Best Mining Pals in Palworld

How mining works in Palworld

Every minable node in Palworld has a tier requirement. Palworld 1.0 expanded Work Suitability to 10 levels and rebalanced every Pal's values, so the old 1-4 scale no longer describes the game — mining values now run from Lv 1 starters like Cattiva and Fuddler up to Lv 7 (Astegon, Blazamut, Blazamut Ryu, Knocklem, Knocklem Ignis), with Aegidron alone at Lv 8. A Pal with work_suitability.mining ≥ the node tier will mine it; below the threshold, the Pal will stand next to the rock and refuse the job. Mining speed scales with the Pal's Work Speed stat, but the tier gate is binary — a Pal below a node's threshold will never break that vein no matter how fast it works.

Want the full work-suitability matrix for any specific Pal? Open the per-species page — the full Paldex indexes everything by element, tier, and work suitability.

How tier was assigned

Three signals, with Mining Lv as the dominant gate:

• Mining Lv (primary). Pulled directly from pal-stats.json. Lv 7 = S, Lv 5-6 = A, Lv 2-4 = B, Lv 1 = C.
• Catch accessibility. Used as the tie-breaker inside a tier: among the B-tier miners the rarity-5 Digtoise comes first, because most players catch it long before the rarer picks.
• Secondary work suitability. Mentioned in the per-Pal blurb but not weighted into the tier itself — that data still lives on each species page where it belongs.

The full tier table

Tier	Pal	Mining	Element	Partner Skill	Where
S	Astegon	Lv 7	Dragon · Dark	Black Ankylosaur	The World Tree (21 spawn points) plus an alpha on Palpagos
S	Blazamut	Lv 7	Fire	Magma Kaiser	Flamepulse Islet (wild Lv 46–50), the World Tree and an alpha at Mount Obsidian
A	Anubis	Lv 6	Ground	Guardian of the Desert	Desert alpha boss plus wild spawns, including the World Tree
A	Menasting	Lv 5	Dark · Ground	Steel Scorpion	Desert biomes, day and night
B	Digtoise	Lv 4	Ground	Drill Crusher	Twilight Dunes and the central desert (wild Lv 33–44)
A	Bastigor	Lv 5	Ice	Blizzard Crash	The World Tree
A	Cryolinx Terra	Lv 5	Ground	Explosive Strength	Feybreak
A	Reptyro Cryst	Lv 5	Ice · Ground	Ice-Loving Beast	Feybreak (Frozen Coral Hill) and the Astral Mountains
A	Reptyro (base)	Lv 5	Fire · Ground	Ore-Loving Beast	Mount Obsidian (wild Lv 46–48) and volcano dungeons
A	Paladius	Lv 6	Neutral	Holy Knight of the Firmament	World boss spawn (level 60)
A	Necromus	Lv 6	Dark	Dark Knight of the Abyss	World boss spawn (level 60)
B	Mammorest Cryst	Lv 4	Ice · Ground	Ice Crusher	Foot of the Astral Mountains and Sakurajima (wild Lv 36–42)
B	Mammorest	Lv 4	Grass · Ground	Gaia Crusher	Windswept Hills, the Bamboo Groves and the Astral Mountains foothills (wild Lv 26–39)
B	Quivern	Lv 4	Dragon	Sky Dragon Affection	Astral Mountains snow areas and Sunreach
B	Penking	Lv 3	Water · Ice	Brave Sailor	Foot of the Astral Mountains and Twilight Dunes (wild Lv 20–44)
B	Sootseer	Lv 3	Dark · Fire	Grave Robber	Sakurajima and Feybreak (wild Lv 45–67)
B	Tombat	Lv 3	Dark	Ultrasonic Sensor	Windswept Hills, Marsh Island and the Sea Breeze Archipelago (wild Lv 12–15)
B	Dumud	Lv 2	Ground · Water	Soil Improver	Twilight Dunes, Bamboo Groves and the foot of Mount Obsidian (wild Lv 20–39)
C	Cattiva	Lv 1	Neutral	Cat Helper	Starter biome (Windswept Hills)
C	Fuddler	Lv 1	Ground	Mining Assistance	Twilight Dunes (wild Lv 28–38)
C	Depresso	Lv 1	Dark	Caffeine Inoculation	Bamboo Groves, Eastern Wild and Windswept Hills (wild Lv 4–24)
C	Rushoar	Lv 1	Ground	Hard Head	Sea Breeze Archipelago and Windswept Hills (wild Lv 5–13)

Best Pal per resource

Most guides rank Pals by Mining Lv and stop there. In practice, you choose a miner per resource: the cheapest Pal that clears the node first, then the optimum you switch to once you can field an S/A-tier roster. The table below cascades both — early pick (works on day one) and the optimum once you've unlocked higher tiers.

Two 1.0 ores sit outside this matrix. Soralite can only be mined in Sunreach, and Paloxite only at the World Tree; both are required for the new 1.0 crafting and building content. paldb lists the Soralite node at Mining Lv 6. Chromite sits in hidden deposits that a Metal Detector reveals and marks for mining.

Passive skills that stack with mining

Passive skills roll on capture or breeding. These five stack their effect with the Pal's base Mining Lv — roll any of them on your S/A-tier miner and the same Pal mines 10-50% faster. Stack up to four passives per Pal via breeding pass-through. Passives are no longer the only lever: since 1.0, each time a Pal ranks up one of its Work Suitability Levels increases, and reaching maximum rank increases all of them — so condensing a miner can raise its Mining Lv itself, not just its speed. 1.0 also cut the Pals needed for maximum rank from 116 to 48, which makes that route far cheaper than it used to be.

Source: passive-skill effects cross-checked against palworld.wiki.gg/wiki/Passive_Skills. Lucky-variant rolls are Pal-wide, not mining-specific.

Dedicated mining structures

Beyond field-rock breaking, several base structures generate a continuous ore supply when a miner Pal is assigned to them. Once placed, a base-bound miner with Artisan or Work Slave passives will run them 24/7 without player intervention.

• Stone Pit (Technology Lv 7) — Stone output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 50 Stone + 20 Wood + 10 Paldium Fragment.
• Ore Mining Site (Technology Lv 24) — Ore output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 50 Stone + 25 Ingot + 20 Paldium Fragment + 5 Ancient Civilization Parts.
• Coal Quarry (Technology Lv 37) — Coal output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 70 Stone + 100 Coal + 30 Paldium Fragment + 10 Ancient Civilization Parts.
• Ore Mining Site II (Technology Lv 39) — Ore output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 100 Stone + 50 Ingot + 40 Paldium Fragment + 10 Ancient Civilization Parts.
• Sulfur Quarry (Technology Lv 46) — Sulfur output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 70 Stone + 100 Sulfur + 30 Paldium Fragment + 10 Ancient Civilization Parts.
• Pure Quartz Quarry (Technology Lv 52) — Pure Quartz output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 70 Stone + 100 Pure Quartz + 30 Paldium Fragment + 10 Ancient Civilization Parts.
• Hexolite Quartz Mine (Technology Lv 62) — Hexolite Quartz output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 70 Stone + 100 Hexolite Quartz + 10 Ancient Civilization Parts.
• Soralite Quarry (Technology Lv 72) — Soralite output. Any Mining Lv 1 Pal staffs it; a higher Mining level only shortens the cycle. Build cost 70 Stone + 100 Soralite + 10 Ancient Civilization Parts.

Structure names are the in-game ones; the Pure Quartz Quarry (Technology 52) is what wiki.gg calls the Pure Quartz Mine. There is no Pal Metal Mine.

Tier-by-tier breakdown

S

S-Tier (2 Pals)

Mining Lv 7 — breaks every node tier in the game, Soralite included. Only Aegidron (Lv 8) is higher

Astegon

Mining Lv 7 · Dragon/Dark · The World Tree (21 spawn points) plus an alpha on Palpagos

Astegon is the strongest practical miner at Mining Lv 7 — only Aegidron mines higher (Lv 8), so among catchable base workers Astegon shares the top with Blazamut, Blazamut Ryu and the Knocklem line (all Lv 7). The Dragon/Dark typing means it doubles as a top-tier combat partner. Our habitat data records its 21 wild spawn points in the World Tree, and Palpagos has an alpha Astegon boss as well.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Astegon

Blazamut

Mining Lv 7 · Fire · Flamepulse Islet (wild Lv 46–50), the World Tree and an alpha at Mount Obsidian

The Fire-element answer to Astegon. Same Mining Lv 7, same node coverage, but Blazamut also has Kindling Lv 6, so it can run fire-powered stations too — pair it with an ore farm and the smelter chain runs on a single creature. Late-game catch but worth the wait.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Blazamut

A

A-Tier (8 Pals)

Mining Lv 5-6 — strong all-round miners, one step below the Lv 7 miners

Anubis

Mining Lv 6 · Ground · Desert alpha boss plus wild spawns, including the World Tree

The mid-game miner most players reach first. Mining Lv 6 covers everything up to Pure Quartz, and Anubis brings Handiwork Lv 6 as a side benefit — so the same Pal mines AND speeds up your crafting benches. Our habitat data has wild spawns for it as well as the alpha.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Anubis

Menasting

Mining Lv 5 · Dark/Ground · Desert biomes, day and night

Roams the desert around the Anubis alpha boss, day and night — Mining Lv 5, one below Anubis, with Dark typing. Useful if you want a Pal that mines at base and counter-attacks Dark-weak enemies in the field.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Menasting

Bastigor

Mining Lv 5 · Ice · The World Tree

Mining Lv 5 with Cooling Lv 8, so the same Pal mines and keeps a Cooler Box cold. A World Tree catch — it spawns nowhere else.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Bastigor

Cryolinx Terra

Mining Lv 5 · Ground · Feybreak

Terra variant of Cryolinx — the Ice typing flips to Ground, and Cryolinx Terra gains Mining Lv 5. A late-game catch on Feybreak.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Cryolinx Terra

Reptyro Cryst

Mining Lv 5 · Ice/Ground · Feybreak (Frozen Coral Hill) and the Astral Mountains

Cryst variant of Reptyro — Ice + Ground. Mining Lv 5 plus Cooling Lv 5, so the same Pal can staff a cooler in fire-heavy bases. Niche — Bastigor, Mammorest Cryst and Penking also pair Mining with Cooling.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Reptyro Cryst

Reptyro (base)

Mining Lv 5 · Fire/Ground · Mount Obsidian (wild Lv 46–48) and volcano dungeons

Base Reptyro — Fire + Ground at Mining Lv 5. Same mining output as Reptyro Cryst but it has Kindling Lv 5 instead of Cooling, which is the right call if your base is built around a campfire. One of the most reliable A-tier picks.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Reptyro (base)

Paladius

Mining Lv 6 · Neutral · World boss spawn (level 60)

World boss Pal with Mining Lv 6 — overqualified for the role but lands here because you don't catch a Paladius for mining specifically. Slot him in if he's already in your roster from the boss fight.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Paladius

Necromus

Mining Lv 6 · Dark · World boss spawn (level 60)

Same boss-tier story as Paladius — Mining Lv 6 is the bonus, not the reason to catch him. Use as a fallback miner when your A-tier picks are out on the field.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Necromus

B

B-Tier (8 Pals)

Mining Lv 2-4 — early and mid miners; Digtoise at Lv 4 is the cheap bridge

Digtoise

Mining Lv 4 · Ground · Twilight Dunes and the central desert (wild Lv 33–44)

The early B-tier favourite. Digtoise reaches Mining Lv 4 at rarity 5 — meaning you can catch him long before Anubis or Astegon. He's the bridge Pal: starter rocks at Lv 1, then upgrade-in-place to Digtoise for everything up to Pure Quartz nodes.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Digtoise

Mammorest Cryst

Mining Lv 4 · Ice/Ground · Foot of the Astral Mountains and Sakurajima (wild Lv 36–42)

Mining Lv 4 with Lumbering Lv 5 — best dual-role Pal in the B-tier band. If your base has both stone and wood stations, Mammorest Cryst covers both jobs single-handed.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Mammorest Cryst

Mammorest

Mining Lv 4 · Grass/Ground · Windswept Hills, the Bamboo Groves and the Astral Mountains foothills (wild Lv 26–39)

Base Mammorest at Mining Lv 4 — same dual-role profile as the Cryst variant. Easier catch but no Cooling effect.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Mammorest

Quivern

Mining Lv 4 · Dragon · Astral Mountains snow areas and Sunreach

Mining Lv 4 plus a usable flying mount. The only reason to catch a Quivern for mining is if you're already using him as your mount — otherwise pick a higher-tier ground miner.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Quivern

Penking

Mining Lv 3 · Water/Ice · Foot of the Astral Mountains and Twilight Dunes (wild Lv 20–44)

Mining Lv 3 plus Lv 2 Watering and Lv 2 Cooling — Penking is the swiss-army-knife mid-tier Pal. Won't out-mine an Astegon but ties Sootseer for the most base roles per slot in B-tier.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Penking

Sootseer

Mining Lv 3 · Dark/Fire · Sakurajima and Feybreak (wild Lv 45–67)

Its partner skill, Grave Robber, sometimes digs up Bone when assigned to the Ranch. Mining Lv 3 is its day job; the Ranch Bone is a bonus if you keep one at base.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Sootseer

Tombat

Mining Lv 3 · Dark · Windswept Hills, Marsh Island and the Sea Breeze Archipelago (wild Lv 12–15)

Mid-rarity Dark-typed Pal with a useful Ultrasonic Sensor partner skill — detects nearby dungeons, treasure chests and scrap when active. Mining Lv 3 makes Tombat the right pick when you want a B-tier miner that doubles as a scout on field trips.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Tombat

Dumud

Mining Lv 2 · Ground/Water · Twilight Dunes, Bamboo Groves and the foot of Mount Obsidian (wild Lv 20–39)

The cheapest B-tier catch on this list at rarity 4. Dumud's Soil Improver partner skill boosts Ground-Pal attack power — pair with Anubis on a desert expedition and your team mines AND fights harder. Good early bridge into the Lv 2 tier.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Dumud

C

C-Tier (4 Pals)

Mining Lv 1 — starter-tier miners (Stone outcrops)

Cattiva

Mining Lv 1 · Neutral · Starter biome (Windswept Hills)

Cattiva is the first mining Pal almost every player ends up with — Mining Lv 1 is the bottom of the scale, but at rarity 1 she is among the easiest catches in the game. Replace her the moment you can catch a Digtoise.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Cattiva

Fuddler

Mining Lv 1 · Ground · Twilight Dunes (wild Lv 28–38)

Same Mining Lv 1 as Cattiva but Ground-typed, with Handiwork Lv 1 and Transporting Lv 1 beside it. The right pick if you want a Lv 1 miner that also contributes to Terra-line breeding combos (Robinquill Terra = Robinquill + Fuddler).

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Fuddler

Depresso

Mining Lv 1 · Dark · Bamboo Groves, Eastern Wild and Windswept Hills (wild Lv 4–24)

Rarity-1 Dark-typed Lv 1 miner — the same starter-bracket as Cattiva, useful when you're farming the Bamboo Groves or Eastern Wild side of the map and don't want to fly home for a different C-tier slot. Keep on light Stone duty until Digtoise unlocks.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Depresso

Rushoar

Mining Lv 1 · Ground · Sea Breeze Archipelago and Windswept Hills (wild Lv 5–13)

Rarity-1 Ground starter at Mining Lv 1 with a partner skill that lets you ride it as a mount in the very first hour. Treat Rushoar as a transitional miner only — it pulls double duty as your first mount while you work toward Digtoise.

→ Stats, spawn map, and breeding parents for Rushoar

Related Pindrop guides

• Where to get coal — full node map →
• How to get sulfur — gunpowder routes →
• Where to get Pure Quartz — circuit-board nodes →
• Best base locations — set your miner up next to nodes →
• Live Mining work-suitability tier list →
• Interactive ore-node map (every node mapped) →