#4 - Unova’s Serperior, Emboar, and Samurott

Unova Trio
Image: Nintendo Life / Bulbapedia

Black and White (and Black and White 2)'s trio have a distinctive charm between them. A majestic, winding snake. A formidable, flaming boar. A dignified samurai otter. All three designs capture what we want in a final starter evolution, even if Emboar being the third Fire/Fighting starter evolution in a row irked us back in the day. But the trios ranked after these three, we felt, captured that Starter essence a little bit more. Truthfully, it was hard to place Unova's Serperior, Emboar, and Samurott in the middle.

Serperior and Emboar boast some impressive techniques that would cause any opposing trainer to sweat. Serperior’s ability Contrary can quickly turn any stat decrease into trouble for your opponent. It also has access to the move Coil, allowing it to exponentially increase its stats if left alone. With the ability Sheer Force, Emboar can break through just about any team with a single Flare Blitz or Head Smash, though with his lumbering speed this massive pig needs a little help. Samurott has nothing particularly special about it with middling stats – it’s basically a bargain bin Blastoise – but hey, both otters and samurai are cool, right?

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It’s clear Game Freak understood the assignment when designing these three.

#3 - Hoenn’s Sceptile, Blaziken, and Swampert

Hoenn Trio
Image: Nintendo Life / Bulbapedia

While not as powerful as some of those above, the Hoenn trio make for a great balance between impressive design and competitive strength. The reptilian Sceptile may be the weakest of the three visually – that bushy tail and round seeds make it look like a Christmas tree – but Blaziken the Fire/Fighting-type fire chicken and the bulky Swampert more than make-up for it. For us, they serve as good examples of what makes an imposing final evolution with some skill to back it up.

Swampert’s secondary Ground typing combined with Water makes it weak to only Grass-type moves. Access to Ground moves like Earthquake also ensures it's an absolute force. Blaziken, for its part, comes equipped with the powerful ability Speed Boost, allowing it to grow faster every turn. If protected long enough, Blaziken can wipe opposing teams with its powerful Fire and Fighting moves. With Unburden, Sceptile can also gain an advantage by using a Held Item to trigger a massive speed boost, though it lacks a deep move pool to take full advantage.

While not top-tier competitively, the Ruby and Sapphire trio can hold their own under the right circumstances, and certainly earned their third-place ranking with their great designs.

#2 - Alola’s Decidueye, Incineroar, and Primarina

Alola Trio
Image: Nintendo Life / Bulbapedia

If we said Rillaboom and Cinderace were powerful, then Sun and Moon's Incineroar and Primarina would like to have a word. Incineroar is single-handedly the most broken starter in Pokémon history — yes, more so than the original trio. There isn’t a tool Incineroar doesn’t have. A defensive Fire/Dark typing, Fake Out and Parting Shot to debilitate opponents, and one of the best abilities in the game in Intimidate makes it near unstoppable and a mainstay on many competitive teams since this fiery wrestler’s inception. And while you may not like its pervasiveness – or how it evolves to stand on two feet rather than four – Incineroar has a swagger that appeals to that kid in us, just like Greninja.

Primarina, while not at the same level, holds its own as both an offensive and defensive threat The ability Liquid Voice gives Primarina powerful options in double battles, and its secondary Fairy typing – perhaps the single best type – pairs well with Water, making Primarina difficult to take down. And while not a traditionally imposing design, we quite like Primarina’s mermaid-like features, as it manages to hold its own kind of majesty, not unlike Serperior.

Decidueye, while looking the part, holds this trio back from taking the top spot. We love this Robin Hood owl as well as its Grass/Ghost typing, but for some reason, it received an absolutely abysmal speed stat and unuseful ability that ensures it can’t take advantage of its strengths (and gained nothing in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon). That said, these three still capture what it means to be a starter evolution for us.

#1 - Sinnoh’s Torterra, Infernape, and Empoleon

Sinnoh Trio
Image: Nintendo Life / Bulbapedia

Are these three the strongest of all Starter evolutions? No. Not even close. But do their designs epitomise what it means to be a Starter evolution? Yes, we definitely think so. The hulking Torterra supports a whole ecosystem on its back, bringing to mind the Cosmic Turtle from a handful of ancient mythologies. Infernape pulls from the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West with its design. The regal Empoleon draws inspiration from both Napoleon Bonaparte and the emperor penguin, which makes Empoleon one of the best puns Game Freak has ever conjured up. Together, these three embody what makes a great Pokémon design.

And while they’re not the strongest, two of these three hold their own. Infernape with its great speed, equal attack and special attack stats, and Iron Fist ability give it a lot of variety to throw your opponent's way. With a Focus Sash, Infernape can pick up a couple of quick, devastating kills as both Fire and Fighting hit a lot of ‘mons hard.

Empoleon, with few weaknesses and a staggering 10 resistances, backs up its formidable appearance with a typing to match. It may not be the strongest, but under the right circumstances, it can hang around for quite a while to hassle opposing teams, and while its attack stat is lower than its special attack, the ability Defiant gives it a direct counter to opposing stat drops.

Of the three, Torterra is the most disappointing competitively like the Grass Starters often are. Torterra drops to a single wayward snowflake and can’t do much outside of a dedicated Trick Room team, and even then much better options are present in competitive play. Still, Torterra has a more inspired design than most Grass starters on this list.

Altogether, we’ve come to the conclusion that Torterra, Infernape, and Empoleon from Diamond and Pearl make for the best Starter trio of all generations – except the very first. But you already knew that.

Paldea Starters
Image: Nintendo Life / Bulbapedia

We know you likely disagree with how we ranked these Pokémon based on a balance of design and strength. That’s the wonderful thing – it’s so subjective in regards to which Pokémon you like and which Pokémon you don’t. And, given how quickly the perspective of a Pokémon can change, we wouldn’t count on some of these ‘mons rising and falling through the ranks in future generations. We’ll also have to wait and see where Scarlet and Violet’s starters end up. Who knows? Maybe they’ll redefine what makes a starter evolution iconic.

But that’s enough about us – which trio do you think is the best, including Kanto's own? Be sure to vote in the poll below and let us know your reasoning in the comments and why our reasoning is the worst you’ve ever heard. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Which starter trio do you think is the best?