PokéBonk Starters: Bulbasaur vs Charmander vs Squirtle

Which starter should you choose?

Bulbasaur is our starting suggestion if you want to learn recovery while moving. Squirtle suits players who want more initial protection. Charmander suits players who prefer movement speed and Fire attacks. These recommendations come from the current kits and our opening checks, not measured win rates.

The original game offers Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle when a new Guest chooses a first partner. The selection screen says the other two can join later after completing their challenges and capturing them in a run. Your first choice does not immediately unlock all three.

Starter comparison at a glance

We read each League profile and entered Viridian Forest on Classic, Normal difficulty with a new Guest for each partner. The table combines those profiles with the level-1 pause stats, before taking an upgrade or item.

On a narrow screen, swipe the table sideways to see all three partners.

Starting detail	Bulbasaur	Charmander	Squirtle
Class	Healer	Fiery Assault	Defender
Type	Grass / Poison	Fire	Water
Starting move	Vine Whip: arcing physical strike	Ember: special projectile	Water Gun: special projectile
Listed move damage / cooldown	20 / 0.8 s	15 / 0.9 s	15 / 0.9 s
Max HP	108	104	108
Armor	9	8	26
Shield	0	0	20
Regeneration per second	2.0	0.4	0.5
Movement speed	102%	107%	102%
Main reason to try it	Recovery	Speed and Fire damage	Initial protection

The move values are League tooltips, not damage-per-second measurements. Enemy types, status effects, weather and later choices affect a run. Do not add Squirtle’s passive armor to the table again: the displayed run armor is already 26.

Bulbasaur: recovery with Vine Whip

Bulbasaur’s Synthesis adds 1.5 regeneration and 25% healing. The profile also describes small heals from Grass hits: 0.4% of HP per hit, capped at five triggers per second. Its starting Vine Whip targets the closest enemy with an arcing strike and a chance to root.

Our level-1 pause screen showed 2 regeneration per second and 125% healing, with 9 armor and no shield. Vine Whip recorded damage without a separate attack input while we moved. This makes Bulbasaur a useful way to learn spacing alongside recovery. Healing does not make crowd contact harmless; in our earlier opening run, it still lost HP when enemies approached.

Choose it if: you want ongoing recovery as you learn where to move. Keep watching incoming damage rather than relying on regeneration to undo every mistake.

Charmander: Fire attacks and a faster opening

Charmander starts with Ember, a special projectile aimed at the closest enemy with a chance to burn. Sea of Flames lists a 10% Fire-damage bonus and a 40% damage bonus when HP falls below 40%.

In our opening check, Ember dealt damage automatically while moving. The pause screen confirmed 107% speed, 105% special damage and +10% Fire damage. Its defensive starting point was 104 max HP, 8 armor and no shield. Of these three checked openings, Charmander had the highest displayed movement-speed multiplier.

Choose it if: you prefer Fire projectiles and a little more starting movement speed. The low-HP bonus is conditional. We did not measure that bonus in combat, and deliberately taking damage is not necessary to learn the kit.

Squirtle: armor and shield from the start

Squirtle’s Torrent Shell adds 15 armor and 20 shield, and lists the same below-40%-HP damage condition as Charmander. Its starting Water Gun fires special projectiles at the closest enemy and can apply wet.

Our pause inspection confirmed 26 armor and 20 shield, alongside 108 max HP. Water Gun recorded damage automatically during movement. This is the clearest initial defensive cushion in the three checked stat screens; it does not establish the best survival rate or a complete defensive build.

Choose it if: you want initial protection while learning movement and nearby threats. Continue making space instead of treating shield as permission to stand still.

What did the playtest cover?

These were brief opening checks, paused at 0:12 for Bulbasaur, 0:12 for Charmander and 0:14 for Squirtle, all at level 1. We used desktop keyboard movement with default Automatic aiming, no selected upgrades, no items and no Ultimate activation. Each partner’s starting attack registered damage, and its pause stats matched the kit differences above.

The runs used separate Guest entries and the same region, mode and difficulty, but not a shared seed or identical enemy encounters. Bulbasaur’s opening also displayed rain. The recorded damage totals and HP remaining therefore cannot rank the starters. We intentionally ended these checks; the resulting end screen is not a measured survival time.

This check does not establish full-run clear rates, burn/wet/root probabilities, the low-HP damage multiplier, late-game builds or completed evolutions. Recheck the League after a game update.

For your next step, learn movement and aiming, follow the first-run setup, then read upgrade choices. Compare Classic and Survival separately from partner choice.

Sources and verification

Checked October 17, 2026 in Charcher’s original English game, menu Beta v0.5.5. Primary checks covered all three first-partner cards, League profiles, Viridian Forest preparation and brief level-1 Classic openings. All screenshots above are our own captures. Advice is an interpretation of those checks, with its limits stated above; no competitor’s testing is presented as our own.