Which is the best starter bird out of all gens?

Question

Which one out of these are the best starter bird (found very early in game) Pidgeot, Noctowl, Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant, Talonflame or Toucannon'

Comments

Well Noctowl has the lowest stats, so he's off the list.
Also, Unfezant is rather slow with a poor move pool.

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http://pokemondb.net/pokebase/61096/which-annoying-flying-creature-is-the-strongest?show=61096#q61096

We have this, but that was back when sixth and seventh generation didn't exist yet (meaning it doesn't consider Mega Pidgeot, Talonflame, or Toucannon). Just dropping this here in case anyone wants to refer to it.

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I'd say Staraptor after the Gale Wings nerf.

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I had the exact same discussion in another question. Staraptor and Talonflame both cover the same things (if you include Staraptor's Close Combat)
Only exception is Talonflame's HA is ruined by priority now. So yes (although I prefer Staraptor anyway) Staraptor is actually better.

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Mega Pidgeot has the highest stats, but it takes up the mega slot. The best non-mega would probably be Staraptor.

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Is Mega Pidgeot any good? I mean no one even mentions it any more. It's like an ORAS mega that no one really wanted or cared about.

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Mega Pidgeot's biggest problem was that it didn't have a solid niche, meaning that other Mega evolutions were added to teams before it, making it hard to fit onto a team unless you were building around it. For example, I built a team that had Tornadus-T on it, and I definitely would've used Mega Pidgeot instead had my Mega slot not been already taken by Mega Scizor.

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I mean, Mega Pidgeot was in BL in ORAS, so it's better than all the other starter birds.

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talonflame was OU tho?

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In gen 6 Talonflame was best for it's ability to revenge kill with the most powerful priority in the game for the most part and relative versatility in it's band, berry, LO or stallbreaker sets.

Someone turn that into a longer more detailed answer and there you go.

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I was thinking gen 7, Pidgeot would be better then

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Thanks for bringing this to our attention guys, though I cleared the flags. I don't have particular issue with it, you can answer it objectively as has started to happen above (and below in an answer). Plenty of these have been allowed before, we should be consistent.

Answer 1

While you didn't specify if it was competitive or in-game, the answer still remains the same. Staraptor is the best bird for a multitude of reasons. In-game it's main advantage is that it's usefulness hits immediately with a forest and a Grass Gym immediately following. Yes, while a lot of other birds have an type advantage over an important figure quickly, the forest, large amount of bug catchers, and Budew in Sinnoh give it an advantage. It's ability to learn Close Combat also helps in both competitive and in-game. The large type coverage from that move is amazing. Plus in competitive it has Intimidate, which is an amazing ability period, and Reckless for even more sweeping capabilities.