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]
| Partner | Listed passive | Four-move kit | Choose for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulbasaur Grass / Poison | +1.5 regeneration; +25% healing; Grass attacks heal 0.4% max HP per hit, up to five times per second. | Vine Whip · Razor Leaf · Sleep Powder · Solar Beam | Recovery and learning a mixed kit. |
| Squirtle Water | +15 armor; +20 shield; +40% damage below 40% HP. | Water Gun · Bubble · Rapid Spin · Hydro Pump | Defensive bonuses while learning movement. |
| Charmander Fire | +10% Fire damage; +40% damage below 40% HP. | Ember · Fire Spin · Flamethrower · Fire Blast | A Fire-focused upgrade direction. |
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. The extra damage does have a low-HP requirement. Choose for the defensive part if you are learning; deliberately taking damage is a separate, untested tradeoff.
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
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 species dataset contains evolution fields, but a general species table alone is not enough to promise the exact runtime evolution conditions for every partner. Read the current League profile and in-run prompt before planning around a level copied from another Pokémon game.
Sources & verification
- Original public game client ↗ (external website, opens in a new tab) — Passive modifiers and descriptions, build mvjzbutg, October 23. SINGLE_SOURCE; recommendations are editorial, not win-rate evidence.
- Original League definitions in the shared game bundle ↗ (external website, opens in a new tab) — Starter flags, four-move kits and challenge text, current build; not a measured ranking.