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Pokemon Champions
Best Starter Pokemon to Choose First
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┗Damage Calc | Team Builder | Team Sharing
★ Tier Lists: Singles | Doubles | Mega Evolutions
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★ All Pokemon | Best Starter | Best Builds
☆ Should You Buy the Starter Pack?
The best starter Pokemon to recruit first in Pokemon Champions is either Pikachu or Tyranitar depending on the types of battles you want to do. Learn which Pokemon you should choose to recruit in the tutorial and a list of all Pokemon for each starter team!
Best Starter Pokemon to Choose First
Pikachu for Single Battles
| Pokemon | Alignment | Stats | Moves |
|---|---|---|
 Pikachu
Static Static The Pokémon is charged with static electricity and may paralyze attackers that make direct contact with it.
|
▲Speed/▼Attack
112-67-60-102-70-156 |
|
 Kingambit
Supreme Overlord Supreme Overlord When the Pokémon enters a battle, its Attack and Sp. Atk stats are slightly boosted for each of the allies in its party that have already been defeated.
|
▲Attack/▼SpAtk
207-205-140-72-105-72 |
|
 Garchomp
Rough Skin Rough Skin The Pokémon's rough skin damages attackers that make direct contact with it.
|
▲Speed/▼SpAtk
185-182-115-90-105-169 |
|
 Azumarill
Huge Power Huge Power Doubles the Pokémon's Attack stat.
|
▲Attack/▼SpAtk
207-112-100-72-100-72 |
|
 Gyarados
Intimidate Intimidate When the Pokémon enters a battle, it intimidates opposing Pokémon and makes them cower, lowering their Attack stats.
|
▲Speed/▼SpAtk
172-177-99-72-120-146 |
|
 Gengar
Cursed Body Cursed Body May disable a move that has dealt damage to the Pokémon.
|
▲Speed/▼Attack
137-76-80-182-95-178 |
If you're focused on playing in the Single Battle format, it's best to choose Pikachu as your first Pokemon to recruit. This gives you a team with Kingambit, Garchomp, Azumarill, Gyarados, and Gengar—all of which are strong picks for Single Battles.
Another good team you can choose for those who prefer Single Battles is Palafin. It has Gengar, Aggron, Beedrill, Sylveon, and Hydreigon. This is a good choice if you prefer to have more Special Attack-oriented Pokemon rather than having mainly Physical Attackers like in the Pikachu team.
Tyranitar for Double Battles
| Pokemon | Alignment | Stats | Moves |
|---|---|---|
 Tyranitar
Sand Stream Sand Stream The Pokémon summons a sandstorm when it enters a battle.
|
▲Speed/▼SpAtk
177-186-130-103-120-124 |
|
 Arcanine
Intimidate Intimidate When the Pokémon enters a battle, it intimidates opposing Pokémon and makes them cower, lowering their Attack stats.
|
▲Attack/▼SpAtk
197-178-100-108-100-117 |
|
 Whimsicott
Prankster Prankster Gives priority to the Pokémon's status moves.
|
▲Speed/▼Attack
137-78-105-129-95-184 |
|
 Drampa
Berserk Berserk Boosts the Pokémon's Sp. Atk stat when it takes a hit that causes its HP to drop to half or less.
|
▲SpAtk/▼Attack
185-72-105-205-111-58 |
|
 Aggron
Sturdy Sturdy The Pokémon cannot be knocked out by a single hit as long as its HP is full. One-hit KO moves will also fail to knock it out.
|
▲Attack/▼SpAtk
177-178-200-72-80-72 |
|
 Sylveon
Pixilate Pixilate Normal-type moves become Fairy-type moves. The power of those moves is boosted a little.
|
▲SpAtk/▼Attack
202-76-85-178-150-82 |
If you plan on playing Double Battles primarily, it's best to choose Tyranitar as your first Pokemon. This allows you to obtain Arcanine, Whimsicott, Drampa, Aggron, and Sylveon as your first permanent recruits in the game.
The standout picks of this team are Tyranitar, Arcanine, Whimsicott, and Sylveon. Tyranitar is the only Pokemon you can get from the recruitment tutorial that has access to a weather condition. Arcanine has the Intimidate ability, which is a valuable asset in Double Battles, since it lowers the Attack stat of both Pokemon on the opposing side.
Whimsicott provides valuable speed control, since it can learn both Tailwind and Trick Room. However, the Whimsicott you get from the tutorial does not have any speed control moves by default and must be trained to learn them. Sylveon has the Pixilate ability as well as the move Hyper Voice, so it can launch a strong Fairy-type move to both opposing Pokemon immediately with no set up.
All Starter Teams
| Jump to a Team | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Charizard |
Tyranitar |
 Armarouge |
 Palafin |
| Pikachu |
 Lucario |
 Gardevoir |
 Absol |
 Altaria |
 Snorlax |
||
Charizard Team
Charizard
|
Azumarill
|
 Steelix
|
Whimsicott
|
Gengar
|
Drampa
|
Tyranitar Team
Tyranitar
|
Arcanine
|
Whimsicott
|
|
Drampa
|
Aggron
|
Sylveon
|
Armarouge Team
Armarouge
|
 Hydreigon
|
 Hawlucha
|
|
Steelix
|
 Manectric
|
 Victreebel
|
Palafin Team
 Palafin (Zero Form)
|
Gengar
|
Aggron
|
 Beedrill
|
Sylveon
|
Hydreigon
|
Pikachu Team
|
Pikachu
|
Kingambit
|
Garchomp
|
|
Azumarill
|
Gyarados
|
Gengar
|
Lucario Team
|
Lucario
|
Sylveon
|
Manectric
|
|
Victreebel
|
Gyarados
|
 Froslass
|
Gardevoir Team
|
Gardevoir
|
 Heracross
|
Drampa
|
|
Azumarill
|
 Corviknight
|
 Abomasnow
|
Absol Team
|
Absol
|
Froslass
|
Corviknight
|
|
Garchomp
|
Arcanine
|
Whimsicott
|
Altaria Team
|
Altaria
|
Kingambit
|
Arcanine
|
|
Heracross
|
Hawlucha
|
Victreebel
|
Snorlax Team
|
Snorlax
|
Hawlucha
|
Abomasnow
|
|
Kingambit
|
Beedrill
|
Hydreigon
|
Starter Held Items
Fixed Tutorial Hold Items
 Lum Berry
|
 Sitrus Berry
|
 Leftovers
|
 White Herb
|
 Focus Sash
|
 Quick Claw
|
After choosing your first Pokemon to recruit and being given the rest of your initial team, the tutorial will ask you to add them to a Team in your Box. They will also be given a set of items that is fixed for all teams regardless of the Pokemon you chose.
Your Pokemon get to keep these items after the tutorial battle, and you should be able to freely move them around among your Pokemon or put them in your inventory.
Pokemon Champions Related Guides
Pokemon Champions Guides by Category
 Pokemon |
 Tips and Tricks |
 Moves |
 Abilities |
 Items |
 Mega Stones |
 Character Customization |
 Mystery Gifts |
 Movesets & Best Builds |
 News & Game Info |
Recommended Guides
| General Guides | |
|---|---|
 Ranked Battles |
 Transfer Using Pokemon HOME |
| Best Starter Pokemon to Choose First |
 Reroll Guide: Best Pokemon to Reroll |
 List of Changes from Previous Games |
- |
| Tier Lists | |
 Best Pokemon Tier List |
 Doubles Tier List
|
 Mega Tier List |
 Best Items Tier List |
Tools and Shareables
 Damage Calculator
|
 Team Builder |
 Team Sharing Board |
- |
Comment
Best Starter Pokemon to Choose First
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