How To Choose The Right Starter In Pokemon Platinum

Pokemon Platinum was the first game to feature dual type water and grass Pokemon. Because of this, the starter Pokemon you choose have unique strengths and weaknesses.

If you’re unsure of which starter Pokemon to choose in platinum, this post will guide you in the right direction.

And compare each of the three starters to help you make the best decision. So let’s get into it!

How To Choose The Right Starter In Pokemon Platinum

1. Piplup.

Fighting your rival.

Your rival will choose the Pokemon your weak against. So it doesn’t matter which Pokemon you choose.

Piplup happens to be one of the best starters to choose from regardless. The starter you’ll be facing will be Turtwig.

When Turtwig fully evolves it becomes a grass and ground type.

Grass is Piplup’s weakness and ground is Piplup’s weakness when fully evolved. As it becomes a water and steel type Pokemon. (Empoleon).

Empoleon can learn ice type moves, which makes you’re attacks be super effective by two times against Turtwig.

Besides that, Piplup is a great choice as it has high special defense and special attack. And it’s stats in general are great, along with its dual type. Good mixture of offense and defense.

Piplup’s only real weakness is it’s lack of speed, which isn’t too terrible compared to other Pokemon in the low-speed department.

It’s ability boosts the power of water attacks when it’s HP drops below 100 – 50.

Gym Leaders.

Piplup has the biggest advantage against the first gym leader who uses rock type Pokemon. And the third and 4th gym leaders use Ghost and fighting type Pokemon.

Piplup’s biggest challenges will be against:

2nd gym leader (grass pokemon)
8th gym leader (electric Pokemon)
6th gym leader (steel, ground and electric types)

But as long as you have a strong team of Pokemon this won’t be too difficult.

2. Chimchar.

If you want a Pokemon that’s good with attack, special attack and speed , Chimchar is a good choice.

It eventually evolves into a fire and fighting type. Which is useful against rock types, steel, grass, bug, ice, and normal types.

Fighting your rival.

Even though Empoleon will eventually be your rival, Chimchar fully evolved is much faster. You’ll have an advantage too as fighting type is good against steel.

Chimchar’s main weakness as a Pokemon is it’s poor defense and HP. So fighting your rival in the beginning may be challenging.

All it takes is a Pokemon with decent stats to hit Chimchar with a super effective attack to finish off Chimchar (or its evolutions) in one attack. Depending on the Pokemon.

But as long as you train chimchar hard, you’ll be fine.

Chimchar’s ability increases it’s fire attack power when HP drops below 100 – 50.

Gym Leaders.

You’ll be able to defeat most gym leaders a lot easier with Chimchar than Piplup. Especially the 2nd gym leader (grass), the 6th (steel) and the 7th (ice).

But you may have trouble with:

The first gym leader. (rock)
The 5th gym leader. (Water)

3. Turtwig.

If you’re looking for strong defense, attack and HP, Turtwig is a good choice.

It eventually becomes a grass and ground type, which gives it an advantage against steel types and fire types.

Fighting your rival and gym leaders.

The only problem with grass starters in general is they struggle against a lot of the gym leaders and the elite four. But Turtwig is a lot different.

Against your rival – Chimchar, which eventually becomes Infernape, you have a strong chance of winning. Especially once your Turtwig fully evolves. Because Turtwig’s defense and HP are high, and is able to survive a super effective attack.

Turtwig’s biggest advantage against gym leaders: