Best Starter Pokemon: Which Starter To Choose

Fuecoco is our recommendation as the best starter Pokemon for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (SV). Read on to find out which starter to choose, why it is the best starter, other starter Pokemon matchups, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the best natures for each of them!

Best Starter Pokemon

Fuecoco

Fuecoco Type:	・Guaranteed fire-type Pokemon early game. ・Great offensive and defensive typing. ・Final evolution gains the Ghost type. ・Has advantage over 6 of the 8 Gym Leaders. ・Resists or is immune to 4 of the 5 Team Star Bases ・Looks cool!

Guaranteed Fire Pokemon

Fuecoco is the best starter for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet because of its Fire-typing. Unlike Grass- and Water-type Pokemon, Fire-types are generally rarer than other types and having one in your team from the beginning of the game is always ideal for type coverage.

Although Armarouge and Ceruledge are also fire-type Pokemon, it's quite difficult to evolve Charcadet into them early on in the game. Having Fuecoco by your side from the start of your journey will add variety to your team.

Complete Story Walkthrough

Great Offensive and Defensive Typing

Fuecoco's Fire-typing also gives it type advantage over Pokemon that have fewer weaknesses such as Steel. It also resists Fairy-type unlike the other starter types.

Fire is super effective against 4 types while also resisting 6 other types.

Skeledirge gains the Ghost Typing

Fuecoco's final evolution, Skeledirge is a dual Fire Ghost type. This gives it 2 immunities, Normal and Fighting, as well as the ability to hit Psychic and other Ghost type Pokemon for STAB boosted super effective damage. It only picks up 2 additional weaknesses as well in the Ghost and Dark types.
Type Chart: All Matchups and Effectiveness

Has Advantage Over Six of the Eight Gym Leaders

Fuecoco has type advantage over the majority of the gyms in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. The Ice-type gym leader Grusha, Grass-type gym leader Brassius, Bug-type gym leader Katy, Ghost-type gym leader Ryme and Psychic-type gym leader Tulip are all weak to either Fire or Ghost. In addition, Skeledirge is completely immune to Larry's Normal-type gym team. This just leaves two gyms with a neutral or unfavorable match up.
All Gym Leader Types and Pokemon

Resists Almost all of the Team Star Bases

With the exception of the Dark type Team Star Base, Fuecoco and its final evolution resist or is immune to all of the Team Star Bases. The 5 Types are Dark, Fighting, Fire, Fairy and Poison. Thanks to its useful type combinations Skeledirge is able to hit all of these types for neutral damage.

Looks Cool!

Finally, Fuecoco's design is pretty cool! It looks like a cross between a reptile and a hot pepper which is perfect because it's a fire-type Pokemon. Its wide mouth and short arms are reminiscent to that of Gible - another cute and seemingly harmless Pokemon that evolves into a deadly and strong Pokemon.

Starter Pokemon Final Evolutions and Stats

Evolution Chart

Starter Pokemon Evolution Chart
Sprigatito	Floragato	Meowscarada
Quaxly	Quaxwell	Quaquaval
Fuecoco	Crocalor	Skeledirge
-	Evolves at Lv. 16	Evolves at Lv. 36

All three of the Starter Pokemon, Sprigatito, Quaxly and Fuecoco, evolve into their respective evolutions, Floragato, Quaxwell and Crocalor at level 16. They then evolve into their final evolutions, Meowscarada, Quaquaval and Skeledirge at level 36.

Final Evolution Base Stats Comparison

Starter Final Evolutions Base Stats Comparison
Pokemon	HP	Atk	Def	Sp Atk	Sp Def	Speed
Meowscarada	76	110	70	81	70	123
Quaquaval	85	120	80	85	75	85
Skeledirge	104	75	100	110	75	66

Meowscarada

Meowscarada is an offensive sweeper with a high Attack and Speed stat. Up until it evolves into Floragato, as a pure Grass type, Sprigatito is quite difficult to use. When it evolves into Meowscarada however, it gains the Dark type, expanding its move pool and type effectiveness and making it much easier to utilize in battle.

Quaquaval

As Quaquaval's stats are extremely well-rounded, it is well suited for both defense and offense. Thanks to its additional Fighting typing, it gains access to some powerful fighting Type moves such as close combat, which can deal some impressive damage.

Skeledirge

Skeledirge has the highest Special Attack out of the 3 Starters. In exchange for a low Speed stat, both its HP and Defense stats are quite high. Thanks to its additional Ghost typing, it gains an advantage over Psychic and other Ghost type Pokemon, which is sure to give it an edge.

Starter Pokemon Matchups

Gym and Team Star Matchups

Gym battles are a staple in most Pokemon games and some of them can prove to be more challenging than the others.

Refer to the table below to see how well the starters will do against each Gym Leader.

Gym	Skeledirge	Meowscarada	Quaquaval
Grusha	Advantage	Disadvantage	Advantage
Brassius	Advantage	Neutral	Disadvantage
Iono	Neutral	Resists	Disadvantage
Ryme	Advantage	Advantage	Disadvantage
Larry	Advantage	Neutral	Advantage
Kofu	Disadvantage	Advantage	Neutral
Katy	Advantage	Disadvantage	Neutral
Tulip	Advantage	Advantage	Disadvantage

Gym	Skeledirge	Meowscarada	Quaquaval
Mela	Advantage	Disadvantage	Advantage
Giacomo	Disadvantage	Advantage	Advantage
Atticus	Advantage	Disadvantage	Neutral
Ortega	Advantage	Disadvantage	Disadvantage
Eri	Advantage	Disadvantage	Neutral

Complete Story Walkthrough

Starter Pokemon Advantages and Disadvantages

Your starter Pokemon will be your trusted partner for most of the game so it's important that you choose the one that you're most comfortable with!

We have listed below the advantages and disadvantages of each starter to help you decide which starter to get.

Pokemon	Advantages	Disadvantages
Fuecoco	・Great offensive and defensive typing. ・Its final evolution gains the useful Ghost Typing. ・Strong against the majority of gyms and Team Star bosses. ・Guaranteed Fire-type Pokemon early game. ・Looks adorable!	・Armarouge and Ceruledge are tough competitors since both are fire types. ・Is a little slower than the other starters.
Sprigatito	・Great against Water-types since it only has two weaknesses. ・Is a fast utility Pokemon. ・Can use any Tera Type to cover its weaknesses. ・It's a cute cat!	・Has 5 weaknesses
Quaxly	・Great against Armarouge and Ceruledge ・Its final evolution, being a Fighting-type, can take on the many Normal-type Pokemon in the game.	・Gyarados and Toxapex are tough competitions. ・There are plenty of Water-type Pokemon to choose from.

Gen 9 Starters and Evolutions

Fuecoco

Fuecoco has great offensive and defensive typing. Plus, when it evolves into the Fire / Ghost type Skeledirge, it resists 6 types and gains 2 immunities, as well as dealing super effective damage on 6 types.

Fire-type Pokemon are also rarer than Grass and Water-types so having Fuecoco adds variety to your team in the early game.

Sprigatito

Sprigatito's typing makes it great against Water-types which only have two weaknesses. It is also very useful thanks to its high speed stat, allowing it to attack most opposing Pokemon of similar levels first.

Sprigatito evolves into the Grass / Dark Meowscarada. but this typing unfortunately makes it very weak to Bug types. When it comes to typing, Fuecoco's final evolution Skeledirge is superior.

Quaxly

Quaxly evolves into the Water / Fighting Quaquaval. Thanks to this addition of the Fighting typing, this dashing Pokemon has a good matchup against hard-to-deal-with Steel-types. Despite not having an immunity, it can resist 7 types and deal super effective damage to 9 types

However, Quaxly has got tough competition. There are plenty of Water-type Pokemon in the game such as Gyarados - a fan favorite because of its great stats and ability.

Which Starter Would You Choose?

Let us know why in the comments!

Best Natures for Each Starter Pokemon

Recommended Nature for Each Starter

Recommended Nature
Sprigatito Modest	Fuecoco Modest	Quaxly Adamant

As Quaxly and Sprigatito are Physical attackers, we recommend the Adamant nature as it boosts the Pokemon's Attack while lowering its Sp. Attack.

Fuecoco on the other hand is a Special attacker, making Modest the best nature for it, as it increases its Sp. Attack while decreasing its Attack.

Avoid Natures which decrease Speed

Having a Nature which hurts a Pokemon's Speed is unadvisable in any situation. We'd especially recommend avoiding any of these Natures in your Starter Pokemon.

Resetting for Natures, IVs, Gender and Shinies

When you select your starter Pokemon the Nature, IV's and Gender are determined out of a number of different possibilities. If you do not get the specific trait or combination you desire, you can simply turn the game off and back on and try again. You can save before selecting your Starter Pokemon to speed up this process.

Unfortunately in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the Starter Pokemon are shiny locked, meaning you cannot reset for shininess. Below is a table with all of the odds for each trait.

How to Soft Reset for Shinies, Nature, and IVs

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Related Guides

Beginner's Tips and Tricks

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tips and Tricks