Every Pokemon Starter Ranked

No Pokemon journey is possible without a starter. These Pokemon will be your first companions, and among your most trusted and powerful. However, not all starters are created equal: Here’s our list of all 32 starters in the mainline games from the weakest to the most powerful.

32: Pikachu

Pikachu is one of the most iconic Pokemon of them all, and it’s appeared as a starter in two separate games: Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu. While it’s a viable partner overall, it struggles compared to others for one big reason: it can’t evolve in any game where it’s the partner. The only way around this (at least in Yellow) is to trade it away, at which point it loses its unique niche. It only has one weakness, Ground, but its low defense and HP means it struggles to take a hit.

31: Eevee

Eevee is the starter for Let’s Go Eevee, and while it does benefit from a versatile move set and being slightly stronger than Pikachu overall, it’s beaten out by Pikachu in both attack and special attack. While no pokemon are weak to the Normal type, it’s only weak to one type (Fighting) and is immune to Ghost, while it’s versatile moveset gives it plenty of options to deal with its foes. However, as with Pikachu, your partner Eevee can’t evolve, meaning we can’t justify placing it higher.

30: Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium

Meganium is the tank of the fully-evolved Johto starters and has a wide moveset, but its mediocre attack stat is let down by the fact that the majority of moves the line learns by levelling up are non-damaging. However later games gave it the Leaf Guard ability, granting it an immunity to status conditions, boosting its viability.

29: Squirtle, Wartortle, and Blastoise

The least useful of the Kanto starters, a fully evolved Blastoise is still a defensive beast, although safely it doesn’t get a secondary type alongside its contemporaries. Later games in the series drastically improved the line with new moves, but if given the choice, one of the others will usually be the better choice. A secondary Steel typing would doubtless boost this line’s viability, but since the Steel type wasn’t introduced until Generation 2 that leaves Blastoise in an odd position. Despite its iconic nature, you’re usually better off picking a different Water type.

28: Grookey, Thwackey, and Rillaboom

The adorable monkey Grookey evolves into the Grass type drumming gorilla Rillaboom, a powerful attacker with decent defense and speed. However, its shallow moveset and a lack of a secondary type mean it struggles to do anything most other grass types don’t do better. Giving it the Rock or Ground type would significantly boost its viability, but… well, it’s still a rock and roll-playing monkey.

27: Oshawott, Dewott, and Samurott

This adorable otter evolves into a powerful mixed attacker, despite mediocre defensive stats. However, it has a chance of gaining the hidden ability Shell Armor, granting it a useful immunity to critical hits. It also benefits from a wide move pool, but lacking a secondary type means it doesn’t quite stack up against some of the other starters.

26: Treecko, Grovyle, and Sceptile

The Treecko line suffers from being a monotype one going up against two dual type alternatives. However, it does gain a handy double effectiveness against the Mudkip line. This speedy special attacker has a decent attack stat and a decent movepool, while its mega evolution boosts its highest stats even further, as well as granting it a Dragon typing.

25: Totodile, Croconaw, and Feraligatr

If we were ranking based on spelling, this line would be rock bottom. Feraligatr was named back when there was a ten-character limit. It should be Feraligator, which at least makes sense. This bulky physical attacker has access to a wide variety of moves that cover its weaknesses effectively and grant it access to some of the most powerful moves in the game.

24: Sobble, Drizzile, and Inteleon

This sensitive Water type evolves into the Suave superspy Inteleon, which boasts high speed and special attack at the expense of middling HP and defensive stats. Its signature move, Snipe Shot, bypasses any attempts to redirect it and has an enhanced critical hit rate, while the hidden ability Sniper will increase the damage critical hits cause. It may be a little too situational to use to its full effect, but it does make Inteleon a decent choice, despite its low ranking.

23: Tepig, Pignite, and Emboar

The Tepig line suffers for a few reasons, most notably being the third Fire/Fighting type in a row. It has high HP, attack, and special attack, but its low defensive stats and speed mean that it’s not too hard for a powerful Water, Flying, or Ground type to take it down quickly. The line’s hidden ability, Reckless, increases the damage of recoil moves at the expense of taking more damage from using them, which means it can be hard for an Emboar to take advantage of it effectively without putting itself at risk.

22: Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon

The Piplup line has decent physical stats and great special stats, as well as a decent movepool – albeit one which isn’t quite as wide as other starters. Its secondary Steel typing grants it a handy resistance to the Grass type, letting it avoid one part of the obligatory elemental rock paper scissors, but at the expense of its weakness to Fighting and Ground types.

21: Chespin, Quilladin, and Chesnaught

Don’t let this hedgehog fool you – it evolves into a bulky Grass/Fighting type with a massive defense stat. Even better, its hidden ability Bulletproof grants it immunities to many powerful moves, including some that would otherwise be super effective. It also has access to the move Curse by TM, boosting its attack and defense further at the cost of its already low speed.

20: Cyndaquil, Quilava, and Typhlosion

Johto’s Fire type line benefits from great attack and a wide movepool, as well as a sleek design. However, its lack of a secondary typing lowers its viability somewhat. It’s even referred to as the volcano Pokemon, so a Ground typing would be perfect. However, it has access to the Flash Fire hidden ability, granting it immunity to the Fire type while boosting its own Fire moves whenever it’s hit by one.

19: Scorbunny, Raboot, and Cinderace

This line of Fire types is based on rabbits, and takes heavy inspiration from soccer. Cinderace has high attack and speed as well as the hidden ability Libero, which lets it change its typing to whichever move it’s about to use, as well as a wide movepool that lets it use the latter effectively. While it isn’t quite as good as some of the more specialized starters, it does make it easily the best in Galar.

18: Fennekin, Braixen, and Delphox

The Fennekin line may lose cuteness points as it gets older, but don’t let that fool you – Delphox is a speedy special attacker with high special defense and a great moveset. It also has the hidden ability Magician, letting it steal the ability of any enemies it hits with a damaging move, potentially messing up its opponent’s strategy.

17: Quaxly, Quaxwell, and Quaquaval

The Quaxly line is the worst of the Paldean starters. Aside from having a questionable design, the line’s great attack is let down by its weaknesses in every other stat. However, its signature move Aqua Step boosts its speed whenever it’s used in battle, which adds to its viability. Its hidden ability, Moxie, also boosts its attack whenever it defeats an opponent, so don’t wash your hands on this Water type.

16: Cyndaquil, Quilava, and Hisuian Typhlosion

Hisuian Typhlosion’s secondary Ghost typing grants it handy immunities to Normal and Fighting types, while granting it a boost to its special attack. It only learns one Ghost type move naturally, Ghost Parade, but this move has a 30% chance of burning its target, and hits twice as hard if the target is already inflicted with a status condition.  Its hidden ability, Frisk, lets it identify what item its opponent is holding. While this is less flashy than many abilities, it can help you identify any problems you might face as soon as Typhlosion enters the field.

15: Snivy, Servine, and Serperior

This regal Grass type line focuses on defense, special defense, and speed. However, don’t let that trick you into thinking it’s a pure tank. The Snivy line gets access to the hidden ability Contrary, which reverses any attempts to raise or lower its stats. The Snivy line can easily take advantage of some of the most impractical moves in the game, such as Leaf Storm, while benefitting from any attempts to weaken it.

14: Chimchar, Monferno, and Infernape

A fully evolved Infernape is a speedy mixed attacker with a decent movepool and an awesome design that echoes the legendary monkey king, Wukong. It also has a great movepool that includes punching moves which take advantage of its Iron Fist ability. However, there’s one Fire/Fighting starter that beats it.

13: Rowlet, Dartrix, and Hisuian Decidueye

The first two steps in this evolutionary line are identical to the native Alolan form, but Hisuian Decidueye trades its secondary Ghost typing for a Fighting one. While it only learns two Fighting moves on its own, Triple Arrows is really all you need thanks to it reducing your opponent’s defensive stats while boosting Decidueye’s critical hit rate. It also has slightly higher attack, HP, and defense than its Alolan form. Its hidden ability, Scrappy, also allows it to hit Ghost types with Normal and Fighting moves, while making it immune to intimidation.

12: Oshawott, Dewott, and Hisuian Samurott

Hisuian Samurott gains a secondary Dark typing, which already gives it the edge over its Unovan form. Its signatura ability, Ceaseless Edge,  has a high critical hit rate and a decent strength of 65, but also causes its opponent to take residual damage for a few turns after they’re hit. However, the move gains a massive boost from Samurott’s hidden ability, Sharpness, which powers up slicing moves. Add in great attack and special attack, decent speed, and a versatile move pool, and Hisuian Samurott can quickly become its opponent’s worse nightmare.

11: Popplio, Brionne, and Primarina

While the Popplio line’s design leaves a lot to be desired, its fantastic special stats and Water/Fairy typing mean that it can be a far more dangerous foe than it appears. While its movepool isn’t the widest, it has plenty of moves to cover its weaknesses. Its hidden ability, Liquid Voice, turns any sound-based moves into the Water type. Its signature move, Sparkling Aria, is fairly situational in that it cures those it hits of any burns, but this can still shut down any attempts to utilize certain abilities like Guts.

10: Rowlet, Dartrix, and Decidueye

This adorable owl evolves into a Grass type archer which trades its secondary Flying type for the Ghost type. Decidueye is a mixed attacker with high special defense and a great movepool. Its hidden ability, Long Reach, means it never makes contact with an enemy, letting it bypass numerous abilities or moves that can make touching your opponent a risky prospect.

9: Mudkip, Marshtomp, and Swampert

The Mudkip line has the dubious honour of having a double weakness to Grass, but don’t let that put you off – its typing means this is its only weakness while granting it an immunity to one of the Water type’s greatest weaknesses, the Electric type, and losing the Ground type’s weakness to Ice. The line also benefits from high attack and decent stats overall, apart from its middling speed. It also gets a mega evolution boosting its attack even further, while also granting it the Swift Swim ability, which boosts its speed in the rain. It’s not the strongest Water type starter, but it’s certainly up there.

8: Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, and Venusaur

Possibly the least popular of the original three starters, the Bulbasaur line benefits from a useful second typing (Poison) and a wide moveset, including status moves. Later games also gave it both a Mega form and a Gigantamax form, as with its Kantonian contemporaries. However it isn’t until later in the franchise that it gets access to a few damaging Poison type moves, so despite it being the best starter in its home games, it’s not the best Kantonian starter overall.

7: Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard

The only starter that rivals Pikachu in terms of iconicness, Charizard is an offensive beast with an awesome design, two separate mega forms to choose from, a Gigantamax form, a wide move pool including some of the most powerful moves in the game, and an immunity to Ground, one of the Fire Types greatest weaknesses. Despite this, other Fire type starters benefit from better abilities, movepools, and all-around strength.

6: Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra

This bulky attacker benefits from a wide moveset, including some of the most reliable attacking moves in the game. Even better, it can boost its attack and defense at once while sacrificing its mediocre speed, but as a tortoise with a tree growing from its back a Torterra isn’t going to be outspeeding much anyway. It’s also the only starter pokemon that eschews the elemental rock paper scissors when it’s fully evolved, losing its weakness to the Fire type thanks to its secondary Ground typing.

5: Litten, Torracat, and Incineroar

Litten may be an adorable little kitten, but it evolves into Incineroar, a powerful Fire/Dark type with decent defenses based on a wrestler. Incineroar has access to a variety of different moves, including several which can cover its weaknesses or boost its lacklustre speed. Its hidden ability, Intimidate, also lowers the attack of any opposing Pokemon when it enters the field.

4: Sprigatito, Floragato, and Meowscarada

Sprigatito may evolve to have a questionable design, but this speedy feline packs a serious punch. Meowscarada’s signature move, Flower Trick, never misses and always lands a critical hit, letting it bypass your enemy’s defense or evasion with ease. Even better, the line’s hidden ability Protean lets it change its typing, shaking off its weaknesses, making it an unpredictable enemy. Despite Protean now activating only once per battle, Meowscarada’s versatile moveset and having an awesome signature move earns it a place in the top 5.

3: Froakie, Frogadier, and Greninja

The best Water type starters of them all, the humble Froakie evolves into a speedy mixed attacker based on a ninja. What makes this line stand out is the hidden ability Protean, which allows it to change its type to whichever move it’s about to use, granting it a same type attack bonus on every move while making it unpredictable to enemies. Some special ability get Battle Bond instead, which boost several of its stats whenever it takes down an enemy in battle, and in Generation VII also strengthens its signature move, Water Shuriken.

2: Torchic, Combusken, and Blaziken

The Torchic line is the first of the Fire/Fighting starters, but inarguably the best. The line is a mixed attacker with a wide movepool, but it really shines thanks to its hidden ability, Speed Boost, which raises its speed by one stage every turn. After a few turns, Blaziken can mow through its opponents before they even have time to react.

1: Fuecoco, Crocalor, and Skeledirge

Skeledirge is the mighty glacier of the Paldean starters, boasting high defense and HP, as well as the highest special attack of the three. Its signature move, Torch Song, boosts its special attack even further whenever it’s used. Even better, with two immunities, seven resistances, and no double weaknesses, it’ll take some effort to silence Skeledirge before it starts chewing through its enemy’s HP.

Looking for more Pokemon? Check out our tierlist of every region in the mainline Pokemon games.