Best Temtem starters: Which Temtem starter is right for you?

The three Temtem starters represent the first major choice you have to make in the game, as you need to pick one to begin your journey and because this is a significant decision that will affect how you play, you want to ensure you go with the option that will be right for you. Of course, this is a dilemma that any Pokemon player will be familiar with, and as the TemTem starter you select becomes a key part of your team you'll want to know as many details as possible about them to make an informed decision about your new sidekick. To help with that, we've rounded up all of the details you need about the best Temtem starters in this guide, and once you've picked one to be your companion you should also check out our Temtem tips for everything else to get up to speed on.

Aspects of each Temtem starter, like their type, what they’re strong and weak against, their stats, and how strong they are early in the game is explained below. With all that info, you’ll be sure to make the right choice for your squad. Bear in mind that regardless of what Temtem you pick, each pick is viable. Each Temtem has their own strengths and weaknesses, and none of them are drastically worse than the others in the early game. 

Temtem Starters - Crystle

One starter TemTem you can pick is Crystle, which resembles a small green crystalline turtle. While not remarkable at the start compared to the other two choices its type makes it a safe early pick, with the opportunity to learn some seriously powerful moves at later levels.

With that in mind here's some important things to know about this starter Temtem: 

• This starter is a crystal type Temtem. This means it’s resistant to electric, mental and toxic attacks. Bear in mind that this also means it is weak to fire, earth and melee.
• Crystle evolves into Sherald after 30 levels.
• Crystle has a nice defensive stat of 69, and okay stats in attack and HP with 61 and 60 respectively. These factors combined make it a good tank for the rest of your team, allowing you to fill other positions in your squad with more damage-focused Temtem.
• Crystle’s major weakness stat-wise is a very low speed stat of 33. Don’t expect to get the first attack off in a fight often.
• There are no crystal Temtem to catch on the starting island of Deniz, so picking Crystle will add a valuable type to your squad earlier than other players.
• With the first dojo’s (the game’s version of Pokémon gyms) theme being water and flying type Temtem, nothing will be a massive threat to Crystle starting out.
• While the early techniques Crystle learns aren’t particularly special, later it can obtain some pretty strong attacks. Techniques like Crystal Spikes and Crystal Dust are high priority moves, the former doing a massive 120 crystal damage.

Temtem Starters - Smazee

Your second option when picking a starter is Smazee, a small orange monkey who is the hardest hitting of the three Temtem. If you want a Temtem that can deal out some major damage, this is the one for you.

Here's what you need to know about it: 

• Smazee is a melee type Temtem and resistant to melee attacks, but weak to mental and digital techniques.
• It evolves into Baboong after 29 levels.
• Smazee has a nice attack stat of 69, meaning it’s a better offensive Temtem compared to the other two. It also has a good speed stat of 66, often making it the first to strike in battles.
• The downside with Smazee is their very low special attack and defence stats of 37, so is vulnerable to special techniques.
• It is possible to get another melee type Temtem early on the first island. Saipat is a water and melee type, so if you don’t pick Smazee they can act as an initial replacement.
• The first dojo on Deniz does have a few melee type Temtems, so occasionally Smazee won’t be super effective. However, these instances are few and far between – and the dojo leader has no such Temtem in her squad.
• As for techniques, Smazee starts with kick and martial strike that are both good techniques at the start of the game. At higher levels, moves like perfect jab and uppercut mean that Smazee remains a powerful striker long after you choose them.

Temtem Starters - Houchic

The final starter you can choose is Houchic. This purple humanoid Temtem is a fantastic choice due to its high damage potential with special attacks. A classic glass canon, Houchic is a great damage dealer but easily taken out due to low defensive stats.

• This starter is a mental type Temtem. This means it’s resistant against neutral and melee attacks. However, it’s also vulnerable to electric, digital and crystal techniques.
• Houchic evolves into Tental after 29 levels.
• It has a very high special attack stat of 72, which means certain techniques (like the starter technique Psywave) have greater power. The speed stat is also fairly high at 66, so Houchic’s techniques come out quickly in battles.
• Unfortunately, Houchic has low Attack, defence and HP. In short, its physical attacks are rather weak especially compared to special attacks. On top of that, it’s quite a frail Temtem, and won’t be able to take much punishment in battle.
• There are no other mental type Temtems to obtain early on, so Houchic is your only option if you’re desperate to have one in your early game squad.
• In the first dojo, you’ll not find many problematic matchups for Houchic, but you’re not going to have any great ones either. This is because of the dojo’s wind and water type focus which is neither good nor bad for mental types. However, the dojo leader does use Sparzy, which will be a big problem for Houchic due to it being an electric type.
• As mentioned previously, special techniques like Psywave will do a lot of damage. Later on, you gain some very powerful attacks like Beta Burst and Psy Surge which keep Houchic viable long after you’ve left Deniz.

Want to know more? Read about how Temtem is both a love letter and a challenger to Pokemon.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.