Paldean Starters in Pokémon GO: How Good Could They Be for PvE?

Hello Trainers! The most recent datamine uncovered special research that will have us pick one of the three starters (or to use the ‘official’, first partner Pokémon) that were available in the Paldean region. For those of you unfamiliar with the Paldean starters, they are Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly. I wanted to take some time to look at the final evolutions of all three and determine how they might shake up the raid/gym meta and which of the three might be the best choice to make.

Now, we don’t have move sets just yet so this is going to be very speculative. I’ll go over the potential DPS and TDO of all three with a variety of move sets, including what their potential is with the future Community Day moves.

I am going to be focusing on these three and comparing them only to other Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, Non-Shadow, and Non-Mega Pokémon. As the first two are raid-only, Shadows are expensive to power up and require a special event to remove Frustration, and you can only bring one Mega Pokémon into a raid.

Take this information however you wish, picking a starter is an intensely personal choice. Some do so by picking the most useful in the early game, some do so by picking the one that looks the best, and some always pick the same type every time. Your starter is a personal choice, this article just serves to give you as much information to make that choice as possible.

So let’s get on with it!

Sprigatito (Meowscarada)

Meowscarada is a Grass and Dark-type Pokémon with 233 attack but a paltry 153 defense and 183 stamina making it a bit of a glass cannon. Sprigatito has a max CP at level 50 of 3193.

Meowscarada GrassDark
Max CP at lvl 40 2825 | lvl 50 3193
ATK 233		DEF 153		HP 183
Weak to			Resistances
Bugx2 Fairy Fighting Fire Flying Ice Poison			[pychic]x2 Dark Electric Ghost Grass Ground Water

Moveset Potentials

Grass

Meowscarada has access to Leafage and Bullet Seed as Fast moves and a variety of Grass-type charge moves. So let’s look at the best-case scenarios of movesets that it could potentially get when it’s released.

Best case scenario Meowscarada is blessed with Leafage & Grass Knot and will come in as the best Non-Mega, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, Non-Shadow Grass-Type Attacker available in the game right now.

If it doesn’t get Leafage, and instead only gets Bullet Seed then forget about it. It will land solidly in 6th behind Chesnaught, Sceptile, Venusaur, Tangrowth, and Roserade. That’s with Grass Knot too, if it doesn’t get that too… Yeesh.

What about Frenzy Plant? Eventually, Meowscarada will get a community day and be blessed with the move Frenzy Plant.  So What does that look like?

Leafage/Frenzy Plant solidly puts Meowscarada atop the Non-Mega, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast Grass-Type Attacker tier list. Even Bullet Seed/Frenzy Plant puts it only 0.08 DPS behind Chesnaught, so at that point it’s just a matter of preference really.

When you factor TDO into the mix, given that Meowscarada is a glass cannon, Chesnaught, Tangrowth, Venusaur, Torterra, Leafeon, and Meganium all output more damage before fainting.

TLDR (Grass)

Not having access to Razor Leaf or Vine Whip might be its downfall until it gets Frenzy Plant. Leafage Good, Bullet Seed bad.  If you’re in a large group then Meowscarada is a great choice, if you’re soloing a 3-star or short on party members and need some staying power there are better choices.

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

Dark

Its potential as a Dark-type is… not better. With Bite being the only Dark-type fast move, and a limited Dark-type charge move pool to pull from it’s not likely going to be much use.

A best-case scenario DPS of 13.81 puts it behind Hydreigon (16.75), Tyranitar (15.89), and just ahead of Weavile (13.50).  Dark Pulse and Night Slash are so much worse. Plus, there are a plethora of legendary and shadow Pokémon that are kilometers ahead.

TLDR (Dark)

Hydreigon and Tyranitar far outclass Meowscarada as a Dark-type attacker and both of those have had community days. Stick to Grass.

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

Fuecoco (Skeledirge)

Skeledirge is a Fire and Ghost-type Pokémon with 207 attack, 178 defense, and 232 stamina. With a max CP at level 50 of 3422, it’s not that far behind the best fire types.

Skeledirge FireGhost
Max CP at lvl 40 3027 | lvl 50 3422
ATK 207		DEF 178		HP 232
Weak to			Resistances
Dark Ghost Ground Rock Water			Bug Fighting Normal x2 Fairy Fire Grass Ice Poison Steel

Moveset Potentials

Fire

Skeledirge has access to all four of the available Fire-type fast moves and a variety of Fire-type charge moves. So let’s look at the best-case scenarios of movesets that it could potentially get when it’s released.

Best case scenario Skeledirge is blessed with Fire Fang & Overheat, but even then it’s outclassed by several other Regular Pokémon including fellow Ghost/Fire type Chandalure.

Fire Fang and Fire Spin aren’t that far off of each other, just pray it doesn’t end up with Ember or worse Incinerate as it’s best Fire-type fast move. Overheat is miles better than Flamethrower, so Skeledirge’s usefulness really relies on it getting the move.  Fire Fang/Flamethrower is over a full point of DPS lower.

What about Blast Burn? Eventually, Skeledirge will get a community day and be blessed with the move Blast Burn.  So What does that look like?

There are a lot of solid Fire-Type attackers available right now.  So even Fire Fang/Blast Burn puts Skeledirge behind several other “Regular” Fire-Type Pokémon. In terms of TDO, its bulk will allow it to stay in the fight longer than most regular Fire-Types, with only Volcarona outpacing it in terms of TDO.

TLDR (Fire)

Blast Burn or No Blast Burn, Skeledirge lands around the same spots either way. A TDO beast, it will be a good option as an anchor on your team or if you’re looking to deal out a lot of damage over a longer period of time and avoid re-lobbies. Obviously, Blast Burn is better, but Skeledirge isn’t a Pokémon that you necessarily need to wait for to be useful.

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

Ghost

Skeledirge has access to the three best Ghost-type fast moves in the game (Astonish being the one it doesn’t have access to). It also only has access to Shadow Ball and Night Shade as Ghost-type charge moves. 

Either it gets Shadow Ball or is not viable. That’s the long and the short of Skeledirge as a Ghost-type in Pokémon Go as you can see the drop-off is significant. Gengar and Chandelure outpace Skeledirge in Ghost-type DPS, but its bulk has it as the 2nd best TDO “Regular” Ghost-type attacker in the game behind only Gholdengo.

TLDR (Ghost)

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

Quaxly (Quaquaval)

Quaquaval is a Water and Fighting-type Pokémon with 236 attack, 159 defense, and 198 Stamina with a max CP at level 50 of 3411.

Quaquaval WaterFighting
Max CP at lvl 40 3018 | lvl 50 3411
ATK 236		DEF 159		HP 198
Weak to			Resistances
Electric Fairy Flying Grass Psychic			Bug Dark Fire Ice Rock Steel Water

Moveset Potentials

Water

Quaquaval has access to one of the available Water-type fast moves, Water Gun, and a variety of Water-type charge moves. So let’s look at the best-case scenarios of movesets that it could potentially get when it’s released.

Best case scenario Quaquaval is blessed with Water Gun & Surf, which unfortunately will still land it behind several “Regular” Water-types, and I do mean several. Liquidation and Hydro Pump are both a downgrade, but they aren’t that far off from each other. 

What about Hydro Cannon? Hoo boy. Eventually, Quaquaval will get a community day and be truly blessed with the move Hydro Cannon.  So What does that look like?

Now that’s an improvement! Hydro Cannon rockets Quaquaval all the way up to the top of the “Regular” Water-type DPS list, and 6th overall in terms of DPS. Only Shadow Kingler pumps out more DPS amongst Pokémon you can bring more than one into a raid with.

TLDR (Water)

Quaquaval’s real usefulness won’t come until after it gets its community day. Topping out at 11th in DPS, and 14th in TDO amongst “Regular” Pokémon, and 24th and 35th respectively overall. It’s not going to break the Meta by any means. 

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

Fighting

Quaquaval has access to Counter and Low Kick as Fighting-type fast moves and three Fighting-type Charge moves. Brick Break, Close Combat, and Low Sweep.

Lucario with Counter and Aura Sphere does 17.07 DPS, and has a TDO of 501.56
Machamp with Counter and Dynamic Punch does 15.09 and 577.07
Conkeldurr 15.09 and 641.04. It’s even out DPS’ed and TDO’d by Heracross.

Stick with Quaquaval as a Water-type Attacker.

TLDR (Fighting)

*Regular refers to Non-Shadow, Non-Legendary, Non-Ultra Beast, and Non-Mega

Conclusions

Meowscarada and Skeledirge appear to be the two that will end up being the most useful right away. Meowscarada will end up being the most useful right away, being the top “Regular” Grass-type attacker in the game even without Frenzy Plant. While Quaquaval will need its community day move in order to reach the level of usefulness. 

As I mentioned earlier, the choice of a starter Pokémon is something that every trainer approaches differently. I hope that you’ve found this article helpful and informative.  

Until next time, stay safe out there.