I'm Already Mourning My Pokemon Legends: Z-A Starter Choice

Pokemon Legends: Z-A just released today for most of the world, and a lot of fans are now beginning their journey in Lumiose City or taking their time to do so over the weekend. As a massive Pokemon nerd, I have been up-to-date with everything related to Pokemon Legends: Z-A before launch, from the new battle system to Megas, because I always like to put my effort toward building optimal teams. This is something I always do because I love theorycrafting and "earning" my way to success in games. After making something like five or six possible teams for each starter in a back-and-forth moment, all optimized as much as possible, I settled on Tepig, and I deeply regret my choice.

If you are wondering which Pokemon Legends: Z-A starter to choose, stop for a second and ask yourself which one you will love the most and which one will give you the most joy. This is probably true for all games where you have to pick a character or critter, and I always find the hard way that my first playthrough is the worst anyway. That said, there are merits to each of the starters in PLZA, so I'm not saying Tepig is inherently bad. In fact, I love the little pig, and it was my first starter in Gen 5.

However, Pokemon Legends: Z-A 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 that Meganium is still pretty bad even after some buffs, and Feraligatr just never clicked with me. So I went and took the cutesy pig for a stroll, started leveling it up, evolving it, and then it hit me — I would have liked any of the other two starters more when it comes to teambuilding and aesthetics.

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By  Joshua Duckworth

My Pokemon Legends: Z-A Starter is Suddenly the Worst Choice for Me

One of the reasons why I don't love Emboar is that it's inherently aggressive with its looks, but the reason I was so undecided about starters in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is that Mega Emboar is still Fire/Fighting, whereas Mega Meganium becomes Grass/Fairy, and Mega Feraligatr is Water/Dragon. I like novelty, and that's Exhibit A about why I would have been happier with either Chikorita or Totodile.

Furthermore, both Fire and Fighting have some amazing new Mega Evolutions in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, such as Chandelure and Pyroar for the former and Barbaracle, Falinks, and Hawlucha for the latter. If I have to be honest, I like all of them more than Emboar. Tepig is a different beast, but unfortunately, the game is not built for you to keep your starters as cute little babies forever. Exhibit B for 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 these types with Emboar's is a bad choice.

Here is My Current Pokemon Legends: Z-A Team

Originally, my plan was to have no other Fire or Fighting-type Pokemon in the team with Emboar, but ever since I took a look at all the Megas in the game, I don't feel like that's right for me. Mega Falinks is probably one of the single best concepts for an evolution in Pokemon games ever, and Mega Pyroar reminds me of one of my three cats. I can technically still use Emboar, Pyroar, and Falinks all in one team, but that means my coverage is bad, and my weaknesses are shared among various critters. My current team is:

• Emboar (Fire/Fighting)
• Froslass (Ice/Ghost)
• Victreebel (Grass/Poison)
• Skarmory (Steel/Flying)
• Eelektross (Electric)
• Starmie (Water/Psychic)

By choosing Chikorita or Totodile as a starter, I would have easily been able to swap them with Victreebel or Starmie, respectively, 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 in Pokemon Legends: Z-A, and while Mega Meganium's movepool is dreadful, choosing Chikorita may have been the best option for me so that I could keep Starmie on the team, too.

I Am Officially Putting My Pokemon Legends: Z-A Starter in a Box

Instead, now I find myself struggling with what to keep and what to do, exactly, to the point that I am considering changing my team drastically, and committing the ultimate Pokemon sin - removing my starter from the team. While you can catch the other starters in the game, I haven't found them yet, and it's not exactly the same thing. So, my plan would be to use an entirely different team that doesn't include Mega Emboar in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. 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 (Ground/Steel, physical attacker)

At that point, my team-wide defenses would look like this:

I know that this could all be a massive pet peeve on my end, but between disliking both base Emboar and Mega Emboar and liking two Pokemon with overlapping types much more, I feel like cutting my starter from the team is simply the most sensible option. After all, the game should be fun, even if it means leaving one's first partner Pokemon behind. I find that very sad, and that's why I'm struggling, but at the same time, I think it's for the best.

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Pokemon Legends: Z-A

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Released

October 16, 2025

ESRB

Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases

Developer(s)

Game Freak, Creatures Inc.

Publisher(s)

Nintendo, The Pokemon Company

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