What is the best starter for S/V playthrough?

Question

Basically I want to know which of the three starters is the best one to pick for S/V playthrough, in terms of stats, moves, and viability in terms of how well it matches up against major boss battles like rivals, Gym Leaders, Elite Four, Team Star Bosses, Titan Pokemon, and many others.

Comments

I think Flamigo is better than all of them.

Answer 1

Well let's take a look at each starter:

QUAQUAVAL:

Pros:
- High attack
- Aqua Step to increase Speed
- Powerful attacks
-Wide movepool

Cons:
- Pretty annoying to use early on
- Slower in-game play
- Not great facing Gym Leaders

Good against:
- Gym: Larry
- Star Bosses: Giacomo, Mela, and Eri
- Titans: Klawf, Orthworm
- Elite 4: Rika
- Other: Nemona

Okay against:
- Gym: Katy, Ryme, Grusha
- Star Bosses: Atticus
- Titans: Bombirdier, Iron Treads/Great Tusk
- Elite 4: None

Bad against:
- Gym: Brassius, Iona, Kofu, Tulip
- Star Bosses: Ortega
- Titans: Dondozo/Tatsugiri
- Elite 4: Poppy, Larry, Hassel

MEOWSCARADA:

Pros:
- Fast
- Guaranteed critical hits with Flower Trick
- Wide movepool

Cons:
- Frail
- 7 Weaknesses
- Grass isn't generally a great offensive type, which is how Meowscarada is built

Good against:
- Gym: Iona, Kofu, Tulip, Ryme
- Star Bosses: None
- Titans: Klawf, Dondozo/Tatsugiri
- Elite 4: None

Okay against:
- Gym: Brassius, Larry
- Star Bosses: Eri, Giacomo
- Titans: Orthworm
- Elite 4: Rika, Hassel (if you have Play Rough)

Bad against:
- Gym: Grusha
- Star Bosses: Mela, Atticus, Ortega
- Titans: Bombirdier, Iron Treads/Great Tusk
- Elite 4: Poppy, Larry

SKELEDIRGE:

Pros:
- Current greatest offensive types
- Torch Song to increase special attack while attacking
- Decent bulk

Cons:
- Slow
- Shallow movepool

Good against:
- Gyms: Katy, Brassius, Larry, Tulip, Grusha (Skeledirge turns this fight into a joke with Torch Song)
- Star Bosses: Giacomo(Skeledirge won't have Ghost typing yet)
- Titans: Orthworm
- Elite 4: Poppy, Larry

Okay against:
- Gyms: Iono, Ryme
- Star Bosses: Mela, Atticus, Eri
- Titans: Iron Treads
- Elite 4: None

Bad against:
- Gyms: Kofu
- Star Bosses: Ortega
- Titans: Bombirdier, Great Tusk, Dondozo/Tatsugiri
- Elite 4: Rika, Hassel

FINAL NOTES:

Each of these Pokémon starters have their own strengths and weaknesses. They were made with different uses in mind and can't really be judged by who's best in this case. However, Skeledirge is perfect to speed up progression. Torch Song allows you to setup while attacking, decreasing the amount of battle time. Decent bulk allows Skeledirge to take less trips to the Pokémon Center. With a speed investment and the usual few level advantage, you can outspeed most other Pokémon, which means you'll be taking less damage. I would choose Skeledirge for faster gameplay, but the choice is really yours. There's no huge disadvantage or advantage of choosing one starter over the other. I hope this helped you!

Comments

I don't know why a huge portion of it converted into a code looking thing, but it's fine.

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Thanks for the edit!

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Tulip is ok for skelidirge because the only way you know that they are fainted is by torch song. I tried to shadow ball sweep Tulip but failed because a lot of her pokémon are bulkier so i had to resort to torch song(also some of the pokémon there was psychic/normal so that didn’t go very well)

Answer 2

Skeledirge is the strongest starter (in terms of a in-game team) ever introduced, torch song boosts it's special attack while having 100% accuracy and being 80 base power, it is pretty slow but that can be fixed with bottle caps, nature and evs, max speed scarf skeledirge outspeeds everything because they don't have access to that stuff, this allows it's to sweep most of the game once it evolves, anything that is tanky enough that it can take a few boosted Torch songs may be a counter.

Comments

https://youtu.be/_sTw8RWWSiw
Go to 9 minutes 20ish seconds