The Best Starter Pokemon In Ruby

There are plenty of questions in people’s minds when it comes to the best starter Pokemon of all time. Let’s help you decide once and for all as we will now dissect and analyze which is the best starter Pokemon in Ruby.

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The three starters are Treecko the Grass-type, Torchic the Fire-type, and Mudkip the Water-type. The usual answer to these types of questions is there is no right and wrong because it is all up to you.

While that may be true in most cases, we’re here to give you details and ideas to provide the best Pokemon suitable for you. We’re only basing our data on Ruby alone so which means Generation III. We won’t be including any other data from later games considering the game never got any updates later on.

Also read: Which Is The Best Starter Pokemon For Emerald

Best starter pokemon in ruby

Details To Find The Best Starter Pokemon In Ruby

Evolutionary Line

The best starter Pokemon in Ruby has to be the whole package or something that is suitable for you. All three Pokemon have two evolutions which means that things can change later on in terms of their overall appeal and play style.

Treecko starts off simply as a Grass-type and ends that way. The other two gain a secondary type which Torchic goes from Fire-type to having Fighting-type. Mudkip goes from being solely a Water-type to having a secondary one which is a Ground-type.

Stat Growth and More

The stat growth for these three can vary and can be vital information based on how you play.

Treecko excels in the Speed department because that is the highest stat growth that it gets. It has low HP, Defense and Sp Defense in exchange for that Speed. Torchic is a bit similar whereas it has low HP, Defense and Sp. Defense. Torchic does have high Attack and Sp. Attack to compensate for that. Mudkip is the opposite because it has the highest HP, Defense, and Sp Defense out of the three. It does suffer from having the lowest Speed out of them.

Moves they can learn

In order to pick the best starter Pokemon in Ruby, you also need to consider what kind of moves they can learn. This is to synergize and complement the stats that they get in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Treecko

  • Treecko for the most part learns mostly Grass-type moves and considering it doesn’t get a second type, that’s pretty much its natural and default move set.
  • It has an abundance of Normal-type moves which can be good for dealing damage or sustaining itself with buffs.
  • Like most Grass-types, it can learn certain Ground and Poison moves although not a lot.
  • It is the only one that can learn a Dragon-type move out of the three.

Torchic

  • A fully-evolved Torchic which is Blaziken becomes a Fire and Fighting-type. This means that it can learn a ton of Fire and Fighting-type moves in the process.
  • A lot of its moves are purely offensive which complements it strengths in term of its stats.
  • It has a good balance of moves for an offense based on Attack which is Fighting and Sp. Attack which is Fire-type moves.
  • It isn’t that strange as well that Torchic, later on, learns a number of Flying-type moves because of how it looks.

Mudkip

  • Being able to evolve into Swampert later on, it has access to Water and Ground-type moves.
  • A lot of strong moves for those types would be Surf which is ideal for use outside of battle and Earthquake giving it good damage output.
  • It also learns a lot of defensive and support moves to buff itself up.
  • The only one out of the three that can learn Ice-type moves.

Overall Pros and Cons

Treecko Pros and Cons

  • Based on its stats, Treecko is good at setting up debuffs or buffs based on the battle.
  • It doesn’t have any firepower to knock out a Pokemon unless you’ve grinded it to a point.
  • It only has one typing throughout and that can be bad because it can’t expand its kit.
  • The good thing about single typing is that is also doesn’t get any additional weaknesses.

Torchic Pros and Cons

  • If you’re not facing any Pokemon that’s resistant to Fire or Fighting, then Torchic can deal a good amount of damage to knock out enemies in one move.
  • Despite having low defensive stats, if you are able to beat enemies right away, then this is the starter for you.
  • Gaining the Fighting-type gives it the chance to deal damage in the Physical aspect but also gets more weaknesses.
  • Generation III games like Ruby have a lot of water areas, so that’s going to be a challenge for Torchic.

Mudkip Pros and Cons

  • Another one that has average firepower and low Speed but can withstand a lot of abuse due to its high Defense, Sp. Defense, and HP.
  • Gaining the Ground-type is a strength because it nullifies Electric-type moves.
  • Then again, it increases the damage taken from Grass-types since both Ground and Water-types are weak to it.
  • Mudkip and later Swampert can dominate a lot of Gym Leaders later on due to them being weak to its typing.

Final Verdict

In order to finalize your decision on which is the best starter Pokemon in Ruby, we’ll summarize why and why you may not get any of them:

Mudkip

If you want to have a somewhat easy route, then Mudkip is the one for you. Despite having average attacking power and very low speed, it is the type of Pokemon that won’t be fainting every now and then. It also has a kit good enough for you to build a good team around. Plus, it can learn Surf, so you don’t have to change your Water-type when you want to Surf outside of battle. Finally, as we stated, it can mow down a lot of the Gyms in the story which is good.

Torchic

Torchic would be a good second pick since there aren’t that many Fire-type substitutes. It will be good to have because of its brute force and sheer attacking power with acceptable speed. The word to describe Torchi is that it needs a lot of level grinding and it may suffer from some of the Gyms. Finally, Treecko takes the last place because it is well-rounded but it doesn’t excel much in anything. It also has a good balance in the story especially in a lot of the water areas.



About Taichee

Taichee is the ultimate writer for Pokémon gaming enthusiasts. With extensive experience, he expertly delves into popular Pokemon game series and ROM hacks for GBC, GBA, and NDS, meticulously testing cheats and sharing general gaming strategies on Pokemoncoders.

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2 thoughts on “The Best Starter Pokemon In Ruby”

  1. Mudkip has some pretty badass stats and if u want type advantages for the gyms and steven, (steel and rock types, steel and rock are weak to ground and rock is weak to water) mudkip is definitley the best to pick, even tho treecko is my favourite

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