I'm already mourning my Pokemon Legends: ZA Starter Choice

Pokemon Legends: ZA it just released today for most of the world and many fans are now starting their journey in Lumiose City or taking the time to do it over the weekend. Like massive Pokemon nerd, I've been up to date with everything related to this Pokemon Legends: ZA pre-launch, from the new battle system to Megas, because I always like to put my efforts into building optimal teams. It's something I always do because I love theorycrafting and “earning” my way to success in games. After putting together something like five or six possible teams for each starter in no time, all optimized as much as possible, I settled on Tepig and deeply regret my choice.

If you're wondering which one Pokemon Legends: ZA starter to choose, stop for a moment and ask yourself which one you will love the most and which one will make you the most happy. This is probably true of any game where you have to choose a character or creature, and I always find that my first playthrough is the worst anyway. That said, each of the starters in PLZA has its strengths, so I'm not saying that Tepig is inherently bad. I actually love the piggy and it was my first starter in Gen 5.

However, Pokemon Legends: ZA it has no new Pokemon and it all boils down to Mega Evolutions and an exciting new battle style. Personally, I've never liked Emboar aesthetically, but I know Meganium is still pretty bad even after some buffs, and Feraligatr just never clicked with me. So I went and took the cute little pig for a walk, started leveling it, evolving it, and then it occurred to me – I would have liked either of the other two starters better in terms of team building and aesthetics.

My Pokemon Legends: ZA Starter is suddenly the worst choice for me

One of the reasons I don't love Emboar is that it is inherently aggressive in its appearance, but the reason I was so hesitant about starters Pokemon Legends: ZA is that Mega Emboar is still Fire/Fight, while Mega Meganium becomes Grass/Fairy and Mega Feraligatr is Water/Dragon. I like novelty, and that's Exhibit A as to why I'd be happier with either Chikorita or Totodil.

Plus, both fire and combat feature awesome new Mega Evolutions Pokemon Legends: ZAsuch as Chandelure and Pyroar for the former and Barbaracle, Falinks and Hawlucha for the latter. To be honest, I like them all better than Emboar. Tepig is a different beast, but unfortunately the game isn't built for you to keep your starters forever as cute babies. Evidence B why I hate my starter choice is that I desperately want to use either Chandelure or Pyroar for Fire and most likely Falinks for Fighting, but overlapping those types with Emboar's is a bad choice.

Here is my current Pokémon Legends: ZA Team

I originally planned on not having any other Fire or Fighting Pokemon on the team with Emboar, but since looking at all the Megas in the game, I don't feel like it's the right fit for me. Mega Falinks is probably one of the best concepts for evolution Pokemon games at all and Mega Pyroar reminds me of one of my three cats. Technically I can still use Emboar, Pyroar, and Falinks on the same team, but that means my coverage is poor and my weaknesses are shared between different creatures. My current team is:

• Emboar (Fire/Fight)

• Froslass (Ice/Ghost)

• Victreebel (Grass/Poison)

• Skarmory (Steel/Flying)

• Eelektross (electric)

• Starmie (Water/Psychic)

If I picked Chikorita or Totodile as a starter, I could easily swap them out for Victreebel or Starmie and then replace Emboar and Eelektross with both Pyroar and Falinks, which are possibly my favorite new Megas. Mega Starmie may be the best new Mega Evolution v Pokemon Legends: ZAand even though Mega Meganium's movepool is terrible, picking Chikorita might have been the best choice for me to keep Starmie on the team as well.

I'm officially putting my Pokemon Legends: ZA Starter in the box

Instead, I'm now struggling with what to keep and what exactly to do, to the point where I'm considering drastically changing my team and going with the best. Pokemon sin – removing my starter from the team. While you can grab the other starters in the game, I haven't found them yet and it's not quite the same. So my plan would be to use a completely different team that doesn't include Mega Emboar Pokemon Legends: ZA. It would be as follows:

• Mega Pyroar (Fire/Normal, special attacker)

• Mega Falinks (Fighting, Physical Attacker)

• Mega Skarmory (Steel/Flying, physical attacker)

• Mega Starmie (Water/Psychic, hybrid attacker)

• Mega Victreebel (Grass/Poison, Special Attacker)

• Mega Excadrill (Earth/Steel, Physical Attacker)

At that point, my full team defense would look like this:

I know this could all be a massive bummer from my point of view, but between disliking both basic Emboar and Mega Emboar, and liking the two Pokemon with overlapping types a lot more, I feel like taking your starter off the team is just the most sensible option. After all, the game should be fun, even if it means leaving your first Pokemon partner behind. I find it very sad and that's why I struggle with it, but at the same time I think it's for the best.

Systems

Released

October 16, 2025

ESRB

Everyone 10+ / Fantasy violence, in-game purchases

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