3 Best Starter Pokemon by Type

With the announcement of the new starter Pokémon for Sun and Moon(due to be released on November 18th), I found myself thinking back over the previous generations. Choosing a starter Pokémon is always difficult, and some are much better than others. I thought that I would make a case for what the three best starter Pokémon have been.

These are, of course, only my personal opinions!

 

Best water-type: Piplup

For our first starter we must travel to Sinnoh, (that’s Generation IV, Diamond and Pearl). Look at that face. How could you not pick him?

It gets his first STAB (same type attack boost) move, Bubble, nice and early at level 8. You’ll sail through the first Sinnoh Gym, Oreburgh, but you’ll need some support for the second, which is grass type. When he evolves from the equally cute Prinplup into Empoleon, his final form, it becomes a dual type, water/steel, and has a total of ten type resistances. Ten. That’s the most of any starter. On top of that, being part steel, poison moves have no effect at all. No other Pokémon released thus far has this type of combination. With a high special attack, a good tip is to teach it the special steel TM move Flash Cannon, which of course, is now STAB. Empoleon also has a fantastic design, definitely one of the best looking final starter evolutions to date. He doesn’t have a mega evolution yet, but perhaps in Sun/Moon? We can only speculate.

 

Best Fire-type: Torchic

On the face of it, Torchic doesn’t seem like a good choice. He doesn’t have any advantage over any gyms until the 5th, by which time he will have evolved and learnt some fighting- type moves to pummel Norman’s Normals. Again, this Pokémon starts out because it’s adorable, but it’s all about the final form here, Blaziken.

Blaziken is also a dual type, fire/fighting. The move type coverage he can have is incredible, and he is so strong that he can easily sweep entire teams. He has a signature move, Blaze Kick, which was the first time such a thing had ever occurred in Pokémon. If you’re lucky enough that your Blaziken has the ability Speed boost, it’ll gain more speed every turn, making it a very scary opponent. In Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Blaziken was granted a mega evolution. A mega evolution so powerful that even un-evolved Blaziken is now banned in competitive Pokémon battles. That shouldn’t stop you from loving this awesome ‘mon.

 

Best grass-type: Bulbasaur

I have a very personal attachment to Bulbasaur. It was the first Pokémon I ever used in my original version of Pokémon Blue, on my big, chunky 1989 Game Boy. As you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m very keen on Pokémon that have dual typing. Bulbasaur is the only starter to have a dual type right from the word go (grass/poison), except of course Rowlet, the newly announced Grass/Flying starter.

Not only does Bulbasaur make an absolute joke of both Brock and Misty, but he becomes useful again in the 8th gym, against all the ground types there, and remains useful and powerful right up until the Elite Four, against Bruno.

Venusaur’s high defence make it a tank, and because it learns sleep powder, it’s very useful in late game legendary encounters. With Solarbeam and Petal Dance/Petal Blizzard, it’s also a very hard hitter, he can also learn Sludge Bomb by TM. Evolving to Mega Venusaur takes away his weaknesses to both fire and ice. It also gives it the highest base stats of all poison types, and the highest defence.

It’s far too early to say which is the best of the new starters, but on aesthetics alone, Rowlet is edging it for me. As well as being Grass/Flying, (a typing previously only available on Tropius, plus Hoppip and its evolutions), there’s something about those little green leaves looking like a bow-tie too. Of course, we haven’t seen the final forms yet; there’s a lot to keep watching the horizon for!

What was your first starter Pokémon? What one of the new starters catches your eye the most? Tell us in the comments!

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