
Kindling	Lv 8	Katress Ignis	Blazing Black Magic	Lv 10
Medicine Production	Lv 8	Mycora	Charming Spore	Lv 10
Cooling	Lv 8	Smokie Cryst	Cryo Instincts	Lv 10
Farming	Lv 4	Cinnamoth	Mysterious Scales	Lv 6
Generating Electricity	Lv 8	Puffolt	Crackle Booster	Lv 10

Two entries are worth reading twice. Ribbuny's Handiwork boost is bolted onto a partner skill that is otherwise a ranged-attack buff, so the game's most contested job is covered by a rarity-1 Pal you catch in the first hour rather than by anything you have to hunt. And Farming is the only job whose level can also be rolled as a passive — Farmhand adds +1 and Ranch Master adds +2, both to the Pal carrying them, with Ranch Master weighted at a twentieth of Farmhand in the roll table. Every other job has to buy its extra levels. The books themselves, their price and the best Pal to spend each one on are in the Applied Handbook guide.

Pals That Cover the Most Jobs (26 Pals with five or more)

A base has a fixed number of worker slots, so a Pal that only knows one job leaves that slot idle whenever the job has nothing queued. The Pals below each cover five or more, which keeps them busy through a full production cycle and saves you swapping the roster every time you change what you are building. Read the numbers before you commit, though: breadth is paid for with depth, and no Pal that covers six or more jobs is better than Level 3 at any single one of them. The sweet spot is a five-job Pal that still holds a high level in the job you actually care about — Dandilord is the clearest example, topping Planting at Level 8 while still filling in on Handiwork, Medicine and Gathering.

Beegarde3322222Robinquill332221Vaelet333322Dandilord86653Silvance86642Dualith66533Dualith Noct66533Bushi Noct52221Quivern Botan54432Verdash55433Dogen43332Elizabee44443Petallia44332Petallia Ignis44332Bushi32221Elgrove33322Penking33222Penking Lux33322Prunelia33211Robinquill Terra33222Shroomer33322Sootseer33322Bristla22221Flopie22211Lifmunk11111Tanzee11111

Two Pals sit at the other extreme with no work suitability whatsoever, so no base structure will ever accept them: Panthalus and Astralym earn their keep in the field instead.