Pokemon: Every Fire-Type Starter, Ranked

Are you an old-school Charmander fan, or do you think the adorable Fennekin is better? We rank every Fire-type starter in Pokemon.

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Picking out a starting Pokemon can be a tough choice for some trainers. In simple terms, it depends on what the player prioritizes. But there are enough categories to make one’s head spin. Is it a specific type? Does design play a big part in the selection? Should it be able to dish out strong attacks, or take a beating? Different trainers go for different things, and while that pretty much leaves anything open, Fire-type starters have always been a popular choice — Charizard’s everlasting appeal has doubtless played a role in keeping that flame alive.

But even if Fire isn’t your thing, it can still be fun to find out how they stack up to each other. Our list won’t be perfect — there’s no such thing as a “perfect opinionated list” — but we’ve strived to take overarching fandom popularity into account first and foremost, followed by our own personal analysis. As such, this endeavors to be as close to “accurate” as a subjective topic can hope to be.

Updated February 19th, 2022 by Quinton O’Connor: WIth Pokemon Legends: Arceus now out, there’s a new Typhlosion form to factor into account. Even more importantly, fandom interest is ever-swaying, so keeping a steady pulse on the apparent consensus is serious business!

8 Tepig – Pignite – Emboar

Emboar has never enjoyed stardom. To be sure, it has its fans. Every Pokemon has its fans. But even the fans must know that when it comes to pure popularity contests, they’re always going to be in the minority. Even Tepig, the first in the line, wasn’t greeted with great enthusiasm — the other Unovan starters, cute Oshawott and sassy Snivy, were the immediate breadwinners here.

It’s not just that the designs don’t resonate. Emboar was the third final-stage Fire-starter in a row to feature the Fire/Fighting dual-typing, and players were pretty much exhausted from the concept. It was bad timing, made all the more “meh” with a shoddy movepool and fairly unimpressive stat distribution. That won’t do, pig. That won’t do.

7 Chimchar – Monferno – Infernape

Next up is another Fire-type starter that goes on to adopt a Fighting dual-type. Much like Tepig, Chimchar just isn’t all that great when compared to other Fire-type starters, even when you factor in its evolved form. Monkey enthusiasts have every right to disagree, but a common refrain around the time Diamond & Pearl came out was that “we went from a cool dinosaur and a pretty porcupine to a chicken and now a monkey. Pokemon is creatively bankrupt.”

Harsh, geez.

Infernape has nice Attack/Special Attack stats and incredible Speed as well. It’s a natural glass cannon and learns a diverse range of moves that trainers will have fun choosing from. It’s a good mixed attacker, but the rest of its stats are pretty pedestrian. It’s competitively decent, though it’s also the recipient of the most backhanded compliment in Pokedex history: “Infernape is the best Fire-type in the Sinnoh Dex.” Take a look at the original Sinnoh Dex, friends, and tell me how wonderful it is to praise a Pokemon for being the best of three options.

6 Litten – Torracat – Incineroar

The funniest thing about Incineroar is the instant reaction it received upon its unveiling. At the time, Sun & Moon’s starter lines had been revealed, but their typings were still shrouded in mystery. Folks took one look at this muscular wrestler, and as cool as its design was, there was a collective sigh. “Oh, no. We just got away from Fire/Fighting. Why, Game Freak. Why.”

There were eggs on all our faces, and not even the good Chansey kind, the day we learned that Incineroar wasn’t messing around. It’s Fire/Dark instead, a first for starters and a retrospectively perfect fit. Toss in the beastly Pokemon’s appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it’s hard not to give Alola’s fiery friends a measure of notoriety.

One thing holds it all back a bit, and it’s not the excellent stats — it’s the undeniable fraction of fans who took one look at lovely Litten and wanted the line to remain more cat-centric the whole way through. Incineroar, uh, doesn’t care.

5 Scorbunny – Raboot – Cinderace

We’ve had over two years with the Scorbunny line as of this writing, which already feels surreal. What is time? But anyway, it seems like this family has been relatively well-liked. Pure Fire wasn’t the best news, but hey, at least it wasn’t another you-know-what. Scorbunny’s pep, the whole soccer aesthetic, and Cinderace’s high Attack and Speed all work in its favor.

Any potential drop in reception early on was stymied by the introduction of Gigantamax Cinderace courtesy of the Isle of Armor expansion. Just when we thought we’d seen it all via Cinderace’s Pyro Ball attack, Game Freak went and took it all to a higher level. We suspect the Scorbunny fam will stick around in hype circles for quite a while to come, especially while Sword & Shield remains the hub for competitive battling.

4 Cyndaquil – Quilava – Typhlosion

Despite the fandom’s love for Gold & Silver and — especially — their beloved remakes, HeartGold & SoulSilver, Johto’s starting trio has almost always had a strange reputation as, well, not having much reputation at all. Feraligatr is all but forgotten, Meganium is only noteworthy for probably being the worst Grass starter final in the franchise, and even poor Typhlosion lost all momentum when Hoenn’s Blaziken came along a few years later.

What gives? Typhlosion’s cool. But that’s just our thoughts; this list should focus more on consensus, after all. So why does Typhlosion manage to snag a relatively high spot, then? Three words. Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This latest quasi-spinoff, pseudo-mainline title (it really depends on who you ask) is the most well received Pokemon entry in a long, long time. Few fans agree that it’s perfect, but most concur that it’s rather wonderful nevertheless.

Legends: Arceus does things a bit differently with its starters, offering a smorgasbord of generational icons. Oshawott’s from Unova, Rowlet hails from Alola, and Cyndaquil comes from cozy Johto. Hisuian Typhlosion, the Ghost/Fire-type regional form, is all the rage. Johto’s signature Fire line has, thus, enjoyed a popularity surge we never saw coming.

3 Fennekin – Braixen – Delphox

Fans rejoiced when the sixth-generation games, X & Y, revealed the first Fire starter that wouldn’t evolve into a Fire/Fighting type in 13 years. That alone might have been enough to give Fennekin an edge, but the undeniable cuteness overload was almost too much. Tack on the fact that this would be the first time that starters would be rendered in full 3D, and well, success was ensured.

Delphox’s Special Attack and Speed are its obvious biggest boosts, and with its unusual typing, it can kick considerable amounts of butt on the battlefield with moves like Fire Blast and Psychic. It’s also worth noting that middle-form Braixen seems to be the most well-received of the trio; mids are often overlooked, so good work, Braixen! You took one for the team.

2 Torchic – Combusken – Blaziken

The 2002-era internet jokes wrote themselves. Two solid decades ago and counting, some players cracked jokes upon Torchic’s reveal that sort of managed to withstand the test of time, even if they’re whispered with nostalgia now rather than genuine ire. “The buffalo chicken,” one would say. “Are you kidding me, Nintendo? That’s an actual chicken.” Our favorite: “You gave Blaziken JNCO pants. You gave JNCO pants. To. A. Chicken.”

All true, or at least arguably so. But then people got a taste for Blaziken’s power. You do not want to mess with this bird. Its stats spread is fantastic, with just the right accentuation on Attack to make moves like Blaze Kick hit oh so delightfully hard. And while it’s difficult to imagine now, the Fire/Fighting typing? Actually cool back then, and met with a flurry of realization that it is such a perfect hook-up, why didn’t they think of it sooner?

Perhaps folks said that a bit too loudly, but still.

1 Charmander – Charmeleon – Charizard

Charizard’s massive popularity couldn’t be overstated if we tried. If you ask someone who hasn’t played a video game in their entire life to list every Pokemon they know, the most common response is probably “the yellow rodent.” But the second most common response? “There’s the yellow rat. The big red dinosaur.” Charizard is the big red dinosaur, of course, and it wears that title with unparalleled pride.

It was inevitable, really. People love carnivorous dinosaurs. People love flying dinosaurs. People are going to love a mixture of both. And Charmander? Too darn cute, truly. Arriving with Red & Blue, which despite Pokemon’s lasting super-stardom is still the financial high watermark, Pikachu may have taken the world by storm but Charizard burned brightly in the hearts of millions. There’s a reason the anime has contrived to bring Ash’s big guy back several times.

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