Starters in Sinnoh: Which one to choose

[pokemonfan]

Well, throughout all my adventures in sinnoh I have always chosen piplup. Piplup has just always seemed the better of the 3. However, as I look deeper into the game and the different gyms I start to rethink and go Hmmm.. maybe someone else could have done the job better. Well I think that in order to come up with the best choice you have to look at aspects like gyms, wild pokemon, and type strengths and weaknesses. So that is what this guide will touch on and based on that you will be able to decide for yourself which one you think is the best.

Spoiler

Well there are a total of eight gyms and each of the gym leaders specializes in a different type pokemon here is the list.

1. Gym one in oreburgh ground and rock types
2. Gym 2 in eterna city grass types
3. gym 3 a big change from D/P to PT hearthome ghost type (usually this gym is closer to the end)
4. gym 4 in veilstone a figthing type
5. gym 5 pastoria a water type
6. gym 6 canalave?? Not sure
7. gym 7 snowpoint ice type
8. gym 8 sunnyshore electric types

Ok, each gym has their own weaknesses and some of them are obvious.

The first gym is really weak against water types so piplup is looking really good right now. Oh, but then look at the next gym piplup is at a disadvantage against grass type now chimchar is looking good. Then we got the ghost type gym I'm not to sure on that one my prayers lied with my caught rotom there. We got veilstone that is weak against ghost, flying, psychic and a few more. Pastoria, well work with electric pokemon for there but I know that he might have a powerful quagsire which is water and ground so that is a magnified weakness against grass ooh turtwig is looking pretty good right now. Skipping canalave, snowpoint pretty obvious ice types chimchar looking pretty sweet. Then we have sunnyshore with electric I believe that turtwig is in the spotlight again. So which one to choose well keep reading.

Piplup:

1. first gym: good
2. second gym: bad
3. 3rd gym: so so
4. 4th: so so
5. 5th gym: not really
6. 6th: unsure
7. 7th uh not really
8. 8th: are you kidding me pull that penguin back no way!

Turtwig:

1. first gym: good against ground types
2. second gym: so so
3. 3rd gym: depends
4. 4th gym: uh not so much
5. 5th gym: oh grass grass and more grass
6. 6th unsure
7. 7th: um I dont really think so
8. 8th: yeas pretty good ground would be better so torterra would be nice

Chimchar:

1. 1st gym: um not really
2. Second gym: you could burn it to the ground
3. 3rd gym: some what
4. 4th gym: totally lucario will fall before you!
5. 5th gym: only if you are insane
6. 6th gym: not sure
7. 7th gym: melt melt melt!
8. 8th gym: not really positive on that one maybe so so

Now for why I choose piplup all the time:

Rocks against the first gym
You can catch a fire type (ponyta) and a flying type (starly) to handle that grass types
Ghosts dont need to scare you when you have a rotom and a evolved piplup with steel moves
um once again you can catch the right pokemon to handle mayleen
There are good grass types available to handle crasher wake.
6th gym not sure
Time to bring back ponyta for those ice types
8th gym: fly back to oreburgh or go to iron island catch ground pokemon

The elite four is where you bring the best products of fighting at those gyms. That is why I choose piplup. However, now I'm looking at turtwig and thinking, maybe I chose wrong.

The choice is yours this was just here to help you. Have fun with whatever one you choose! (press the show button to view guide)

[damio]

What about all 3?
I have 2 DSes and 2 Games.
It's easy for me to do it.

[randomspot555]

The TLDR version is anyone can make it through the gym/e4.

The fire starter is almost always given preference because fire types are relatively hard to come by in the games. Chimchar is at a disadvantage for the first two gyms, but Mach Punch helps out a lot, and weaknesses can be covered by other Pokes encountered on the way.

Turtwig and Piplup, as they evolve, gain quite a few resistances, and a lot of bulk. Chimchar, not so much.

So want to play a bit more defense? Piplup or Turtwig. all out offense with great dual STAB? Chimchar.

[Arceus010]

Chimchar weak to grass type moves??

Anyway, I usally choose Chimchar. Piplup 2.

[BarkingFrog]

I always choose Chimcar, look for adamant, reset the game until I got one.. it's strong enough..

[HottSushiz]

Well Chimchar owns the every Gym Leader except water, because as soon as it evolves to Monferno, it learns fighting typed moves, which make him PWN the 2nd Gym Leader.

But for Platinum, i wanted a change, for a flaming Monkey, i have chosen a water steel typed PENGUIN, i really only chose it because i love it's 3rd form, and that it can learn Surf, without me having to catch a Pokemon, or requires me to put any effort.

[drobb]

i dunno why but i ALWAYS take the water starter. have since red/blue. so as usual i took pinplup.

[pokemonfan]

Thanks for all the comments. I guess I choose piplup because well its just my favorite and I can cover its gym weaknesses with other pokemon like ponyta in the grass type gym.

[Doc]

all pokemon games are overun with grass and water pokemon, fire types still remain quite rare so no matter what pokemon game your playing i believe choosing the fire starter is always the best option.

[Zafur]

I didn't really like any of the starters for this gen, but I chose Turtwig because Grotle reminds me of Spike from those Land Before Time movies I used to watch when younger.
I think it ended up being a good choice. Although he's slow, he's good defensively, so it didn't matter if he got hit first most of the time. And his high attack stat came in handy, particularly with all those caves filled with rock types and all the water types you have to battle. (Fishermen, Surfing, etc)
If you want to speed through the game with a starter though, I think Chimchar would probably be more useful. Especially in D/P, where he's one of two fire types before the National Dex.

[Ninja_Soldier_Raiden]

I go for turwig....good defense and attack

[pokemonfan]

I guess all you people and your fire types have a point but I still think that piplup is the best. Mostly because piplup was the second pokemon I liked ever. First was pikachu then came piplup so yeah but now it is drifloon. I wish there were ghost starters!

[Akaria]

I always choose fire-types and Chimchar was very helpful, and ended up conquering every gym no problem.

Roark - Fighting-type moves.
Gardenia - BURNBURNBURN
Maylene - Mainly just brute force, Monferno/Infernape is pretty fast at this point.
Crasher Wake - Fighting-type moves or catch a Shinx along the way.
Fantina - Fire-type moves.
Byron - Both Fighting and Fire-type moves.
Candice - BURN
Volkner - Fire-type moves out of preference.

I just find it works for me.

[pokemonfan]

If it works, well no objection, mine worked for me because I trained a great variety of pokemon to block my starters gym weaknesses.

[D@t@_G@ll@de#3]

They were right about the fighting moves. They were right about the low population of fire types. It makes a great dual type Pokemon. If you nedd more defense just give it tons of items. And one more thing. I've been experimenting wih all of my games, and like one of the others said, once chimchar evolves, the gyms are WHOOPED. See, each starter has more than types. This goes into consideration when planning a good team: The fire types are hard to control at the start (and usually get whipped by the gym leaders), but as you get farther in the game and raise your chimchar to a reasonable amount per day,week,etc. the game will become easier. In other words, fire types are hard at start and easy at end. Vice versa for water types. Grass types are at a minimal, so the difficulty seems to stay the same throughout the game. The game designers probably had this along with the rest of game mechanics, because I've noticed this pattern in every Pokemon game. So I think you should choose Chimchar (but still, that's just my way of playing)