Starters from Every Region: The Nine Trios, from Kanto to Paldea

Nine regions, nine trios, twenty-seven starter Pokémon. Since Kanto, the trio has never changed: one Grass, one Fire, one Water, all at level 5 — even though the local professor has handed the job over to someone else in Kalos, Alola, Galar, Paldea and in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. What does change, on the other hand, are the types these creatures end up taking on as they evolve — and that's where the misconceptions pile up. Here is the complete list, region by region, with every final type checked one by one.

Contents

• The trio rule, and the rare times it has broken down
• Kanto: the founding trio
• Johto and Hoenn: the formula settles in
• Sinnoh and Unova: the pure-type trap
• Kalos and Alola: the end of the Fire-Fighting starter
• Galar and Paldea: back to basics, then fresh daring
• Hisui: three borrowed starters, three brand-new evolutions
• The starters you don't get from a professor
• And after Paldea?
• How to choose your starter without going wrong
• The nine trios and their final forms
• Frequently Asked Questions

The trio rule, and the rare times it has broken down

The principle has been set since the first generation: three Pokémon of complementary types are offered at level 5: one Grass, one Fire and one Water. The triangle they form isn't just for show — each one beats one of the other two, and the rival usually picks the one that has the advantage over yours — except in Alola, Galar and Paldea, where Hau, Hop and Nemona deliberately take the starter at a disadvantage.

This triangle has a direct effect on difficulty: in most regions, the rival isn't a random opponent, but an unfavorable mirror match that comes back about ten times over the course of the adventure. Choosing the Fire starter means accepting that you'll face a Water starter at every major point in the story, and vice versa — a design detail that shapes the entire difficulty curve.

Only two main-series games escape this rule. Pokémon Yellow forces a Pikachu that follows the hero outside its Poké Ball and refuses to evolve even when faced with a Thunder Stone, while Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee automatically hand out Pikachu or Eevee depending on the version.

🔑 The Pikachu in Pokémon Yellow walks behind the hero instead of staying in its Poké Ball; our Pokémon keychains play the same role, hanging from your bag instead of shut away in a drawer.

Starters also share hidden traits that set them apart from every other Pokémon. Their gender ratio is deliberately lopsided — 87.5% male against 12.5% female — a way of keeping the line rare in breeding. Their catch rate is fixed at 45, and their final forms all hover around 530 points of total base stats, between 525 and 535.

Finally, their Abilities are assigned by type, without exception: Overgrow for the Grass types, Blaze for the Fire types and Torrent for the Water types. These three Abilities only trigger below a third of HP, which explains many a late-battle turnaround.

Kanto: the founding trio

It all starts in Pallet Town, with Professor Oak and three Poké Balls sitting on a table. Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle open the National Pokédex and remain, thirty years later, the most recognizable trio in the franchise.

Their final forms establish a habit right away: the Grass starter is almost never pure Grass. Venusaur is Grass and Poison — and already was back at the Bulbasaur stage —, Charizard is Fire and Flying despite its dragon looks, and Blastoise stays pure Water. Our feature devoted to the Kanto trio goes into their history in the games and the anime.

Johto and Hoenn: the formula settles in

Johto reuses the structure without shaking it up. Chikorita, Cyndaquil and Totodile lead to Meganium, Typhlosion and Feraligatr — three pure types, Grass, Fire and Water, which is rarer than people think.

Hoenn, on the other hand, invents the model that will dominate three generations: the Fire starter that turns into a fighter. Treecko produces Sceptile, pure Grass; Torchic produces Blaziken, Fire and Fighting; and Mudkip produces Swampert, Water and Ground — a combination famous for having only one weakness.

Sinnoh and Unova: the pure-type trap

Sinnoh pushes every starter toward a strong second type. Turtwig becomes Torterra, Grass and Ground; Chimchar becomes Infernape, Fire and Fighting; and Piplup becomes Empoleon, Water and Steel, the only starter to carry that type.

Unova, for its part, is the region where mistakes pile up, because its starters look like dual types without actually being them. Snivy becomes Serperior, which is pure Grass — not Grass and Dragon, despite its regal serpent looks. Oshawott becomes Samurott, which is pure Water — not Water and Fighting, despite its samurai gear. Only Tepig confirms the hunch, producing Emboar, Fire and Fighting.

🎭 Samurott may wear a full samurai getup, but it's still pure Water, without a trace of Fighting: the outfit tells whatever story it likes, and the same principle is at work when you slip into a costume yourself from our section of Pokémon costumes.

Kalos and Alola: the end of the Fire-Fighting starter

After three generations of Fire starters turned fighters, Kalos cuts it short. Fennekin becomes Delphox, Fire and Psychic, a first in the history of the trios. The fighter role passes to the Grass type: Chespin produces Chesnaught, Grass and Fighting.

As for Froakie, it becomes Greninja, Water and Dark, and one of the most popular Pokémon ever to come out of a professor's lab. Alola takes this diversification further with the most character-driven trio in the series: Rowlet produces Decidueye, Grass and Ghost; Litten produces Incineroar, Fire and Dark; Popplio produces Primarina, Water and Fairy.

Galar and Paldea: back to basics, then fresh daring

Galar catches everyone off guard by going back to Johto's simplicity. Grookey, Scorbunny and Sobble lead to Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon — that is, three pure types, Grass, Fire and Water, for only the second time in the series.

Paldea heads back the other way, with three pronounced dual types. Sprigatito becomes Meowscarada, Grass and Dark; Fuecoco becomes Skeledirge, Fire and Ghost; Quaxly becomes Quaquaval, Water and Fighting. This trio is also the first handed out by a school director, Clavell, and not by a laboratory professor.

Hisui: three borrowed starters, three brand-new evolutions

Hisui's case deserves a place of its own, because it isn't a tenth region but Sinnoh's past. Pokémon Legends: Arceus therefore invents no starter of its own: it borrows three of them from other regions, Rowlet, Cyndaquil and Oshawott.

The surprise comes from their final forms, which exist nowhere else. Hisuian Decidueye swaps Ghost for Fighting and becomes Grass and Fighting; Hisuian Typhlosion, pure Fire in the present day, becomes Fire and Ghost; and Hisuian Samurott, pure Water everywhere else, becomes Water and Dark.

It's the only case in the series where a single starter Pokémon has two different final evolutions depending on the era and the region where it grows up. Enough to make comparing types a little tricky — and that is exactly where most of the lists found online get it wrong.

The starters you don't get from a professor

A starter trio isn't necessarily reserved for the beginning of an adventure. Several games hand out older starters again as a reward: in HeartGold and SoulSilver, Professor Oak gives one of the three Kanto Pokémon to the player who has beaten Red, and in X and Y, Professor Sycamore offers one along with a Mega Stone right from the start of the game.

The spin-offs went much further. Pokémon Colosseum remains to this day the only one to hand over two starter Pokémon at once, Espeon at level 25 and Umbreon at level 26 — the only already-evolved starters in the whole series, and the first ones of the Psychic and Dark types.

Its sequel, Pokémon XD, for its part, hands out a playable Eevee, which makes it the first Normal-type starter in history and the only one whose single evolution step opens onto several possible forms. All reminders that the Grass-Fire-Water trio rule applies to the main series, and to it alone.

And after Paldea?

A tenth trio has indeed been revealed. At the Pokémon Presents of February 27, 2026, the announcement of Pokémon Winds and Waves came with the reveal of Browt, the Grass starter, Pombon, the Fire starter, and Gecqua, the Water starter.

One clarification is needed, though, and it explains why this feature really does say nine regions: the region of this tenth generation has not yet been given an official name. As long as that remains true, the list of regions with an identified trio stops at Paldea — and their evolutions, too, are still to be discovered.

📌 Browt, Pombon and Gecqua were revealed on February 27, 2026, while their region still doesn't have a name; your bedroom wall, for its part, doesn't need any official announcement to get covered in our Pokémon posters.

How to choose your starter without going wrong

The question comes back with every new generation, and the honest answer is that no choice is a bad one. The three final forms of a given trio have almost identical base stat totals, around 530: the difference lies in the distribution, not in raw power.

The only truly useful criterion is the early game. A starter whose type matches up well against the first Gyms of the region makes the first ten hours far more comfortable, while a badly matched starter forces you to catch a second Pokémon quickly to compensate. Checking the type chart before you decide often does more good than a long debate.

That leaves the criterion nobody owns up to, the one that settles everything: attachment. A starter is with you for an entire adventure, it's almost always the highest-level Pokémon on the team, and many players keep the same one from game to game, transferring it from generation to generation. That's also why it ends up as a plush on a shelf rather than at the bottom of a storage box.

The nine trios and their final forms

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many starters are there in total?
  Twenty-seven, meaning nine trios for nine regions, from Kanto to Paldea. On top of that come the special cases: Pikachu in Pokémon Yellow, Pikachu and Eevee in Let's Go, and the three starters that Pokémon Legends: Arceus borrowed for Hisui, which receive brand-new final evolutions.
• Is Serperior a Grass and Dragon type?
  No. Serperior, the final form of Snivy, is a pure Grass type, despite the regal serpent look that so often suggests a Dragon. None of its three stages has a second type.
• Is Samurott a Water and Fighting type?
  No, Samurott is a pure Water type, despite its armor and its samurai blades. Only its Hisuian variant, introduced in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, has a second type: it is Water and Dark.
• Which are the only trios made up entirely of pure types?
  Only two. Johto's, with Meganium in Grass, Typhlosion in Fire and Feraligatr in Water, and Galar's, with Rillaboom, Cinderace and Inteleon. Every other trio includes at least one dual-type final form.
• Why are starters almost always male?
  Because their gender ratio is fixed at 87.5% male to 12.5% female. Since it is the female that determines the species of the egg, this ratio makes breeding starters deliberately difficult. You can still breed them by pairing a male starter with a Ditto.
• What Ability do starter Pokémon have?
  Their Ability depends solely on their type: Overgrow for Grass starters, Blaze for Fire starters and Torrent for Water starters. These three Abilities boost the moves of the type concerned once the Pokémon drops below a third of its HP. Hidden Abilities also exist for each of them.

In short

Twenty-seven Pokémon, nine regions, a ritual unchanged since Pallet Town: choosing your starter is still the most memorable moment of every new game. Remembering that Serperior and Samurott are pure types already avoids half the mistakes going around — as for the rest, it's a matter of the heart, and it gets decided in three seconds standing in front of a table.