5th Gen Underpowered Starters.

[Eurydice]

my serperior is probably the stongest on my team and probably the lowest level out of them all

 

[G0D M0DE]

That's why I regret picking Tepig hah, but my current team makes up for his fail. Not like you HAVE to stick w/ him yknow.

 

[Harumi Fujyoshi]

I don't know much about competitive battling and such but my Serperior saved my ass many times with the E4 and Ghetsis. I like the fact that he actually has some defenses, unlike certain other pokemon on my team. Yes, I'm looking at you Swoobat!

 

[Perriechu]

I've played through the games with all 3 starters, and I must say that Tepig and Oshawott aren't that good compared to Snivy.

I've used Snivy more through out the game, he's actually a head of all my other Pokemon, whilst Emboar and Samurott would fall way behind.

 

[King Gumball]

Yeah I was sad they are the weakest set of starters, even though they look like the strongest design wise. But at least they all have even stats, 528, this time.

Game wise I didn't notice that the were weaker than usual, my Serperior fair very well in battle.

iirc Unova has the weakest set, and Hoenn has the strongest.

 

[Heart Gold]

I can name at least 2 good replacements for each of the starters, and a few others, but I still enjoy using them. I'm debating if I want to rid myself of Servine. :>

Emboar - Darmanitan, Chandelure, Volcarona
Samurott - Jellicent, Carracosta, (Seismitoad?)
Serperior - Whimsicott, Lilligant, (Leavanny?)

 

[DayDreamer]

I can name at least 2 good replacements for each of the starters, and a few others, but I still enjoy using them. I'm debating if I want to rid myself of Servine. :>

Emboar - Darmanitan, Chandelure, Volcarona
Samurott - Jellicent, Carracosta, (Seismitoad?)
Serperior - Whimsicott, Lilligant, (Leavanny?)

I dunno about Carracosta. My Carracosta died a whole lot more than my Samurott. Probably due to the amount of Sp.Atkers in the game and his speed doesn't do him much justice :/. Leavanny is no good either. Too many weaknesses considering this game like to surprise you with Pokemon who have moves you don't expect >_>.

 

[Keizar]

I choose Oshawoot as my starter, and i didn't feel a single time in my playthrough that he was too weak, i had that problem occur with other in my team, but nothing at all with my starter, he got the job done.

 

[lamby101]

I've been pretty happy with my Samurott, not really taken to him like other starters, I've only kept him in my team because I feel like I have to due to him being a starter.

 

[giradialkia]

I was actually never reall disappointed with my Emboar/preceeding evolutions. There are some moves I wish it would have learned- Arm Thrust just isn't a good enough Fighting move for me, and I have to wait til winter before I can get Brick Break (I think). But I was pretty happy with Emboar, overall, I managed to sweep through a lot of battles with him alone.

 

[Tsundera]

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?

If you compare the statistics for Emboar with Heatmor, there isn't that much of an actual difference & if anything, Emboar seems to be the better choice.

Take a look at their base stats:
(Emboar in Red, Heatmor in orange)

HP: 110 / 85 - difference of 25 in Emboar's favour
Attack: 123 / 97 - difference of 26 in Emboar's favour
Defense: 65 / 66 - difference of 1 in Heatmor's favour
Sp. Atk: 100 / 105 - difference of 5 in Heatmor's favour
Sp. Def: 65 / 66 - difference of 1 in Heatmor's favour
Speed: 65 / 65 - no difference.

Comparitively, Emboar is a much better physical attacker than Heatmor whereas Heatmor is constructed more for special attacks; however, the difference between their special attack stats is almost negligible. The advantage Heatmor has over Emboar in terms of defense and special defense is, on the other hand, extremely negligible. With greater HP and attack, Emboar boasts far more destructive power with physical attacks like Flare Blitz and Brick Break, not to mention his dual-typing of Fire/Fighting which gives you more coverage overall; with Blaze in play, Emboar's capacity excels even further. Heatmor packs a silly 5 special attack more than Emboar, which is hardly worth giving up all of the previously mentioned advantages that using Emboar as opposed to Heatmor provides.

They both have really terrible defense and speed though. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is: I wouldn't really advise swapping out Emboar for Heatmor because you're not going to be better off. If your style of play is more suited for adapting Heatmor to your team though, by all means, feel free.

 

[Dawn]

My Tepig and his evolutions utterly demolished everything. Like, no joke he is/was beast. I... don't know what you're doing wrong, as I recall my Tepig fainting maybe /once/ during the /entire game/. Given, I stopped using him much around half way through.

 

[Twilight-kun]

Yea...Daikenki is the strongest Isshu starter
the pig and snake...not so much

but I guess it depends on how you play the game
because I over level my teams for the Gyms
Level 40 pokemon? meet level 50

 

[tjb90]

I don't think the starters are underpowered. My Oshawott is very strong!

 

[Alternative]

I never really used the starters throughout my journey, but they seem reliable. They actually seem quite reliable, and somewhat like the 4th gen starters in terms of reliability. I mean, Serperior is pretty much a defensive threat which can dish out awesome attacks with Coil support, Emboar is essentially a fire type Hariyama, which helps in situations, and Samurott seems like a sturdy, but semi-fast hard hitter.

 

[Zeffy]

I wouldn't say underpowered. Well, this is just ingame anyways. Almost anything works ingame, if you train it well and give it good moves. A good nature and some EV training would help, but you can survive without doing that. I use my starters for every journey of mine. Actually, it takes me a lot of time to decide what starter to get.

 

[AoXoA]

I think Emboar is just so slow. Every other thing gets to attack him first. Of course mine is a traded one from GTS, wearing lucky egg (Huge XP!). However My starter was Snivy and while its very fast and with Coil it is a beast vs things that its grass moves are good against it doesn't get much apart from grass.

Anyway my main one I used was lilipup which is now a 57 Stoutland and did wonders all through the game. Im at Victory road but havn't defeated any of the elite 4 yet as im training other pokemon I got through GTS (Faster leveling).

But anyway sorry to go offtopic but I think Emboar is powerful but he is very slow, so other pokemon hit it often first, which is why it gets damaged alot.

 

[ISA56 2.0]

Weaker than all the other starters before it? Mostly. Underpowered in general? No. Emboar is normally made to smash away huge chunks of HP from defensive Pokemon in a battle so sweepers can come in and finish the job.

Yes, Emboar is rather slow. Not that I care!:)

 

[Khirbz]

I've been playing with Emboar for a while, and he massacred practically everything in its way. I guess it depends how you raised it.

 

[Testacool]

Depends on your playstyle I guess. My Servine JUST. DOESN'T. DIE, which makes it really something compared to the other starters. Now if it only didn't have such lackluster coverage...