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Guide

Best Base Workers Before the World Tree

Building your base mid-game and wondering who to catch? This page shows the best worker pal for every job you can get right now — before the endgame zone — plus where to find them and who to replace later.
Classic Map Palpagos · Sakurajima · Feybreak · small islands Sunreach floating sky islands (~Lv.60–70) World Tree endgame — shown only as the "later" reference

All 12 jobs at a glance

8 natural cap 7 strong 6 best available ⭐ never replaced
⭐ Catch these two first: Knocklem (Transporting — nothing in the game beats it, ever) and Jetragon (Gathering — same). Condensation stars and passives spent on them are never wasted. Bonus: Celesdir Noct (Lumbering 8) can be bred before endgame — Celesdir × Kitsun Noct.

Job details & where to catch

🔥 Kindling

Jormuntide Ignis 7
Breed Jormuntide × Blazehowl. Alt: Dupin (7), late-map routes.
Budget: Ragnahawk / Blazehowl / Reptyro around Mount Obsidian. Aura buddy: Katress Ignis (+1 Kindling base-wide).

💧 Watering

Jormuntide 7 · Neptilius 7
Jormuntide: lake Alpha spawns. Neptilius: deep-ocean legendary.
Aura buddy: Amione (Sunreach). Skutlass (4) is fine for a fresh sky base.

🌱 Planting

Lyleen 7 · Ophydia 7
Lyleen: Wildlife Sanctuary No. 3 — catch only; in 1.0 it can't be bred from other species. Ophydia: Sunreach floating islands (boss route).
Lyleen also covers Gathering/Handiwork/Medicine — great all-rounder. Aura buddy: Petallia.

⚡ Electricity

Solmora Lux 6 · Dynamoff 6
Both in the Sunreach floating islands.
Orserk (8) is the real prize but can no longer be bred from other species in 1.0 — only two Orserks make an Orserk, so your first one has to be caught at endgame. Aura buddy: Puffolt.

🔨 Handiwork

Anubis 6 · Sekhmet 6
Anubis: Twilight Dunes Alpha or breeding. Sekhmet: desert + desert small island (easier catch).
Sunreach option: Lapure (6). Early stopgap: Gildra (5, northern map at night — also Medicine 4). Aura buddy: Ribbuny.

🧺 Gathering ⭐

Jetragon 8 — best in the entire game
Level 70 Alpha, northwest corner of Sunreach.
Gathering level multiplies harvest yield (4.5× at Lv.8 → 5.5× at Lv.10) — this slot feeds your whole cake economy. Earlier: Frostallion Noct (7) — breed Frostallion × Helzephyr. Aura buddy: Clovee.

🪓 Lumbering

Celesdir 7 → Celesdir Noct 8
Celesdir spawns on the classic map; breed Celesdir × Kitsun Noct to get the Noct form early.
One of the few jobs where the true #1 is breedable before endgame. Aura buddy: Eikthyrdeer Terra.

⛏️ Mining

Blazamut · Astegon · Knocklem 7
Blazamut: Scorching Mineshaft Alpha (Mt. Obsidian). Knocklem: Lv.55 Alpha, northern Mt. Obsidian.
Knocklem mines at 7 AND transports at 7 — one catch, two jobs. Keep a Tetroise (desert) in base: +1 Mining aura for everyone.

💊 Medicine

Lyleen Noct 7 · Bellanoir Libero 7
Lyleen Noct: breed Lyleen × Menasting. Bellanoir Libero: raid-boss summon.
Medicine matters more in 1.0 — the Clinic reduces base-wide SAN drain based on the assigned pal's Medicine level. Staff it with your best.

❄️ Cooling

Frostallion 7
Level 50 Alpha legendary on the frozen island.
Doubles as a top combat pal. Until you can beat it: Wumpo-tier stopgaps. Aura buddy: Smokie Cryst (small island).

📦 Transporting ⭐

Knocklem 7 — best in the entire game
Level 55 Alpha, northern edge of Mount Obsidian.
Carries up to 120 items per trip; nothing reaches Lv.8, even at endgame. Speed alternative for long routes: Eidrolon (6, Sunreach, very fast). Aura buddy: Wumpo.

🐄 Farming (Ranch)

Pick by the resource you need:
Dumud Gild (4) — quality oil + gold · Beegarde (3) — honey · Foxcicle (3) — ice organs · Shroomer (3) — mushrooms · Mozzarina (2) — milk · Mau — gold coins · Chikipi (1) — eggs · Vixy (1) — spheres & gold.
Passives: Ranch Master (+2 Farming) / Farmhand (+1). Aura buddy: Cinnamoth.

Aura pals — one slot, whole base gets +1

Park one of these in your base and every other pal gets +1 to that job. Auras don't stack.

🔥 Katress Ignis Sakurajima 💧 Amione Sunreach 🌱 Petallia classic ⚡ Puffolt Sunreach 🔨 Ribbuny classic, early 🧺 Clovee classic, early 🪓 Eikthyrdeer Terra classic ⛏️ Tetroise desert ❄️ Smokie Cryst small island 📦 Wumpo snow region 🐄 Cinnamoth classic

The Medicine aura pal (Mycora) is endgame-only.

Cinnamoth partner skill Mysterious Scales increasing Farming Work Suitability for all other base pals by 1
Aura confirmed in-game: Cinnamoth's Mysterious Scales — 'increases the Farming Work Suitability Level for all other Base Pals by +1 (Does not stack)'.

Passive skills for your workers

A worker's passives matter as much as its suitability level. These are the 1.0 values — and note the best-known passive (Demon's Hand) is not available yet at this stage of the game, so the pre-endgame ceiling looks like this:

🏗️ The speed stack — best 4 slots before the World Tree

PassiveEffectWhere it comes from
Remarkable CraftsmanshipWork Speed +75%Rare wild roll (often on Lucky pals) — spread it by breeding
ArtisanWork Speed +50%Common random roll
Work SlaveWork Speed +30%, Attack −30%Common roll — the attack penalty doesn't matter on a base worker
SeriousWork Speed +20%Common roll

Substitute: Lucky (Work +20%, Attack +15%, Defense +15%) can replace Serious if you're already breeding from a shiny line. Endgame upgrade path: Demon's Hand (Work +90%, SAN drains 15% faster) exists only on World Tree pals — when you get there, it replaces Serious in this stack.

🌙 Keep-them-working passives — the underrated half

Raw speed is wasted if the pal is asleep, hungry, or having a breakdown. Mix these into your second-string workers or swap one speed slot on SAN-fragile bases:

PassiveEffectBest on
Insomnia (renamed from Nocturnal in 1.0)Works through the nightAny production pal — nearly doubles daily output
VampiricWorks at night + lifesteal in fightsWorkers that also defend the base
Mastery of Fasting / Diet LoverHunger drains 20% / 15% slowerEveryone — fewer feed-box trips
Heart of the Immovable King / WorkaholicSAN drops 20% / 15% slowerBases running aggressive work settings

1.0 also added the Clinic building — a good Medicine pal staffing it reduces SAN drain base-wide, which lets you run pure speed stacks safely.

📦 Job-specific picks

Getting these onto your workers: all of the above (except Babysitter) roll on wild pals and pass through breeding — isolate carriers with a clean-passive partner, then combine. Full mechanics in the Passive Transfer guide.

Just starting? First 20 levels

Grab CattivaTanzeeFoxparksPengulletTombatPenkingVixy for coverage — plus Ribbuny and Clovee immediately for their auras, and PupperaiElgrove from the new roster (Elgrove brings Planting/Lumbering/Transporting 3 in the level-20 zone).

Good to know