Anybody seeking to get started with Pokémon Champions should know that there are several starter teams available at the start of the game. However, players are only initially shown one of ten possible starters during the tutorial section. Those ten Pokémon are the same for all players. The main difference is that each of the starters has a unique team attached to them.
The individual Pokémon in those teams will vary, but some lineups will share a few of the same Pokémon.
1. All Starter Teams
After Pokémon Champions players witness the tutorial cutscene involving Kitt, they will see a lineup of ten Pokémon, which include:
- Charizard
- Tyranitar
- Armarouge
- Palafin
- Pikachu
- Lucario
- Gardevoir
- Absol
- Altaria
- Snorlax
Recruitment is free in the tutorial.
These are the ten starter team leads in Pokémon Champions
After you pick your Pokémon with Kitt, Cordy will give you five more Pokémon to round out the starter team. Charizard, Palafin, and Tyranitar are safe options to go with, but players can determine their ideal starter team by using the table listed below. For reference, here are the full starter teams:
- Charizard: Azumarill, Steelix, Whimsicott, Gengar, Drampa
- Tyranitar: Arcanine, Whimsicott, Drampa, Aggron, Sylveon
- Armarouge: Hydreigon, Hawlucha, Steelix, Manetric, Victreebel
- Palafin: Gengar, Aggron, Beedrill, Sylveon, Hydreigon
- Pikachu: Kingambit, Garchomp, Azumarill, Gyarados, Gengar
- Lucario: Sylveon, Manetric, Victreebel, Gyarados, Froslass
- Gardevoir: Heracross, Drampa, Azumarill, Corviknight, Abomasnow
- Absol: Froslass, Corviknight, Garchomp, Arcanine, Whimsicott
- Altaria: Kingambit, Arcanine, Heracross, Hawlucha, Victreebel
- Snorlax: Hawlucha, Abomasnow, Kingambit, Beedrill, Hydreigon
Note that all lead starters listed above are available for recruitment outside the tutorial in Pokémon Champions. Hence, there is no missable content regarding the starter teams you can pick. Players will also receive the following six items equipped to members of the starter team they select:
- Focus Sash
- Leftovers
- Lum Berry
- Quick Claw
- Sitrus Berry
- White Herb
Players can purchase more items from the in-game shop if they need something else to help build their ideal competitive team.
2. Who is the Best Starter in Pokémon Champions?
Not all starter teams in Pokémon Champions are equally viable in online battling. Not to mention, some individual Pokémon in these lineups are outclassed by other options available in this game (like Incineroar being a better Fire-type Intimidate user than Arcanine).
The Palafin starter team is a good option for an early lineup
Based on early tournament results (such as The Champions Arena that ran from April 18 to April 19, 2026), Charizard is the best starter to choose from, with two very useful Mega Evolutions having top placements. Honorable mentions go to Tyranitar and Palafin, who also have good results while being great in both Single and Double Battles.
Kingambit is a very useful teammate in Pokémon Champions
It is worth mentioning that Kingambit is one of the best meta options in Pokémon Champions right now with consistent results in top-end tourneys. This means that Pikachu, Snorlax, and Altaria are also among the best choices for an early starter team, even if they are individually weaker than Charizard, Tyranitar, and Palafin.
Just keep in mind that Pikachu is the weakest option for an individual starter due to its paper-thin defenses and mediocre speed in a game where there are many Pokémon with much higher speed tiers than 90.
Ranking the best starter leads in Pokémon Champions
If players aren’t interested in picking their favorites or whoever looks the coolest and are instead more intrigued by competitive viability, here is what the priority of starters to consider is:
- Charizard: Amazing tournament results thus far, Mega Charizard Y is great for sun teams, while Mega Charizard X is a fantastic physical wallbreaker
- Tyranitar: Excellent competitive viability with or without a Mega Stone, can be useful on certain Sandstorm-centric teams while being good for role compression
- Palafin: Also amazing competitively without needing a Mega Stone, massive Attack stat if you switch Palafin out once
- Snorlax: Nothing special individually, but Kingambit is on the team and Hydreigon has also seen some success in tournaments
- Altaria: An okay individual option with Mega Evolution, but the main appeal is Kingambit on the starter team
- Pikachu: Very weak defensively, but Pikachu has Kingambit on the starter team, making it automatically more useful than other options
- Lucario: Mega Lucario is powerful, while the teammates are solid
- Absol: This starter team contains Whimsicott, Froslass, and Garchomp, all of whom are nice to have even if Absol is mediocre
- Armarouge: Nothing special overall
- Gardevoir: Decent options on the team, but nothing must-have
One crucial thing to mention is that future patches can introduce new Pokémon that could alter the above priority rankings.
3. How to get Better Teams
It is vital to mention that Pokémon Champions gives gamers plenty of VP to use early on and access to Pokémon HOME, meaning that most players can easily replace parts of their original starter team after completing the tutorial.
Cordy can help players use Replica Teams in Pokémon Champions
You can acquire new Pokémon by doing the following:
- After completing the tutorial, go to Recruit in the main menu.
- If you have Pokémon HOME, select the Collect from Pokémon HOME option to get your best Pokémon right away.
- Otherwise, select the Recruit Pokémon option and use any VP/tickets on strong Pokémon you find.
Final Tips on Pokémon HOME and Recruitment
Note that you need to go to Pokémon HOME and select the Pokémon Champions option to connect them in order to allow your individual Pokémon to be transferred.
You can also use the Build Teams Using Team IDs option from the Train section in Pokémon Champions to get strong lineups, although you need to own the Pokémon seen in the Replica Teams.
Pokémon HOME is very useful for getting strong Pokémon into Pokémon Champions
Hence, it is possible for some players to forego their entire starter team for something they raised in past Pokémon games, such as Scarlet & Violet and the previous generations of video games. Pokémon Champions’ recruitment feature isn’t just limited to Pokémon HOME.
Players can also use VP and tickets to find new lineups of Pokémon. From there, you can train any newly added Pokémon with Cordy, and even use Replica Team IDs if you know them.
Charizard, Tyranitar, and Palafin are the best individual starters in Pokémon Champions, and you can easily fix the rest of their respective starter teams by utilizing the aforementioned recruitment and training features.
