PokeSurvivor Best Pokemon: Top 5 Starters for Your First Run

How you get your first partner: the personality quiz

On your first run, PokéSurvivor asks 8 personality questions in the style of Mystery Dungeon, and your answers assign one of 29 starters. The pool is the starters of all 9 generations plus Psyduck and Slowpoke. You do not have to accept the result: you can turn the quiz pick down and choose another starter, so the choice is really yours. Pikachu, Eevee and Mewtwo are not in the starter pool; you can only get other Pokémon later through the ticket gacha, and legendaries only appear in legendary rift arenas.

The 29 starters grouped by starting move

Only your active move auto-attacks, and at the start you have just one move. That makes the starting move the biggest single factor in any PokeSurvivor best Pokemon decision. Each starter has a fixed starting move. Moves level up to 5, and a max-level move plus its required stat card (taken in that run) unlocks a golden evolution card, according to the official moves page.

Our own quick math (damage ÷ cooldown, one target, no upgrades): Ember is about 35 damage per second, Water Gun about 32, Vine Whip about 26, Confusion about 22, Razor Leaf about 22 if both leaves connect, and Bubble about 9 per bubble on one target. Bubble makes up for that on crowds, with up to 8 hits per cast. Ember, Water Gun and Vine Whip all evolve with Power (+10% damage), which you would want to take anyway.

In plain terms, Fire and Water starters lead on raw damage, Grass splits into a melee arc (Vine Whip) and a boomerang (Razor Leaf), and the two Psychic-type extras trade damage for homing shots. If you only remember one thing from the table, remember that a fast, strong single-target move carries the first boss, which is why Ember and Water Gun users fill most of the PokeSurvivor best Pokemon picks below.

Our top 5 starter picks

Every starter has three stats: HP, speed and an attack multiplier that scales all damage. Here is our shortlist for the first 30 minutes, each pick tied to those numbers. The fifth spot is a tie between Litten and Torchic. If you want one name, take the best starter PokeSurvivor has for your style: Scorbunny for damage, Slowpoke for comfort.

Scorbunny

1.09 ATK · 107 SPD

Sobble

1.08 ATK · 107 SPD

Slowpoke

110 HP · 84 SPD

Froakie

108 SPD

Litten

1.06 ATK · 107 SPD

Torchic

1.08 ATK · 97 SPD

1. 1. Scorbunny (Ember): our pick for raw damage

   Scorbunny has a 1.09 attack multiplier, the highest of all 29 starters, on Ember, the strongest single target starting move. Add 107 speed and 92 HP and nothing is wasted. In our runs, this is the pick if you just want bosses to melt.

2. 2. Sobble (Water Gun): the safest damage

   Sobble's 1.08 attack and 107 speed sit on Water Gun, the fastest-firing starting move at 0.44 s. Its pierce of 1 hits a second enemy behind the first, and the official data calls it reliable at any distance. Mudkip has the same 1.08 attack with 95 speed if you prefer it.

3. 3. Slowpoke (Confusion): the forgiving pick

   Slowpoke has 110 HP, the most of any starter, and Confusion homes in on its target, so you can focus on dodging instead of aiming your path. The trade-off is 84 speed, the slowest of the 29. For brand-new players we think it is the easiest partner to learn the game with.

4. 4. Froakie (Water Gun): the fastest feet

   Froakie has 108 speed, the top of the starter list, with Water Gun's pierce. Its 88 HP is low, so it suits players who kite well rather than tank hits.

5. 5. Litten or Torchic (Ember): strong backups

   Litten pairs Ember with 107 speed and 1.06 attack; Torchic trades speed (97) for 1.08 attack. Both are fine if the quiz hands you one.

   Why is S-tier Torchic only #5 when Slowpoke, an A-tier starter, is #3? The tier list weighs raw stats on the starting move, while these PokeSurvivor best Pokemon picks also weigh play style and how forgiving a starter is for a first run. Slowpoke's 110 HP and homing Confusion outweigh its 84 speed for a new player.

Which starter is the weakest by the numbers? Snivy has the lowest attack (0.95), and Squirtle and Chikorita sit at 0.97. They are still playable, but their attack keeps them off our PokeSurvivor best Pokemon shortlist, and we would refuse them as a quiz pick if damage is what you want. For the full S-to-C placement of all 29, see the early-game starter tiers.

Which top pick fits your play style?

The five picks above are not one ladder. Each PokeSurvivor best Pokemon pick answers a different question, so match it to how you like to play:

• You want bosses down fast: Scorbunny, or Torchic as the slower, equally hard-hitting backup.
• You miss shots or panic in crowds: Slowpoke. Homing Confusion and the biggest HP pool forgive mistakes.
• You like to kite and keep moving: Froakie or Litten, both at 107 speed or more.
• You want damage without aiming at range: Sobble, whose piercing Water Gun fires every 0.44 s.

If two picks feel close, take the one with the higher attack multiplier. It scales every point of damage you deal, so it matters more than a few points of HP or speed in the first minutes. We apply that rule throughout this PokeSurvivor best Pokemon guide.

Best early Pokémon for the minute-3 boss

The best early Pokemon PokeSurvivor gives you is the one that handles the first of five bosses, which arrives at minute 3. In the source code its base HP is 1,400, multiplied by 1.35 since 2026-10-10. The game then scales boss HP further with run time and party size, so expect more than that. It is a random strong non-legendary. Bosses have telegraphed attacks (ground circles and lines) and enrage at half HP, so step out of the markers.

Support enemies matter just as much. Healers such as Chansey, Blissey, Audino and Clefairy heal approximately 15% (community estimate) to nearby allies every 3.5 s. Shielders such as Shuckle, Bronzong, Mr. Mime and Bastiodon put an estimated 35% HP shield (community observation) on 6 allies (community observation). The official guide says to kill healers and shielders first. How each starting move copes, in our view:

• Ember: best single-target damage, so it bursts the boss and picks off healers fast. Its burn adds damage over time.
• Water Gun: pierce lets it hit a healer standing behind a front-line enemy, and the 0.44 s cooldown keeps pressure on the boss.
• Vine Whip: good damage and knockback, but melee range (68) means you must walk into the boss's reach.
• Razor Leaf: both leaves can hit on the way out and back; aim through the healer for two hits.
• Bubble: weak on the boss alone; its slow helps you escape, and the nova clears crowds.
• Confusion: homing reaches a healer hiding in the pack without lining up, but damage on the boss is modest.

Weather can also arrive from minute 2: rain gives Water ×1.5 and Fire ×0.5, while harsh sun does the reverse. That evens out Ember and Water Gun over many runs, which is why both Scorbunny and Sobble sit near the top of our PokeSurvivor best Pokemon list. Playing with friends? A teammate can revive you in a PokéSurvivor co-op run, which makes a fragile pick like Froakie much safer.

Using your starter in early rifts

Legendary rifts unlock at minute 10 and appear every 10 minutes. Each rift arena pits you against one legendary Pokémon with type-specific adds, and clearing it gives you a powerful move from that legendary. Early rifts test whether your starter can burst down a tanky, aggressive legendary while handling supporting mobs, so your choice of starter matters.

Fire, Water and Grass starters each handle certain rifts more smoothly because of type advantages. Fire-type rifts such as Ho-Oh and Moltres fill the arena with fire adds; Water-type starters (Sobble, Froakie, Mudkip, Totodile) with Water Gun resist fire damage and clear the adds faster with their pierce, making them the best PokeSurvivor starter picks for these rifts. Water rifts such as Kyogre and Suicune work the reverse: Fire starters (Scorbunny, Litten, Torchic) with Ember deal bonus damage to Water types and burn legendary targets for extra damage over time. Grass rifts such as Celebi pair well with Fire starters for the same reason.

Psychic starters (Slowpoke, Psyduck) trade raw damage for homing Confusion, which hits evasive legendary adds reliably, but they clear slower. Speed matters more than HP in rifts: faster starters (Froakie at 108, Sobble and Scorbunny at 107) dodge charge attacks and telegraphed area-of-effect moves more easily, while slower tank starters such as Slowpoke (84 speed, 110 HP) work better when you have already picked up defensive stat cards such as Guard and Sprint. Our testing suggests a speed-based starter (Froakie or Sobble) paired with the right type advantage clears the first two rifts more safely than a high-HP starter without it.

Type-matchup damage applies according to the official type chart at pokesurvivor.com: for example, Water Gun against Fire-type adds deals ×1.5 damage, while Ember against Water-type legendaries gains the same multiplier, stacking with your starter's attack multiplier. These interactions are why Scorbunny and Sobble stay at the top of the PokeSurvivor best Pokemon picks even past the first boss: both have the attack and speed to handle rifts from minute 10 onward.

In practice: take Scorbunny or Litten for Water and Grass rifts, Sobble or Froakie for Fire rifts, and Slowpoke only if you have already picked up Sprint (+10% speed) to offset its low base speed. The worst-case scenario is a disadvantaged type matchup in bad weather, such as Ember in rain against a Water legendary, which stacks ×0.5 weather penalty with potential type resistance. For those runs, focus on dodging and let your secondary move (if you have bought Repertoire) carry the damage.

Why sticking with one partner pays off

Permanent upgrades bought with PokéCoins are per Pokémon. One of them, Repertoire, lets that Pokémon start a run with 2 moves. Every coin you spend on your starter stays with that starter. If you jump to a new gacha partner, it starts from zero. Our advice: choose the starter that suits how you play, then keep it and invest in it while you learn. A starter with a few upgrades usually beats a fresh, stronger-looking gacha partner with none. When you later want to compare gacha partners, use the mid- and late-game partner rankings. For controls and cards, read how to play PokéSurvivor. Prefer Chinese? We also have a 繁體中文 PokéSurvivor 攻略.