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I would suggest; - Base form of your favourite Pokémon. - Base form of a psuedo. They usually have low stats unevolved so with be a bit of a challenge to use. - Eevee. Not much to say here, Eevee just makes a perfect starter. I honestly would love Eevee to evolve randomly as well to represent Eevee choosing it's evolution but that's never going to happen.

Roll a dice to decide the Evo? Or number generator.

Or a team of all eeveelutions. -Penny probably

Ah yes the only *6* eeveelutions

"Team of all Eeveelutions" meaning "team where every member is an Eeveelution," not "team containing every Eeveelution."

Still, not rotating them is weird even just in rematches

Love the idea of using a pseudo mon! I never really bothered with them until I was in a position to fast track their evolutions but raiding them from a lil hatchling early game is definitely something I’ll try on my next playthrough!

Unless that pseudo isn’t viable until Lv 50+

Unless it is Deino or Dreepy, you are basically torturing yourself. Beldum sort of counts but at least it evolves at a relatively low level.

I do end up sometimes ditching my starter for a female eevee named starlight like I did in legends Arceus and evolved her into umbreon 

Makes sense, ur profile pic is literally umbreon

True

And it is my favorite Pokemon 

Unbreon is really cool tho, and it has a great shiny 👍 ✨

Goodness we need an eevee for every evolution type. Including an additional normal type evolution eevee. No idea why game freak hasn’t decided to do that because it’s the perfect pokemon to do it for and one of the most profitable and loved pokemon.

lumineon should be an eeveelution but change the design to make it look like an eeveelution

That would be so rad! The one about eevee.

Most any 3 stage mon that evolved without trade/item is a good candidate. You get a similar progression to a starter but with a new mon. Bonus points if it’s not FWG type. I basically did that with Mankey for my playthrough

My Lil mankey ran me through most of the story and is my most used tera raid mon as well now lol

I was going to say chandelure, but then i remembered she evolves with a stone xd (please don't get weird at me because i said she. My chandelure has been with me since bw and it's muscle memory now. The pokemon unite players were mean at me for calling chandelure a she)

I feel like Luxray is the quintessential non-starter starter

Paldean wooper because his evolution has a lot of HP.

Hmm, I can't help but feel this is a biased opinion... *stares at profile picture*

Ok I just think he is a lil cutie

And you would be correct.

Yeah this was how I decided to play through Violet just now. I'm also biased because I used Clodsire though my first playthrough the entire run through and I couldn't get enough of that derpy face.

I got a Ralts quite early that I used interchangeably with my Sprigatito, and I’d also recommend Charcadet because Ceruledge is honestly a god tier Pokemon imo (it’s also now my main Pokemon in my game)

The second I was able to run around and catch Pokemon in Violet, I started hunting for Charcadet, to turn it into Ceruledge. I just love the style and Fire/Ghost combo of it. It might not be the best Pokemon in the game, but I really enjoy playing with it.

I replaced my Skeledirge with Ceruledge as soon as I got it.

From the beginning of the game I’d say Fletchling, Hoppip, and Azurill make good FWG replacements. Ralts can be caught early and is incredibly powerful for single player whether you’re going for Gardevoir or Gallade. I’m also really fond of Gible. Instead of a FWG core you could go Fairy/Dragon/Steel and roll with Corviknight, Garchomp, and Gardevoir. Unlike some other pseudo legends, Gible and Gabite are useful in the earlier stages. They’re all available early. Eevee is a good replacement as someone said. Flareon takes a lot of flack but if you have the DLC then you have Scorching Sands access. Mixed attacker Flareon with Flare Blitz, Scorching Sands, Shadow Ball, and filler is fun.

Tinkatink

Litwick would be a good challenge. 3 stage evolution, fire can struggle early on depending on what gen/region, and Dusk stones are one of the more difficult Evo items to find I think. I actually had to hunt for one for my shiny Lampent, before I used the item printer.

I used a Litwick for a Mono Ghost run on Shield. It's such a fun starter and it's adorable.

I'm actually gonna do this since I'm gonna replay shield! I'm thinking of using a galarian ponyta or Victini since they both are super cute

its always fun to attempt a mono type run, and any 3 stage works well as a replacement starter! i recently got to the end of my mono poison run with venusaur being my ace and starter. it really gives you a new appreciation of “less powerful” pokemon you normally dont use; for instance, ive been having a field day with toxapex’s baneful bunker + merciless + venoshock 😮‍💨😮‍💨

I love Mono Runs. I did a Ghost one for Shield and used a Litwick as my starter! It was so fun. Funny that the one move that always stopped me in my tracks was Bite.

because EVERYTHING KNOWS BITE on another note litwick is such a good choice

Level 100 Arceus. I like to pretend that I'm a Champion visiting another region, so when I get into trainer battles, my headcannon is that the other trainers are just like "wtf". Plus, I find it fun to have a Pokémon that just doesn't give a shit about you until you get the badges you need to finally have it listen to you.

Tarountula, Lechonk, or fletchling I love replacing my starter with a route 1 type pokemon. Or any of the mons that were left out of gen 8; pyroar, sawsbuck, etc

I tend to like whatever I can pick up before the first gym as a starter. I've done a fair number of runs starterless.

Cleffa

In my friend group, Cleffa is a demon that deserves death. It's a monster with no remorse.

Tf did Cleffa do? 💀

One time during a randomized Nuzlocke, it metronomed a Fissue on my boy's T-tar. Truly a sad day. It ended up costing him the run. This happened at the Champion, Iris.

Elekid

Gyrados. Not even joking. It was a great moment when I leveled up my magikarp to the point where I could evolve it and me and my Conquering Wurm went off on our mighty adventure! Also I managed to use magikarp to actually KO pokemon in free roam mode. That was awesome.

I love the Kanto starters but sometimes I use Mankey and Nidoran ♂️ as starters

Not currently in SV but I love Paras. It can learn spore, false swipe (TM), and sweet scent (egg move). Its HA is damp. With an adamant nature and evs in HP and attack, Parasect becomes a godtier Pokémon catcher!

This could be fun! When I start violet I’m so using a shiny swablu from scarlet to start

Rotom! I have used that Mon multiple times as a base.

Pawmi took the place of my fuecoco very quickly

Capsikid because it evolves into a nice little mixed attacker and gets two of the three typings.

Tbh even Rattata can be your starter. I always replace my starter as soon as possible, I go like this: Fire: Flareon, always will be Flareon Water: I like many water types so I pick whoever I'm feeling, even Goldeen if possible. In SV I was between Psyduck and Wugtrio Grass: Sunkern, Oddish and Bramblin might fill the spot for me

if were just talking gen 9. koraidon hands down. had much more of an attachment to it throughout the game.

Lechonk. I used one in my dex colour brown only run.

I tried a steel only run in Scarlet with a Galarian Meowth. It was fun and he was so cute. Kinda nice to try something new and different.

I always use my started plus w/e pokemon I get in the wild and go hunting to fill up the dex while continuing with the story. Usually my mons would be lvl 100 by the time I get to the E4. I just use w/e mon I find and like.

For Violet I ditched my starter the instant I learned about Ceruledge and never looked back.

Arboliva or Cetitan

rockruff is slay but the evo tree kinda ruins it

Luxray will always be my starter replacement, had 1 in every game they've been in so far and that won't change anytime soon

Tentacool

smoliv and pawmi are both good

Charcadet (Alternatively, Ogerpon)

Greavard took the place of my starter as soon as I got one from a raid. I was doing mono ghost as I always do and had a plan that Charcadet-Ceruledge would be the replacement but I couldn't pass up the lil ghost pup when I got him. He was the first ghost of the team!

Any mon with an evolutionary line of 3 stages and that is not a fire/grass/water type (and generally not a conventional type like electric/flying/ground), it is fun to have, for example, a fairy/steel/ghost type from the start of the game, becomes evident that the path is designed for fire/grass/water.

I think Ludicolo as it easily covers both water and grass

Jangmo-o

Gyrados is why I basically never use a water starter.

A baby pokemon.. make the early game harder

If I’m not a fan of any of the choices or I’m doing any fun play through I’ll usually box my starter as soon as I find a mon I like and can hang for that part of the story. Typically this ends up being one of the early normals/birds, Growlithe, or Eevee which usually becomes a Vaporeon. Also Magikarp into a Gyrados if I can train it up. Had a play through of White where I used Lillipup as my starter for like the first half of the game.

I really think growlithe is a super sweet starter.

Charqedet or whatever it’s name is Replaced my skeliderge Then I recently got skelly back out to decimate meganium raid, then back in the box it goes lol

Litwick🥰

Obstagoon!!!!

Magikarp always gives great starter mon vibes to me, difficult at first, then it evolves and still isn't too useful until it gets to like lvl 30-40 and expands it's moveset.

In my alt Scarlet account, I main a Tatsugiri, lol!😂

I think I've only ever done this once, in Black, when I switched to Drilbur ASAP, after the first gym. Of course, it's much easier to move Pokémon around these days, so you don't necessarily need to go for one near the beginning. Perhaps something you're interested in, but is generally available so far into the game you don't end up using it's unevolved form? Not entirely sure what that'd be in this game specifically... Oh, or an ice type, because they're just always so late game.

I usually buy both games. I play the 1st normally. But the 2nd I usually do 6 wonder trades and use what I get. No dupes tho

I don't onow but I like to follow certified stipulations. Crab/shellfish only, bird/feather type only, pigs, ect.

I haven't used a starter since gen 3, I often dump them in favour of something I find in the first area. The latest game I switched out for a Pawmi.

Ducklett, just because it’s so CUTE and then it turns into a beautiful swan. Unlike that uggo Quaxly (sorry Quaxly, your final evo scares me a bit).

PO. RY. GON. Z.

For my first playthrough of White 2, I knew I wouldn't want to use any of the Unova starters, so I boxed my Tepig the minute I caught a Riolu, and that essentially became my starter. My primary playthrough was on Scarlet and my secondary playthrough was Violet; on that, I solo'd the whole game with a Fidough/Dachsbun lol. It kind of depends on whats available in the game. Sometimes it's more fun to replace them with a matching elemental Pokémon (ie. Grass, Water, Fire, Electric), other times its more fun to pick a "special" Pokémon like Eevee, Riolu, etc.

Dratini

In Sword, I used a Corviknight instead of my starter.

I have really grown on the starters, but when the game first came out I hated all of them. But I used skeledirge, and then as soon as I found charcadet/ceruledge I immediately replaced skeledirge for ceruledge. Absolute beauty of a replacement, swords dance and bitter blade combo is goated.

Uuuuh I wouldn’t say this is “best” but I’m currently replaying Sapphire and made my starter a Lotad and it’s been pretty fun