Choosing your starter Pokemon in Pokemon Pokopia is the first big decision you make, and it shapes your entire early game. Unlike traditional Pokemon games where starters matter mostly for battles, Pokopia starters come with unique Specialties — passive abilities that directly affect farming, crafting, exploration, and building.
There are 8 starters to choose from, and while every single one is viable for completing the game, some give you a dramatically smoother opening. The difference between an S-tier and C-tier starter is not about what you can do — it is about how much time and effort you save over dozens of hours.
This tier list ranks every starter based on Specialty usefulness, early-game impact, mid-game value, and how well the Specialty scales after evolution. If you want a broader look at all 311 Pokemon in the game, check our complete Pokemon tier list. For finding Pokemon in the wild, our all Pokemon locations guide has every spawn mapped.
The Complete Starter Tier List
Here is the full ranking at a glance. Detailed breakdowns for each starter follow below.
| Tier | Starter | Type | Specialty | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | Bulbasaur | Grass/Poison | Grow (accelerates crop growth) | 9.5/10 |
| S | Squirtle | Water | Water Gun (auto-irrigates crops) | 9.0/10 |
| A | Sprigatito | Grass | Harvest (auto-collects mature crops) | 8.5/10 |
| A | Charmander | Fire | Smelt (speeds up furnace) | 8.0/10 |
| B | Piplup | Water | Surf (crosses water without bridges) | 7.0/10 |
| B | Rowlet | Grass/Flying | Scout (reveals hidden map areas) | 6.5/10 |
| C | Scorbunny | Fire | Sprint (movement speed boost) | 5.5/10 |
| C | Torchic | Fire | Flame (lights dark areas) | 4.5/10 |
S Tier — The Best Starters
Bulbasaur — Grow Specialty (9.5/10)
Bulbasaur is the undisputed champion of Pokopia starters, and it is not particularly close. The Grow Specialty reduces crop growth time for all plants within a radius around Bulbasaur. At base form, crops in range grow 20% faster. After evolving to Ivysaur at friendship level 5, this increases to 30%. Venusaur at friendship level 10 pushes it to a massive 40%.
Why it matters: Farming is the backbone of Pokopia. Crops feed into cooking, crafting, trading, festival quests, Pokemon habitats, and direct income. When your crops grow 20-40% faster than normal, every other system in the game accelerates too. You earn money faster, unlock recipes sooner, complete quests quicker, and build habitats earlier.
Early game value: Exceptional. Your first Oran Berry farm produces income 20% faster, which means you can afford upgrades, seeds, and tools before other players.
Mid game value: Excellent. Once you have a large farm with multiple crop types, the Grow radius covers your main fields and shaves days off every harvest cycle.
Late game value: Still strong. Even with sprinklers and automation, faster growth means more harvest cycles per season. Venusaur’s 40% boost stacks with fertilizer bonuses for incredible yield rates.
Best for: Players who enjoy farming, resource management, and building a self-sustaining island economy. Also the best choice for players who are not sure what they want to focus on, since farming benefits everything.
Squirtle — Water Gun Specialty (9.0/10)
Squirtle earns its S-tier spot by solving one of the most tedious early-game problems: watering crops. The Water Gun Specialty makes Squirtle automatically water any dry crop tile you walk past. No watering can needed, no sprinklers required, no PP cost.
Why it matters: In the early game, watering is the biggest time sink. You start with a Basic Watering Can that waters one tile at a time and needs constant refilling. Squirtle eliminates this entirely. Walk through your field once and everything is watered.
Early game value: Outstanding. The time you save on watering is spent on exploration, building, and crafting instead. This indirect efficiency boost is enormous in the first two weeks.
Mid game value: Good. Once you craft Basic Sprinklers, the Water Gun Specialty becomes less critical for your main farm. However, it is still useful for remote crop patches and newly tilled fields.
Late game value: Moderate. Upgraded Sprinklers handle everything automatically, so Blastoise’s Water Gun is mostly redundant for established farms. It still helps in niche situations like the Greenhouse or new expansion areas.
Best for: Players who want a hassle-free early game. Squirtle removes the most annoying chore and lets you focus on the fun parts from day one. Excellent for players who dislike repetitive tasks.
A Tier — Excellent Picks
Sprigatito — Harvest Specialty (8.5/10)
Sprigatito is the automation starter. Its Harvest Specialty auto-collects any mature crop within its radius as you walk nearby. Crops jump straight from the plant into your inventory without pressing a button.
Why it matters: Harvesting a large farm takes a surprising amount of time, especially when you have 100+ crop tiles across different areas. Sprigatito turns harvest day from a 10-minute chore into a quick stroll through the fields.
Early game value: Moderate. With only a small farm, manual harvesting is fine. Sprigatito’s value scales with farm size.
Mid game value: Excellent. When your farm covers multiple zones with different crop types, auto-harvest becomes a huge quality of life improvement.
Late game value: Very good. Meowscarada’s upgraded Harvest radius covers entire farm sections. Combined with sprinklers for watering, your farm becomes nearly fully automated.
Best for: Players who want to build large farms without spending all their time maintaining them. Pairs extremely well with a Bulbasaur or Squirtle obtained later in the game.
Charmander — Smelt Specialty (8.0/10)
Charmander’s Smelt Specialty speeds up furnace processing. Ores, sand, and other smeltable materials complete faster when Charmander is nearby. Base form gives 25% faster smelting, Charmeleon gives 35%, and Charizard gives 50%.
Why it matters: Crafting is heavily gated by smelting. Iron Bars, Gold Bars, Glass Panes, and Brick are all furnace products that you need hundreds of throughout the game. Faster smelting means faster crafting, which means faster building.
Early game value: Good. You need Iron Bars early for tools, sprinklers, and the Trading Post. Faster smelting gets you these essentials sooner.
Mid game value: Very good. The Scorched Desert and Frozen Peak require massive amounts of smelted materials for advanced recipes. Charmeleon’s 35% boost saves real time.
Late game value: Good. Charizard’s 50% boost is powerful, but by endgame your furnace backlog is usually clear and you have stockpiles of everything.
Best for: Players who prioritize crafting and building over farming. If your dream is to construct elaborate structures with diverse materials, Charmander gets you there faster.
B Tier — Solid But Situational
Piplup — Surf Specialty (7.0/10)
Piplup’s Surf Specialty lets you cross water without needing to build bridges. You ride on Piplup’s back across rivers, ponds, and shorelines. This opens exploration routes that other starters cannot access until they craft bridges or find alternate paths.
Why it matters: Water divides the starting island into sections. Without Piplup, you need to build bridges or walk long detours to reach certain areas. Surf grants early access to resources, Pokemon spawns, and exploration zones across water.
Early game value: Good for exploration. You reach the Verdant Meadow eastern section faster and can grab resources that other starters access later. However, this advantage fades once you build your first bridge.
Mid game value: Moderate. Bridges are cheap to build and permanent. Once your bridge network is established, Surf offers little that walking does not.
Late game value: Low. Empoleon’s extended Surf is nice for navigating but functionally unnecessary once the world is fully connected by paths.
Best for: Exploration-focused players who want to see everything as early as possible. Also a good pick if you dislike building bridges and want permanent water access.
Rowlet — Scout Specialty (6.5/10)
Rowlet’s Scout Specialty reveals hidden areas on your map. Unexplored fog clears in a wider radius around Rowlet, and it marks points of interest (buried items, hidden caves, rare spawn spots) with icons on your minimap.
Why it matters: Pokopia’s map is large and full of secrets. Without Scout, you discover things by walking directly over them. With Scout, you spot hidden caves, buried treasure, and rare Pokemon from a distance.
Early game value: Good. The starting island has 15+ hidden locations that Scout reveals quickly. You find crafting recipes, rare seeds, and material caches faster than any other starter.
Mid game value: Moderate. Each new region has secrets to discover, so Decidueye’s expanded Scout range remains useful when exploring fresh territory.
Late game value: Low. Once you have explored every region, Scout has no ongoing value. It is the most front-loaded Specialty in the game.
Best for: Completionists who want to find every hidden item and secret area. Also useful for players who play with an exploration-first mindset and worry about missing things.
C Tier — Viable But Outclassed
Scorbunny — Sprint Specialty (5.5/10)
Scorbunny’s Sprint Specialty increases your movement speed. Run faster across the map, get places quicker, and outrun any pursuing wild Pokemon. Base form gives +15% speed, Raboot +25%, Cinderace +40%.
Why it matters: Pokopia is a big game. Walking everywhere takes time. Sprint lets you cover ground faster, which technically saves time on every single thing you do.
The problem: Speed does not compound like farming or crafting bonuses. Running 15% faster to your farm does not make the farm itself more productive. The time saved per trip is measured in seconds, not minutes. Over a full playthrough, Sprint saves less total time than Grow, Water Gun, or Smelt.
Best for: Speed runners and players who enjoy the feeling of fast movement. Cinderace at +40% speed does feel noticeably zippy and some players genuinely prefer it for the movement feel alone.
Torchic — Flame Specialty (4.5/10)
Torchic’s Flame Specialty lights dark areas automatically. Caves, nighttime exploration, and poorly lit structures brighten as Torchic walks with you. Evolved forms provide stronger light with wider radius.
Why it matters in theory: Darkness is a factor in caves and during nighttime. Without light, you cannot see item pickups, ore deposits, or Pokemon spawn points.
Why it ranks lowest: Craftable Torches and Lanterns provide the exact same function, cost minimal resources, and are available within the first hour of gameplay. The Flame Specialty solves a problem that barely exists once you craft a few light sources.
The saving grace: Blaziken’s Flame radius is genuinely impressive in deep caves, lighting massive chambers that would require 10+ placed torches. If you spend a lot of time mining, the convenience factor is real.
Best for: Players who love cave exploration and mining. Also a fine pick if Torchic is simply your favorite Pokemon — the tier difference is not game-breaking.
Specialty Scaling After Evolution
Every starter Specialty improves with evolution. Here is the full scaling table:
| Starter | Base Specialty | Stage 1 Boost | Stage 2 Boost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulbasaur → Ivysaur → Venusaur | Grow 20% | Grow 30% | Grow 40% |
| Squirtle → Wartortle → Blastoise | 3-tile Water | 5-tile Water | 8-tile Water |
| Sprigatito → Floragato → Meowscarada | 3-tile Harvest | 5-tile Harvest | 8-tile Harvest |
| Charmander → Charmeleon → Charizard | Smelt 25% | Smelt 35% | Smelt 50% |
| Piplup → Prinplup → Empoleon | Surf (slow) | Surf (normal) | Surf (fast + dive) |
| Rowlet → Dartrix → Decidueye | Scout 10-tile | Scout 15-tile | Scout 20-tile |
| Scorbunny → Raboot → Cinderace | Sprint +15% | Sprint +25% | Sprint +40% |
| Torchic → Combusken → Blaziken | Flame 3-tile | Flame 6-tile | Flame 10-tile |
Evolution in Pokopia happens through friendship, not battles. Spend time with your Pokemon, feed it cooked meals it likes, keep it in a well-built habitat, and pet it daily. Friendship level 5 triggers the first evolution, level 10 triggers the second.
Best Starter for Each Playstyle
Not sure what your playstyle is? Here is a quick guide:
If you love farming: Bulbasaur (S tier). Nothing comes close to the compounding value of faster crop growth across an entire playthrough.
If you hate chores: Squirtle (S tier). Water Gun removes the most tedious daily task from your routine immediately.
If you want automation: Sprigatito (A tier). The endgame vision of walking through auto-watered, auto-harvested fields is deeply satisfying.
If you love building: Charmander (A tier). Faster smelting means faster access to advanced building materials and furniture.
If you explore first: Piplup (B tier). Water access from day one opens up the map significantly.
If you want 100% completion: Rowlet (B tier). Scout reveals secrets that would take hours to find manually.
If you want speed: Scorbunny (C tier). The fastest traversal in the game, but speed alone does not accelerate progression.
If you love caves: Torchic (C tier). Permanent hands-free lighting in every dark area, though craftable alternatives exist.
Team Synergy — What to Recruit After Your Starter
Your starter is just one Pokemon on your team. Pokopia lets you have up to 3 active followers, so choosing companions that cover your starter’s weaknesses is important.
If you chose Bulbasaur: Recruit Squirtle early for Water Gun irrigation, then Sprigatito later for auto-harvesting. This creates the ultimate farming trio.
If you chose Squirtle: Find a Bulbasaur in the wild (Verdant Meadow, Spring) for Grow, then add Charmander (Scorched Desert) for Smelt.
If you chose Sprigatito: Prioritize Bulbasaur for Grow and any Water-type for irrigation. Harvest is best when crops grow fast and stay watered.
If you chose Charmander: Recruit any farming Pokemon (Bulbasaur or Squirtle) as soon as possible. Charmander’s Smelt does not help with the daily farming loop.
For a deep dive into where to find every Pokemon in the wild, check our all Pokemon locations guide. And our beginner guide covers the first few hours in detail, including early recruitment opportunities.
Should You Reroll Your Starter?
If you have already picked a starter and regret it, you have two options.
Option 1: Restart. Delete your save file and start fresh. This is the only option in the first year of gameplay and obviously means losing all progress.
Option 2: Reroll Ticket. After reaching Year 2 in-game, the Traveling Merchant occasionally sells a Reroll Ticket for 5,000 Life Coins. Using it lets you re-select your starter without losing progress. Your current starter goes to your island as a regular Pokemon (keeping its friendship level) and you pick a new one.
Our advice: Do not restart unless you are very early in the game (first 3-5 hours). The differences between starters are meaningful but not game-breaking. A C-tier starter with 20 hours of progress is better than an S-tier starter at hour zero. If you are past the opening week, wait for the Reroll Ticket instead.
And honestly, if you picked your favorite Pokemon regardless of tier and you are having fun — that is the right choice. Pokopia is a cozy game, and enjoyment matters more than optimization.
FAQ
Can I change my starter Pokemon in Pokopia?
Not directly. However, you can restart your save file to pick a different starter. Some players also use the Reroll Ticket item (available from the Traveling Merchant after Year 2) to re-select.
Which Pokopia starter is best for beginners?
Bulbasaur is the best starter for beginners. Its Grow Specialty speeds up farming by 20%, which gives you a resource advantage from day one that makes every other system easier.
Does your starter Pokemon evolve in Pokopia?
Yes. Starters evolve through friendship level, not battle experience. Reaching friendship level 5 triggers the first evolution, and level 10 triggers the final evolution.
Can I get all 8 starters in one save file?
Not initially. You pick one at the start. The other 7 become available as rare wild encounters in the post-game regions after completing the main story.
Do starters keep their Specialty after evolving?
Yes, and the Specialty gets stronger with each evolution. Bulbasaur’s Grow gives 20% faster crops, Ivysaur gives 30%, and Venusaur gives 40%.
What is the worst starter in Pokopia?
Torchic is generally considered the weakest starter because its Flame Specialty (lighting dark areas) is easily replaced by craftable Torches and Lanterns. It does not save meaningful time.
Is Scorbunny good in Pokopia?
Scorbunny is niche. Its Sprint Specialty is fun for exploration but provides no farming, crafting, or building benefit. It is best for players who prioritize speed-running content.
Should I pick my favorite Pokemon or the best one?
Pick your favorite if you care more about the cozy experience. The tier differences are not game-breaking — every starter is viable. The best one just gives a smoother early game.
