Best starter (specifically for Reborn)

[Jmanultrax1]

aside from froakie, and torchic. They do provide a nice game changer with protean and speed boost. But have we forgotten about contrary snivy? sure snivy is ok and its doesn't get moves that bring out the best of tis abilities early on in the game. But later it becomes really powerful.

[Monochrome_Complex]

But that begs the question: is it better to have a starter that'll be solid entire game, or one that's a monster late game but less impressive early on?

I think contrary serperior is being overrated a little myself.

[yooorick]

Starters early are more important as your team late game can be patched up by a larger pool of available Pokemon. Early on what you can get is pretty bad.

[Tartar]

But that begs the question: is it better to have a starter that'll be solid entire game, or one that's a monster late game but less impressive early on?

That depends on the availability of Pokémon in the game. In Reborn I'd say it's better to have a Pokémon that is great in the early game and falls off in the late-game than the reverse. Early on you have little choice in Pokémon, and having a good starter is pretty important to do well. But later on the starter Pokémon becomes less and less important as more and better Pokémon become available.

Naturally it's even better to have a starter that is good in both early- and late-game.

[Via]

I've played through with both Froakie and Torchic, and Blaziken is definitely better. While Protean is a really good ability and Greninja has really good speed, it doesn't hit for nearly as hard as Blaziken -- partly out of lack of good moves, and partly because of its stats.

Speed Boost Blaziken is extremely easy to set up and speed up, especially with Bulk Up. Plus Blaziken gets really strong moves like High Jump Kick, and to a lesser extent, Blaze Kick. A wide lens can easily be used to solve the accuracy problem.

[FairFamily]

aside from froakie, and torchic. They do provide a nice game changer with protean and speed boost. But have we forgotten about contrary snivy? sure snivy is ok and its doesn't get moves that bring out the best of tis abilities early on in the game. But later it becomes really powerful.

Well contrary sounds good until you realize that the only thing serperior can do is leaf storm and hidden power (good luck with that). On top of that it learns it very late.

[CainReborn]

I like Greninja, it's never really failed me. I have mine with Surf, Night Slash, Extrasensory, and Cut, which was Rock Smash earlier and helped beat Luna.

Mystic Water makes surf relatively useful to. There's also Gunk Shot.

It may not have strongest moves atm but it can stall and provide a lot of different options for weakening a foe.

[esu]

Contrary Snivy will kill em all. Magician Fennekin for stealing annoying opponent leftover.

[Vinny]

I only say Charmander because Charmeleon's Dragon Rage is hard to ignore at the start.

It's no Gyarados, but it does work~

[Jmanultrax1]

charmander dragon rage works wonders until early 30's. One shot or two shot until then

[Alistair]

charmander dragon rage works wonders until early 30's. One shot or two shot until then

It's the only starter that actually made me feel like a cheap bastard. Even Speed Boost Torchic is nowhere near that level of early bulldozing.

In any case, Snivy master race

[Nadrel]

I have tried Charmander, Treeko and Fennekin.

Easiest and favourite was Fennekin which stayed relevant all game long, Treeko was really hard early game, but became really useful later on and Charmander was average all game long, never too bad, but never super useful.

[Jmanultrax1]

snivy for top 5 best reborn starters.

[NatJones]

I think its difficult to put a best starter tag on any because it depends on the team youre planning on going with, but in terms of usefulness I'd say protean greninja, speed boost blaziken or flash fire eruption typhlosion

[Alilatias]

I've played through the game with five starters so far. Ranking from best to worst:

Blaziken: Doesn't need any explanation. Crazy good coverage in a game where good Fire and Fighting type options are very, VERY lacking for the vast majority of the game, with a busted ability on top of that.

Delphox: May be a surprise to some people here (especially that I'm ranking it higher than Greninja), but she has great utility throughout the entire game, being able to nuke, take items, and set up Light Screen/Will-o-Wisp which can be life or death in some major battles. Like Blaziken, she has good coverage and has a type combination where alternative options are lacking throughout the majority of the game.

Chesnaught: Probably the bigger surprise, but I've found him to be a good physical tank. Great survivability so long as you don't send him against a Flying type or a Special Attacker that he's weak to. Bulletproof has niche uses such as allowing him to laugh at some of Shade's Pokemon, among a few other things. And he learns Leech Seed. Leech Seed is amazing in Reborn, and he has the movepool to stall if needed too.

Greninja: I rank Greninja low because while he's really good at is exploiting enemy weaknesses (and the AI), you have to pour immense amounts of effort into raising him before he can really start to hold his own, which doesn't happen until very late in the game. I find Reborn values overall utility more than anything too, and everything above Greninja has superior utility for most of the game.

Swampert: Also a good tank, but like Greninja, takes some effort until he really starts to pay off. It was difficult for me to decide if I wanted to place Swampert above or below Greninja, but settled on below because, until very recently, you could obtain a Mudkip about halfway through the game if you didn't choose it as a starter, which also happens to skip over the portion of the game where the Mudkip line really struggles.

[Paperblade]

Torchic is clear best starter. It's good against every early boss fight and evolves into a disgusting sweeper. On top of that it doesn't really need anything special, just its level up moves + a relearned HJK. No TMs, no egg moves. None of that shit.

The first boss fight where it can't just crush everything in its path is probably Radomus, and by then it's easy to have a team to cover its weaknesses

Froakie is much different. It offers nothing special until you're at a point in the game where you actually get good non-starter pokemon. Without good TMs (such as the case with Reborn), Greninja is basically Simipour with more speed and ability to use a proper held item, but comes on line much later (Simipour gets full coverage at 31 when Panpour gets Acrobatics). Except Panpour doesn't require me to give up my starter, I can still pick Torchic or whatever my heart desires.

[Vic]

torchic: your life on reborn will be easier.

Froakie: one of the best starter but lack TMs on Reborn.

Sviny: very good but only after get Leaf Storm(late of late on ep 15).

The only one that is good in the beginning / middle / end is the torchic. Some cited are plausible (fennekin, for example) but just like him, there are some others that are catchable in the course of the game so f

[Galladiator]

I've played through with charmander (early game steamroller but afterwards kinda meh, although my charizards resistance to moonblast was the only reason I got past Noel)

Fennekin (pleasantly suprised, great type combo especially for early game but remains solid all game long. Liked it better than greninja)

froakie (pretty unimpressed with it in reborn after the insane amount of greninja hype. I never played XY so maybe hes better in that with some better TMs but in reborn I didn't love him. almost a liability until about level 50 when it can finally get some decent moves (excluding breeding) )

Torterra (who plays exactly like you would expect out of a giant earth-turtle, very slow, bulky and overall good until someone throws a snowflake at him).

And kind of used snivy (in my shiny only run so I ditched it as soon as I caught my 6th shiny. He's not great early game but there's no denying the power of contrary+leaf storm, even if it kinda makes him a one trick python)

Fennekin was by far the most useful in game that I've tried, but I have no doubt that speed boost Blaziken is in a class of his own starter-wise and I only haven't used him because he's TOO good.

[Bearadactyl]

I'm a fan of Totodile/Feraligatr, mostly because Sheer Force coupled with its move pool makes it hit like a truck. You won't be super reliant on TMs to make it effective. You'll struggle a small bit early on, but it definitely becomes well worth it later. It's coverage isn't too terrible, either. You get access to solid coverage to compliment it fairly early on as well, provided you're lucky with your weather.

[WanderingCorvus]

Personally Turtwig and Fennekin have done a pretty good job through the game. It really boils down to how you specialize your starters and maximize their strengths.