5th Gen Underpowered Starters.

[solarowl]

I felt Serperior was underpowered. I felt it slowly becoming weaker. Emboar was pretty good, but I prefer Samurott.

 

[jle1076]

My Serperior is actually a pretty decent member of my team. I was considering breeding it because it's at a Rash nature and felt it could do better, but then again, I wouldn't want something like Modest when you have Leaf Blade, anyway.

He's meant to be a mixed attacker

 

[Toony]

Well I've used all 3 a lot(but I've used Serperior the most), and I'd say that Emboar has the crappiest defense ever. IMO, 2 of the starters have really large weak points. Emboar's horrid defense, and Serperior's bad Attack stats. Although, Emboar's Attack stat and Serperior's beast speed and more than decent Defenses almost make up for it. Each time I used Emboar, I ended up switching him out for Darmanitan or Chandelure. I've used Serperior as a starter 3 times(I've played through the game like 7 times), and I've taken him out once for a Ferroseed(With rugged helmet <3). The 2 times I took out those 2 pokemon, my team just got WAY better. I'd say Samurott is the best. :D

 

[jle1076]

Emboar is statistically better

 

[Nameless.]

You kidding? Even as a Snivy, my starter has done amazingly well. She can hold her own very well, as well as initiate damage however she wants. The Eviolite or however you spell it [Evolution Stone] was amazing on my last starter [which was also a Snivy], as well as the Snivy I have now. Though they can hold up fairly well on their own I find. I guess as long as you're careful and practiced in battle, you can hold them up longer. :3
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[Ninja Caterpie]

In wifi battling terms, Emboar is better than Samurott

heck the what. Samurott gets Swords Dance and Aqua Jet, as well as a pile of pretty decent physical moves. Emboar doesn't have nearly as much going for him. Yeah, he can make a solid mixed sweeper but his speed is awkward; he's a bit too fast for most Trick Room teams, but way too slow for most normal teams. His terrible defenses mean he can't take any damage.

I don't understand why everyone's citing "bad IVs" as a reason for a bad Pokemon. Perfect IVs only add up to 31 of a stat compared to 0 IVs, and that's at level 100. As a low-level Pokemon, it would have no more than 5 or 6 of a stat lower than it could, and that's nothing.

Anyway, I picked Samurott as my original starter and that was pretty beast. I couldn't be bothered getting Swords Dance up half the time though, so he was somewhat underpowered, but he was good nonetheless. Emboar is powerful, but a bit weak defensively. Thankfully, however, he has enough HP to not make that a big problem. I haven't used Serperior personally, but through my theorymonning, he looks somewhat weak. 75 base Sp/Att is kinda low, and I can't say his movepool is amazing...

 

[Air Pichu]

Personally, I've had no problems with my Samurott, and most likely never will. It's almost with Level 100 and I haven't noticed a single flaw with it. I use it on almost everything, and it usually beats its opponents. I think Emboar is pretty good - keep it. It gets an amazing power boost when it evolves. Serperior is kind of lackluster in everything stat-wise, however I did use it before, noticing a few problems here and there but I was still able to finish the game.

 

[Toony]

LOL Emboar is incredibly powerful and the best starter of the 3

You know, you can stop making pointless posts(or spamming, if you please). You've repeated the same thing 4 times now, saying it once is enough. If you're going to repeat yourself to prove your point further at least give some good(and different) reasons each time you re-post. Stop spamming,"Emboar is obviosly beter, TROLOLOLOL, YOU GUYZ DONT NO SHEEZ, LOL," and give a reason WHY he's better, at least one.

Anyway, on topic, Samurott beats the crap out of Emboar due to Swords Dance + Shell Blade(Possibly even without Swords dance), the only real issue here would be Emboar's HP, which shouldn't be too big of a problem if they haven't boosted Defenses at all. And it can destroy Serperior if it can survive the first(Maybe even second) hit.

 

[mew_nani]

I haven't tried any of the other starters besides Snivy. But Ivy the Serperior has saved my butt plenty of times in the game, and can kill stuff pretty quick with a Coil or two under his belt. :D

I might try the other two. Samurott looks awesome, while I'm not too good a fan of Emboar....

 

[Hikamaru]

I have a Pignite at this moment and time and I'm highly disappointed in how often he dies. His nature applies quite a bit of defense and even then normal attacks that shouldn't harm him very much are just demolishing the thing.

Because of this I am probably going to box him as soon as I get my Heatmor, but that is really far in the future.

Does anyone else feel as though their starter is extremely weak in comparison to Pokemon almost 10 levels lower than their own?

I consider giving your Pignite vitamins to increase his stats. Check if he is better at Defense or Sp. Def.

 

[Heliotrope]

My Samurott was complete balls compared to other Pokemon I trained on my team. The moves he learned over the course of the game left much to be desired and I found myself wanting another water type later on. After the Elite Four my Samurott just turned into an HM slave.

I found it more rewarding training other Pokemon like Darmanitan, Excadrill, Reuniclus and the like. They had much more impact on battles than my starter :)

 

[Notch ear pichu]

My tepig with adamant nature is actually pretty darn strong. especially after maxing out it's attack. Go Tepig!!!

 

[Dark Azelf]

I like Tepig the most honestly and currently using him atm. He can use both attacking stats and Fight/Fire has great coverage. Grass Knot is pretty nifty to have around too hitting waters hard. He's a little slow but Flame Charge helps in regards to that. Definitely the most powerful of the starters, when it evolves into Pignite is has base 93 Attack, BASE 93! Thats two away from Kingdra and more than Nidoking and its not even fully evolved, insane lol.

EDIT:

The reason he is underpowered, or seems it is simply because his moves have low base power. Arm Thrust and Flame Charge are rather weak even by early-mid game stadards so he needs TMing junk like Brick Break etc.

 

[travisjb1990]

I don't think the starters are underpowered. My Pignite is really strong!

 

[Misheard Whisper]

My Oshawott was a star player. As a Dewott, she pulled her weight well. As a Samurott . . . somehow, not so much. She fell behind in terms of levels, and now she's little more than a vehicle (Surf/Waterfall). It just . . . didn't happen. I have too much junk I want in my team now . . . and what with the Dratini I ported over from Platinum, and the Druddigon and Deino I just caught . . . thinking of an all-Dragon team.

 

[SinisterEternity]

Well, I beat the E4 using mainly my Serperior (a.k.a : Jarooda) so I wouldn't say mine/he was underpowered. ~u~b

 

[pokewalker]

Absolutely not. My Serperior muders anything. But it only has physical attacks and when I boost its power with Coil it definitely KO's even Arceus. And having it use Return is also a good addition.

 

[Kendosis]

I think they're underpowered compared to older gen starters.

 

[Giraffe]

I have a Pignite at this moment and time and I'm highly disappointed in how often he dies. His nature applies quite a bit of defense and even then normal attacks that shouldn't harm him very much are just demolishing the thing.

Because of this I am probably going to box him as soon as I get my Heatmor, but that is really far in the future.

Does anyone else feel as though their starter is extremely weak in comparison to Pokemon almost 10 levels lower than their own?

I totally agree.
I own a Pignite too, and her Defence stat is pathetic -- She can hardly stay in battle for more than a minute.

I'm not the best at EV training, either.

I took her off my Team yesterday, as she wasn't any help in battle at all.
/Regrets picking Tepig. D:

 

[Strdstwanderer]

My Samurott Dies a lot two... but it's attacks are a tad powerful