Pokemon Diamond

[Hefty Lefty]

I'm planning on buying the game soon. Which starter is the best?

[TheLogman]

If by best you mean easiest for beating Gym Leaders/Advancing in the game? Then Turtwig,no question. If you want a little difficulty, then pick Chimchar, he gets very powerful later on, and is good for competitive play and playing other people.

Whatever you do, do NOT get Piplup, that thing is the weakest, the weakest to the most types, with the weakest attacks, and the weakest stats. Also, he looks weird and smells bad.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

Piplup is THE weakness of the rampant chimpchar users though, which gives you an edge in vs play against practical minded players like the person above me. :smalltongue:

[Twin2]

Piplup is THE weakness of the rampant chimpchar users though, which gives you an edge in vs play against practical minded players like the person above me. :smalltongue:

Not really thanks to dual types. I don't think in the end an empoleon will generally out speed a infernape throwing a stab close combat at it potentially getting a ohko.

[Quxelopqr]

I reccomend Chimchar if only because if you want a fire type it's chimchar or ponyta (and I wanted a fire type).

[Rutee]

Wait, The Diamond/Pearl community doesn't have a No Mystics rule? Kids today and your mystic abuse. Back in my day we had to search for Pokemon with good stats and use them, rather then pick the Mystics or Starters. And we played on Barbed Wire Game Boys. And walked 15 miles to the Gym, uphill, both ways, in the snow.

[The Extinguisher]

Ironically, the snow only appears in Diamond and Pearl.

Anyways, I picked Piplup. But don't take any advice from me power wise. I'm not a tournament player, never will be. I can barely take it upon myself to choose strong Pokemon. I take the coolest.

[Dhavaer]

I've used both Piplup and Chimchar, I think Chimchar is a bit better due to the lack of any other fire types other than Ponyta/Rapidash.

[Dihan]

As has been said: Chimchar. Besides Ponyta, he's the only non-legendary fire type in the game. Which is Heatran.

[Hadrian_Emrys]

I've been taught to love Ponyta and Rapidash. I they are better built than Chimchar by far. Almost all of the good fire attacks are non-physical, and those stats are what the horse breed has over the chimps.

[Mando Knight]

I've been taught to love Ponyta and Rapidash. I they are better built than Chimchar by far. Almost all of the good fire attacks are non-physical, and those stats are what the horse breed has over the chimps.

Seriously? Last time I checked, Infernape maxed Special Attack at 337, while Rapidash maxed at 284.

The best starter is Chimchar. Get him up to Monferno before the first gym and power-level him the rest of the way, and the only problem you'll have is the water gym. Empoleon has the highest Sp. Attack for any evolved starter, though... and Torterra is a battle tank/turtle/mountain hybrid...

[tgva8889]

First, I feel the need to point to a thread about Pokemon discussion that already exists. While it's somewhat tailored to this league thing we have going on, it's not like we would shun you for asking questions like this. Here it is. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69415)

As for starter...My personal opinion is that Turtwig is the best. None of the gym leaders except the Ice-type one even stand a chance of beating a well-trained Turtwig. Curse + Potions + Physical moves generally means you can KO anything you want.

Plus, Turtwig's line isn't as annoying to train as Chimchar's is. My personal opinion is that Monferno is the most annoying Pokemon to level up in D/P. And I used a Gyrados I caught as a level 3 Magikarp to beat the game.

While everyone's talking about needing Fire-types...you really, really don't. If you want some good Fire-type power, Medicham learns Fire Punch and a number of good Pokemon learn Fire Blast. While Fire attacks are good against three of the gym leaders, the Grass leader is easily taken down by a well-trained Staravia, the Ice leader will fall before constant barrages of Fighting-type moves, and the Steel leader won't fare very well against a mixture of Earthquakes and Fighting moves. While Fire is good against the first member of the Elite 4, you can handle him relatively easily without it. I know I did.

DoIhaveaname?: You can't get Heatran before you beat the Elite 4, so for most people's purposes he doesn't count as a Fire-type in the game. Since after the Elites, you can catch Growlithe and Magby and Slugma and various other Fire-types.

Rutee: What does No Mystics mean? If by that you mean No Legendaries, then that's what I did. I did not use any legendary Pokemon to beat Pokemon Pearl. Though I still have to beat Diamond with my semi-hack team of Pokemon with powerful egg moves.

[Shovah]

I've been taught to love Ponyta and Rapidash. I they are better built than Chimchar by far. Almost all of the good fire attacks are non-physical, and those stats are what the horse breed has over the chimps
(Forum wouldn't let me quote directly).

You're kidding, right? He's kidding, right?

Infernape destroys Rapidash in pretty much every way. Every single one of Infernapes stats other than special defense(base stat is 9 points lower). Higher attack, higher speed, alot higher special attack and a better movepool.
The only things Rapidash has that are remotely better than Infernape are that it can Baton Pass agility, gets Megahorn, and can do the Sunny Day/Solar Beam combo with that lovely, mediocre special attack stat.

Where-as Infernape gets, among many other things, STAB Close Combat, along with the beautiful Nasty Plot/Flamethrower/Grass Knot(or energy ball) combo, and Focus Blast if you're into that kind of thing.
So yes, Infernape is, quite simply, better.

[Dihan]

Just so you know, you shouldn't get Diamond right now because Pokemon Platinum has just been announced.

[Shovah]

Just get both. Problem solved ;), and if you can get another persons DS to trade you can get extra legendary pokemon too =).

[Leper_Kahn]

Pokémon still exists?

Wow... Good times... Good times... I haven't played since Red. How many Pokémon are there now?

[Shovah]

I think we're around 450 now =p.

You should pick up one of the new games and give it a shot - it's pretty much a new experience.

I plan to go back and play red again some time(not fire red). Good times.

[chiasaur11]

I think we're around 450 now =p.

You should pick up one of the new games and give it a shot - it's pretty much a new experience.

I plan to go back and play red again some time(not fire red). Good times.

493, to be exact.
I'm currently at 468.
In response to the opener, Turtwig. He's good at the opening gyms, and doesn't get one-hit ko'd as often as the monkey.

[Skippy]

*Has all 493*

I agree on that. Turtwig is the best one of the three starters. Torterra is, by far, the toughest of the evolutions. Torterra + Earthquake = KO both Infernape and Empoleon.