Pokemon Sword and Shield Best Starter

Now that Pokemon Sword and Shield is out and people had the time to experiment, can you tell, which Pokemon starter is the best? It’s a problem that has troubled players since the first game of Pokemon, when Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmander had to make a hard choice (personally, I was always Team Squirtle).

The response appears to be a resounding yes in Sword & Shield, it’s a better start. Scorbunny looks by far the most powerful and useful. Each of the three entrants – Scorbunny, Grookey, and Sobble – will be looked at in depth to see why this is.

Sobble

We got Sobble, the Water-type starter, starting off. It develops to Drizzile in levels 16 and Intelleon in levels 35 and remains a pure form of water.

The signature movement of Inteleon is Snipe Shot, which damages 80 and ignores movements or abilities in movements of opponents. It can escape abilities like Storm Drain, but this signature step still feels less luxurious compared to those without a secondary impact.

The secret skill of Inteleon is the sniper that causes 1.5x standard critical hit damage to critical hits. Or in other words, vital hits do 2.25x rather than 1.5x. In view of the fact that Inteleon does not specialize in critical hits exactly, this move is rather mediocre.

At least Inteleon has the best basic statistics for the three established starters with 125 special attack damages and 120 speeds. However, this is not enough to compensate for the comparatively weaker signature and secret skill of Sobble, which is why the starting Pokemon is considered to be the weakest.

Grookey

We’ve got Grookey, the Pokemon style grass. This upbeat Pokemon develops into a Level 16 Thwackey and a Level 35 Rillaboom.

The signature movement of Rillaboom is Drum Beating, a physical grass attack with 80 basis strength and a 100% lower speed of a mark. This is by no means a poor move since it can be regarded as a more powerful Bulldoze move.

The secret power of Rillaboom is Grassy Surge that spawns Grassy Terrain on the spot. Grassy Terrain has a range of effects, some of which include healing 1/16 max each turn of a Pokemon’s HP and boosting grass-type strength by 50%. This move is very powerful and can help you turn the tide of unfavorable fighting.

All in all, Grookey is a fine starter Pokemon. More strong than Sobble, but not as strong as Scorbunny as we’re going to see below.

Scorbunny

Scorbunny is the Sword and Shield fire-starter Pokemon. As its name suggests, it’s similar to a bunny and its distinctive bandage over its nose is known. Scorbunny develops into Level 16 Raboot, then Level 35 into Cinderace.

The main reason Scorbunny is the trio’s biggest beginner is because of the signature step by Cinderace, Pyro Ball. This fire-type capability has 120 basis strength and 90 percent precision, making it one of the most powerful movements in the game. Although it is only possible to use the move five times (5 pp), it is normally enough and can also leave the enemy with Burn status. Compared to 80 basic power signature moves of the other trio, Cinderace movement is 1.5x faster.

The other explanation for the goodness of Cinderace (and Scorbunny) is his secret talent, namely Libero. This transfers the type of Pokemon to the type of move it will be used. This gives it an attack boost of the same kind for every move it uses. Essentially, it’s the Protean ability, and we’ve seen how strong or even busted that move has been.

Instead of only one, Cinderace also has two signature movements. The other is called Court Shift, along with Libero, which switches effects on either side of the ground. This is similar to the Magic Bounce, but it can also rob screens and drive any danger to the other side. Historically, secret capacity has not yet been revealed, but once they do Cinderace they are still a force in fighting.

These two factors will suffice to claim that Scorbunny is the best starter, but there are more.

Scorbunny deals with your biggest competitor, Hop, the easiest time. Hop selects Grookey, slow to fire. He has a wooloo that has Fluffy’s power to make Fire weak. And he catches a Rookiedee who eventually turns into a form of steel that is vulnerable to fire. There seems to be a trend here that is repeating.

Early play also seems to contain less Pokemon-type fire, making Scorbunny an appreciated asset for your list. And the late game in Sword and Shield is mostly dominated by the fireweak Ice and Steel Pokemon.

Final Verdict

Now that each of the three starters in Pokemon has been evaluated, so it seems obvious which starter has the preferential treatment. Scorbunny has the best signature move, the best secret skill, the easiest rival combat and the easiest starting and ending game.

But don’t let it discourage you from selecting one of the other starters. Both Sobble and Grookey are viable choices during your trip to Sword & Shield, and it’s fun at the end of the day, not the amount of total damage one Pokemon dishes over another. And hey, if you like a challenge, you might not want to choose Scorbunny anyway.