How to pick the best starter in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

As you dive into Game Freak's new open-world RPG, there's a big question to consider – what's the best starter in Pokemon Legends: Z-A? One of the first choices you get – and perhaps the most important – is which Pokemon you pick to be your first partner in Lumiose City before you start battling Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon and competing in the Z-A Royale.

What's more, early into the game you'll get to make a choice of a second starter Pokemon from a different group, so there are multiple decisions to consider. There are a few factors to think about if you want to weigh up who the truly "best" choice is, which we've outlined below. Just be warned, there are some minor spoilers relating to the outcomes of each main Legends: Z-A starter Pokemon's final evolution, as well as even light spoilers surrounding what type matchups you can expect to face in some of Pokemon Legends: Z-A's major fights, and how one Rogue Mega Evolution fight might be influenced by one of your choices.

What's the best starter in Pokemon Legends: Z-A?

The main Pokemon Legends: Z-A starter Pokemon are a mix of past starters from previous generations, just like Pokemon Legends: Arceus. The Grass and Water-types – Chikorita and Totodile, respectively – are both from Generation 2's Pokemon Gold and Silver, whereas the Fire-type Tepig is from Generation 5's Pokemon Black and White. Your main buddy/rival in Pokemon Legends: Z-A – Urbain or Taunie, depending on the gender you select for your protagonist – will keep both of the other two starter Pokemon that you don't choose, meaning one will have a type advantage against your own starter, while the other will be weak against yours.

Most of Pokemon Legends: Z-A's big fights are against powerful Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon, which unlock in waves during the main story. In the earlier wave, there's a Pokemon your starter is guaranteed to have an advantage against, and one your starter will be weak to, so there's no obvious right or wrong choice there.

There's more to consider for the mid to late game, however, when your starter Pokemon is fully evolved. Emboar – the final form of Tepig after the middle stage Pignite – is the only one of the bunch to get a secondary typing in its base form, becoming a Fire/Fighting-type, but things change when you consider the trio's brand-new Mega Evolutions via Pokemon Legends: Z-A Mega Stones. If you pick Chikorita, you'll be able to use Mega Meganium (after evolving from Bayleef), which becomes a Grass/Fairy-type. Meanwhile, Totodile fans will get their hands on Mega Feraligatr (after evolving from Croconaw), which is a Water/Dragon-type. Mega Emboar retains its Fire/Fighting typing. You can take a look at all three below.

Mega Meganium's added Fairy typing helps it be a super-effective choice against seven Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon, which is almost half of them. This is also a far higher number of advantageous fights than you'll get with Mega Emboar or Mega Feraligatr. However, Mega Meganium will still struggle against some of them, as well as some of the other major fights in the game which'll see you take on powerful Poison and Steel-type Pokemon, for example.

What's the best Kanto starter in Pokemon Legends: Z-A?

But what about those other starters? You won't be playing Pokemon Legends: Z-A for too long before you're given the choice to pick between the Kanto starters, Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, in a bit of a throwback to similar events in Pokemon X and Y. From my time playing, it appears that whoever you pick will influence a Rogue Mega Evolved Pokemon fight later in the game – Bulbasaur corresponding with a Rogue Mega Venusaur fight in my case, for example. This also gave me Venusaur's matching Mega Stone earlier than I was able to get the Mega Stones for Blastoise and Charizard.

We'll be sure to update this guide if we find out that Venusaur was just a special case, but for now, it seems like a factor worth considering when you pick from these three fan-favorites. Otherwise, it's never a bad idea to pick one that's a different type to your main Pokemon Legends: Z-A starter. If you picked Tepig, for example, then choosing Bulbasaur means you'll have a powerful Pokemon on your team to fight Water types, which Tepig is weak to.

Ultimately, however, when it comes to your main Pokemon Legends: Z-A starter choice and the secondary Kanto starter choice, it's definitely not a bad thing to simply pick your favorites. You can round out your team with other Pokemon to cover the starters' weaknesses, and it's also worth noting that once you get to the post-game, you can catch all of them in the wild and gain access to their Mega Stones, so you won't miss out on adding any to your collection.