Discussion: Which Gen III Starter Should You Choose?

With Generation III being released in the next month, many people are dying to know what the strongest, rarest, or most valuable pokemon will be, but something just as important is the very first choice you make in that new land: which starter to choose. For anyone who doesn't know, the final stage of the three starters in Gen III are as follows:

////#254 Sceptile///////#257 Blaziken//////#260 Swampert
//////////Grass/////////////Fire/Fighting////////Water/Ground

Now, here's an overview of each of them:

• Sceptile- The Forest Pokemon

Sceptile is a unique Pokemon due to being the fastest Grass-type, with a high base speed that lets it outpace most of the metagame. Sceptile also has access to powerful special moves backed by a good special attack, making it a pain for offensive teams to handle. However, Sceptile is very frail and has weaknesses to common attacking types such as Fire, Ice, and Flying. It also has trouble breaking through bulky Grass-types like Venusaur or Meganium.

Pros:

• Base 130 speed is blindingly fast, outspeeding almost every unboosted pokemon. A max speed Sceptile can even outspeed Mewtwo if Mewtwo doesn't have a +speed nature.
• Sceptile has access to very powerful STAB moves such as Leaf Storm and Energy Ball.
• Base 105 special attack isn't amazing, but it's pretty good as far as stats go. Combined with its high BP moves, Sceptile can hit anything that doesn't resist Grass pretty hard.

Cons:

• Sceptile's movepool is very limited, pretty much restricting him to Grass type, Focus Blast, and possibly Hidden Power.
• Its Special Attack stat combined with its limited movepool means it is very easy to predict and counter with a pokemon that resists Grass and Fighting.
• Pure Grass type is not good defensively, leaving Sceptile vulnerable to being knocked out in one hit by a STAB Fire, Ice, or Flying move due to its weak defenses.

Summary:
Sceptile is a fairly simple late-game sweeper. It outspeeds and knocks out any pokemon with frail defenses or a weakness to Grass or Fighting. On the other hand, Sceptile can do very little against a bulky pokemon or one that resists its moves, which can then take out Sceptile with ease. The key to using Sceptile is not revealing him until near the end of the battle, once you've taken out the pokemon that would stand in his way.

• Blaziken- The Blaze Pokemon

Blaziken is arguably the best wallbreaker in the metagame, thanks to its awesome mixed attacking stats (120 Attack/110 Special Attack/80 Speed), Fighting-type STAB to take out common special walls, and powerful Fire-type STAB to deal major damage to everything else. Unfortunately, Blaziken wishes it were faster, as its middling Speed and defenses are the main things holding it back. However, it's a very versatile Pokemon with many viable options and a useful typing that sets it apart from fellow Fire-types. With so many possibilities, no one can ever be sure of what set it is running until it attacks. If you need a Pokemon to break down walls, revenge kill, or sweep late-game, definitely consider Blaziken.

Pros:

• Amazing power with 120/110 base Attack/Special Attack lets Blaziken run both physical and special sets without losing much damage.
• To back up those stats are two of the best offensive STAB boosts, Fire and Fighting.
• Blaziken has access to both a diverse and powerful moveset, ranging from both powerful STAB moves like Flare Blitz, High Jump Kick, Overheat, and Focus Blast to wide coverage moves like Stone Edge, Poison Jab, Brave Bird, and Earthquake.
• Lastly, Blaziken also has access to Swords Dance for sweeping.

Cons:

• Blaziken's typing and stats leaves him in danger to even neutral hits.
• 80 base speed can outspeed some slower pokemon, but for comparison, Dragonite also has base 80 speed. Many faster pokemon can OHKO Blaziken in a single hit due to this.
• Blaziken, like all other Fire-types, has a weakness to Stealth Rocks, which drastically reduces its longevity by taking a 25% hp tax on every switch-in.
• In most cases, if Blaziken isn't carrying the right coverage move, tanks like Slowbro or Vaporeon can completely wall Blaziken out.

Summary:
Blaziken is a breath of fresh air in a meta where most of the available Fire-types are slow, special hitters that rely on super-effective hits (I'm looking at you, Typhlosion), but Blaziken does still fall into the pit of average speed, which really hurts its viability. As long as it hits, Blaziken can keep the opponent guessing on what 2 moves fill up the non-STAB slots on its moveset. Most of the time, a wrong guess can end up with a Gyarados taken out by a Thunder Punch or Charizard getting destroyed by a Stone Edge.

Side Note: In the main series, most pokemon can gain access to an ability not usually found in the wild, called a Hidden Ability, by obtaining the pokemon via special events or the Safari Zone. This is relevant to Blaziken because of his Hidden Ability, Speed Boost, which raises the speed of the pokemon one stage (+50% boost) at the end of each turn. Blaziken's main weakness is his low base speed, but with Speed Boost, Blaziken easily becomes one of the most powerful pokemon in the game, able to sweep teams with ease. For now, Hidden Abilities are not on Pokefind, but when they are, Blaziken's usability will be skyrocketed.

• Swampert- The Mud Fish Pokemon

While Sceptile and Blaziken take two different approaches to sweeping, Swampert plays the entirely different role of a tank. Swampert has reasonable 100 HP/90 Defense/90 Special Defense bulk which makes it an ideal defensive wall alongside its unique Water/Ground typing, which gives it one weakness, while sporting several resistances and one immunity. Swampert is one of the few Pokemon that stops Fire-type wallbreakers such as Blaziken and Charizard cold. Unfortunately, a 4x weakness to Grass-type moves makes it susceptible to easy OHKOs should one mispredict; however, Swampert's strengths far exceed any potential weaknesses. The one glaring issue one might find in Swampert being a tank, however, is that it has no access to any reliable recovery. This makes it easy to wear down over time, limiting the time Swampert can have on the field.

Pros:

• Water/Ground is great offensively and defensively, granting Swampert a few resistances, and immunity, and only one weakness (albeit a 4x one).
• Great defensive stats back up its role as a tank, allowing him to tank most non-STAB moves with relative ease.
• Access to a decent movepool containing moves like Scald, Earthquake, Waterfall, and Power-up Punch gives Swampert plenty of options.

Cons:

• Swampert is destroyed by Grass moves. End of story.
• Tanks with reliable recovery like Umbreon or decently bulky set-up sweepers like Scizor can take advantage of Swampert if he isn't carrying the right coverage moves.
• No recovery moves other than rest means it can't be a pure tank, and must go for support instead.
• Using Toxic on Swampert is an easy way to bring it down.

Summary:
Swampert is a bit interesting when trying to be fit on teams. It can't act like a normal tank due to its lack of recovery or defensive set-up, but it's too slow and weak to be an attacker. Instead, it must walk the tightrope between the two, making sure not to fall into either catagory. Swampert can do well on a team that needs a pokemon to block moves for it, like Scizor, Charizard, or Aerodactyl. It can also carry Toxic or Roar depending on what your team needs.

Conclusion
Honestly, there is not one "best" starter in Gen III. None are meta-changing, but none fall into the irrelevant starter catagory. Sceptile has incredible speed, but lacks power or a good movepool. Blaziken has amazing power and a great movepool, but lacks the necessary speed to sweep teams. Swampert lacks good offensive stats and only has a minimal movepool to support its great defenses and typing. Even with their flaws, though, each starter is still good. I'd like to end this discussion off with my personal advise on which starter to choose going into the new Gen. If your team contains many frail sweepers like Alakazam that get one-shot when they don't kill opponents like Dragonite in one hit, I would advise you to choose Torchic. If your team favors those slower hard-hitters like Dragonite or Tyranitar, Treeko may evolve to be just the speed you need for your team. Finally, if you often have to sacrifice pokemon by switching them into moves meant to take down your sweeper, try Mudkip. The extra bulk will let your sweepers do their thing while keeping a back-up plan.

Well, that's all I have to say. I'm totally open to discussion in the comments, and if people find in-depth descriptions of pokemon useful, I might do some more of these on other pokemon in the future. Keep an eye out for that, but until then, have fun waiting (or not being able to wait) for the long-awaited Generation III!

P.S. Be sure to comment who you’re picking and vote on the poll. I’m very interested in the results.​

 

Thanks for the guide, honestly I always go with Mudkip for the sole reason that it has high defense and only main weakness is grass. Can’t wait for gen 3!

 

I really can't wait for Gen 3, but I think I'll pick Torchic. Usually I'm a water type person but idk, this time I wanna choose Torchic!

 

Really great! it helped me a lot to make my decision of what starter I'll choose. Thank you

 

I would choose torchic

 

Torchic is bae, it was the first starter I chose in Pokemon sapphire and as well as in emerald And it looks the most Kawaii out of all of them (well comparing the first evolutions)

 

I would like to go for Mudkip because it is very cute just like me.. jokes, Mudkip has some really good moves which I would love to use.