Ranking the 22 Pokemon Starters
So in honor of Pokemon Gold and Silver being released on the virtual console for the 3DS, I thought it might be a cool idea to take a look back and see how good all the starters were when compared to each other. Now I know I did a best starter of each generation blog before, but that was just comparing the 3 starters of each Generation to each other....this compares each starter to ALL starters of ALL generations.
Now a couple of quick notes: I'm only comparing the starters from the version in which they are actually starters. Meaning for example I dont care how well Emboar does or doesnt do in Sun and Moon....cause hes not a starter in that game, I only care about how he does in Black and White...where he is actually a starter choice.
Now for the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn Starters, that means I have to look at them twice...once from their original game, and once from the remake...and their placement on the list is a composite of both of those, but I will make note inside each summary as to where each version of them would rank on its own.
Also as we are talking about Starters...that means the pokemon you get from the professor at the start of the game...not one you can breed later. So hidden abilities and egg moves dont matter here. By the same token, I dont play competitively either, so how well they do there is irrelevant.
Lastly just to keep things fair, I wont be looking at Mega Evolutions or alternative forms of any of the starters either....if I did the Hoenn Starters would by default be the 3 best choices as they are the only ones who have megas in the game they start is (the Kanto starters might be in X/Y but they arnt the true starters in that game so it doesnt count).
Now, prehaps some of you did the math and noticed that 7 Generations of Pokemon with 3 Starters in a generation should be 21...not 22. So how did we get 22 Starters? Pokemon Yellow.....speaking of which:
22 Pikachu
I refuse to give this thing a full entry, and I almost didnt even mention it on the list at all. It doesnt evolve EVER. Therefore its stats will SUCK compared to every other starter on this list (And since hold items werent a thing in Gen 1, nothing can be done about it). And its a bit unfair to put it on this list for that reason since all other starters are 3 stage pokemon. And outside of electric and normal moves the only other direct damage attacks its learns are Submission and Seismic Toss.
So it has shit stats, shit move pool, and did we mention its basically impossible for this thing to damage the first gym leader since all the rock types are dual ground types? Using this thing in Yellow made it the hard mode of hard modes....at least until you could get all 3 of the other starters to use instead.
NEXT!
21 Incineroar
You know, I got to be honest, I never thought I'd find a Starter I personally dislike more than Blaziken...but this thing did it. While Blaziken never struck me as a pokemon and more a digimon, this thing would feel right at home in any childrens cartoon show ever.....except pokemon. Also Im really not a fan of pokemon going Bipedal for no reason. Had this thing stayed on all 4's its possible I'd rank it higher cause I do actually like the type combination...but it had to follow the unofficial rule that no fire starter can ever not be bipedal...so here it is. (and like Blaziken for that reason I will likely never use it)
But that said, it was never going to be very high at all, cause its really not that good. I like dark types, so I appreciate the immunity to Psychic, and the ability to gain STAB on ghosts and Physic types in addition to what I get from fire.
But like all Alolan things, its slow as hell. in fact its actually SLOWER than its PRE-EVOLVED form. Making it the ONLY STARTER in the game to lose base stat points by evolving. Thats HORRIBLE.
And its defenses are only slightly above average. also true for its HP. And unlike a lot of the other fire types its only got a great normal attack, not a special attack. Which is a problem because physical fire type moves kinda suck...except for Flare Blitz which damages it and it cant afford that with its HP and Defenses
But its biggest flaw is this. Its stat spread is close to on-par with Houndoom (who also shares its typing) except in Defense. Now Houndoom is awesome, and a pokemon I really like. But its a two stage normal pokemon. This is a 3 stage starter. Starters are supposed to be more powerful than your normal pokemon. And 'Doom has the better abilities as well. What I'm getting at is even if I didnt hate this thing, Id only use it cause 'Doom isnt available in Alola (yet)
20 Blaziken
I've never used Blaziken, I refuse to use Blaziken. So of course its going to be near the bottom (though thanks to Incineroar its not at the bottom anymore) .
Objectively though, I dont think I'm being that unfair anyways. Fire/Fighting isnt a great typing. First off theres a fairly large overlap for offensive STAB, with Ice and Steel. Defensively the thing is weak to Psychic, Earthquake, Brave Bird, Wing Attack, and Surf, all fairly common moves. And its not like its defenses are great, at best they are slighly below average, as is HP. And since hidden abilities and mega evolutions dont count, we have to deal with sub-par speed as well. And its got the least diverse move-pool of all the fire/fighting starters, even after its "second attempt" in Gen VI.
Basically this thing is a glass cannon...if it hits its going to hit HARD with huge attack stats, both special and physical, but its likely not going to have time to hit more than once, if that (with only average speed) before its KO'ed assuming its not instantly hit with one of its many common weaknesses. Now look credit where its due, they did fix the speed problem with its mega evolution....but since Mega's dont count we have to look at the normal form only, and Blaziken is the worst kind of glass cannon...a slow one.
Lastly, for all the Hoenn Starters which version of the game your playing matters a bit, as the villian teams use a lot of Fire and Ground (R/OR) or Water (S/AS) types. Problem for Blaziken is, its weak to both Water and Ground, so its going to take some hard hits from the evil team in both games (although Solar Beam can help with this, but its defenses make it unlikely to survive long enough to use it with a sunny day set up or to survive the recharge without sunny day) , unlike its two companions, though to be fair from its second stage on, it does have the STAB type advantage over the dark types of both teams....but they dont seem to be as plentiful as the other types.
19 Serperior
So only once in the 20 years I've been playing pokemon have I restarted the game on my first run through because I was bored to death by my Starter. That would be the first time through Black with this guy. Which is a shame, cause design wise he is by far the coolest looking Unova starter.
The problem is, hes a grass type. And Grass types tend to play defensively (which I dont like) and use all kinds of status moves. Except this thing learns almost none of them. So this thing cant stall well, but has stats geared toward stalling (higher defensive and HP than attack and offensive), and there for is forced to rely on the very very very very limited move pool of move grass types. And well that move set tends to lead to long battles and tons of situation in which you just cant use this thing because someone is going to hit it with a posion, fire, ice, flying, or bug move before you can wear it down.
18 Delphox
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Ok so technically I've never used this thing yet.....my Braixen hasnt evolved. But I have at least played around with its evolutionary line. And if I'm honest I love the typing from a purely offenseive stand point, hitting stab psychics and flamethrowers is pretty cool....but defensively it sucks balls.
Not only is it weak to the common Rock, Ground and Water attacks, it also picks up weaknesses to ghost and super super common dark types (It seems every 'mon has bite or crunch) which really hurts it.
Interestingly for a fire type though, it has a low attack (lowest of all starters) so its a dedicated special attacker, fitting its gimmick as a wizard. And as a trade off it has a pretty high special attack, defense and speed. And it is kinda cool to see a fire type that can take a hit. Like I said its typing is interesting, but just doesnt seem that effective. I'll find out soon I supposed (also again not to keep harping on it, but this is another needlessly bipedal fire type starter that started as a quadrupedal monster)
17 Decidueye
I really really really wanted to like this one. Hell I was team Rowlett from the moment the Alolan starters were revealed. And hell I even picked his thing as my favorite Gen 7 Starter in my favorite starters of every generation post. But then I learned a valuable lesson about picking things before trying them out.
See as a Grass Flying type it has a lot of potential. I actually really like that typing. Offensively it can take out super common water, ground, rock, fighting and bug types, as well as other grass types. And defensively it trades a bug weakness to a rock one (and again it can take out rock types with STAB moves) and doubles its ice weakness. Not a bad trade honestly
But then as Decidueye it becomes grass ghost....which is a bit of a problem. See it trades that X4 weakness to ice down to an X2 weakness, and its rock and poison weaknesses for a ghost and dark weakness.
And just like I mentioned with Delphox EVERYTHING has a dark type move on it. And being an Alolan pokemon its also slow. And it has no HP.
Now to be fair it has good attack, special attack, (especially for a grass type) and special defense, but a below average physical defense. Now granted its also immune to Normal and Fighting, which helps alleviate that...but again everything and its mom seems to have bite, crunch of faint attack.
In short, once Dartrix (side note: Dartrix is my least favorite second stage evolution of a starter) evolved into Decidueye it very quickly became my least powerful team member because of how often it got knocked out. So yea, its safe to say its no longer my favorite Gen 7 Starter. (though if I start another play-through of Sun or get Ultra Sun, I will admit it will be hard to pick between this thing knowing it sucks and Incineroar whos design I hate if I dont want to eternally run Primarina teams). And again, just like Incineroar, its equalled or even outclassed by a "cousin" of the same typing....Dhelmise, and unlike 'roar and 'doom, Dhelmise is a Gen VII pokemon....so yea that kinda makes Decidueye suck.
16 Meganium
Meganium is pretty similar to Serperior, with a couple notable exceptions. First it has a better move pool, with Petal Dance (in Gen 4), Light Screen, Reflect, and Poison Powder, so it can actually stall and do it well. Plus it learns the superior healing move (synthesis to seperiors giga drain which this one can learn by TM) Again I'm not a fan of stalling, and this thing does have a rough go of it in early Johto (but much much better in Kanto), but if your style is to stall, I can see why you might like this one. Also, worth noting, it learns Earthquake, so it can learn at least one major hard hitting attack (albeit not STAB). And an offensive set is possible here (Solarbeam, Sunny Day, Synthesis, Earthquake) making it possible for people like me who like offensive styles to enjoy this one
Secondly, in every single stat but speed, Meganium out classes Serperior. So in a head to head between 2 of the 3 pure grass type starters, there would be no reason at all to ever select Serperior, it was outclassed a decade before it was created.
On its own merits though....there isnt really much to say about Meganium. Its there to stall, and possibly help build your teams defenses with reflect and light screen, thats about it. Its moveset is also basically unchanged in the two game pairs it appears in with 2 notable exceptions, first it learns synthesis much earlier in Gen 4, and second it can learn a bug type attack (fury cutter) in Gen 2, which makes it a bit more useful to take in that Gen. But those are minor tweaks at best. And given its attack and special attack are more or less the same, its the only Johto Stater to be consistent as far as how good it is in all Johto games...so thats something I guess.
15 Emboar
Hey look, another fire/fighting starter....thats pretty much how the world viewed Emboar, but Emboars not that bad really.
While everything I said about weaknesses with Blaizken applies here, and are actually made worse due to Emboars lower Defensive and Speed stats (and lowest special defense of all starters ever), it is mitigated some what by the fact its also carrying around the highest HP of any starter in the game....so at least it can take some hits. Also while it will only have a short span of time to hit back before its KO'ed, its also carrying around the highest attack stat of any starter ever...so it will do a TON of damage before its taken down.
Also, kinda cool, Emboar is I believe one of the only (if not the only) fire types to learn a water type move...which means Emboar is actually a great counter to other fire types. Actually if I'm being honest the diversity of its move set is pretty solid. It also learns a powerful electric type attack...covering it from half its weaknesses, as well as naturally learning one of the most powerful rock type moves in the game. Especially given how one dimensional Seperior turned out to be I really appreciated this. (and hell while Samurotts movepool doesnt look bad, I think this things got it beat too). And as a side note, its the most diverse movepool of the fire/fighting starters...moral being if your going to be a rehash of a rehash, its always good to find a way to be unique.
Plus on a personal level, I like pigs, so it gets points for that. Also I actually really like the design here of it being a demon pig....though I would have preferred it to be a quadrupedal design like Tepig
14 Charizard
The original OVERRATED Pokemon, proving you can totally get by on looks alone. Seriously this thing kinda sucks in the two generations where its officially a starter (it was fixed up slightly though for Gen VI).
Basically, this thing learns no fire moves more powerful than a base attack of 40, until level 46/34 (38/31 if you dont evolve it). So if your going to use this thing...it needs a TM to be an effective fire type...and the first one you get that this thing can use is halfway through the game. (Fixed kinda in Gen VI, where the problem exists only to 32/28 or via the move relearner)
And its secondary typing is more a hindrance than a help...especially in Red/Blue in which it learns a grand total of 0 flying moves by any method. Even in the remakes its has a total of 3...and because its before the physical/special split they have to use its much lower attack stat. (again fixed in Gen VI where the move relearner can teach it a single special attack flying move). And while flying does gain it immunity to ground attacks (namely the ever present earthquake) the vulnerability to electric attacks, and doubling its rock weakness (especially in Gen III with Stealth rock) doesnt really seem to make it worth it.
By the way, as I keep harping on this things moves, two more things to consider. First in gen 1 its special stat was 85, and its attack stat was 83...not exactly a power house. Oddly though it might have actually be better in Gen I than in Gen III, as in Gen I everything had a limited move pool, and at least this thing could learn earthquake and a couple good normal attacks.
In Gen III though, after the special stat was split, it wound up with a 108 special attack...and NOTHING to use it with outside of a handful of fire movcs and dragon claw. Now yes on the one hand that makes it no worse than it was in Gen 1, mostly using physical attacks.....on the other hand its kind insulting they redesigned this pokemon to gain such a strong stat...and then didnt let it do anything with it.
Now yes this problem was very nicely fixed by the physical special split in Gen IV, and if Charizard was a starter in any game after that, (or just used in X/Y) its actually much better now than this ranking lets on. So yea...this thing became amazing....2 redesigns and 10+ years later...and after the last game it was officially a real starter in
13 Samurott
So I have a confession to make, I've never used Samurott. Because its ugly. However, unlike the two I've yet to use at least accept that it is a pokemon. An ugly one, and one I cant understand how it evolved from its previous form to this one (oddly it has the opposite problem I mentioned with Incineror/Delphox randomly becoming a bipedal pokemon). Also unlike the other two I havnt used it has potential...and I expect I will use it if I ever get around to playing through Pokemon Black again (or finally ever buy black 2).
And to be honest, I'm hoping it winds up fantastic, because the other 2 Unova starters which I have used kinda suck. Though I also expect to be disappointed a bit. Average Defense, below average speed and Special Defense, and slightly above average HP, does not suggest a great Pokemon.
However, good and near even attack and special attack stats do allow it more type coverage than your usual water starter, especially with the diversity of its movepool...so its got that going for it at least. Plus like all water starters, it can use ice moves to easily counter its grass weakness so really electric types are your only major concern. So for its potential alone, it made it this far up the list...lets hope if I ever use it it will live up to it.
12 Feraligatr
Just like the Gen V starters the Gen II starters are pretty evenly matched as far as usefulness...at least in Generation IV's remakes. If we are being honest, in Gen II, Feraligatr sucked. See hes got real good attack stats....but in Gen II, all water moves were special moves, as were Dark moves. Meaning every non normal attack Feraligatr learned depended on his below average special attack skill. And TM's werent much better, Ice was also special, and the only hard hitting and accurate moves he had were all ground type except Iron Tail.
But then Gen IV happened, and I dont think anyone was a bigger beneficiary than this guy. See not only can he use all the moves he could use well in Gen II, he can add in hard hitting Ice Dark Dragon Ghost and Water moves as well. In fact it's possible to run a Feraligatr who can hit 13 of 17 types super effectively in a single move-set. Counting all possible moves, he can hit every single type. And he covers all his weaknesses (Grass and Electric) with Ground and Ice moves. In fact at the end of the day his biggest determent now is his speed. he has the defenses to take a hit or two....and he will cause he's slow. And its possible a grass or electric type move can OHKO him...especially a rain dance aided thunder, which hurts his ability to increase his own attack power.
Oh, and just in case people think I'm only picking on the fire types over the whole "why is this thing bipedal" bit, just consider the entirety of this things evolutionary line (as with Greninja and Blastoise) is Bipedal even if the creature they are based on isnt. And Im ok with a bipedal pokemon remaining bipedal...its just weird when it changes for no reason.
But look at the end of the day, the thing with Feraligatr is, in Gen II, he's probably the worst of the Johto starters to pick...and Gen II Feraligatr would probably be somewhere around 15 on this list. By contrast Gen IV Feraligatr might be the best of the Johto starters to pick and would be around 9 or so on this list. So I split the difference basically with this ranking, and also have him below Typhlosion (who he out classes in Gen IV) and above Meganium (who outclasses him in Gen II)
11 Greninja
Like Charizard, this thing is OVER RATED. Thats really all I have to say with Greninja. Or at least as far as the one you can actually get in the game. Because most of the hype and love for Greninja seems to involve his super powerful hidden ability. And since we dont consider those in this analysis, he's just a bit over rated.
Now, thats not to say hes not good. Hes actually pretty useful for people who play primarily offensively. Hes got the fastest speed of any starter period and a massive attack and special attack stat, which plays nicely with a very diverse (even for a water type) movepool
Of course his HP and defenses suck, so he's another glass cannon. Especially when you consider he picked up 3 additional weaknesses with the dark typing, one of which is to the all to common fighting type (Side note: can we take a minute to appreciate the irony of a ninja being weak to fighting?), and really all he got out of the deal was resistance to Dark types and immunity to Psychic. I mean I guess on balance, its an even trade. But really at the end of the day, all I can say about him is its nice to see something other than the fire starter be the glass cannon for once.
Also worth noting...it appears the Pokemon company is still trying to work the kinks out of this one, as in Generation VII its [what had been at the time of its release] signature move was changed from physical to special (to take advantage of its much higher special attack stat. Of course on the flip side, its still the worst of the 3 Gen VI [previously] signature starter moves.
10 Chesnaught
9 Typhlosion
Feraligatr may have been the biggest beneficiary of the Physical/Special Split...but Typhlosion was the biggest loser. Overnight this thing lost the ability to have a STAB attack that can take advantage of its 109 special attack stat, other than ember until 36 (31 if you choose not to let it evolve). Admittedly its attack is in the low 80's so its not bad but still. Not STAB on best attack stat until the final form of the Pokemon. Thats horrible, though in fairness it had the same problem in Gen II, except it resolved itself at a much lower level (31 if it evolved and 27 if it didnt). And the problem has only gotten worse as the Generations went on. As of Gen VII it doesnt learn a special based STAB naturally until level 43 (or 37 if its still a cyndiquil)
Fun Fact: Charizard and Typhlosion share the exact same stats. And, the same major problem as far as access to a special STAB move thats not ember, but Typhlosion gets the nod on top because in Charizard has this problem until higher levels in all games where its playable(except for Gen VI)
It also lost its ability to put its special attack behind Thunderpunch, which it can learn via TM in Gen II. Now given you could get that TM pretty early on (by the 3rd gym) and your rival if you picked this guy would pick a water type....Thunderpunch was a HELL of an equalizer. Now yes it can still learn this move via Move Tutor in Gen IV...but only after you beat the elite 4, at which point your not fighting your rival and youve likely got a pokemon that can handle water types better.
Granted Gen IV did give this thing Solarbeam if you really want a special attack based counter to all 3 of its weaknesses, but that does require Sunny day to be effective (since Typhlosions defense isnt that great so it cant give up the turn needed to recharge). making the pokemon slightly less versatile (though as sunny day does power up fire type moves its worth it to give up the move slot), and you dont get that until later in the game.
Basically, at the end of the day, this is kinda a middle of the road pokemon. Its not fantastic, but its not horrible. And by virtue of being the only pure fire starter it does carry the least weaknesses of any fire type, while also having the least inspired design (lets face it its boring). But after having run through Johto with this thing repeatedly in Gen II and to then see its slower start and the removal of Thunderpunch and its early game value was massively disappointing. Much like Feraligatr, this things placement depends on what generation your playing, though not to the same extent. The Gen II Typhlosion would probably place a spot higher on the list. The Gen IV Typhlosion a spot lower.
8 Infernape
Its the first Generation IV starter to make this list, and its in the #8 spot. I'll let that sink in for a minute as far as how good it makes this entire generation.
Look I may not be the biggest fan of the Sinnoh games, in fact I may have ranked them as the worst in the series...but the one thing you must give those games credit for are the starters, they are ALL fantastic, and the simple fact is I'd probably choose that set of 3 over any set in the series if I had the choice. It really is the one and only generation where there isnt a a "bad choice" when it comes to starters.
That said, Infernape is the least great of 3 awesome choices. See he holds all the downsides of the fire and fighting type that I mentioned with Blaziken and Emboar as far as redundancy of offensive. And honestly its weaker offensively than Blaziken and Emboar. But its still by the far the best of the 3 for one reason. Speed Kills. Whereas Emboar was basically bulkier Blaziken, Infernape is much faster Blaziken (with slightly better defenses to boot), which means it WILL hit first in almost all cases.
And because of that speed, Infernape will last longer than its two same type counterparts in battle. And because of that, Infernape is the highest placed fire starter on this list.
It's biggest problem is, at the end of the day, Fire/Fighting as a type still sucks.
One side note though, it is nice to see a bipedal fire starter actually based on a bipedal animal, and to be bipedal through all 3 of its evolutions (only charizard can claim the same)
7 Primarina
Water/Fairy? Ok why not? Best Special Attack and Special Defense of all starters ever? OH HELL YEA. Basically this thing hits hard as hell, and can take a hit back....assuming its a special attack. Its physical side is below average, and its HP is alright. Speed is atrocious, but its Alolan so of course it is...and it is compensated for by the Special Defense. As far as its typing, it gains a weakness to Poison (not a super common type) but also immunity to Dragon, but also a resistance to Dark. Bug and Fighting. On balance a good trade compared to a single type water stater, though Team Skull does use a lot of poison types so thats going to hurt it just a bit.
What holds it back a bit though is for a dual water type anyways, its move pool is a hair on the limited side, learning only Water, Normal, Fairy, Ice, Ghost, Psychic, Grass and a physical Flying attacks. But of course by any other types standards thats pretty diverse. Also its signature move, kinda sucks. Its hits as hard as Surf, but with 5 less PP, and it heals any burns the opponent has....and I have no idea at all why you might want to do that. At least with the other two Alolan starters I can see times when I might want to use their signature moves.
Still most of these downsides seem like minor issues on an all together solid pokemon.
Also, note that like its other two Alolan counterparts, it too has a same type cousin in Azumaril, but unlike the other two...its actually better than Azumaril. Not only that but its arguably equal to Tapu Fini a legendary pokemon of the same two types.
6 Venusaur
Honestly, if this was based ONLY on evolutionary design, Venusaur would be top of the damn list. I dont think there is any other pokemon in the game whos evolutionary designs are quite as logical as the venusaur line. Like it makes perfect sense that a bulbasaur would turn into a venusaur...and because of that they are one of the easiest pokemon for me to see being a real thing.
But this isnt based only on design. Its also based on how the pokemon performs in battle. And as mentioned before, I'm not a fan of stalling.
Now I have to give Venusaur credit....its designed to do only one thing and it does it prehaps better than any other Pokemon in the game. That thing is "not die". By level up Venusaur has access to both leech seed and Synthesis (except gen 1), and Giga Drain (by TM Gens 2-4, and Move Tutor in BW2 and ORAS...and Mega Drain by TM in Gen 1). So assuming this thing has time to set up, it doesnt die pretty much ever.
The problem is its offense...specifically in Generation I. I hammered Charizard pretty hard for the lack of useable fire attacks that did above 40 damage....yea about that. Venusaur doesnt get hist first Grass type attack of any kind until level 13...and even then it only does 35 damage. After that its next attack hits for 55 at level 30. And finally solarbeam for 120 either by TM obtained halfway into the game or by level up at 65! (or 48 if it didnt evolve)....which also requires a recharge turn as their is no sunny day in Gen I. And Gen I is also the worst generation for this thing defensively (though its still damn near impossible to kill easy), as there is no Synthesis, and it learns the 40 damage Mega Drain (by TM only) instead of the higher damaging Giga Drain. Even on status moves its kinda dropping the ball, as what I would say is its best status move, Sleep Powder doesnt come until level 55 (41 if unevolved). And oh yea....we also just covered all of Venusaur's non normal type attacks....it learns NOTHING else but normal type attacks (to be fair it does have toxic and poison powder but those arnt direct damaging). Which also means like Charizard, this thing has a useless secondary typing, that also happens to give it a psychic weakness.....and psychic was OP as all hell in Gen I
However, almost every single one of these problems got fixed by Generation III. First Razorleaf's damage increased to 40 (putting it on par with the attacks learned by Charmander and squirtle), and it comes at level 10. Also Bullet Seed (which can do between 20-50 damage) is available early by TM. Also Sleep Powder now shows up at level 15. Halfway into the game comes Giga Drain by TM. Synthesis to be fair comes late (level 53/39) as does Solarbeam (level 65/48) and the TM is late in the game as well. But Sunny day is a thing so that helps both of those moves. Also offensively Venusaur now has access to Earthquake (albeit at the end of the game) and Sludge Bomb.
Now to be fair, you may have noticed a lot of that stuff I pointed out comes late....Venusaur cant really be set up with its best possible movesets until at least the half way point of the game if not later. Which is one of the things keeping it this relatively low on the list. But given that its Gen 1 Version would rank right at the bottom of the list, the improvements are deeply appreciated. (And for the record all of those improvements were improved upon again in Generation VI (moves coming sooner, more diversity of attacks), if we were counting Venusaur as a starter there, it would be even closer to the top...and if we were counting Mega's it might even be at the top, as its Mega improves on its "Wont die" aspect by removing half its weaknesses)
5 Blastoise
The biggest strength of water types has always been the fact they only have two weaknesses, Grass and Electric. And most pokemon learn Ice attacks....allowing them to counter grass weaknesses. And water starters also learn Earthquake, so they can take out Electric types as well.
Add in the fact that this thing had the most diverse movepool for the starters in Gen 1 (learning water, normal, ice, fighting and ground attacks plus toxic) (and with dark and steel added in Gen III) and youve got yourself a nice set of options. Add in its good defenses, (100 defense, 105 special in Gen III) and youve got yourselves a pokemon who can take a hit as well as give one. Now yes its special in Gen 1 was a bit worse (85) but it could also learn reflect and rest to help make up for it....though its still outclassed by its Gen III version who can learn withdraw, rest and protect should you want to run a defensive Blastoise.
Most notably though it is helped out very much by good luck as it relates to moves. First off unlike it counterparts it learns its first STAB move at level 8...albeit for only 20 damage. And while it shares the same issue of only getting a 40 damage STAB move naturally until its into the 50's(or 60's in Gen III) on level up, it benefits from Misty being the second gym leader, and the 65 damage Bubblebeam TM you get for beating her in Gen I, and the 60 damage and confusing causing Water Pulse you get in Gen III. So its not handicapped with a weak primary attack nearly as long as the others. (and if you really want to, you can go straight for the safari zone after beating Surge and getting the pokeflute....which means you could have the 95 damage Surf before the 4th gym)
So yea its good offensively, and defensively, and its nearly even stats mean if it were to become a starter again with the physical special split, there wouldnt be much difference in how you can use it.
I may not have had much to say about this pokemon....it just kinda does the job it needs to do with no flair but also no risk....possibly making it the best choice for a rookie player and a decent choice overall.
4 Sceptile
Blaziken aside, I actually think the Gen 3 starters are pretty good...not the best, but good.
This things biggest issue is it was actually at its best in Gen 3...it took kinda a hit in Gen 6. See Gen 3 was before the physical special split, meaning all grass type attacks got to use this things rather impressive 105 special attack stat. But the best grass learns naturally in Gen 6 wound up on the physical side of the split, meaning they have to use its average 85 attack stat now. It ran into the same problem with the dragon and dark type moves it naturally learned as well.
Now to be fair the trade off in Gen 6 is this thing gained access to a single special fighting type move and special normal type move, and gained access to Leaf Storm, which hits for 130 damage but lowers this things special attack to do so.
And to be fair in both generations it has a wide array of physical attack moves it can use. So at the end of the day it didnt take much of a hit, but still I think it was a just a tad better in Gen 3.
Now this thing also caught a hell of a break that I'm not including Mega's because given how it was changed its mega is a god damn waste of time. It gains the dual dragon type (which would be great if it hadnt just lost its access to its only special attacking dragon move in the split), and an ability that allows it to power up its special attack when hit by electricity (which would be cool if its best attack didnt decrease its special by more than the increase).
Still dont get the wrong idea, on its face I actually quite like this thing. I already mentioned its speical attack, and its speed is insane at a whooping 120. It will hit EVERYTHING first. Now its defenses and HP suck balls at 65 (defense) 70 (hp) and 85 (special defense). But much like I mentioned before with Greninja that I liked the idea of something other than the fire type being the glass cannon, I kinda like the grass type sort of getting this role this time around (though Blaziken is also a glass cannon). And overall I found Secptile much more useful than Greninja
One last thing, as mentioned with Blaziken the game matters a bit. This thing has STAB on water and Ground...but as most of the Ground types used by Team Magma are dual fire types that cancels out its advantage. Meaning basically its better in S/AS where it has the advantage over Team Aqua than against Team Magma who have the advantage on it. Now it does learn Bug types to deal with the pesky dark types both sides have, but keep it the hell away from the Zubat Family members and other poison types prevalent on both teams as its weak to Poison and Flying. (note it learns a rock move by TM that can help with the Zubats)
3 Torterra
STAB Earthquake learned naturally at level 32. Do I really need to put anything else here? How about the fact it has an attack stat of 109 to use with that earthquake? (for comparison sake, Mega Sceptile has an attack of 110, making this the highest non mega attack stat for all grass starters)
More? how about its got the second best defense of any grass starter? Or the best HP? (and you can increase the attack and defense with Curse...making it hit even harder and last longer at the expense of speed)
Now admittedly its not as good on the special side (tied for second worst special attack(by a single point) and defense), and its slower than even the Alolan starters (its the slowest starter in any game). But still the thing has a ton going for it.
In fact, as much fuss as I was making about Earthquake....thats only its 3rd most powerful naturally learned attack, both Woodhammer (120 damage) and Leaf Storm (140 damage) hit harder (Woodhammer is actually the best given its a physical move and leaf storm isnt).
HOWEVER, it does have one major flaw...it carries all the usual weaknesses of a grass type (except poison, but gets a quad weakness to ice instead) and none of the usual healing moves to go with it. It gets Absorb at level 9 and Mega drain at level 27 but thats it until its fully evolved, and it doesnt learn its best healing move (synthesis) until level 39. This is especially a problem as Wood Hammer does recoil damage. . (though a visit to the move relearner can allow it to get synthesis...and I recommend doing so)
Now you could hold back evolution and get those moves earlier...except its preevolved forms dont learn Earthquake....which is a hell of a move to miss out on (remember TMs in Gen IV are single use so you might not want to use it on this pokemon).
So its basically a grass type without the usual healing and support options. Still though Grass types are natural tanks and this thing hits like a ton of bricks, so I will take that trade off. (and heck in Gen VII it learns Earthquake whenever it evolves, meaning its possible to have both Earthquake and Synthesis on this thing by level 33...so I'd love to have this thing in Alola)
2 Empoleon
Empoleon gets a bit of a bad wrap because its secondary typing of steel makes it weak to the secondary typing of the fire stater, on whom it should have the advantage. And thats completely true. But also completely irrelevant, because if you pick Piplup your rival picks Turtwig and Chimchar winds up staying with Professor Rowan.
Now yes that same secondary typing makes him vulnerable to the secondary typing of the Grass Starter too...but hes a water type, hes supposed to lose that match up. Or is he? Because Torterra's typing makes him quad weak to Ice...and as a water pokemon this thing can learn some ice type attacks. And Empoleon has the speed advantage.
But what really makes this Pokemon shine is his defensive capabilities. He's immune to poison and he resists ALL but 5 types (at least in Generation IV) of the remaining, with only two fire and grass (and Ghost and Dark from Gen VI on) doing normal damage, and the final 3, fighting, ground, electric doing double. And its water typing allows it to STAB hit two of those (fire and ground) What I'm getting at is this thing fears very little as far as taking damage, especially special damage, due to his 101 special defense. And since most electric and Grass attacks in Gen IV were special, means even again the types that can damage it, they dont do that much.
Now offensively this thing is very limited, especially by water type standards, and your almost definitely going to have to use its average attack for at least one of its moves if you want good type coverage (although it can get Water/Steel/Ice moves with its much higher special attack). But while I dont like stalling as a style, I do like for my starters to be the backbone of my team as far as being able to battle anything and win....and even with its limited movepool this thing can definitely do that.
1 Swampert
So oddly enough, as a water type starter, at least in the Gen III games....this thing SUCKS, with its special attack being its second weakest stat. So why is it on the top of the list? Because as a ground type pokemon this thing kicks all the ass with an 110 attack)
Ok so, offensively Water and Ground overlap on 2 types, Rock and Fire. Meaning the only thing that Water brings to the table is coverage against Ground types. But Ice does that as well. And defensively, Water removes the usual ground weaknesses to water and ice, and Ground removes the water weakness to electric, leaving Grass as its only weakness...albeit a Quad weakness, but that weakness is also covered by the Ice type.
Point is though, in Gen III there is an argument to be made, that with the exception of Ice Beam, this thing is best played as a pure physical type, basically ignoring its water type all together.
Now thanks the the Physical special split existing in Gen VI, you CAN now actually give this thing great physical water attacks if you want... So you can use it as a more traditional water starter. And what did it lose in this transition from Gen III to VI? nothing. You can also continue to use it as a ground type with a decent physical Ice move for coverage. (and not that Id recommend it but you can also use a special poison move in Gen VI to cover the grass weakness)
So yea its a great pokemon (albeit a bit non traditional) in Gen III, and only improved in Gen VI....but its got one more huge thing going for it as well in both games....there are NO grass type gym leaders or Elite 4 members in Hoenn (although Sidney has two dark/grass on his dark team...but in Gen III only one of them has a grass type attack). So this thing goes strong or neutral against almost ever major battle. Outside of Sidney only Champion Steven Stone's Cradily or Champion Wallace's Ludicolo (in emerald) is your only real threat from anyone in the league (and Cradily is removed from Steven's rematch team).
Even as far as rivals go, you dont have much to worry about. Out of the 5 battles in OR/AS with May/Brandon, in 2 of them their Sceptile wont know any grass moves (in R/S its only 1 out of 4 battles they wont know a grass move in). Emerald however added a second grass type to May/Brandons team though again 2 of the 5 battles are optional. Then as far as Wally goes, before the post game his Roselia is the only threat, and he only fights you with Roselia once...and even then only in Gen VI.
Basically outside of these small handful of battles between the evil teams and the rival, its weak to nothing you will face in the game at all. So it has to be considered the best choice of any starter in any game.
Finally as a Hoenn Starter, versions matter and this thing does better in R/OR (and Emerald) as it has a type advantage against the fire and ground types of team Magma. However, note it breaks even with Team Aqua so its at no disadvantage there.And its ground typing lets it take out the posion types (minus Koffing) on both teams, and its typing makes it resist poison type attacks.
Also in Gen VI it naturally learns a rock move (to deal with the Zubat family members) and a fighting move (to deal with darks). So in Gen 6 anyways by using only its natural move set it can take down any pokemon of either villainous team, with no weaknesses to any of them and a big advantage over team magma's main types (and in Gen 3, it can do the same with TM's for fighting and ice type moves, though Ice uses its much lower special attack stat). Basically in game, it seems to be the premier choice for battling the evil teams.
One thing I do have to take issue with (cause its only fair) is how this thing starts as a quadruped, then evolves to be bipedal, then evolves again into a quadruped, then mega evolves into a bipedal form....WTF game freak?
So there you have it folks...all 22 starters laid out from best to worst....you know for the epic pokemon game they will someday make that has all 800+ 'Mon all 7 regions and actually makes you pick between all 22 starters :P
Now a couple of quick notes: I'm only comparing the starters from the version in which they are actually starters. Meaning for example I dont care how well Emboar does or doesnt do in Sun and Moon....cause hes not a starter in that game, I only care about how he does in Black and White...where he is actually a starter choice.
Now for the Kanto, Johto and Hoenn Starters, that means I have to look at them twice...once from their original game, and once from the remake...and their placement on the list is a composite of both of those, but I will make note inside each summary as to where each version of them would rank on its own.
Also as we are talking about Starters...that means the pokemon you get from the professor at the start of the game...not one you can breed later. So hidden abilities and egg moves dont matter here. By the same token, I dont play competitively either, so how well they do there is irrelevant.
Lastly just to keep things fair, I wont be looking at Mega Evolutions or alternative forms of any of the starters either....if I did the Hoenn Starters would by default be the 3 best choices as they are the only ones who have megas in the game they start is (the Kanto starters might be in X/Y but they arnt the true starters in that game so it doesnt count).
Now, prehaps some of you did the math and noticed that 7 Generations of Pokemon with 3 Starters in a generation should be 21...not 22. So how did we get 22 Starters? Pokemon Yellow.....speaking of which:
22 Pikachu
So it has shit stats, shit move pool, and did we mention its basically impossible for this thing to damage the first gym leader since all the rock types are dual ground types? Using this thing in Yellow made it the hard mode of hard modes....at least until you could get all 3 of the other starters to use instead.
NEXT!
21 Incineroar
But that said, it was never going to be very high at all, cause its really not that good. I like dark types, so I appreciate the immunity to Psychic, and the ability to gain STAB on ghosts and Physic types in addition to what I get from fire.
But like all Alolan things, its slow as hell. in fact its actually SLOWER than its PRE-EVOLVED form. Making it the ONLY STARTER in the game to lose base stat points by evolving. Thats HORRIBLE.
And its defenses are only slightly above average. also true for its HP. And unlike a lot of the other fire types its only got a great normal attack, not a special attack. Which is a problem because physical fire type moves kinda suck...except for Flare Blitz which damages it and it cant afford that with its HP and Defenses
But its biggest flaw is this. Its stat spread is close to on-par with Houndoom (who also shares its typing) except in Defense. Now Houndoom is awesome, and a pokemon I really like. But its a two stage normal pokemon. This is a 3 stage starter. Starters are supposed to be more powerful than your normal pokemon. And 'Doom has the better abilities as well. What I'm getting at is even if I didnt hate this thing, Id only use it cause 'Doom isnt available in Alola (yet)
20 Blaziken
Objectively though, I dont think I'm being that unfair anyways. Fire/Fighting isnt a great typing. First off theres a fairly large overlap for offensive STAB, with Ice and Steel. Defensively the thing is weak to Psychic, Earthquake, Brave Bird, Wing Attack, and Surf, all fairly common moves. And its not like its defenses are great, at best they are slighly below average, as is HP. And since hidden abilities and mega evolutions dont count, we have to deal with sub-par speed as well. And its got the least diverse move-pool of all the fire/fighting starters, even after its "second attempt" in Gen VI.
Basically this thing is a glass cannon...if it hits its going to hit HARD with huge attack stats, both special and physical, but its likely not going to have time to hit more than once, if that (with only average speed) before its KO'ed assuming its not instantly hit with one of its many common weaknesses. Now look credit where its due, they did fix the speed problem with its mega evolution....but since Mega's dont count we have to look at the normal form only, and Blaziken is the worst kind of glass cannon...a slow one.
Lastly, for all the Hoenn Starters which version of the game your playing matters a bit, as the villian teams use a lot of Fire and Ground (R/OR) or Water (S/AS) types. Problem for Blaziken is, its weak to both Water and Ground, so its going to take some hard hits from the evil team in both games (although Solar Beam can help with this, but its defenses make it unlikely to survive long enough to use it with a sunny day set up or to survive the recharge without sunny day) , unlike its two companions, though to be fair from its second stage on, it does have the STAB type advantage over the dark types of both teams....but they dont seem to be as plentiful as the other types.
19 Serperior
The problem is, hes a grass type. And Grass types tend to play defensively (which I dont like) and use all kinds of status moves. Except this thing learns almost none of them. So this thing cant stall well, but has stats geared toward stalling (higher defensive and HP than attack and offensive), and there for is forced to rely on the very very very very limited move pool of move grass types. And well that move set tends to lead to long battles and tons of situation in which you just cant use this thing because someone is going to hit it with a posion, fire, ice, flying, or bug move before you can wear it down.
18 Delphox
Not only is it weak to the common Rock, Ground and Water attacks, it also picks up weaknesses to ghost and super super common dark types (It seems every 'mon has bite or crunch) which really hurts it.
Interestingly for a fire type though, it has a low attack (lowest of all starters) so its a dedicated special attacker, fitting its gimmick as a wizard. And as a trade off it has a pretty high special attack, defense and speed. And it is kinda cool to see a fire type that can take a hit. Like I said its typing is interesting, but just doesnt seem that effective. I'll find out soon I supposed (also again not to keep harping on it, but this is another needlessly bipedal fire type starter that started as a quadrupedal monster)
17 Decidueye
See as a Grass Flying type it has a lot of potential. I actually really like that typing. Offensively it can take out super common water, ground, rock, fighting and bug types, as well as other grass types. And defensively it trades a bug weakness to a rock one (and again it can take out rock types with STAB moves) and doubles its ice weakness. Not a bad trade honestly
But then as Decidueye it becomes grass ghost....which is a bit of a problem. See it trades that X4 weakness to ice down to an X2 weakness, and its rock and poison weaknesses for a ghost and dark weakness.
And just like I mentioned with Delphox EVERYTHING has a dark type move on it. And being an Alolan pokemon its also slow. And it has no HP.
Now to be fair it has good attack, special attack, (especially for a grass type) and special defense, but a below average physical defense. Now granted its also immune to Normal and Fighting, which helps alleviate that...but again everything and its mom seems to have bite, crunch of faint attack.
In short, once Dartrix (side note: Dartrix is my least favorite second stage evolution of a starter) evolved into Decidueye it very quickly became my least powerful team member because of how often it got knocked out. So yea, its safe to say its no longer my favorite Gen 7 Starter. (though if I start another play-through of Sun or get Ultra Sun, I will admit it will be hard to pick between this thing knowing it sucks and Incineroar whos design I hate if I dont want to eternally run Primarina teams). And again, just like Incineroar, its equalled or even outclassed by a "cousin" of the same typing....Dhelmise, and unlike 'roar and 'doom, Dhelmise is a Gen VII pokemon....so yea that kinda makes Decidueye suck.
16 Meganium
Secondly, in every single stat but speed, Meganium out classes Serperior. So in a head to head between 2 of the 3 pure grass type starters, there would be no reason at all to ever select Serperior, it was outclassed a decade before it was created.
On its own merits though....there isnt really much to say about Meganium. Its there to stall, and possibly help build your teams defenses with reflect and light screen, thats about it. Its moveset is also basically unchanged in the two game pairs it appears in with 2 notable exceptions, first it learns synthesis much earlier in Gen 4, and second it can learn a bug type attack (fury cutter) in Gen 2, which makes it a bit more useful to take in that Gen. But those are minor tweaks at best. And given its attack and special attack are more or less the same, its the only Johto Stater to be consistent as far as how good it is in all Johto games...so thats something I guess.
15 Emboar
While everything I said about weaknesses with Blaizken applies here, and are actually made worse due to Emboars lower Defensive and Speed stats (and lowest special defense of all starters ever), it is mitigated some what by the fact its also carrying around the highest HP of any starter in the game....so at least it can take some hits. Also while it will only have a short span of time to hit back before its KO'ed, its also carrying around the highest attack stat of any starter ever...so it will do a TON of damage before its taken down.
Also, kinda cool, Emboar is I believe one of the only (if not the only) fire types to learn a water type move...which means Emboar is actually a great counter to other fire types. Actually if I'm being honest the diversity of its move set is pretty solid. It also learns a powerful electric type attack...covering it from half its weaknesses, as well as naturally learning one of the most powerful rock type moves in the game. Especially given how one dimensional Seperior turned out to be I really appreciated this. (and hell while Samurotts movepool doesnt look bad, I think this things got it beat too). And as a side note, its the most diverse movepool of the fire/fighting starters...moral being if your going to be a rehash of a rehash, its always good to find a way to be unique.
Plus on a personal level, I like pigs, so it gets points for that. Also I actually really like the design here of it being a demon pig....though I would have preferred it to be a quadrupedal design like Tepig
14 Charizard
Basically, this thing learns no fire moves more powerful than a base attack of 40, until level 46/34 (38/31 if you dont evolve it). So if your going to use this thing...it needs a TM to be an effective fire type...and the first one you get that this thing can use is halfway through the game. (Fixed kinda in Gen VI, where the problem exists only to 32/28 or via the move relearner)
And its secondary typing is more a hindrance than a help...especially in Red/Blue in which it learns a grand total of 0 flying moves by any method. Even in the remakes its has a total of 3...and because its before the physical/special split they have to use its much lower attack stat. (again fixed in Gen VI where the move relearner can teach it a single special attack flying move). And while flying does gain it immunity to ground attacks (namely the ever present earthquake) the vulnerability to electric attacks, and doubling its rock weakness (especially in Gen III with Stealth rock) doesnt really seem to make it worth it.
By the way, as I keep harping on this things moves, two more things to consider. First in gen 1 its special stat was 85, and its attack stat was 83...not exactly a power house. Oddly though it might have actually be better in Gen I than in Gen III, as in Gen I everything had a limited move pool, and at least this thing could learn earthquake and a couple good normal attacks.
In Gen III though, after the special stat was split, it wound up with a 108 special attack...and NOTHING to use it with outside of a handful of fire movcs and dragon claw. Now yes on the one hand that makes it no worse than it was in Gen 1, mostly using physical attacks.....on the other hand its kind insulting they redesigned this pokemon to gain such a strong stat...and then didnt let it do anything with it.
Now yes this problem was very nicely fixed by the physical special split in Gen IV, and if Charizard was a starter in any game after that, (or just used in X/Y) its actually much better now than this ranking lets on. So yea...this thing became amazing....2 redesigns and 10+ years later...and after the last game it was officially a real starter in
13 Samurott
And to be honest, I'm hoping it winds up fantastic, because the other 2 Unova starters which I have used kinda suck. Though I also expect to be disappointed a bit. Average Defense, below average speed and Special Defense, and slightly above average HP, does not suggest a great Pokemon.
However, good and near even attack and special attack stats do allow it more type coverage than your usual water starter, especially with the diversity of its movepool...so its got that going for it at least. Plus like all water starters, it can use ice moves to easily counter its grass weakness so really electric types are your only major concern. So for its potential alone, it made it this far up the list...lets hope if I ever use it it will live up to it.
12 Feraligatr
But then Gen IV happened, and I dont think anyone was a bigger beneficiary than this guy. See not only can he use all the moves he could use well in Gen II, he can add in hard hitting Ice Dark Dragon Ghost and Water moves as well. In fact it's possible to run a Feraligatr who can hit 13 of 17 types super effectively in a single move-set. Counting all possible moves, he can hit every single type. And he covers all his weaknesses (Grass and Electric) with Ground and Ice moves. In fact at the end of the day his biggest determent now is his speed. he has the defenses to take a hit or two....and he will cause he's slow. And its possible a grass or electric type move can OHKO him...especially a rain dance aided thunder, which hurts his ability to increase his own attack power.
Oh, and just in case people think I'm only picking on the fire types over the whole "why is this thing bipedal" bit, just consider the entirety of this things evolutionary line (as with Greninja and Blastoise) is Bipedal even if the creature they are based on isnt. And Im ok with a bipedal pokemon remaining bipedal...its just weird when it changes for no reason.
But look at the end of the day, the thing with Feraligatr is, in Gen II, he's probably the worst of the Johto starters to pick...and Gen II Feraligatr would probably be somewhere around 15 on this list. By contrast Gen IV Feraligatr might be the best of the Johto starters to pick and would be around 9 or so on this list. So I split the difference basically with this ranking, and also have him below Typhlosion (who he out classes in Gen IV) and above Meganium (who outclasses him in Gen II)
11 Greninja
Now, thats not to say hes not good. Hes actually pretty useful for people who play primarily offensively. Hes got the fastest speed of any starter period and a massive attack and special attack stat, which plays nicely with a very diverse (even for a water type) movepool
Of course his HP and defenses suck, so he's another glass cannon. Especially when you consider he picked up 3 additional weaknesses with the dark typing, one of which is to the all to common fighting type (Side note: can we take a minute to appreciate the irony of a ninja being weak to fighting?), and really all he got out of the deal was resistance to Dark types and immunity to Psychic. I mean I guess on balance, its an even trade. But really at the end of the day, all I can say about him is its nice to see something other than the fire starter be the glass cannon for once.
Also worth noting...it appears the Pokemon company is still trying to work the kinks out of this one, as in Generation VII its [what had been at the time of its release] signature move was changed from physical to special (to take advantage of its much higher special attack stat. Of course on the flip side, its still the worst of the 3 Gen VI [previously] signature starter moves.
10 Chesnaught
I really want this thing to be good, since its my favorite of the Kalos starters....but it just isnt. And the biggest reason why is its special defense (75) and speed stats (64)
Like ok, this thing is supposed to be a knight.....and its got the defense to back that up at 122. And it hits back pretty hard too with an 107 attack. And as a knight it makes sense it cant move that quickly. But that mixed with that huge vulnerability with its low special defense and record number of weaknesses for any starter is going to kill it. If this thing is supposed to be the tank of its trio, it needs a better special defense, pure and simple. Especially as it lacks any kind of recovery move (outside of leech seed).
What saves its ass here is its signature ability of Spiky Shield, which basically protects it from all damage, and returns damage on physical attacks. Problem is again...it falls short on special attackers, but at least this allows it some time to hang around the battle field.
And like I said, the thing hits like a truck, with 4 moves hitting for over 100 damage, 2 of them getting STAB bonus. So if this thing survives the first hit, your probably dead. Its the likelyhood of getting that first hit off that keeps it this low. Also I'd be remiss if I didnt point out that, while in most stats this thing kicks the pants off its same dual typed pre existing "cousin" Breloom...Breloom is faster and has a much higher attack (and its not like Chesnaughts a slouch in that department). So just like Incineroar its a bit awkard when a preexisting two stage pokemon is a viable alternative.
Like ok, this thing is supposed to be a knight.....and its got the defense to back that up at 122. And it hits back pretty hard too with an 107 attack. And as a knight it makes sense it cant move that quickly. But that mixed with that huge vulnerability with its low special defense and record number of weaknesses for any starter is going to kill it. If this thing is supposed to be the tank of its trio, it needs a better special defense, pure and simple. Especially as it lacks any kind of recovery move (outside of leech seed).
What saves its ass here is its signature ability of Spiky Shield, which basically protects it from all damage, and returns damage on physical attacks. Problem is again...it falls short on special attackers, but at least this allows it some time to hang around the battle field.
And like I said, the thing hits like a truck, with 4 moves hitting for over 100 damage, 2 of them getting STAB bonus. So if this thing survives the first hit, your probably dead. Its the likelyhood of getting that first hit off that keeps it this low. Also I'd be remiss if I didnt point out that, while in most stats this thing kicks the pants off its same dual typed pre existing "cousin" Breloom...Breloom is faster and has a much higher attack (and its not like Chesnaughts a slouch in that department). So just like Incineroar its a bit awkard when a preexisting two stage pokemon is a viable alternative.
9 Typhlosion
Fun Fact: Charizard and Typhlosion share the exact same stats. And, the same major problem as far as access to a special STAB move thats not ember, but Typhlosion gets the nod on top because in Charizard has this problem until higher levels in all games where its playable(except for Gen VI)
It also lost its ability to put its special attack behind Thunderpunch, which it can learn via TM in Gen II. Now given you could get that TM pretty early on (by the 3rd gym) and your rival if you picked this guy would pick a water type....Thunderpunch was a HELL of an equalizer. Now yes it can still learn this move via Move Tutor in Gen IV...but only after you beat the elite 4, at which point your not fighting your rival and youve likely got a pokemon that can handle water types better.
Granted Gen IV did give this thing Solarbeam if you really want a special attack based counter to all 3 of its weaknesses, but that does require Sunny day to be effective (since Typhlosions defense isnt that great so it cant give up the turn needed to recharge). making the pokemon slightly less versatile (though as sunny day does power up fire type moves its worth it to give up the move slot), and you dont get that until later in the game.
Basically, at the end of the day, this is kinda a middle of the road pokemon. Its not fantastic, but its not horrible. And by virtue of being the only pure fire starter it does carry the least weaknesses of any fire type, while also having the least inspired design (lets face it its boring). But after having run through Johto with this thing repeatedly in Gen II and to then see its slower start and the removal of Thunderpunch and its early game value was massively disappointing. Much like Feraligatr, this things placement depends on what generation your playing, though not to the same extent. The Gen II Typhlosion would probably place a spot higher on the list. The Gen IV Typhlosion a spot lower.
8 Infernape
Look I may not be the biggest fan of the Sinnoh games, in fact I may have ranked them as the worst in the series...but the one thing you must give those games credit for are the starters, they are ALL fantastic, and the simple fact is I'd probably choose that set of 3 over any set in the series if I had the choice. It really is the one and only generation where there isnt a a "bad choice" when it comes to starters.
That said, Infernape is the least great of 3 awesome choices. See he holds all the downsides of the fire and fighting type that I mentioned with Blaziken and Emboar as far as redundancy of offensive. And honestly its weaker offensively than Blaziken and Emboar. But its still by the far the best of the 3 for one reason. Speed Kills. Whereas Emboar was basically bulkier Blaziken, Infernape is much faster Blaziken (with slightly better defenses to boot), which means it WILL hit first in almost all cases.
And because of that speed, Infernape will last longer than its two same type counterparts in battle. And because of that, Infernape is the highest placed fire starter on this list.
It's biggest problem is, at the end of the day, Fire/Fighting as a type still sucks.
One side note though, it is nice to see a bipedal fire starter actually based on a bipedal animal, and to be bipedal through all 3 of its evolutions (only charizard can claim the same)
7 Primarina
What holds it back a bit though is for a dual water type anyways, its move pool is a hair on the limited side, learning only Water, Normal, Fairy, Ice, Ghost, Psychic, Grass and a physical Flying attacks. But of course by any other types standards thats pretty diverse. Also its signature move, kinda sucks. Its hits as hard as Surf, but with 5 less PP, and it heals any burns the opponent has....and I have no idea at all why you might want to do that. At least with the other two Alolan starters I can see times when I might want to use their signature moves.
Still most of these downsides seem like minor issues on an all together solid pokemon.
Also, note that like its other two Alolan counterparts, it too has a same type cousin in Azumaril, but unlike the other two...its actually better than Azumaril. Not only that but its arguably equal to Tapu Fini a legendary pokemon of the same two types.
6 Venusaur
But this isnt based only on design. Its also based on how the pokemon performs in battle. And as mentioned before, I'm not a fan of stalling.
Now I have to give Venusaur credit....its designed to do only one thing and it does it prehaps better than any other Pokemon in the game. That thing is "not die". By level up Venusaur has access to both leech seed and Synthesis (except gen 1), and Giga Drain (by TM Gens 2-4, and Move Tutor in BW2 and ORAS...and Mega Drain by TM in Gen 1). So assuming this thing has time to set up, it doesnt die pretty much ever.
The problem is its offense...specifically in Generation I. I hammered Charizard pretty hard for the lack of useable fire attacks that did above 40 damage....yea about that. Venusaur doesnt get hist first Grass type attack of any kind until level 13...and even then it only does 35 damage. After that its next attack hits for 55 at level 30. And finally solarbeam for 120 either by TM obtained halfway into the game or by level up at 65! (or 48 if it didnt evolve)....which also requires a recharge turn as their is no sunny day in Gen I. And Gen I is also the worst generation for this thing defensively (though its still damn near impossible to kill easy), as there is no Synthesis, and it learns the 40 damage Mega Drain (by TM only) instead of the higher damaging Giga Drain. Even on status moves its kinda dropping the ball, as what I would say is its best status move, Sleep Powder doesnt come until level 55 (41 if unevolved). And oh yea....we also just covered all of Venusaur's non normal type attacks....it learns NOTHING else but normal type attacks (to be fair it does have toxic and poison powder but those arnt direct damaging). Which also means like Charizard, this thing has a useless secondary typing, that also happens to give it a psychic weakness.....and psychic was OP as all hell in Gen I
However, almost every single one of these problems got fixed by Generation III. First Razorleaf's damage increased to 40 (putting it on par with the attacks learned by Charmander and squirtle), and it comes at level 10. Also Bullet Seed (which can do between 20-50 damage) is available early by TM. Also Sleep Powder now shows up at level 15. Halfway into the game comes Giga Drain by TM. Synthesis to be fair comes late (level 53/39) as does Solarbeam (level 65/48) and the TM is late in the game as well. But Sunny day is a thing so that helps both of those moves. Also offensively Venusaur now has access to Earthquake (albeit at the end of the game) and Sludge Bomb.
Now to be fair, you may have noticed a lot of that stuff I pointed out comes late....Venusaur cant really be set up with its best possible movesets until at least the half way point of the game if not later. Which is one of the things keeping it this relatively low on the list. But given that its Gen 1 Version would rank right at the bottom of the list, the improvements are deeply appreciated. (And for the record all of those improvements were improved upon again in Generation VI (moves coming sooner, more diversity of attacks), if we were counting Venusaur as a starter there, it would be even closer to the top...and if we were counting Mega's it might even be at the top, as its Mega improves on its "Wont die" aspect by removing half its weaknesses)
5 Blastoise
Add in the fact that this thing had the most diverse movepool for the starters in Gen 1 (learning water, normal, ice, fighting and ground attacks plus toxic) (and with dark and steel added in Gen III) and youve got yourself a nice set of options. Add in its good defenses, (100 defense, 105 special in Gen III) and youve got yourselves a pokemon who can take a hit as well as give one. Now yes its special in Gen 1 was a bit worse (85) but it could also learn reflect and rest to help make up for it....though its still outclassed by its Gen III version who can learn withdraw, rest and protect should you want to run a defensive Blastoise.
Most notably though it is helped out very much by good luck as it relates to moves. First off unlike it counterparts it learns its first STAB move at level 8...albeit for only 20 damage. And while it shares the same issue of only getting a 40 damage STAB move naturally until its into the 50's(or 60's in Gen III) on level up, it benefits from Misty being the second gym leader, and the 65 damage Bubblebeam TM you get for beating her in Gen I, and the 60 damage and confusing causing Water Pulse you get in Gen III. So its not handicapped with a weak primary attack nearly as long as the others. (and if you really want to, you can go straight for the safari zone after beating Surge and getting the pokeflute....which means you could have the 95 damage Surf before the 4th gym)
So yea its good offensively, and defensively, and its nearly even stats mean if it were to become a starter again with the physical special split, there wouldnt be much difference in how you can use it.
I may not have had much to say about this pokemon....it just kinda does the job it needs to do with no flair but also no risk....possibly making it the best choice for a rookie player and a decent choice overall.
4 Sceptile
This things biggest issue is it was actually at its best in Gen 3...it took kinda a hit in Gen 6. See Gen 3 was before the physical special split, meaning all grass type attacks got to use this things rather impressive 105 special attack stat. But the best grass learns naturally in Gen 6 wound up on the physical side of the split, meaning they have to use its average 85 attack stat now. It ran into the same problem with the dragon and dark type moves it naturally learned as well.
Now to be fair the trade off in Gen 6 is this thing gained access to a single special fighting type move and special normal type move, and gained access to Leaf Storm, which hits for 130 damage but lowers this things special attack to do so.
And to be fair in both generations it has a wide array of physical attack moves it can use. So at the end of the day it didnt take much of a hit, but still I think it was a just a tad better in Gen 3.
Now this thing also caught a hell of a break that I'm not including Mega's because given how it was changed its mega is a god damn waste of time. It gains the dual dragon type (which would be great if it hadnt just lost its access to its only special attacking dragon move in the split), and an ability that allows it to power up its special attack when hit by electricity (which would be cool if its best attack didnt decrease its special by more than the increase).
Still dont get the wrong idea, on its face I actually quite like this thing. I already mentioned its speical attack, and its speed is insane at a whooping 120. It will hit EVERYTHING first. Now its defenses and HP suck balls at 65 (defense) 70 (hp) and 85 (special defense). But much like I mentioned before with Greninja that I liked the idea of something other than the fire type being the glass cannon, I kinda like the grass type sort of getting this role this time around (though Blaziken is also a glass cannon). And overall I found Secptile much more useful than Greninja
One last thing, as mentioned with Blaziken the game matters a bit. This thing has STAB on water and Ground...but as most of the Ground types used by Team Magma are dual fire types that cancels out its advantage. Meaning basically its better in S/AS where it has the advantage over Team Aqua than against Team Magma who have the advantage on it. Now it does learn Bug types to deal with the pesky dark types both sides have, but keep it the hell away from the Zubat Family members and other poison types prevalent on both teams as its weak to Poison and Flying. (note it learns a rock move by TM that can help with the Zubats)
3 Torterra
More? how about its got the second best defense of any grass starter? Or the best HP? (and you can increase the attack and defense with Curse...making it hit even harder and last longer at the expense of speed)
Now admittedly its not as good on the special side (tied for second worst special attack(by a single point) and defense), and its slower than even the Alolan starters (its the slowest starter in any game). But still the thing has a ton going for it.
In fact, as much fuss as I was making about Earthquake....thats only its 3rd most powerful naturally learned attack, both Woodhammer (120 damage) and Leaf Storm (140 damage) hit harder (Woodhammer is actually the best given its a physical move and leaf storm isnt).
HOWEVER, it does have one major flaw...it carries all the usual weaknesses of a grass type (except poison, but gets a quad weakness to ice instead) and none of the usual healing moves to go with it. It gets Absorb at level 9 and Mega drain at level 27 but thats it until its fully evolved, and it doesnt learn its best healing move (synthesis) until level 39. This is especially a problem as Wood Hammer does recoil damage. . (though a visit to the move relearner can allow it to get synthesis...and I recommend doing so)
Now you could hold back evolution and get those moves earlier...except its preevolved forms dont learn Earthquake....which is a hell of a move to miss out on (remember TMs in Gen IV are single use so you might not want to use it on this pokemon).
So its basically a grass type without the usual healing and support options. Still though Grass types are natural tanks and this thing hits like a ton of bricks, so I will take that trade off. (and heck in Gen VII it learns Earthquake whenever it evolves, meaning its possible to have both Earthquake and Synthesis on this thing by level 33...so I'd love to have this thing in Alola)
Now yes that same secondary typing makes him vulnerable to the secondary typing of the Grass Starter too...but hes a water type, hes supposed to lose that match up. Or is he? Because Torterra's typing makes him quad weak to Ice...and as a water pokemon this thing can learn some ice type attacks. And Empoleon has the speed advantage.
But what really makes this Pokemon shine is his defensive capabilities. He's immune to poison and he resists ALL but 5 types (at least in Generation IV) of the remaining, with only two fire and grass (and Ghost and Dark from Gen VI on) doing normal damage, and the final 3, fighting, ground, electric doing double. And its water typing allows it to STAB hit two of those (fire and ground) What I'm getting at is this thing fears very little as far as taking damage, especially special damage, due to his 101 special defense. And since most electric and Grass attacks in Gen IV were special, means even again the types that can damage it, they dont do that much.
Now offensively this thing is very limited, especially by water type standards, and your almost definitely going to have to use its average attack for at least one of its moves if you want good type coverage (although it can get Water/Steel/Ice moves with its much higher special attack). But while I dont like stalling as a style, I do like for my starters to be the backbone of my team as far as being able to battle anything and win....and even with its limited movepool this thing can definitely do that.
1 Swampert
Ok so, offensively Water and Ground overlap on 2 types, Rock and Fire. Meaning the only thing that Water brings to the table is coverage against Ground types. But Ice does that as well. And defensively, Water removes the usual ground weaknesses to water and ice, and Ground removes the water weakness to electric, leaving Grass as its only weakness...albeit a Quad weakness, but that weakness is also covered by the Ice type.
Point is though, in Gen III there is an argument to be made, that with the exception of Ice Beam, this thing is best played as a pure physical type, basically ignoring its water type all together.
Now thanks the the Physical special split existing in Gen VI, you CAN now actually give this thing great physical water attacks if you want... So you can use it as a more traditional water starter. And what did it lose in this transition from Gen III to VI? nothing. You can also continue to use it as a ground type with a decent physical Ice move for coverage. (and not that Id recommend it but you can also use a special poison move in Gen VI to cover the grass weakness)
So yea its a great pokemon (albeit a bit non traditional) in Gen III, and only improved in Gen VI....but its got one more huge thing going for it as well in both games....there are NO grass type gym leaders or Elite 4 members in Hoenn (although Sidney has two dark/grass on his dark team...but in Gen III only one of them has a grass type attack). So this thing goes strong or neutral against almost ever major battle. Outside of Sidney only Champion Steven Stone's Cradily or Champion Wallace's Ludicolo (in emerald) is your only real threat from anyone in the league (and Cradily is removed from Steven's rematch team).
Even as far as rivals go, you dont have much to worry about. Out of the 5 battles in OR/AS with May/Brandon, in 2 of them their Sceptile wont know any grass moves (in R/S its only 1 out of 4 battles they wont know a grass move in). Emerald however added a second grass type to May/Brandons team though again 2 of the 5 battles are optional. Then as far as Wally goes, before the post game his Roselia is the only threat, and he only fights you with Roselia once...and even then only in Gen VI.
Basically outside of these small handful of battles between the evil teams and the rival, its weak to nothing you will face in the game at all. So it has to be considered the best choice of any starter in any game.
Finally as a Hoenn Starter, versions matter and this thing does better in R/OR (and Emerald) as it has a type advantage against the fire and ground types of team Magma. However, note it breaks even with Team Aqua so its at no disadvantage there.And its ground typing lets it take out the posion types (minus Koffing) on both teams, and its typing makes it resist poison type attacks.
Also in Gen VI it naturally learns a rock move (to deal with the Zubat family members) and a fighting move (to deal with darks). So in Gen 6 anyways by using only its natural move set it can take down any pokemon of either villainous team, with no weaknesses to any of them and a big advantage over team magma's main types (and in Gen 3, it can do the same with TM's for fighting and ice type moves, though Ice uses its much lower special attack stat). Basically in game, it seems to be the premier choice for battling the evil teams.
One thing I do have to take issue with (cause its only fair) is how this thing starts as a quadruped, then evolves to be bipedal, then evolves again into a quadruped, then mega evolves into a bipedal form....WTF game freak?
So there you have it folks...all 22 starters laid out from best to worst....you know for the epic pokemon game they will someday make that has all 800+ 'Mon all 7 regions and actually makes you pick between all 22 starters :P
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