Best starters: choose for your attack style

Guide updated October 14, 2026

Choose Charmander for a simple Fire projectile, Squirtle for early piercing, Psyduck for homing boss pressure, Treecko for returning leaves, or Bulbasaur for defensive melee. Slowpoke trades speed for 110 HP. The best choice depends on the attack you can position safely; each recommendation below has a specific cost.

Six concrete starter choices

These are behavior-based recommendations, not a measured win-rate tier list. All 29 initial partners remain selectable after the personality test; reject its suggestion to choose another.

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Pokémon	HP	Movement (world units/s)	ATK multiplier	Starting attack → evolution card	Choose it when… / cost
Charmander	88	105	×1.03	Ember → Power	Simple Fire projectile; burn adds pressure. Rain halves Fire damage.
Squirtle	90	96	×0.97	Water Gun → Power	Piercing Water projectile from level 1; good for lined-up enemies. Sun weakens it.
Psyduck	92	101	×1.06	Confusion → Reflexes	Homing Confusion is its special starting move despite Water typing; useful while dodging bosses.
Slowpoke	110	84	×1.06	Confusion → Reflexes	Same homing opening, 110 HP but only 84 movement speed: more HP, less escape speed.
Treecko	88	107	×1.06	Razor Leaf → Reflexes	Razor Leaf can hit outbound and returning. Its return path rewards positioning; 88 HP gives little margin.
Bulbasaur	90	97	×1.06	Vine Whip → Power	Wide Vine Whip melee and 25% received-damage reduction while melee is active; stay at pack edges.

Named evolution recipes

After meeting both conditions, select the gold evolution card. Purchased permanent Attack/Cooldown upgrades do not satisfy these run-card conditions.

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Base attack	Result at level 5 + card	Required run card
Ember	Fire Blast	Power
Water Gun	Scald	Power
Vine Whip	Power Whip	Power
Razor Leaf	Leaf Storm	Reflexes
Confusion	Psyshock	Reflexes
Bubble	Surf	Sprint
Petal Blizzard	Petal Dance	Synthesis

A first-run route you can follow

Choose Charmander and keep Ember active. Move in a wide loop and collect XP behind the pack, rather than reversing into it.
Select Ember upgrades toward level 5 and take Power when offered. Take Sitrus Berry instead if you need immediate healing; the route does not require risking the run for a card.
Once Ember is level 5 and Power has been taken this run, choose Ember → Fire Blast on the next evolution offer. Level 5 alone does not evolve it.
Before the 3:00 boss, leave an open route beside you. Step across charge lines and out of circles. Attack levels depend on your XP and card offers, so evolution before 3:00 is a goal, not a guarantee.
Learn Swords Dance only while keeping a damage move. After a rift win, spend one Bond to fuse it with Ember; until then, keep Ember’s slot active. Quick Claw is optional loot, not a guaranteed pickup.

Try the explained example

Tools

Pokémon Compare Evolution Checker

Game data & sources

The linked game files show where these stats, costs and rules come from. Updates to the game may change them.

Data version: a9b21f09

Data version →

Six concrete starter choices

Named evolution recipes

A first-run route you can follow

Try the explained example

Tools

Related pages