Sphere Signals6 min read20 Jul 2026

Palworld Work Task Priority Order

Defense and firefighting always beat farming. Knowing the default assign order stops you wondering why your logger keeps wandering off to build walls.

Base Pals do not pick jobs at random. The game keeps a default priority list (WorkTypeAssignPriorityOrder on UPalGameSetting). Lower numbers win: if a Pal can defend and plant, defense comes first.

How to read the chart

Priority 1 is the most urgent (Defense).
Tasks that share a number are equal peers (for example Aid and Extinguish).
Cooling sits at the bottom, so fridge Pals often get pulled into anything else they can do.
A Monitoring Stand can override this order for your base; the chart is the unmodded default.
The Pal Labor Research Lab is not a separate row. See the Lab section under the chart for why research gets abandoned and how to keep it running.

Practical takeaway: lock or disable work types you do not want multi-role Pals to steal, and keep dedicated workers on a short suitability list so lower-priority jobs actually get done.

Building a base roster around specific jobs?

Browse work ranking guides

Default work-task priority

When a Pal can do several jobs, the game picks from this order first (unless you override priorities at a Monitoring Stand).

Default assign order

Lower number = higher priority

1
Defense
2
AidExtinguish
3
Construction
4
Assigned Workstation
5
Farming (Ranch)
6
Generating Electricity
7
Repair
8
RefinementKindling
9
Cooking
10
Harvest (Farm)Transport (Food)
11
PlantingWatering (Farm)
12
Medicine ProductionWatering
13
HandiworkProduction
14
Mining (World Spawn)Lumbering (World Spawn)
15
Mining (Site)Lumbering (Site)
16
Transport (Floor)
17
Transport
18
Harvesting (World Spawn)
19
Cooling

Lower priority value = higher task preference when multiple jobs are available.

Pal Labor Research Lab

The Lab is not its own row on the priority chart. When you start a research subject (Handiwork, Kindling, Mining, and so on), Pals with that suitability treat the Lab like that work type. Research then competes with every normal job of the same suitability, which is why Labs sit idle in busy bases.

Pal Labor Research Lab

Structures

A facility for conducting research on the various tasks of Pals. By assigning tasks to Pals in this facility, research progresses, granting various benefits.

Tap for the item page

Example: Handiwork research uses Handiwork Pals. Those same Pals also see workbenches and production queues at Handiwork priority (rank 13). If a craft is available, the Lab loses. There is no separate "Lab" priority slot below Cooling.

Fixed-assign a Pal to the Lab (Monitoring Stand or throw-and-lock). That uses Assigned Workstation at rank 4, so they stay on research instead of wandering to other jobs.
At a Monitoring Stand, turn off every suitability you do not want for those researchers so only the active research subject remains.
Park Labs in a quiet research base with few competing stations of the same suitability.
Match the Pal to the research subject (high Handiwork for Handiwork research, and so on). Suitability level speeds research; it does not raise Lab priority.

Pal Labor Research Lab

Structures

A facility for conducting research on the various tasks of Pals. By assigning tasks to Pals in this facility, research progresses, granting various benefits.

Tap for the item page

Fixed-assign a Pal to the Lab (Monitoring Stand or throw-and-lock). That uses Assigned Workstation at rank 4, so they stay on research instead of wandering to other jobs.
At a Monitoring Stand, turn off every suitability you do not want for those researchers so only the active research subject remains.
Park Labs in a quiet research base with few competing stations of the same suitability.
Match the Pal to the research subject (high Handiwork for Handiwork research, and so on). Suitability level speeds research; it does not raise Lab priority.