Key Takeaway
Overall, the Piplup line offers the most advantages against Gym Leaders and Elite Four members. The next best is the Turtwig line. In last place is the Chimchar line.
Almost every Pokémon can be a valuable partner, but it’s important to weigh the pros and cons of each. The best starter for you in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl will depend on a few factors.
Table Of Contents
Comparing the Pros and Cons of Each Sinnoh Starter
To determine which is the best starter out of the three choices (Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup), you need to consider their typing. Type matchups are very important in every Pokémon game. Using a Pokémon against a type it has an advantage over will almost always result in a better outcome in battle.
By considering a starter’s primary and secondary typing (after they evolve), we can get pretty good estimates on how useful their STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves will be against various opponents. On top of that, seeing how well their typing stands up defensively to major threats is also useful for gauging which starter is the best.
Each Gym Leader and member of the Elite Four should be considered when judging the starter Pokémon. You need to defeat all of them to make progress toward becoming the Champion of the Sinnoh region.
To do so effectively, let’s see how many advantages and disadvantages each starter has. We’ll compare them to all the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members. We’ll be excluding the Champion of the region due to her team not being composed of a single dominant type.
How Starter Evolutions Will Affect the Comparison
Also, we’ll be assuming that trainers evolve their starters as soon as possible for these charts. Due to the levels at which the starters evolve, we’ll consider all starters to be in their second stage after the second gym and in their final stage after the fourth gym.
This is important due to the Turtwig and Piplup lines gaining a new type in their final stage and the Chimchar line gaining a new type in their second stage.
Turtwig’s Pros and Cons
| Opponent | Typing Effectiveness | Turtwig's Evolution Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Gym Leader Roark (Rock-type) | Advantage | Turtwig (Grass-type) |
| Gym Leader Gardenia (Grass-type) | Neutral | Turtwig (Grass-type) |
| Gym Leader Maylene (Fighting-type) | Neutral | Grotle (Grass-type) |
| Gym Leader Crasher Wake (Water-type) | Advantage | Grotle (Grass-type) |
| Gym Leader Fantina (Ghost-type) | Neutral | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Gym Leader Byron (Steel-type) | Advantage | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Gym Leader Candice (Ice-type) | Disadvantage | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Gym Leader Volkner (Electric-type) | Advantage | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Elite Four Aaron (Bug-type) | Disadvantage | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Elite Four Bertha (Ground-type) | Advantage | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Elite Four Flint (Fire-type) | Disadvantage | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
| Elite Four Lucian (Psychic-type) | Neutral | Torterra (Grass/Ground-type) |
Chimchar’s Pros and Cons
| Opponent | Typing Effectiveness | Chimchar's Evolution Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Gym Leader Roark (Rock-type) | Disadvantage | Chimchar (Fire-type) |
| Gym Leader Gardenia (Grass-type) | Advantage | Chimchar (Fire-type) |
| Gym Leader Maylene (Fighting-type) | Neutral | Monferno (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Gym Leader Crasher Wake (Water-type) | Disadvantage | Monferno (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Gym Leader Fantina (Ghost-type) | Disadvantage | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Gym Leader Byron (Steel-type) | Advantage | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Gym Leader Candice (Ice-type) | Advantage | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Gym Leader Volkner (Electric-type) | Neutral | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Elite Four Aaron (Bug-type) | Advantage | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Elite Four Bertha (Ground-type) | Disadvantage | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Elite Four Flint (Fire-type) | Neutral | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
| Elite Four Lucian (Psychic-type) | Disadvantage | Infernape (Fire/Fighting-type) |
Piplup’s Pros and Cons
| Opponent | Typing Effectiveness | Piplup's Evolution Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Gym Leader Roark (Rock-type) | Advantage | Piplup (Water-type) |
| Gym Leader Gardenia (Grass-type) | Disadvantage | Piplup (Water-type) |
| Gym Leader Maylene (Fighting-type) | Neutral | Prinplup (Water-type) |
| Gym Leader Crasher Wake (Water-type) | Neutral | Prinplup (Water-type) |
| Gym Leader Fantina (Ghost-type) | Neutral | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Gym Leader Byron (Steel-type) | Advantage | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Gym Leader Candice (Ice-type) | Advantage | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Gym Leader Volkner (Electric-type) | Disadvantage | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Elite Four Aaron (Bug-type) | Advantage | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Elite Four Bertha (Ground-type) | Neutral | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Elite Four Flint (Fire-type) | Neutral | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
| Elite Four Lucian (Psychic-type) | Advantage | Empoleon (Water/Steel-type) |
Conclusions on Which Pokémon Is the Best Starter
The Turtwig line has 5 advantages, 3 disadvantages, and 4 neutrals. The Chimchar line has 4 advantages, 5 disadvantages, and 3 neutrals. And the Piplup line has 5 advantages, 2 disadvantages, and 5 neutrals.
In terms of how well each starter line fares against your major opponents in the game, Piplup is the best starter overall. Its line has the most advantages and the fewest disadvantages. This is mostly thanks to being part Steel-type after reaching its final stage of evolution.
However, we can also gauge how effective each starter is at different parts of the game. While the Piplup line is better overall, at the beginning of the game, you’ll have an easier time using the Turtwig line due to it having advantages over some of the earlier Gym Leaders (the first four).
Next, when you take a look at the mid-game challenges (the last four Gym Leaders), you’ll notice that all starters fare equally well.
Finally, when comparing how each line does against the Elite Four, we can see that the Piplup line does better against these end-game opponents than the other two lines.
As a result, we can rank the Sinnoh region starters from best to worst in this order: Piplup line > Turtwig line > Chimchar line.
