One of the most important decisions that you make at the beginning of a Pokemon journey is who your starter will be. Anyone who has played one of these games in the past knows you have your choice of a Grass-, Fire-, or Water-type ‘mon. But it’s also very important to weigh that choice against a number of other factors. Here’s everything you need to know about which starter you should choose in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.
Which Starter You Should Choose in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
The Pokemon from the Sinnoh region are very much known quantities at this point. There’s not anything new in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl that might change your choice if you liked the starter you had in the original games. But it’s still worth taking a look at which choice is the best if you didn’t concern yourself with that back in the day.
Turtwig
The first starter in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shing Pearl is everyone’s favorite little grass turtle, Turtwig. It starts out as an unassuming Grass-type and after evolving into Grotle then Torterra, it becomes the only Pokemon to have the double typing of Grass and Ground. There’s not even a Ground-type that has Grass as its secondary type. This combination is truly unique.
This special combination of types helps carry Turtwig through most of the game. You’re not going to run into any major issues until you reach the seventh gym. As the name Snowpoint City implies, the gym there is focused on Ice-type Pokemon. Ice attacks absolutely destroy Torterra. But by that time, you should have a good Fire-, Steel- or Fighting-type that can make short work of Candice’s team.
Just keep in mind that Torterra’s unique typing isn’t always a good thing. Besides its extreme weakness to Ice-type attacks, the Ground typing also makes this ‘mon receive normal damage from Water attacks rather than resisting them as most Grass-types do.
Still, Turtwig is a solid option for main story content. Anything from your first gym battle to the final match against Cynthia should be fairly straightforward with Torterra in your party. Just don’t plan on using it for any competitive matches once you wrap up the main content.
Chimchar
This monkey is a ball of pure energy that is all about speed and attacking. Once fully evolved, Infernape is a considerably fast attacker that can deal one-hit KOs to a wide range of Pokemon. And that’s a good thing because this pokemon doesn’t have the defensive stats or HP to survive very long in disadvantageous situations. This is where the attack U-Turn comes in handy.
Chimchar definitely isn’t the fastest Pokemon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but it’s the fastest starter. The first gym having a Rock-type focus doesn’t bode well early on for Chimchar users. But if you can get through that and catch some Pokemon to take on the Pastoria City Gym (Water-type focus), then the rest of the game should be relatively smooth sailing.
And for all of the positive reasons already mentioned, it’s worth sticking out the hairy first half of the game with Chimchar so you can enjoy a truly powerful starter. Best of all, it’ll give you a head start on obtaining a solid competitively-viable Pokemon. On top of that, there aren’t very many good Fire-types in the game outside of Heatran and Infernape.
Piplup
Last but not least is the adorable penguin, Piplup. The Water/Steel typing of its final evolved form (Empoleon) gives it a handful of useful resistances, nullifies Water’s Grass weakness, and adds complete immunity to Poison-type attacks. As a trade-off it makes Fire attacks hit Empoleon normally and adds weaknesses to Ground and Fighting. Yet, the positives of this typing far outweigh the negatives.
Piplup and its evolved forms won’t give you any distinct advantages over in-game trainers. The Rock and Ice gyms should be made fairly easy with Piplup, but that’s about it. This starter won’t have its partial Steel typing or Ice Beam in time for the Grass gym in Eterna City. Piplup isn’t going to be a great choice for main story content. Plus there are plenty of other Water-types to choose from.
If you’re focusing on competitive battling, then Piplup is a solid choice. Just like Chimchar, the first one you get likely won’t be great, so you’ll want to use it to get a head start on breeding a competitively-viable Piplup. If you need a Water-type on your team with solid stats and a ton of resistances, then Piplup is the way to go.
The Decision
Each one of these starters has its own long list of pros and cons, but some are easier to overlook than others. Turtwig is solid for taking on main story content and it struggles in competitive battles. Chimchar is pretty solid competitively and against the in-game trainers despite it being fairly frail. Piplup has a tough time finding advantages against in-game trainers while being a solid competitive choice.
In the end, Chimchar is definitely the best option all around. It’s a glass cannon with great speed and it can use U-Turn to get itself out of a bad spot while still dealing some chip damage.
But don’t let this new knowledge keep you from just going with your favorite design or type. The most important thing to remember when picking your starter is that they’ll be with you through the long haul, so pick a ‘mon that you’ll be happy to have on your team.
That’s all there is to know about which starter you should choose in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. For anything else that you would like to learn about the fourth-gen remakes, just check out our Guide Wiki for the games.
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