Choose your first partner

Compare the three starter roles

The current League definitions mark these three as starters and assign the kits below. The table combines those definitions with the client’s passive text. A listed kit is not proof that every move is equipped at the beginning of a run.^[1][2]

Make the choice from the problem you have

Taking several small hits: inspect Bulbasaur

Regeneration and Grass-hit healing give a clear recovery direction. The heal depends on eligible hits and has a rate limit. Do not read the percentage as unlimited healing for every visual projectile or as permission to stand still.

Learning to avoid contact: inspect Squirtle

Armor and shield provide defensive bonuses without a low-HP activation requirement. In the v0.9.14 runtime, the damage multiplier requires a shield, not low HP. The shell periodically supplies shield based on maximum HP. Read the currently active condition before choosing an upgrade.

Learning a focused damage kit: inspect Charmander

The listed kit uses Fire moves, making the passive’s Fire bonus straightforward to relate to the cards you read. Its conditional damage bonus does not establish a higher clear rate or safer opening than the other two.

What a PokeBonk tier list would need

For a broader role comparison, our role recommendations and 79-kit reference exposes its method and unlock trade-offs. It retains the same no-invented-win-rate limit.

There is no measured S/A/B ordering on this page. A meaningful performance ranking needs a stated version, map, difficulty, permanent upgrades and a comparable set of runs. Attack stats, listed move damage or type coverage alone leave out survival, crowd patterns and actual uptime.

Use this comparison to choose a learning goal now. To compare results later, keep map and difficulty fixed, record permanent upgrades and note why the run ended. That produces a useful personal comparison without pretending that three unrelated runs establish a global meta.

Keep first choice, evolution and unlocking separate

The current League records include challenges for adding other starter members. For these starters the displayed challenge is to complete two runs, win or lose. Challenge progress and capture are separate parts of League acquisition in the public client; do not assume the challenge text alone grants every member.^[2]

Evolution inside a run is another system. The client transforms species data into run thresholds and applies League-specific overrides. Bulbasaur evolves at run levels 24 and 41; Charmander and Squirtle at 24 and 44. Eevee uses a branch-selection menu. The separate evolution guide shows the checked method and exceptions. Read the current League profile and in-run prompt before planning around a level copied from another Pokémon game.

Starter choice or a full PokeBonk tier list?

This page helps you choose an initial partner. For a wider ranking question, use the PokeBonk tier-list guide, which explains the comparison limits; the starter selector does not establish a universal ranking.

Before comparing options, choose your goal: a first run, a specific build, or a later unlock. Use the beginner route for first-run setup, the partner database for the wider roster, and the build planner to compare declared moves, items and upgrades under the same conditions. Keep the goal and owned upgrades fixed when comparing partners; a different setup answers a different question.

Read the condition that changed in Season 3

This table compares three Kanto starters. The Season 3 notes also introduce a Johto partner choice, so these three are not the entire current starting roster.

Squirtle’s current Torrent Shell differs from the October description. The runtime lists +15 armor, periodic shield equal to 8% maximum HP every eight seconds and ×1.25 damage while shielded. It does not list the old low-HP damage bonus for this passive.

Bulbasaur’s reviewed Synthesis still lists +1.5 regeneration, +25% healing and eligible Grass-hit healing of 0.4% HP, limited to five triggers per second. Charmander’s Sea of Flames lists +10% Fire damage and ×1.4 damage below 40% HP. Choose the mechanic you want to learn and compare results under the same map, difficulty and owned upgrades.