When Chespin was first revealed, I had high hopes that it would resemble a grass-type Typhlosion or Sandslash. Meganium’s appearance matches its character all too well: intriguing but lacking any edge to speak of. Bayleef and Meganium’s designs are the perfect sequels to Venusaur, resulting in a far more pleasant and flowery design than the toady, monstrous form Bulbasaur takes in the end. Meganium does have access to some interesting, supportive-type attacks, but these moves probably won’t appeal to the more casual player, and the competitive player has much better options available, including other starters. Its singular grass typing leaves it with an equal number of weaknesses and resistances, but with one of the most lackluster movesets of any starter, Meganium can’t exploit much beyond those Pokémon it resists. Its stats are balanced to a fault, with an uninteresting emphasis placed on its defenses. Everything else about Chikorita is bland to the point of being bad. Chikorita is all too frequently viewed as the worst starter but edges out Oshawott if only for Meganium’s charming design, being historically more viable, and the fact that it could handily best Samurott in a fight. Bearing little resemblance to either of its namesakes, a samurai or an otter, Samurott ends up awkward and just another seal/sea lion amongst many better-designed ones. While Dewott is a marked improvement, honestly ranking up there with one of the best “teen stages” amongst the starters, Samurott’s design sinks the positive direction Dewott steered this sea otter in. Design-wise, Oshawott looks washed out or maybe seasick. Its pure water typing is dull, and the corresponding movepool is perhaps the worst of any starter, drowned in water and normal-type attacks. It has a fairly high Attack and Special Attack stat and a higher than average HP stat, but with no speed or defense to speak of, those stats won’t be allowed to shine if Samurott’s already been blown out of the water.Įverything else about Oshawott is bland. It literally has the lowest total stats of any water starter, but the distribution of those stats is the real disappointment here. While you’ll have to wait for that, Oshawott ranked as the worst starter for several reasons. With all of that out of the way, here are all twenty-four starter Pokémon ranked from worst to best.Īnyone expecting Chikorita in this position is well aware of the second-generation grass starter’s bad reputation. Eevee and Pikachu will also be left off of the list, as even their enhanced stats aren’t comparable as basic Pokémon. Further, this list won’t heavily take into consideration Mega Evolutions as not all starters have them, and I want to keep the playing field as even as possible, though in instances they do impact competitive usage and, as a consequence, this list. These rankings also aren’t exclusively informed by each Pokémon’s competitive viability, though we will take that into consideration, as that is an element of overall usability and will be measured through usage. While this list doesn’t just reflect my personal preferences, my opinions inform it as impressions of aspects like design are, by nature, opinion, and even the most rigorous interpretation of stats still boils down to player preference. To celebrate newcomers Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble, I’m ranking all eight generations of starters to decide once and for all which starter is the greatest of all time by systematically ranking them in consideration of stats, design, moveset, typing/ability/general usability, and historical competitive viability by comparison to one another. All of this begs the question, though: which starter Pokémon is actually the best? Starters, like cover Pokémon, are also divisive, dissecting the community as the fandom rallies behind their starter of choice only for those allegiances to be shaken up and the community re-divided with the reveal of the starters’ final evolutions. It is no surprise that starters tend to be among the most popular Pokémon generation to generation as fans become attached to their partner Pokémon. Ranking All Pokémon Starters is Hard WorkĪrguably the most important decision a player makes in a Pokémon playthrough, selecting a starter defines the journey a player is about to embark on.
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