Best Pokémon starters

Rowlet leads with an ELO of 1,316, ahead of Cyndaquil (1,297) and Squirtle (1,272). Ranked over 89,554 duels between 29 contenders, last updated August 25, 2026.

What's your favorite Pokémon Starter? Discover the ranking of the best Pokémon starters across all games and generations.

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.